[hackerspaces] Who currently has the best, most functional hackerspace model?

[dosman]

A couple things to consider on this specific topic. My experience is that things go slower than desired on most hackerspace projects, but they do happen as there is time+demand, you just have to be ok with that. If people want to get involved and help they will, if no one wants to do the work then it’s left to the few that do the work as they have time. Lots of administrative stuff was done by me because it saved me tons of time in the long-run (invoicing automation, nag email automation, membership processing automation, etc). Unless it’s causing a serious detriment to the group I don’t worry about timelines for most projects though. Exceptions would be things like physically moving spaces and other urgent matters that affect all members.

As for member churn, we have a google questionnaire form that automatically goes out when memberships end. Most people for our group leave for lack of free time to use their memberships, moving away, etc. but sometimes we do get good feedback that something was wrong we didn’t know about. I have another questionnaire i am about to deploy to new members after they have joined for a few months to get a fresh angle we might be missing. But I’m a survey and spreadsheet nerd, so that’s my desire.

Thanks,
-dosman


> On Jul 5, 2016, at 8:25 AM, Shirley Hicks <shirley at velochicdesign.com> wrote:
> 
> We’ve adopted as many of the hackerspace patterns as possible, but are a bit hung up reaching long-term financial sustainability due to member churn. The space we selected to start in required a lot of work and it has burned some members out. Given our community, we also have a shortage of members with some of the key skills that make setting up systems (IT, business) go faster, so that has taken some time. Getting there now. 
> 
> We’re also dealing with some  in-group/outgroup issues - mainly between those who’ve been trained in other environments to work tightly as a group (HAM, emergency ops, military) and those who have not.
> 
>> 
> — Shirley
> RMM, Birmingham, AL
> 
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