IndyHall Blog

Coworking 201: Where are all of the people?

2009-06-02T15:46:22Z

Every time I see someone who’s struggling to find members for their coworking space and finds themselves sitting alone in an empty room more often than not, I cry a little inside.

As you may have realized by now, there’s not a lot of incentive to leave your house for another room with nobody in it. In order for the value proposition of coworking to be complete, there needs to be *people* to cowork with!

So you’ve already made the mistake of opening the space without any community buy-in. What can you do?

We suggest rituals.

Consistency is critical for building up the mass, and humans are habitual creatures. If you can come up with a way (Tony had some great suggestions) to get people in the mindset of “today’s Tuesday, it’s coworking day!”, you win. Better yet, give them a reason to bring others, and tell others about their coworking day.

Have you also done research on your price point? If the value proposition isn’t well balanced (cost for the day >= the benefit of the day), you’re going to lose repeat visitors and ultimately, members who join.

Are you in an “ideal” location? Location is hard to change once you’ve already started a space, but our friends in Miami learned the hard way the problems with a poorly selected location.

You need to find out where people who might be interested in your space are already hanging out, and become a part of what they are doing. Don’t show up and try to be a pitch-master, you probably aren’t.

When I say “be a part” of what they’ve got going on, I mean pay attention to their culture, their community, and look for ways to give to them something that they are missing. If you can become a part of their day to day rituals, you’ll begin to feel the formation of the critical mass you’ve been looking for.

No events to be a part of? Start throwing some of your own to get the ball rolling. We started early on with The Junto, Cream Cheese Sessions (our variation of Jelly), and lots of happy hours.

No matter what, you’re not going to see change overnight. Keep at it. Remember, ritual = consistency.

Also, listen to what the people who ARE coming out are interested in, and modify your events for them and their interests. Learning how to process feedback early is going to help you a LOT in the long run.

NEW Reduced prices for Scott Bellware’s TDD and Web Testing Workshops, June 2nd & 3rd

2009-05-26T17:25:25Z

About 2 weeks ago we announced a pair of developer courses for the Philly ASP.Net contingent to be hosted at IndyHall Classic. These classes, run by Alt.NET leader Scott Bellware, have recently been discounted to $200 each, or $300 if you sign up for both.

We’re happy to have Scott joining us from Austin, Texas where he periodically hangs out with our friends at Conjunctured. Please welcome Scott to Philadelphia and help spread the word about these classes!

Good Test, Better Code

On June 2nd Scott will be be teaching “Good Test, Better Code”, a workshop about test-driven and behavior-driven development and design in .NET taught in the context of Lean and agile development and developer productivity.

Web Application Testing with Selenium and RSpec for Developers, Testers, and Teams

On June 3nd Scott will be teaching “Web Application Testing with Selenium and RSpec for Developers, Testers, and Teams”. This workshop introduces developers and testers to using context specification style TDD for web applications. The basics of Lean software development are taught, showing how to use web application testing and specification to work to drive teamwork, development, and communication.

Enjoy your Holiday Weekend: We’re Closed on Monday!

2009-05-22T22:09:50Z

IndyHall will be closed on Monday May 25th for Memorial Day. We’re closed for all non-full time members (lite, basic, and drop-ins). If you’ve got keys, you’re welcome to work but we encourage you to take the day off and spend time with family and friends.

We reopen on Tuesday, May 26th at our usual time.

Happy Memorial Day!

Haven’t been able to visit the new IndyHall office yet?

2009-05-14T00:32:06Z

Not to worry! Our friends from Technically Philly came by last week and not only got the ten cent tour, but caught it on camera along with some interviews with a couple of members. This is a TINY glimpse into what’s been going on at the new IndyHall, and by no means is a substitute or a full representation of what’s been going on. You REALLY need to come down here and see it for yourself!

It’s no “MTV Cribs” walkthrough, Brian Kirk of TechnicallyPHL and Drew Lazor of Philadelphia City Paper put together a great set of clips. If anyone wants to produce a “Cribs” style walkthough with Geoff and I…you know how to find me.

