How to Strengthen Your Community and Make It Irresistible—Without the Corporate BS
AI, Inclusive Design, and Unreasonable Hospitality: The Key to Building Relationships That Light Up the Room
So Reader,
The past few weeks have revolved around community, culture, connection, and the invisible glue that holds them together—social capital.
Building relationships and trust isn’t just helpful in coworking, business, and life—it’s the foundation of everything we do together.
But let’s be honest—so much of the community-building talk out there is just corporate Orwellian business speak—a consumerised version of community that feels hollow.
Now, more than ever, I believe people are looking for something real, something deeper, which is why we’re so invested in the citizenship conversation at the London Coworking Assembly.
It churns my stomach to see individuals in our industry speak about the community while actively supporting political movements that dehumanise people, particularly those in marginalised communities and lower economic brackets.
As Josh Johnson perfectly puts it, “If you make your obsessions community, culture, connection, and compassion, then there is a way forward.”
Our next step is on February 26th and 27th, the London Coworking Assembly will host three workshops at the Workspace Design Show London.
(See below how to attend.)
I know 90% of you reading this won’t be coming, but I’m sharing this because a lot of it is stuff you can take and use right now, wherever you are
We love putting these workshops together to share ideas, listen, learn, and cut through the high-level talk.
These sessions are designed for people working at the street level.
We want you to keep connecting, get practical, and use what you learn when you return to your space.
As always, our events aren’t your typical industry man-els and panels of infomercials thinly disguised as content,
We’ll be delving into AI, inclusive design, and unreasonable hospitality—the tools you need to bolster social capital, forge lasting connections in your coworking space, save time, and make your community irresistible.
One of these workshops will also help you plan your European Coworking Day event, using real-world AI tools to design, market, and communicate your event effectively.
📍 Attend the London Coworking Assembly Workshops @ Workspace Design Show London
📅 February 26th & 27th
✅ How to attend the Workspace Design Show:
👉 Anyone can attend the Workspace Design Show London—you do not need to sign up for our newsletter to get a general event pass.
✅ How to get access to our exclusive coworking workshops:
👉 Sign up for the London Coworking Assembly newsletter—this is the only way to get access to our workshops.
👉 Get first access to all future coworking events we host.
🔗 Sign up now to get your workshop invite
🎁 Bonus: Get the free email course—"5 Biggest Mistakes Coworking Community Builders Make (And How to Avoid Them)."
✅ The Community Builder Cohort is Open—Only 4 Spots!
If you own or run a coworking space, you already know the deal:
You’re the marketer, the community manager, the event planner, the tech support, the cleaner—and, on a bad day, the one unclogging the toilet.
You didn’t sign up for this chaos, but here you are, juggling everything and wondering when you’ll have time to focus on growing your space instead of keeping the lights on.
That’s precisely why Emily and I created the Coworking Community Builder Cohort.
This 12-week working group is where you stop figuring it all out alone and start building systems, strategies, and workflows that make running your space smoother, easier, and more sustainable.
✔️ Stop spinning your wheels—we’ll help you put real systems in place.
✔️ Get more engaged members—so your space runs on community, not just desks.
✔️ Make marketing suck less—learn what works for small, independent spaces.
🚀 We kick off the first week of March.
There are only four spots in each Cohort.
✅ If you’ve followed along for the last few months, you already know this is for you.
1️⃣ How to Use AI to Plan and Execute Real Events
📍 Workshop: AI for Everyday Coworking Tasks with Kofi Oppong & Bernie Mitchell (me!)
AI in Coworking: More Noise, Less Use
My POV - 99% of the AI conversation in coworking is absolute bollocks.
- Big ideas.
- Lofty theories.
- More "thought leadership" than actual leadership.
You’ve seen the man-els and panels, the LinkedIn posts, the breathless predictions about AI revolutionising work from people who haven’t had to chase down an unpaid invoice or book a handyperson in years.
Meanwhile, the people holding coworking spaces together with duct tape and sheer willpower—juggling emails, chasing down repairs, and keeping members happy—are drowning.
You’d think AI could take the pressure off.
But if you’re knee-deep in running a coworking space, good luck finding advice that isn’t just vague promises and keynote buzzwords.
More than once, I’ve seen an owner return from a conference buzzing about new tech, dump it on the community manager, and call it 'game-changing.'
Meanwhile, the Wi-Fi is down again because the owner wouldn't pay for it when the community manager said it needed fixing.
Here’s the reality:
- No one ever sat you down and taught you how to use email, yet now it runs your life. AI is the same—it’s just another tool.
- If you use it right, you’ll save at least 8-10 hours a week—enough to finally breathe between running events, marketing your space, and keeping your members happy.
- Running events? AI can save you 10-12 hours per event—from writing emails and social posts and organising spreadsheets to working faster in apps like Grammarly and Canva. That’s an entire workday back to focus on something that matters.
The difference? We’re not here to give you another lecture.
We’re here to collaborate, use these tools in real-time, and determine what works for coworking operators—the people on the ground, not just those on the conference stage.
