299. From Insights to Partnerships: Real-Life Examples of Positive ROI from Coworking Conferences

00:00:02,"Welcome to the Everything Coworking podcast, where every week I keep you updated on the latest trends and how-tos in Coworking. I owned and operated Coworking spaces for eight years and then served as the executive director of the Global Workspace Association for five years. And today I work with hundreds of operators and community managers every month, allowing me to bring you thought-provoking operator case studies and inspirational interviews with industry thought leaders to help you confidently stay on top of what's important and what you can apply to your own role in the Coworking industry."

00:00:44,"Hey there, this is Jamie Russo. Thank you for joining me. The topic for today is, should you attend Coworking conferences? This question comes up all the time. It, so I run a program called the Coworking Startup School. If you're starting a Coworking space, you should join us. We do group coaching calls every other week, and this was a hot topic recently and it comes up on the mastermind calls that we do for our operator membership as well."

00:01:13,"And it's a great question and we gave it, I think, an oversimplified answer in the Coworking Startup School. So I'll share this recording with our attendees to help them give it a little bit more thought. So I'm speaking at the upcoming GCUC Conference, which stands for Global Coworking UN-Conference Conference. I don't think they use the full name very often anymore. So that's an annual conference."

00:01:38,"It's hosted in the US, it's hosted in London, sometimes Australia, sometimes Canada, sometimes Asia. So you have to check the website, but this is in Chicago, so it's the US Conference. And then I often speak and used to host the Global Workspace Association conference, their annual conference, which is in Washington DC in September. So the GCUC conference is right around the corner if you're thinking about it."

00:02:05,"You should plan, make all those plans immediately. It's like a couple of weeks away. The 19th through the 21st I think. Yeah, I'm speaking Wednesday morning on KPIs. I'm not actually speaking, I'm moderating a panel, which is gonna be awesome with Kane Wilmont, the CEO of IQ offices. Lathia Hawkins who is the director of operations for Command Desk,"

00:02:26,"which is a WeWork company and Flip powered, who's the CEO of El Lucid Private offices. So that's gonna be an awesome conference. So I will start out by saying, I'm gonna try to just present sort of an objective way to think about going to conferences. I am a conference person, so for me, I'm just a joiner. I wanna be in the middle of things."

00:02:48,"Surprise, surprise, right? So if you're new to listening to me, I operated co-working spaces for eight years in Chicago and Palo Alto, California. And I was the president of a networking group called Lexi for two years. And I was the executive director of the Global Workspace Association for five years. And now I run programs to help operators and community managers launch and run profitable Coworking spaces."

00:03:16,"So I like to be in the middle of things and I host this podcast so you have lots of evidence. So I go to events and I never want to miss out. So that's sort of where I come from is I go to Steph cuz I wanna know people, I wanna build relationships, I wanna know what's happening, I wanna be on the inside."

00:03:34,"And the first thing I will say is that if you want that too, it is not hard in this industry because not that many people go to conferences. The industry grows by leaps and bounds every single year. I think the compound annual growth rate is like 20%. It's crazy. And I don't know, 500 people will show up to the GCUC conference and 500 other people will show up to the GWA conference."

00:03:58,"And there's some overlap. So when we're talking about unique attendees, it's, you know, there's just a thousand total attendees. I don't know, maybe 700 of them are unique. So there's 700 people in the industry showing up at these things and every year, you know, some of it turns over, there's new people. So there's unique people every year,"

00:04:17,"I would say. And then those of us who go every year and build on those relationships and get to know everyone even more deeply. And so the opportunity to get to know folks and to really be a part of something that is still, you know, kind of like Grassrootsy is totally there. You're not going to a conference that's 20,000 people where you're just gonna feel like,"

00:04:40,"you know, a little cog in the wheel. You absolutely can meet people and build one-on-one relationships. So that would be some quick context that I would set. So, okay, we're gonna talk about the benefits of attending a co-working industry conference, the cost of attending a co-working industry conference, how to think about the ROI of attending and a couple of like,"

