Nearly 100 participants from 5 countries, 20 lecturers from all parts of the world, 2 days packed with knowledge and networking! Coworking Now or the 2nd edition of the only coworking conference in Poland was a success!
We have had two goals since when the idea of the Coworking Now conference came into being. The first goal is to invite excellent speakers to share their experience. The second one is to create good conditions for the networking and establishment of contacts. And, as always, this is what was happening this year! On our stage, we hosted more than 20 world class speakers with the best knowledge of the coworking and community building who, in particular, base their knowledge on many years of experience. According to our plan, we attracted co-workings, business incubators, city administrations, HR workers from various firms in Poland; because of that, representatives of various industries had an opportunity to meet in a single co-working area united by a single thing: co-working!
We had a great time, met lots of new friends (not only business acquaintances) and, in particular, we focused on the content of the event! There is no other co-working conference in Poland while, contrary to what one might expect, this topic is present in many business areas! The proof for this thesis was the presence of representatives of very different firms at the conference: not only those related to the typical co-working area! There were representatives of city administrations, marketing experts, designers and even a psychologist; each of them knows that the co-working is not an office but rather a style of life!
We focus on the content and this is why it is worthwhile to mention a few key conclusions that will accompany us in the life of our (and, as we hope, EACH) co-working!
THREE musketeers, THREE Mages, the story of the THREE Little Pigs or – fall in love with number three!
Piotr Bucki directed our attention to number three – there is a reason why threes occur in the history of the universe, fairy tales and films! Think how many “threes” surround you! Why? Because you can easily fall for “threes”. It is the number of the information we can remember, the number of benefits that can convince us to do something, the number thanks to which our arguments make up a perfect whole. This is why, in offers or suggestions for target sponsors, we should use three benefits: specific and personalized, so that the person from whom we expect support would be willing to offer it to us.
Remember: Three pieces – of specific – information! (Oh! Here, again, we get some important information in THREE pieces! )
Search for a partner rather than for an investor!
Mike LaRosa came to our conference from as far as Chicago! And it was for a reason! His speech helped us see the search for investors in our co-working space from a slightly different perspective! We know for sure what NOT TO DO – we should not look for an investor! Of course, an investor will support your business with some cash but mainly expects profit! An investor does not care about HOW the business works; he or she wants the business to work and bring profit. A partner will support you financially and will be equally interested in the success and quality of the joint business; profits are important for the partner but the image and the quality of executed projects also count! You will go further with a partner and you will create a world-class business – a partner is who you should look for!
Stand out or die!
Pauline Roussel visited 259 co-workings worldwide. She visited the most unique, most original and most untypical places. And do you know what she has noticed? First of all, that each good co-working is different, each of them is unique and each of them has a completely different design – and THIS IS the greatest power of our industry. Let us not chase one another, let us not steal one another’s ideas, let us create co-working space in a unique style – in the style matching us and our co-workers! It is our common vision and each person’s contribution to the co-working that makes that space so unique! That uniqueness will make us successful!
The Polish co-working is not a woman!
As O4 Coworking, we have prepared the first report in Poland regarding co-workings, combined with the study of Polish co-workings. While creating the report, we discovered that the Polish co-working… is not a woman! What does it mean? As much as 66% of co-workings indicated in the survey that there are less than 30% of women in their co-working! Fortunately, that number continues to increase. One of the most rapidly developing current trends is the one related to the growing importance of women in the global economy and the resulting social development of Womenomics – perhaps the next year’s report will demonstrate that the Polish co-working is no longer a man…?
The fact that the gender of Polish co-workings was determined is one of many aspects included in the report titled “Co-workings in Poland 2018″ and, as we like to share our knowledge, be sure to download our report for free here: … REPORT ON POLISH COWORKINGS 2018 and let us know what you think!
Coworking is not about an office, coffee and Wi-Fi – co-working is about PEOPLE who want to unite and do business together.
Claire Carpenter is one of the first people WORLDWIDE who established a coworking. She has been managing a co-working community for more than ten years so it was not a problem for her to prepare an in-depth lecture about the establishment of a co-working community! Gave meaningful insights into questions like: Why people join a coworking spaces?and Why they chose one over another? With more than a decade of experience in running a coworking community she really gave one of the most insightful presentations when it comes down to important dos and don’ts of making a shared work community prosper.
The end of the 2nd edition of Coworking Now is not the end of our adventure! Be sure to have some time on 4-5 April, 2019; we are inviting you to another edition of the co-working holiday this spring! We can guarantee lots of knowledge and more new, unique friends!
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