Join us if you’re done with the noise and ready to use AI to make your life easier.
Practical Takeaway:
AI isn’t about revolutionising your world overnight—it’s about saving you time on repetitive tasks that already take up too much of your day.
Tools like ChatGPT can help you draft emails, automate responses, and analyse reports faster than ever.
In addition, this workshop will teach you how to plan and execute your European Coworking Day event using AI to design, market, and communicate the event seamlessly.
2️⃣ Designing for Everyone: Inclusive Space Design
📍 Workshop: Inclusive Space Design with Amy & Guenaelle from 360 Workplace
Inclusive design isn’t just about adding ramps or broader doorways—it’s about creating spaces that work for everyone at every stage of your coworking space’s life cycle.
In this interactive workshop, Amy and Guenaelle will use real-world examples from their work with Urban MBA to show how to consider inclusivity from the start of your coworking space until it reaches full capacity.
Key Takeaways:
- How to design inclusive spaces, whether starting from scratch or refining an existing space.
- The Urban MBA case study shows how small, thoughtful changes can make a space feel more welcoming and accessible, regardless of stage.
- Interactive discussion with fellow coworking leaders to identify opportunities to make small, impactful changes to your space.
💡 What you can do now:
Even if you can’t attend the workshop, you can start thinking about how your space could be more inclusive by considering these three questions:
- Are you designing for different working styles (e.g., quiet zones, collaborative areas)?
- Does your space accommodate neurodiverse individuals and accessibility needs?
- How can you adapt your space to cater to people at different stages of their business lifecycle (e.g., new freelancers, growing teams, established businesses)?
3️⃣ Unreasonable Hospitality: Making Members Feel Like Family
📍 Workshop: Unreasonable Hospitality for Coworking with Sonya Whittam & Julie Firth
Unreasonable hospitality is about creating an experience that makes people feel valued, seen, and connected—just like the social capital we’ve discussed.
It’s about moving beyond the basics of customer service and fostering genuine relationships with your members.
Sonya and Julie, StoryBrand Guides and Certified Coaches in Will Guidara’s Unreasonable Hospitality framework bring expert insight into how coworking spaces can weave hospitality into a community's fabric.
In this interactive workshop, you’ll learn how to turn every interaction into an opportunity to create raving fans.
Key Takeaways:
- How can small, meaningful gestures be made to impact member satisfaction and loyalty?
- Real-world strategies to embed hospitality into the core of your coworking space.
- Peer feedback from fellow coworking peers helps you discover new ideas and insights you can immediately implement.
💡 What you can do now:
Think about a tiny touchpoint in your space that could be elevated—whether it’s a thoughtful welcome or publicly acknowledging members for their contributions. Small actions often make the most significant difference.
One More Thing: Keep the Conversation Going
You’re here because some form of community and connection is vital to you.
Some of you have been reading the evolutions of my weekly newsletter here for fifteen years!
Sometimes, it is ‘about me,’ but most of the time, it is about people, community, and the connections that make being alive fun and meaningful.
That’s why we host these workshops—to cut through the noise, bring people together, and figure out what works for coworking community builders at the street level.
But whether you can attend the Workspace Design Show or not, this conversation doesn’t end here.
📩 Stay connected with us.
We don’t just share what’s happening—we guide you to the people, ideas, and tools that save you time and make coworking better.
🎤 Join more of these conversations.
We're hosting more online meetups, such as the next Unreasonable Connection session, to maintain momentum after the Workspace Design Show.
📍 Be part of a bigger movement.
AI, inclusive design, and hospitality aren’t just event topics—they’re the tools we use to build stronger, more connected coworking spaces in 2025 and beyond.
🔬Currently, we are digging into these topics:
- Small-Town Coworking Communities: Highlight how hospitality is vital in creating welcoming, tight-knit coworking spaces in smaller towns, where relationships are often more personal and community-driven.
- Email Marketing: Emphasize how genuine hospitality translates into stronger member connections, which can be nurtured through personalized, engaging email communications.
- Coworking and Citizenship: Connect hospitality to the idea of coworking spaces as community hubs, encouraging local involvement and fostering a sense of belonging for all members.
- Family and Childcare: Address how hospitality extends to creating inclusive environments for parents and caregivers and ensuring their needs are met.
If any of this resonates with you, we’d love for you to stay in the loop, join the discussions, and find your people here 👉 Sign up for the London Coworking Assembly newsletter and get your invite.
📍 Attend the London Coworking Assembly Workshops @ Workspace Design Show London
📅 February 26th & 27th
✅ How to attend the Workspace Design Show:
👉 Anyone can attend the Workspace Design Show London—you do not need to sign up for our newsletter to get a general event pass.
✅ How to get access to our exclusive coworking workshops:
👉 Sign up for the London Coworking Assembly newsletter—this is the only way to access our workshops.
👉 Get first access to all future coworking meet-ups we host.
🔗 Sign up now to get your workshop invite
🎁 Bonus: Get the free email course—"5 Biggest Mistakes Coworking Community Builders Make (And How to Avoid Them)."
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