00:05:02,"you know, real life case studies of what happens at these conferences. So, and some tips on maximizing your roi. So we're gonna dive right in. Are you working on starting a co-working space in 2023 or even 2024? We want to make sure you are set up for success. You hear me talk about this a lot. The biggest mistakes made in Coworking businesses are made before you ever open your doors,"

00:05:32,"before you ever sign your lease, your lease, your product mix and ensuring that your real estate deal and your offers align with your ideal future members are everything in terms of making sure that you set your business up for success. We can fix your marketing and your paint colors and your bathroom fixtures anytime, but we cannot redo your real estate deal or your product mix."

00:05:59,"We can, it's just really expensive. So we wanna help you get all of that right and be among the Coworking space operators that are sleeping well at night because they sign the right real estate deal and they know that their business is set up for ongoing sustainability and set up to meet their financial goals. So we'd love to have you join us in the Coworking Startup School."

00:06:21,"We cover getting started with your real estate search and signing your lease and picking your product mix and more. If you already have a location, over half of our members are already building owners. You can get all the details of what's covered in our program at Everything Coworking dot com slash start. So my context, I operated Coworking spaces for eight years and I've been in the industry now for 10 or 11 years."

00:06:50,"I opened my first base at the very beginning of 2012 and I may not have gone to a conference that year. I had a baby, my daughter's 11 and she was born in November and I opened my Coworking space in February and I think I just could not, or you know, I could not leave her in the Coworking space all at once to go to the Coworking conference that year."

00:07:16,"The next year I went. So I've been going to co-working conference ever since my second year in business. I think GCUC is a great conference to attend if you are pre-opening. And so they have two tracks. They have one for beginners and one for, I can't remember what they call it, like a masterclass track. I might be getting that wrong."

00:07:36,"So for more experienced operators. So I love that they have two tracks. The Global Workspace Association conference, I would say is not for the average beginner. It tends to be kind of bigger picture, more advanced operators, which is a great way to decide which one is for you. Although like I said, a lot of us go to both of them so you can decide which is a better fit for you."

00:07:59,"Okay, so here are some benefits of attending a Coworking conference. You're gonna get a sense of what the hot topics are now. You can listen to podcasts, you can read stuff online, you can read LinkedIn, you can follow people on social media and get that sense as well. I think it's a little bit different to attend in person. You know,"

00:08:20,"we can host, I host a series that I absolutely love called How I Did This, and I love that series because it's really practical and you can ask live questions to the panelists and get to know, you know, just kind of get a behind the scenes look at several owners' businesses so that that is like kind of a benefit of panels. And we still do some panels online."

00:08:43,"I think panels at conferences are also just sort of a different vibe and their own benefits. So you can get a lot of free content in ways that don't require you to travel to a conference, but you're with a bunch of other people live, right? So when we listen to things virtually, we don't really know how other people are reacting. We don't have any conversations about that topic except for in the chat,"

00:09:05,"of course I love virtual events, but in person, you know, in person events, you just, I don't think you can beat them. You can get some insights that can be applied to your own business. So this I would be a little bit careful about. I think that is true to some extent for the GCUC Conference and in particular their beginner track."

00:09:27,"So I think you'll take away some practical things that you need to be thinking about when you're opening a space. I think that in general for conferences in this industry, they tend to be like not as nuts and boltsy like that content really is, I think happening, you know, in memberships, my memberships very practical, very much about how do you build your business templates,"

00:09:52,"what are other people doing that that's working? Both my Community Manager membership and my operator membership. So I think conferences tend to be a little bit bigger picture. That being said, I am hosting a panel on KPIs and it's gonna be practical. So you're gonna hear from Coworking expert operators, you know, what they, how they track KPIs, who's tracking them,"

00:10:16,"what, how they're prioritizing, how they, how KPIs fit into their business, et cetera. So that's gonna be very practical. Hey there, I'm interrupting our discussion to ask you when is the last time you audited your member onboarding process? Probably it's been a while. We are covering that topic in our Community Manager University live training this month. Now I can assure you that this is not the first time we've talked about member onboarding."

