The Next Normal

Have you been saying words like ‘when things go back to normal I will..?‘

In this McKinsey article ‘Beyond coronavirus: The Path to the next normal‘ the use of the term ‘the next normal‘ and how I see the future.

And this is what I’m scrambling to find out at the moment. 

I’m interviewing, podcasting, facilitating and reading non-stop about what is going to happen in the coworking industry. 

I’d love to be the person who comes up with THE answer, but it does not work like that. 

Coworking is a full-contact team game, and even with social distancing, we’re closer every day. 

People are craving community more than ever.

The need for connection is even stronger, and amid the horror and uncertainty, I adore how we’ve come together. 

Where were you when you heard about CoVID19?

The first time I heard about coronavirus was when I was lying in a hotel bed in Porto at the very beginning of January 2020. 

We’d spent Christmas with our family in Vigo, Spain and had stopped off in Porto on the way home for a couple of nights.

The only TV channel in English was BBC World, and they were showing pictures of a town called Wuhan.

The reporter talked about some outbreak thing, but I did not quite get it or pay attention. 

I was basking in the glory of all the Galician food I’d eaten in Vigo and things like that never happen in London. 

A few months later and I’m packing my essential gear into the boot of my mate Jan’s car and fleeing our coworking space to set up shop at home. 

That week we had a daily call with the London Coworking Assembly, each call had a strong air of what the “£u

Does anyone know? 

The current normal 

The community element kicked right away in our London Coworking Assembly world.

If you’ve been reading here for a few years, you’ll know what I mean when I say the Assembly #TAGtribe for coworking space operators. 

Others across the UK got invited to our calls. 

We connected with start-up and business groups, and self-organised into “save our local coworking“. 

Which is going from strength to strength and out of this is growing the UK Coworking Assembly. 

If you are an operator or know a coworking space send them to saveourlocalcoworking.co.uk.

Working together every week, at Tuesdays we have a catch-up call to share about save our local coworking.

Then on Thursdays, we have a call about marketing and comms – how to communicate our spaces in the crisis and how to be ready to open. 

This community spirit is all over Europe too. 

Every week we run a group call with Nexudus, Cobot and OfficeRnD to call to design support and help people reboot their coworking business. 

 

Everything for everyone.

The mighty Zeljko and I are podcasting like crazy over at the European Coworking Assembly. 

 

Recent episodes. 

 

Ed Goodman from Freelance Heroes on self-employed people and COVID in the UK – listen here.

Shazia from Third Door and David from Maple Works in London who are leading the charge on saveourlocalcoworking.co.uk – listen here.

Alex from Indy Hall on How to close your space in the COVID19 Pandemic – listen here.

Jo and Hector founder of the Coworking Libray who set up the Crisis Directory – listen here.

Stavros and Maria from The Cube in Athens who hosted a virtual Hackathon for Co-vid solutions – listen here.

This week we are recording with Laëtitia on the new normal. (Laëtitia writes one of THE best newsletters of the future of work) and Miryana, who is a researcher and works for OfficeRnD. 

Last week Pauline co-founder of Coworkies joined our webinar and shared with Zeljko how coworking spaces are surviving the COVID19 Pandemic. Watch for the replay here.

 

The next normal for Meet Up 

We’ve gathered all the Meet Up‘s I’ve had a hand in running into one group under the London Coworking Assembly. 

There are 1000’s of London based people in these groups that have met up in coworking spaces since 2010. 

We’ve held back on online events because the airwaves were overrun. 

Next, we’ll survey these people to see what will serve them best. 

There is a fantastic chance to build a strong sense of community, the ‘the next normal’ happens. 

Then we can get back to meeting offline in coworking spaces again.

 

Next up – The Coworking Symposium

 

Our biggest project right now is Coworking Symposium an online conference where the coworking Industry meets academia, again.

I’m working on the content with the 10 speakers to design their talks. 

Which is a blast because I get to deep dive into topics with super-smart people. 

Right now in the world, these topics are even more on the pulse. 

We are all working towards working out our lives, work and communities. 

And while we have deep uncertainty right now, we’ll be stronger than ever on the other side, in the next normal. 

Hit reply and let me know what you are reading about the next normal.