Agenda: Friday August 28th
Funding your coworking operations as you grow.
8:30-10am - Arrival & light breakfast provided on floor 5.
10am-10:30 am - Welcome tour of Bamboo Grand Rapids
Amanda Lewan, CEO of Bamboo, will share a preview of their 40,000 sq ft coworking and events center, including an overview of the financing and sales strategy.
11am - Community-Led Funding Models
What are the right ways to fund your growth? We’ll hear from operators on how they’ve started and scaled, borrowing, and inviting the community to participate as investors. Speakers: Jonny Price, President of Wefunder.
Noon - Reviewing your Revenue Stack
What are the revenue streams your model should grow? Learn the trends leveraging referrals, rental streams, and ways to stabilize or scale revenue. Speakers: Ginger Dhaliwal, Chief Product Officer of Upflex, (moderator) DeShawn Brown CEO of Coworks, and Justin Law CTO of Flexspace.
1pm - Lunch break on floor 5, with indoor and outdoor seating. Lunch provided.
2-3pm: Workshop Breakout Sessions
2pm: AI and Your Operations
Join Operations Consultant Samantha Riel for a live working session building with AI to improve your operations.
2pm: Office Hours on Claude Code
Office Hours with Tim Haines of Unicorn Flames on how to utilize Claude for your operations.
3-4:30pm - Unconference - Led by DeShawn
Back in high-demand, time to break out and rotate between tables and groups tackling problems or ideas with peers.
*Happy Hour a collective 5-7pm at Sanches, in partnership with Flexspace.
Tentative Agenda: Saturday, August 29th
A day for community care and innovation.
8:30-10am - Arrival & light breakfast provided.
10am-10:45 am - Community Beyond Four Walls
Many coworking spaces operate as community hubs. Join a panel of operators to discuss how we participate in our communities both internally fostering community care and externally as partners in neighborhoods, ecosystems, or fostering economic development. Speakers: Ally Baird, Community Director at Bamboo, Gina Schreck of The Village, and (moderator) Jackie Latranga of Blankspaces.
11am-Noon - Start to Scale: Future Planning
Whether it’s scaling utilizing tools and data, choosing franchising, or selling to new leadership, this panel will help you discuss and plan your future. Speakers: Craig Baute Founder of Denswap, Alison Rogers of The Coven, Jaime Munoz of CO+HOOTs, and (moderator) Amanda Lewan of Bamboo.
Noon - 1pm: Building Brand Identities in Crowded Markets
Whether it’s honing in on your brand or deciding to focus on a unique audience or offering, we’ll discuss the different ways operators create strong and unique brands. Speakers: Ariel Wan of The Mamas Network, operator Ashley Proctor, and (moderator) Jackie Latranga of Blankspaces.
1pm - Lunch break on floor 5, with indoor and outdoor seating. Lunch provided.
2-3pm: Workshop Breakout Sessions
2pm - Building a Financial Pro Forma
Join Jerome Chang, CEO of Blankspaces, and a special guest to build a financial model together, fueled by community requests and questions to help you plan a future location(s).
2pm - Using AI Pragmatically in Your Coworking Space to Grow Faster.
Join Sam Rosen of Yardi/Deskpass, as he walks you through pragmatic ways to use AI to grow faster.
3-4:30pm - Unconference - Led by DeShawn
Back in high-demand, time to break out and rotate between tables and groups tackling problems or ideas with peers.
4:30pm: Closing Time
*Breakout happy hour or activity nearby, self-organized and self-funded.