Enjoy!

IndyHall Welcomes Scott Bellware’s TDD and Web Testing Workshops, June 2nd and 3rd

2009-05-12T17:01:24Z

If you’ve set foot in IndyHall over the last 2 years, you have likely noticed an abundance of Apple computers. That’s not because we’re Mac exclusive, it’s just what most of the members had chosen. Some months back, our local Microsoft evangelist (and IndyHall member) Dani Diaz asked when IndyHall Labs would be doing any Windows ports of our apps. I told him “when windows developers started hanging out at IndyHall!”

I got a chance to do something proactive about the lack of MS Platform developers at IndyHall when another of our new basic members (and a long time colleague of mine) Brian Donahue tweeted about a potential Alt.Net class coming up that would be looking for space, being put on by prominent Alt.Net developer Scott Bellware.

I’m happy to announce that we’ll be hosting two of Scott’s popular classes during the first week of June: “Good Test, Better Code” and “Web Application Testing with Selenium and RSpec for Developers, Testers, and Teams”.

Both workshops are single-day, high-impact workshops geared to creating a maximum amount of learning with a minimum time away from work. They will be hosted at our 32 Strawberry Street location, “IndyHall Classic”.

Each workshop is $300. Folks attending both workshops receive a $50 discount on each!

Good Test, Better Code

Web Application Testing with Selenium and RSpec for Developers, Testers, and Teams

These workshops do have a limited capacity, so I encourage you to register soon! And thanks to Scott and Brian for a chance to get the IndyHall community and the Alt.Net communities working together!

SOLD OUT! Cocoa Programming Foundations

2009-05-05T14:09:33Z

A couple of weeks back we announced our first IndyHall U class, developed in conjunction with Cocoaheads Philly. As of last night, this class is SOLD OUT!

Congratulations to the team who put this class together, we’re really looking forward to hosting it at IndyHall’s Classic location at 32 Strawberry Street.

Nicknames

2009-05-04T16:33:09Z

Given that IndyHall now maintains TWO properties (one for events and workshops, and the new space for a community workspace, we’ve needed to distinguish between them. The naming started when Andy Mroczkoski dubbed our 32 Strawberry Street location “IndyHall Classic” during the April Cocoaheads. Shortly after, the new office became “IndyHall64″. That’s a Nintendo joke.

We’ve continued with the trend of ridiculous nickname pairings, and wanted to keep track of the list so far:

IndyHall 1.0/IndyHall 2.0
IndyHall Classic/IndyHall64
IndyHall Original Recipe/IndyHall Extra Crispy
IndyHall Unleaded/IndyHall High Test
IndyHall The Original Series/IndyHall The Next Generation

What else you got?

Meet IndyHall again, for the first time

2009-05-04T03:50:28Z

On April 7th, 2009, Geoff and I signed a lease for a new clubhouse for the IndyHall community to work from. Almost immediately, the planning began, because we knew that our occupancy would begin on May 1st and we wanted our members to be able to work from the space as close to day one as possible.

Over the following 4 weeks, we budgeted and set milestones. Demolition began almost immediately on the new space, connecting the two 2200 square foot units with an open archway to allow easy movement between them.

Desks were built.

Paint colors were selected. Paint went up on the walls.

We hung over 3000 feet of gigabit ethernet from a custom-designed overhead cable management solution, designed by our own members. We pulled together furniture from so many sources, including our old office (now being affectionately referred to as “IndyHall Classic”, plenty more Ikea, and even some pieces hand-made by friends within the awesome community of Philadelphia.

The newspapers even wrote about what we were up to.

On friday, we moved. On Monday morning, our first official work day in the new space will begin.

IndyHall has been re-imagined, and not just by Geoff and I. It’s come together in one of the most magical collaborative processes I’ve ever had the privilege of being a part of. If you ever ask me it’s important to build a coworking community before a space, the last 4 weeks are the reason why.