00:10:44,"In this program we have over 40 training modules that we've run live and our recorded in our learning hub. We have checklists for onboarding, we have automated email series for onboarding, we've got it covered. But what I find is this is one of those topics that you cannot revisit often enough. It's so critical for success. So we're running through some case studies revisiting our checklist and having a great discussion with our global group of community managers about how to onboard members for success and retention."

00:11:20,"So if you've been thinking about adding your Community Manager to the program, this is a great time to do it. Also coming up, we are doing a Google Business Review contest for the month of May. So if you are not averaging two to three new Google reviews per month, get your Community Manager in the program. We are going to make sure that they ramp up their reviews and that we get them in the process of getting consistent reviews every single month."

00:11:52,"So these are just some of the things that we cover in our program. We would love to have you join us. You can get more information at Everything Coworking dot com slash Community Manager. So there certainly I are panels where you're gonna take a bunch of notes and you're gonna think about how do those apply to your business. You're also gonna do a bunch of networking,"

00:12:16,"although that is based on your personality. And I think when I said I we oversimplified the answer about should you attend a conference in my Coworking Startup School coaching session, we kind of said, look, if you're the kind of person who likes to meet people and build relationships, then a conference is a great opportunity for you. If not, maybe not."

00:12:34,"And I would say that because I think that the actual content is like the base layer attending a conference and you know, are you gonna get enough specific takeaways to get the return on your investment? I don't know, although it probably only takes one major takeaway. But what I think really, really can build on the ROI is networking with your peers and building relationships."

00:12:57,"So because I had show up to things several times a year, I have a lot of industry friends, really good friends who if I have a question or I need to figure something out, I can call them. And that was when I was an operator and also in my role now, which helps my members frankly. So I have built relationships with folks if I wanna interview them for a podcast,"

00:13:17,"if I want them to sit on a panel, if I wanna know how they handle something, if I wanna collaborate with them, I do. One of my favorite collaborations right now is with Kane Wilmont and we are hosting a course, we're actually delivering it for Avis and Young right now, helping brokers learn how to make flex recommendations to their occupier clients."

00:13:39,"I'm kind of simp oversimplifying it, but it's called Flex Office Academy for Brokers, AFAs and Young has their own branding. They're running a program called Flex Fluency. I really, really love that branding, but Kane and I have gotten to know each other over the years through the GWA and also because we show up at all the same things. So he came to me with this collaboration idea,"

00:13:59,"it was a no brainer. That never would've happened if I wasn't showing up to things. And that, you know, is might be different for you as an operator, but Kane is an operator, he doesn't do what I do and yet he came up with this collaboration idea and now we work together on that project. So networking with peers and building those relationships that you can extend after the conference,"

00:14:19,"I think that's the big opportunity. One of the big opportunities beyond the content is content, but also having conversations at lunch, having conversations at happy hour and finding folks that you know, you feel like you relate, relate to and kind of maybe trust. That's one of the reasons why I run the programs that I run is because I think it is dangerous to take advice sort of generically."

00:14:43,"You never know the backstory of the people on stage. We can assume that the folks at GC and the folks at GWA are doing a good job at recruiting, but not everybody tells the full story, you know, when they're on stage. So it's important to identify folks that you know, you feel like, you know what, I kind of run a business like that person and I trust that person's kind of insights or coaching or mentorship or just peer,"

00:15:08,"you know, interaction. And you can continue that relationship with them. There also is the potential for new business opportunities such as partnerships and collaborations. And that's where I want to share a couple of stories. This happens all the time, but again, you have to be the kind of person who shows up to all the things and is interacting. You can't be a wallflower,"

