[hackerspaces] Hackerspace crisis plan

[Ricky Ng-Adam]

More ideas from one of our member (Paul) who's not on the list:


>    - Going towards coworking spaces is working for Bangkok, Thailand as
>    their Hackerspace failed after just 6 months.
>
>
>    - Offering rent a desks for small businesses / startups and facilities
>    usage.
>
>
>    - Also checkout schoolfactory.org as they have some good discussions
>    going on.
>
>

On Wed, Jan 23, 2013 at 9:38 AM, Ricky Ng-Adam <rngadam at xinchejian.com>wrote:

> Hello David!
>
> You already got a lots of good suggestions in this thread to help future
> your Hackerspace.
>
> I'd add that if you want to have members, you need a lot of people walking
> in.
>
> We (Shanghai XinCheJian Hackerspace) have a free open house with guest
> talks every Wednesday and although we typically get 30 to 40 guests of
> which maybe 10 are new...  At most one or two of those new visitors show
> interest in membership.
>
> We hit a homerun (meaning someone really active long term) maybe once a
> month. So you have to find a way to play the numbers to get that one or two
> percent...
>
> The same numbers apply to the workshops. It actually takes a lot of work
> to make someone see the value of a community; we spend a lots of time
> explaining it one on one. And realistically, not everyone is in a situation
> where they can commit to such a community. But I've seen people join after
> months/years of the initial contact (!)
>
> A positive: I'm still astounded at the numbers of visitors that have never
> heard of Hackerspaces given the coverage we've got in the expat and Chinese
> press. So that's always lots of headroom!
>
> Another: people become more committed when something needs to get done and
> they do it. Helpful for a nascent community.
>
> good luck!
>
> Ricky
> On Jan 22, 2013 7:08 PM, "David Francos" <me at davidfrancos.net> wrote:
>
>> Hi there.
>> I'm from DegeneratedLabs, Zaragoza (Spain) Hackerspace.
>> It's probably the first time I write here, tought I've been lurking for a
>> while.
>>
>> We've got a 2-year old hackerspace here, with a nice-as-hell space, but
>> we've recently lost almost all of our members (three remaining, not much
>> money)
>>
>> We're thinking on alternative economic support stuff, we've got a few
>> nice things (a 3d printer, two floors (one of them mostly used as a
>> workshop and the other a a source for talks etc), lots of hardware, tools,
>> fridges coffe machines, a huge library...)
>>
>> Aside from that, we've got very poor access to people (We are currently
>> FOUR people!).
>>
>> We don't have a very good online image, but we're constantly moving it
>> IRL, trought talks and so on.
>>
>> Could you give us any guidance on how to proceed to avoid the
>> hackerspace's death? Is there any crisis plan developed that can be a
>> little generic to them?
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Discuss mailing list
>> Discuss at lists.hackerspaces.org
>> http://lists.hackerspaces.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
>>
>>


-- 
伍思力 | Ricky Ng-Adam | http://xinchejian.com | (+86) 186-2126-2521
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