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WeWork is going to acquire Meetup

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Re: WeWork is going to acquire Meetup

#71

TL;DR is WeWork just an open office but for (way too many imho) many companies/people in one space? Are Wework spaces similar across the world? I have to work in a central London one sometimes and I find it horrendous; it is almost literally good for nothing; way too noisy and loose for meetings (even in the closed spaces; they are glass and not soundproof) or actual concentrated work (with noise cancelling headphone…

In Spitalfields. The noise is unbearable. We moved out of an office and back to dedicated desks because it's actually much quieter in there than in the office spaces, where the walls let people who are on the phone think they can talk as loud as they like - despite the fact the walls offer no sound insulation. In the dedicated desks area people are usually much more courteous, leaving the room to take phone calls.

If WeWork wants to do one thing to improve their spaces, sound engineering is it. Figure out how to make the offices sound-proof, install sound absorbing soft furnishing or even carpet (currently everything is a hard surface, so sound absorption is basically zero).

Re: WeWork is going to acquire Meetup

#72
post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I run a meetup and most people find us by searching meetup.com or occasionally google.

I'm not 100% sure but his point my be: how do people find you once you quit Meetup.com? Cause attrition happens and at least Meetup provides a somewhat constant inflow of people.

Right but once you have a pool of 25-30 people, you're set ( for most activities).

Re: WeWork is going to acquire Meetup

#73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I gave up on coworking early this month. I've been using a coworking space for nearly 2 years, tested out various spaces and realized that they're just bad for productivity. Far too many people at coworking spaces seem to be there for networking, or are simply not serious enough about work. I moved to a 'business center' (like Regus) which has a much quieter and more professional environment. Couldn't be happier.

I have found that a really good library is typically a much better work environment than these coworking spaces, and at 100% less the cost. I tried Regus for a couple days, but it felt no different to me than a coworking space. Maybe it was that particular Regus location.

Libraries are great places to work from! Typically quiet, good internet, nice people, and many larger ones have rooms you can sign out or rent for meetings.

Re: WeWork is going to acquire Meetup

#74

Having run Meetups for the last ~4 years or so, with my current one being a nice size (~100/month attend), I can tell you the absolute biggest challenge for myself and for others is getting a good affordable/free space to run the events. As WeWork has so much prime real estate, I can easily see the Meetups being a natural feeder to get more people exposed to their spaces, and also to create community events for those…

May i ask if it's a tech meetup or something else?

In my experiences companies, hackerspaces or coworking places are all quite happy to host tech meetups and it's rarely a problem.

Re: WeWork is going to acquire Meetup

#75

Having run Meetups for the last ~4 years or so, with my current one being a nice size (~100/month attend), I can tell you the absolute biggest challenge for myself and for others is getting a good affordable/free space to run the events. As WeWork has so much prime real estate, I can easily see the Meetups being a natural feeder to get more people exposed to their spaces, and also to create community events for those…

Interesting, we run a lot of tech related meetups, and finding a space is rarely an issue because its an important promotion tool for tech hiring. Whats difficult is finding speakers.

Finding "a" space, e.g. for one or two events, is relatively easy. Finding a consistently scheduled space (e.g. "the second Wednesday of each month") at cheap/free is a whole other thing. Once you have a consistently scheduled space, getting speakers is rather easy, because you can schedule way out into the future. For example, a popular speaker may not be available in the next three months, but I could easily get that speaker for April if I already have my venue lined up.

The first meetup I had was a bit of a vicious cycle - we had no home, which made scheduling hard, which made getting speakers lined up hard.

The second meetup I ran started out a Pivotal Labs which was amazing. Free food, free drink, nice atmosphere, good location - and most importantly, we had "the second Wednesday of every month", which made scheduling ridiculously easy. Actually running the whole meetup was a level of magnitude easier after that. Current venue is also similarly awesome. I wouldn't go back to not having a regularly-scheduled venue.

Re: WeWork is going to acquire Meetup

#76
post #74

Having run Meetups for the last ~4 years or so, with my current one being a nice size (~100/month attend), I can tell you the absolute biggest challenge for myself and for others is getting a good affordable/free space to run the events. As WeWork has so much prime real estate, I can easily see the Meetups being a natural feeder to get more people exposed to their spaces, and also to create community events for those…

May i ask if it's a tech meetup or something else? In my experiences companies, hackerspaces or coworking places are all quite happy to host tech meetups and it's rarely a problem.

Tech meetup (please see my other response below)

Re: WeWork is going to acquire Meetup

#77
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Prefer smaller, more specific meet ups (eg functional video game programming) over larger, broader ones (eg Python meetup) if you can. Even better, try to start your own meet up for one of your interests! In any reasonably sized city it’s not hard to get 10-20 people to get started.

Starting my own is what I have in mind. I was considering doing so via Meetup. I am kind of flailing around, trying to figure out how to do that.

@DoreenMichele - Meetupper here, would love to help however we can. I'll reach out via email.

Re: WeWork is going to acquire Meetup

#78
post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As far as finding spaces, I've found that local bars/restaurants/coffee shops are usually quite happy to host events during off-times like Monday through Wednesday nights. I always ask nicely, thank them in the event description, during the event, and in an email after, and try to go out of my way to make things easier for them (checking in with estimated attendees a few days before, helping put chairs back in order…

For 100+ person events? What coffee shops have 100+ person spaces? I have the same problem described and space is always an issue. I live in Silicon Valley and i can't think of a single bar that has a space of that size or that would let you use it or that noise pollution wouldn't be an issue.

Outside of Silicon Valley (midsize city) we’re lucky if 5 people show up to the Ruby meetup.

Re: WeWork is going to acquire Meetup

#79
post #21

I don't really understand the WeWork valuation of $20 billion. I guess they buy all their properties so they greatly profit from the rising property prizes in capitals around their world. I work a lot in coworking spaces and they usually don't seem like a cash cow for the owners. Now WeWork seems to target the B2B and luxury segment of coworking with prices 1,5x-3x of the competitors'. Interesting strategy. So is the…

I've co-owned a small co-working space for about a year now. It's been a good decision, financially. Nothing extravagant, but I certainly have no regrets and I'd invest in another if the opportunity came up. One thing that I think helps is that historically, consulting rooms have been a big desk in a 4x4m room with 1-2 client chairs facing the tenant. In a co-working space, you could accommodate 3-4 desks/tenants in…

May I ask where your space is located?

Re: WeWork is going to acquire Meetup

#80

I'd like to see Meetup offer 1x1 'events', that is, a sub-section of the platform to meet a person who is into the same idea/subject. Otherwise it's lost potential to have everything ride on whenever an organizer happens to schedule a meetup.

There's always Jamie App for meeting people one on one
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