Building a community space alone defeats the purpose. Building a community space with the community that will call it home. That makes sense.

I’m fearful of thanking everyone by name for leaving someone out, so I’m going to thank EVERYONE who put any moment of time, any drop of sweat, any bit of contribution into the move. In less than 4 weeks, we went from a shell of two rooms into one of the most incredible work spaces…a workspace fit for one of the most incredible communities in Philadelphia.

This past weekend we celebrated, after weeks of planning a party along with our friends from Mashable.com and all of our amazing sponsors, and turned May 1st 2009 into a night to remember. I can’t take credit for the fireworks (though I’ve thought about it), but clearly somebody knew we were up to something big. SO many amazing people came from all over the place, including San Francisco, New York, and DC.

Saturday night, we continued the most epic Philadelphia geekend with IgnitePhilly3, co-organized by Geoff and a number of other incredible people from all corners of the coolest things in Philly. Ignite’s grown up alongside IndyHall, and while we don’t officially have any direct involvement in the event a number of our members presented and completely rocked. Philly is truly inspiring, because it is so inspired.

Today was finishing touches. We wired up our speakers. We cleaned. The final arrangements to follow through on my commitment of desks, chairs, power, and internet, are complete.

Starting tomorrow, Monday May 4th, IndyHall is re-opened on the 2nd floor of 20 North 3rd Street, across from the corner of 3rd and Church Streets in Old City Philadelphia. We’re far from done, but we’re ready for you.

Our sincerest thanks and love go out to each and every one of you.

It’s my pleasure to re-introduce you to IndyHall. Please come meet IndyHall again, for the first time.

Thanks to IndyHall’s Painting Crew

2009-04-28T18:46:54Z

Over this past weekend we spent almost 20 hours working on giving the new office a paint job. Thanks to the help of over a dozen volunteers, we made quick work of over 5000 square feet of wall that needed painting, and the new spot looks AMAZING!

Big thanks to:

Becky Clawson

Greg Wilder

Chris Dawson

Kevin Fitzpatrick

Alexis Siemons

Lori Hylan-Cho

Colin Weir

Randy Zauhar

Tricia Canney

Johnny Goldstein

Maddy Goldstein

Kevin Lee

Chris Morrell

Roz Duffy

Mac Morgan

And SUPER special thanks go to Kara LaFleur for not only painting during all of the shifts, but for providing IndyHaul, her Subaru Forrester that was used for many, many trips to Home Depot to replenish paint reserves.

And finally, to Natalie Nagele and Dana Vachon for planning the entire event including picking colors, designing their placement on the walls, and getting the paint, and most of all for Dana being an extremely successful foreman (forewoman?) and really doing a great job of managing tasks. It was phenomenal to spend my weekend working on getting paint on walls, and being able to reply to almost any question “I don’t know, you should probably ask Dana”.

Great job everybody, thanks for all of your hard work!

IndyHall & Mashable

2009-04-27T14:03:03Z

We’re just 2 weeks away from the big Mashable/IndyHall party!! As has been demonstrated in the past, social media and social lubrication go hand in hand and this event is no exception.

We’ve had great response already from a number of local companies interested in supporting the event to make sure that everyone can enjoy themselves. We kept the sponsorship levels approachable because we thought it was important to highlight as many local companies as possible during the event, and we’re really happy that our model fit so many companies.

Just a quick reminder about the details:

When, where, how?

Date: Friday, May 1st, 2009

Time: 8:00 pm Till Close (that’s 2:00 am for the out-of towners, or the non-party-goers)

Location: Cavanaugh’s River Deck, 417 N Columbus Blvd, Philadelphia, PA 19123 (map)

Tickets: Open Admission, 21+ Only Please, but please register yourself on one of our Socialize Pages, so we know you’re coming

Socialize: Facebook , Meetup , Upcoming

And without further adieu, IndyHall’s first batch of “BarTabCamp” sponsors!

