Educating your local community: leaders share their take in Coworking Convos

In a frank and honest Coworking Convos chat with The Lab folks on "Educating Your Local Community About Coworking," a group of seasoned pros shared their tried-and-true tips on getting people in and around your space excited about this whole shared workspace thing. 

Spoiler: It's all about relationships, keeping it real, and meeting folks where they are.

Host Cat Johnson welcomed ​Sam Rosen from Deskpass, ​Kate Schwarzler from Indy Commons, ​Joelle Smith from The Hub Coworking Jamaica, ​Sarah Athanas from Groundwork, and ​Craig Baute from Creative Density and Denswap.

Each speaker emphasized the importance of breaking down the coworking concept for the uninitiated — especially in places where it’s still a head-scratcher. Forget the buzzwords and industry jargon; the key is to speak the language of the people you're trying to reach. 

They offered some clever and evergreen strategies like throwing community events, teaming up with local groups, and making sure your messaging hits home. Patience, persistence, and a little creativity were the magic ingredients, with a reminder that building a strong community doesn’t happen overnight. It’s a slow burn that’s totally worth the effort.

The whole conversation had the warm, collaborative vibe one has come to expect from Coworking Convos, with everyone focused on one goal: making coworking not just a thing people know about, but something they’re genuinely excited to be a part of. It was a masterclass in how to connect with your community, build a loyal following, and ultimately, grow your coworking space by being authentic, approachable, and a little bit clever.

Hector Kolonas from Syncaroo, a fellow partner of The Lab, and of the can’t miss newsletter, This Week in Coworking, also a supporter, took remarkable notes and let us copy and paste them below. (Work smarter, not harder, am I right? Thanks, Hector!)

Kate Schwartzler’s takeaways:

• Extensive research to understand the needs of her rural community. She connected with the city's economic development director, the chamber of commerce, local representatives, and business owners to gather insights and establish partnerships.
• Learning the goals and challenges of local business owners and entrepreneurs, ensuring that the space met their needs for connection, support, and collaboration.
• Terms like "entrepreneur" didn't always connect with the local audience, so she adapted her messaging to align with how they saw themselves.
• A "tough ground game" approach, actively engaging with the community by hosting events, speaking to local groups, and meeting with potential members over coffee. 
• Recognizing the need to show the community what coworking was all about, Kate launched her space earlier than she had planned. 
• Launched a nonprofit, Indie Idea Hub, to secure funding for events and technical assistance for small businesses, further embedding her coworking space into the fabric of the community.

Sam Rosen’s takeaways:

• Come a long way, over 50% of people don’t ask “co-what?!”
• Find ways to get people into the space.
• Meet people where they’re at, even if they “think they know what coworking is”, then help educate them.
• Joining a new community is harder for some people, try to help making that step less daunting.
• Host other non-work events (clothe swaps, etc)
• Make it simple for people to understand why your space exists

Joelle Smith’s takeaways:

• Had to educate almost everyone about what coworking is
• Big focus on the community and how it actually impacts the members/businesses
• Communicating was a challenge but there’s so many resources online on how to word/phrase/promote things.
• Continuous conversations teach you what the market wants, and so will your positioning/storytelling.
• Keep researching, and adapting.
• First big focus was on hot desks, but it was hard to differentiate between that and working from a cafe. 
• Realized events/programming aren’t available at cafes, so added value to the memberships.
• After covid had to start over with events/programming, but learned that the community didn't have to be event-centric.
• Used member-generated/seeded content to promote what makes the hub special.

Sarah Athanas’ takeaways:

• Focus on building real relationships, not transactions.
• Figure out what the local community wants, cares about.
• Show up at local events, esp. if you wan them to come to yours.
• The  neighborhood is an extension of your internal community. 
• A lot have heard about it, but may not think it’s applicable (startup culture, code bros, wework, etc)
• Now it’s not about awareness, but telling stories that gets the ideal people to see themselves in your community.
• Don’t focus on hard first sale, start light with an invitation and nurture the relationship.
• The initial “inefficient” work is what builds strong communities

Craig Baute’s takeaways

• Big fan of coworking alliances (Denver Coworks - we’re not the competition, lack of awareness is the competition) - kick together money to do cool things together.
• Press likes to talk about collective/alliance events. (i.e. Denver Coworking Week — try a new coworking space every day)
• Use pooled money to provide breakfast - tummy-based incentive to get out the house (and coffee shop)
• Biggest thing of promotion is repetition. Events compound. Started small, now there are big community events. (Eg annual cookouts)
•  Supporting meetup organizers (e.g. craft clubs) created events, content and now leads/revenue.
• Also good to support non-traditional events like solar sounds or popup comedy/improv events.
• Offer lower prices on peerspace for yoga etc (also use the space on weekends which is extra revenue and exposure)
• Generate leads and revenue from their coworking alliance website. Can see what people are looking for/filtering by/asking for.
• Data is power. Especially when it’s shared with everyone locally. Becomes knowledge. 
• A local generic SEO-juiced website is very valuable.
• Group events (and content-generated there) drives exposure and involves local businesses.
• Repetition and ever-green content is a good combination for content.

Coworking Convos is a monthly virtual event series hosted by Cat Johnson. In each conversation, a different topic is presented by guests with real experience, who are subject matter experts and walk the walk in the coworking and flex space industry.

Coworks is a sponsor of Coworking Convos, and we have the privilege of sharing these dispatches afterward — spotlighting the juicy tidbits and powerful takeaways shared in the hour-long conversation. 

But by no means does this replace the real value of being there! Check out the next Convo and be in the room when it happens.