00:15:27,"you can't be sitting in your hotel room during the social events if that is you. There is definitely less ROI for attending conferences because then you're going really just for the content. So I had opened a Coworking space in Chicago and showed up at the Coworking conference, GCUC in, I don't even remember where it was, Austin. And I was moving to California and I was gonna keep running my Chicago space,"

00:15:52,"but not me. My Community Manager and I met the team at Pacific Workplaces in at GCUC and I met Scott Chambers very, very serendipitously. And it's because both of us are the kind of people who show up to things and introduced ourselves and we got to talking and I was moving to California and I was moving like very close to where they have multiple locations in the Bay Area and they were very interested in Coworking."

00:16:19,"So long story short, we initiated a partnership and opened a Coworking space in Palo Alto and that never would've happened if I hadn't shown up at that conference. So we had a partnership and we met at a conference. I've had members of our mastermind group who have found financial partners at conferences, certainly folks who meet vendors and solve operational problems or marketing pro challenges that they're having."

00:16:44,"Meeting vendors at conferences is a great way to get to know their teams. If you're choosing a space management platform, it's a great time to do a demo, meet the team, get a feel for which one you want to choose, see what's out there that you may not be aware of that you might want to add to your space. So, and other collaborations,"

00:17:02,"people like job opportunities for sure at the gwa there's a lots and lots of, that's a pretty seasoned crowd. So there's a lot of, hey you need to know this person. I was doing some of that at the last conference, like texting people and saying, Hey you know, do you know this guy? I need to introduce him to this person."

00:17:19,"Can we connect them? So there's a lot of like really active connecting because it's so unusual for everybody to be in one place that it makes it really easy to make those connections versus like playing, you know, calendar tag and setting up calls and that stuff happens too, but it happens faster at conferences and you can develop those personal connections and you also create really different bonds in person than over Zoom that,"

00:17:46,"you know, post covid, when I went to the GCUC conference when I hadn't been anywhere, anywhere where in so long I was like, oh my gosh, you know, like maybe kind of forgotten what a big deal it is to be in person. You just have conversations over a glass of wine, you don't have to drink over a glass of sparkling water,"

00:18:02,"you know, at a happy hour at a dinner. You just have conversations that you don't have over Zoom and it just builds a different relationship. And we won't even mention the karaoke bar, however, there are lots of cost to attending a co-working conference. And so you want to think about the type of personality you are, how much you will leverage the opportunities to network to get something out of the content and to find potential business opportunities."

00:18:27,"So there's a registration fees. So GCUC GWA cost a hundred of dollars to buy a ticket. So that's a factor. You have travel expenses, you have flights, you have Ubers to and from the hotel, you have hotel fees or Airbnb fees, some food, you know, the conferences supply some food, but then there's you know, other food that you'll need to purchase and then there's like lost time in your business."

00:18:50,"You know, you're taking time away from work so you need to factor that into your plan for the month. So you really wanna think about in terms of the ROI, what is the cost of attendance, how much are you spending on registration fees, travel and lodging, the value of what you're gonna get out of the experience, what are the new skills,"

00:19:09,"insights, best practices that you can learn and what are the potentials for those new opportunities? So I mentioned, you know, a couple of the real life case studies, mine was certainly one of them and I'll tell you I mentioned that partnership, probably the collaboration with Kane, I for sure connect that attribute that to showing up in person and a lot of the other relationships that we've built."

00:19:32,"Giovanni, I knew Giovanni, you know from GWA calls but only like on Zoom. So spending time with him in person is such a big deal. So I'm looking forward to seeing Giovanni, who's my co-host, I'm his, I like to say I'm his co-host for our Flex Uncensored podcast. All those things happen and you may not be looking to, you know,"

00:19:52,"sort of be in a leadership role in the co-working industry, but I'm, I'll tell you if you are then it's easy to do, you just have to show up. So I love that. That's kind of my personality is to look for like what are like the David and Goliath sort of thing or big fish little pond, that's my style. Find a little pond where I could show up and be really consistent and just really dedicated and you know,"

00:20:18,"it, it makes such a difference. So just show up if you're interested in being a part of it and that alone can can have its own roi. And so yeah, I'm trying to think of other good case studies. I'm sure mergers and acquisitions happen, hearing people on stage listening for opportunities. Again, people hiring, yeah investors. I'm trying to think of what else you would be looking for."