“Zivtech is an Open Source Web Development and Support shop. We love building robust and cutting edge online applications (mostly using the Content Management System Drupal), creating and empowering communities, and working within and taking part in the Open Source Software movement.”

Bloblive’s are open mic notes for business ideas. Check out bloblive.com for a schedule of events and join us for an evening of offline crowdsourcing, and invaluable networking. Bloblive is the offline component of ideablob.com, our interactive marketplace where one idea each month wins $10,000.

With an intuitive interface and design, Newsberry makes it easy to create, send and track email campaigns. Their focus on segmentation and targeting allows you to send relevant emails to only those subscribers who are interested, maximizing the results of each campaign. Newsberry offers affordable monthly and pay-as-you-go plans.

Duck Duck Go is a new search engine with less garbage and better results. There are a lot of things it does differently in order to get you what you want faster and with less mental effort. For example, Duck Duck Go has “zero click information” in the form of topic summaries and related topics to explore. It labels official sites. It has simpler links, using titles and descriptions that actually make sense. Duck Duck Go also omits all those spam pages you’re always coming across. And much more–try it!

Beanstalk allows web designers and developers to store source code, track changes, and collaborate with their team. Never worry about overwriting code or managing backups again, it happens automatically. With Beanstalk’s FTP deployment tools, you can even deploy to your web server in one-click.

LTLprints is an e-commerce company selling “larger than life” (up to 7 feet tall by 4.5 feet wide) customized and self-adhesive artwork. Designs are printed on a tear resistant, easy to install, removable cloth material that can be used in almost any environment or flat surface. Customers can buy ready-made designs from the online catalog, create unique prints by uploading their own pictures, or sell their own designs in the online catalog at LTLprints.com. LTLprints is also an ideal platform for designers with unique digital content allowing them to sell their own artwork to the community.

“Poptent is connecting independent and freelance creative commercial videographers with companies who need affordable branded content.”

OurShelf is a web-based platform to catalog your personal goods, and does this within a social environment. You can borrow, lend, and track your personal goods as well as socially shop or find the next hot item you’re interested in. Sign up for the early preview beta by sending an email to beta@rshelf.com or sending a DM to us on twitter (@ourshelf). Your Stuff, OurShelf

With Jimdo, you don’t need to know HTML or CSS to create a website and keep it up-to-date. In just a few minutes, you can build a personalized, professional-looking site. With powerful customization options, it’s easy as pie but NOT cookie-cutter. Whether you need a personal or business site, creating your 1st site or your 100th, Jimdo makes websites simple, accessible, and intuitive. Create a website on Jimdo for free or get your own domain and email with JimdoPro.

Laan Labs makes cool stuff for all of your favorite toys: iPhone and Android phone apps, web and desktop applications, and useful webservices for other developers. We don’t just make stuff for ourselves, we’re are available as hired guns as well. Read more about what we’ve made at labs.laan.com.

And finally, we can’t forget Mashable’s sponsor, , DUB “gives you a simple, smart way to exchange contact information from your mobile phone. The contact data loads directly to your existing mobile address book and updates automatically whenever your contact changes their information (phone, email, address, etc.). Create your mobile business card at www.dubmenow.com”

Wanna be a sponsor?

We’re still accepting two levels of sponsorship, $250 and $500, to go towards making sure this party is epic and the tab is kept open. Our prices are designed for local startups to be able to participate and get some great exposure, not just at the event, but on all of the event promotion properties.

At both levels, you’re listed as an event sponsor with your company name, logo, description, and link. Where does that go?

Here (indyhall.org)
Mashable.com
Facebook, Upcoming, and meetup event promotion pages

Additionally, all sponsors will have their logos on our giant sponsor wall at the event thanks to LTLPrints. $250 sponsors will have a 12″ wide logo, and $500 sponsors will have a 24″ wide logo. Want to sponsor even more? Drop us a line and we’ll sort something out and make sure it’s worth your while.

If you’re interested in being a sponsor, contact us for more information!