An article from allwork.space says that an study by NCN (the nonprofit center network) analysis why are workspaces operators and tenants frustrated when it comes to connection inside the workspaces. NCN created a spectrum of connectivity levels going from low to high, the thing is that most of the workspaces are in low. There is a reason that doesn’t have anything to do with engagement – the cause is when in network events there are always the same people. Eventually there is no one new to connect and engagement drops quickly.
Most of active S2M locations are found in medium or high level of engagement. The Erasmus University research have some answers on why those locations can keep on good levels of connectivity among its members. The first one is that 30% of the users in locations are usually new, they started to go to a S2M location in the last 3 months. At the same time, there are a lot of recurring users, 50% of the users have been going to S2M location for more than one year. You mix those 2 groups and you will have always new people to connect to.
Events, lunch and networking are merely a way of introducing those people and give an excuse for them to start a conversation, as starting a conversation with no pretext or context for it can be harder. Those initiatives can lead to a smoother way of starting a conversation, which can lead to connection, as the research shows:
The free coffee and lunch that are provided by most of the co-working sites further enhance the likelihood that people start a random conversation with another co-worker. These spontaneous conversations offer a breeding ground where unexpected connections are more likely to happen.
In conclusion, you can make as many events as you want, but if in the end there are always the same people showing up, the possibilities of connection will end rapidly. That’s where having an open space, where a diverse group of people can come in gets in action on favor of connections and collaborations.
But how to optimize serendipity? What if you could meet precisely the person you have to meet at the right time? That’s when S2M decided to put all this variety of people in a match making environment, the serendipity machine. By daily asking what people are working on, and seeing on their knowledge tags what their expertise are it can cross the data and let you know who, of all the people around you, could be most of help in a certain moment. To try it you just have to book a spot at a S2M location, let the system know what you are working during that day, and see your matches. Yes, is that simple.