00:20:41,"Kind of in Coworking all of that stuff happens at the conferences. You just have to have those conversations. So here's some tips for getting the most out of a Coworking conference. If you're gonna go set specific goals for what you wanna get done at the conference, I even have to do this. And I will tell you every year I leave a conference and I'm upset that I missed some of the people on my list because I'll make a little list of like who's coming."

00:21:06,"I try to look at the attendee list. There's an app for the conference. I think the GWA and GCUC are using not the same instance of the app but the same app before each of the conferences. You can see the attendees, you can see their profiles and you can make a list of the people that you want to meet so that you make sure you don't miss out what sessions you wanna attend,"

00:21:27,"maybe who you wanna have dinner with. You have to really think ahead because I know I can get really just caught up in the energy of these things and then not actually get the things done that I should be getting done even though I have a great experience. So be really intentional, you know, research plan ahead, look at the schedule, think about how you're gonna spend your spare time."

00:21:45,"I even go down to like, okay, I know I'm gonna go for a run in the morning. Who can I go for a run with so that I'm not doing it by myself? Basically try not to do anything on your own at the conference. I even have roommates at the Airbnb network, you know, plan to go to the social events and if that means you need to have a little downtime during the day,"

00:22:02,"skip some content, take a nap, you know, or take a walk and kind of recharge if you need to do that and go to the social events and I also am not great at this, make sure you do your follow ups. I always have a million ideas and I'm writing, you know, in my notes about all the things I'm gonna do after the conference and people I wanna follow up with."

00:22:21,"And then you go back to regular life and you don't make time to work those in. So block out some time. Actually I'm gonna do that as soon as I'm done recording. I'm gonna block off the Monday after the conference and make some time to do my follow ups. So just to quickly summarize, talking about the value of attending and there are lots of case studies of folks in a little ways and big ways making really great connections."

00:22:45,"There are cost to attending. It's probably thousands of dollars to attend a conference when you're done with registration, hotels, flights and food and Ubers and that kind of thing. So you really have to think about it. But if you plan ahead, this is what I do, I just budget the that travel in and the ticket expenses in every year and I just plan for it and make sure it's in my budget."

00:23:05,"And so it's not a huge decision that I'm making every single year cuz I know the value. Think through your personality and what you wanna get out of the conference. Does it make sense for you or are you gonna do all the things that you need to do to get that roi? And then see if it makes sense for you. And even try one,"

00:23:20,"just try one and then decide. You don't have to commit to being a conference attendee every single year over and over if that doesn't end up being a great fit for you. But think about the ROI and be intentional about attending. And if you're gonna go, please make sure you send me a note and I know you're there. Cause if you're a listener or if you're in one of my programs especially,"

00:23:40,"I hate not seeing folks that are in my programs in person and sometimes I just don't have enough time to see everyone. But that shouldn't be the case. We should be able to figure that out. So I wanna see you if you're gonna be there. Okay, that is it, and I will see you next week and maybe I'll see you in Chicago for gc."

00:24:01,"Thank you for listening to today's episode. If you like what you heard, tell a friend, hit that subscribe button and leave us a rating and review. It makes a huge difference in helping others like you find us. If you'd like to learn more about our education and coaching programs, head over to Everything Coworking dot com. We'll see you next week."

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Jamie RussoApril 6, 2023Comment

299. From Insights to Partnerships: Real-Life Examples of Positive ROI from Coworking Conferences

299. From Insights to Partnerships: Real-Life Examples of Positive ROI from Coworking Conferences

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