August 3rd through August 7th, 2015 is San Diego Coworking Week where local San Diego Coworking Spaces open their doors to the public and allow non-members to work from their space for the day. This is a great opportunity to check out their spaces and meet others.
Here are several ideas you can implement to make the most of each day:
- The obvious one is to simply attend. Historically, I don’t think enough people have taken advantage of coworking week. It’s free, get out and experience something new.
- Ask for the grand tour. If it’s your first time at the space, make sure someone shows you the space. Maybe the space would be a good fit for you or someone you know. Help out the coworking space and help your friends get out and take the next step with their business endeavors.
- Being Mr. Networker, make sure to bring business cards and introduce yourself to non-members and members alike. The day isn’t just about checking out the space. It’s about finding new connections. Share what you’re doing but more importantly, listen and understand what others are doing. Be helpful. Can you collaborate on a project? Can you help them? Can you connect them to someone that will make a difference? What are they looking for or what is their next step?
- Grab a lunch some place new with your new found connection(s). Get to know one another and start building rapport.
- Be memorable. What can you do to stick out from the rest of the crowd? Make an impression.
- Follow up. Send your new connections an email follow up. Connect on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and whatever your favorite social network is. Do this sooner than later.
- Set up a one on one meeting. We tend to forget who we met if we aren’t in constant contact. Our inboxes get filled and that next shiny object distracts us from our latest connections. Make a deeper connection and they won’t forget you the next time you come across them at an event.
Remember, it’s not necessarily who you meet, it may be who they know. They may just make that friendly introduction to your next important contact. We all know at least 100 people. They do too.
Rinse and repeat each day and cross pollinate from each location and the connections you’ve met.
And hey, if you’re just not into this sorta thing, then bring your headphones. It’s the unwritten coworking rule – don’t talk to me, I’m busy.
Here’s San Diego Coworking Week’s 2015 schedule:
Monday, Aug 3rd – Cyber Hive, Downtown
Tuesday, Aug 4th – DeskHub, Little Italy
Wednesday, Aug 5th – Co-Merge, Downtown
Thursday, Aug 6th – Hera Hub, all locations
Friday, Aug 7th – 3rdSpace, University Heights and Ansir Innovation Center, Kearny Mesa
Looking for more coworking spaces? Check out the full list of San Diego Coworking spaces on SDTechScene.org.
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