Summary: GCUC 2017, Future of Work and Community Building

One of the many perks of being in the market of coworking is the opportunity to visit the latest and greatest workspaces and attend different conferences. Last week we had the privilege of being one of the sponsors of the 25th Global Coworking Unconference Conference (GCUC), and we will tell you, it definitely didn't disappoint!

The conference was awesome in every sense of the word. We're constantly amazed by how good it feels to be part of an industry where you're constantly rubbing shoulders with people who are truly passionate about what they're doing.

We wanted to recap all of the juicy learnings for you, since there was so many takeaways!

So, on to the good stuff...

Future of Work

Melissa Gregg from Intel kicked off the conference by speaking on the Future of Work and its impact on productivity.

Melissa discussed how the workspace is key to productivity and how there's opportunity for expansion in both supply and demand.

Some key points:

• Across the US, the freelancing community is growing rapidly. 
• Corporates are looking for spaces for their staff. They are now moving employees into co-working and this is happening around the world.
• The contingent workforce is continuing to expand on a global scale and it's important that spaces leverage this to their advantage.

 

Next Level Community Building

Next up was a panel of speakers - Nick Shewring, Cofounder of CoLo, Conrad Tracey of COO and inspire9 , Tim Mahlberg from the University of Sydney and moderator, Kasia Stelmach of the Hub Australia.

They spoke about community being the secret sauce of coworking and gave some useful tips on how to build and scale it.

Here's a summary:

1. Vertical communities are the next big thing. It's essential that you have a central space that allows people to engage and connect with each other.
2. Diversity is key. If you want to have a diverse community, you should have a safe and creative environment where members are open and accepting.

Tim also shared the important role that community managers have. Basically, community managers or CMs should have the following characteristics:

• Leaders and life coaches.
• Know how to develop and grow members.
• Insight into people and life experience while striving for world-class experience.
• Sense of responsibility to foster a space that allows for diversity and growth.
• Social intelligence to recognise the potential of others.
• Need to be driven and passionate about your community.
• Connect with the community on a regular basis.

The speakers gave some super practical tips on how to 'manage community managers' (that may have you tongue-tied) Their examples included providing tasks that allow growth, like talking with suppliers and dealing with the day-to-day issues.

Another, key growth hack (and our personal favourite) was to have them visit different locations and expose them to a variety of offices and cities. Travel, yes! Although you don't want to ask too much of your CM, or you run the risk of them burning out - it's a fine line between challenge and hard work.

By far, the most important takeaway was to incorporate community strategies with your own staff and engage with them regularly. Basically, practice what you preach!

 

"The key to community development is the whole person being embraced. Everything is welcomed, from side hustle to full time work." - Tim Mahlberg

 

Tired yet? It was a full 2-day conference for us, so we have so much goodness to cover. We know it’s a lot to take in, so we'll continue our wrap up in Part 2.

We want to share some practical tips on community building (including plans for all members of the community such as retirees and kids), new revenue streams, and co-working trends in Australia.

Things are about to get more exciting so stay tuned!

 

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