Space on Tap at the first Northumberland Supplier Expo 19th July

Space on Tap will be at the 1st Northumberland Supplier Expo on Tuesday 19th July.

Organised by Northumberland College, the event will take place at Kirkley Hall in Northumberland - a stunning location.  As well as exhibiting on the day, and meeting with all of our followers, members and associates, we're also speaking at 10.30 about one of our favourite topics, Co-working, and why it's good for small and home-based businesses.






This is a free to attend event running from 10 am until 4 pm.

Come and find us on the day and enter our free draw to have a chance to win a great book 'Go Global' by Enterprise Nation's Emma Jones, featuring lots of home-based businesses that are trading across the world, many from their kitchen tables!  Or opt for a free place at our Colleagues on Tap co-working day at Shepherds Dene Retreat Centre in Ridings Mill in September.

For more information contact claire.baker@northland.ac.uk or call her Clare on 01670 841268

Space on Tap's Culture for Success

We've been getting some great feedback from our customers - businesses that have space (that we're helping people to find through www.spaceontap.com), as well as homeworkers, freelancers and people who are looking for their perfect places across the region.  

Prompted by our customers, Space on Tap recently entered the Culture for Success Awards 2011, and we're delighted that we've now been shortlisted!  We're looking forward to finding out how we've done in the final countdown this Thursday 7th April at a ceremony taking place at Northern Stage in Newcastle.

Here's a quote from Dr Anne Allen, on behalf of Barnard Castle Vision, who was kind enough to support our application with her feedback on the service we've provided to NeST in Barnard Castle. 

The Vision Delivery Team have asked me to convey our thanks for the time you have taken to support the new studios and Digital Hub at NeST. We have been impressed by the Space on Tap service (in particular the website service and your use of social media and e-newsletters) and also by your enthusiasm to understand and support the project. The help you’ve shown [the manager] – in giving her ideas about hosting coworking days and promoting the benefit of networking, laptop clinics etc has gone beyond what we expected.

As you know NeST is one of several ‘Digital City’ satellites. A £6 million new HUB for digital and creative businesses is now under construction at Redcar. Space on Tap is at the forefront of the thinking and promotion of these new ‘work hubs’ – and office services – virtual office, hotdesking, co-working, shared offices and studios. I value your guidance and references to relevant research and case studies for these flexible workspaces for microbusinesses, homeworkers and companies that permit homeshoring.

Many new and young businesses struggle to understand the benefits of working in a shared office

environment. The Colleagues on Tap days are a brilliant introduction to the benefits of co-working and the advantages of having access to a number of workplaces for people who work across the region.

We have examples already at NeST of businesses who are now working together and others that have won new contracts as a result of the hotdesking membership and workshop activities that have been promoted through Space on Tap.

We wish you every success with the venture and look forward to continuing to work with you.

Dr Anne Allen

Let's talk about co-working

A real interest in co-working has started to develop in the North East.
Space on Tap's Colleagues on Tap co-working days have proven to be a popular addition to traditional networking activity, providing the opportunity for people who usually work from home, or in a small team, to work alongside new colleagues for the day in 'pop-up' offices set up in a whole host of locations across the region.  It has to be said that the Northern part of the region has seen greater take-up so far, although we have now started to receive some interest from business people in the Tees Valley and Durham areas too, and our Spring 2011 programme spans the region from Ridings Mill in Northumberland to Stokesley in Tees Valley/North Yorks.  More details here.

So, let's talk about co-working.  If you want to know more about co-working just ask in the comments section below or email us at enquiries@spaceontap.com

We'd also love to gather your COMMENTS / IDEAS / THOUGHTS about co-working.  Here are a few questions to start you off:

- What's most important in co-working - the space or the people?


- What are the 3 features a co-working space would need to have to make you want to go there?


- What would you prefer, a 'co-working event' or a 'co-working space'?


- Would you be interested in joining a co-working network?


- What's better for personal and/or business development - co-working or networking?


- Is co-working for people who work alone, or could larger organisations benefit from it too?

Thanks for contributing :)
Jayne

Co-working's great for homeworkers

On Wednesday 21st July Space on Tap holds its 2nd Colleagues on Tap day, bringing together a group of homeworkers to a central workspace to, well, just work! This time our host's the state of the art evolve Business Centre near Durham and Sunderland, and we've all sorts of other events planned at great places in August and September.

We're really looking forward to Wednesday. The first Colleagues on Tap day really was a great day at Newcastle Business Village in Benton - 9 of us altogether. This is not a massive event - it doesn't need to be - it just needs a few people working in the same workspace to be effective. Some co-working days have 6, others have 25 - depending on anything from the venue to the weather!

We're expecting between 6 and 10 lovely people to join us this Wednesday (there are still places left so you can book here), and for £12 they'll get use of a workspace with wi-fi for the day, a fab lunch in evolve's e-bistro with their new found 'colleagues', and a SpoT chat in the afternoon with Heather Baxter from Marketing Geni, to get underneath how best to use Twitter and other online social media for business. The June SpoT chat with Vicki Stone Marketing was so useful, with everyone going away with at least a couple of new techniques to try out, and the whole group was able to share their experiences, from absolute novices through to seasoned professionals. So we're looking forward to finding out more from Heather! Find our more and reserve your place

Why's co-working great for homeworkers? We all need a change of scene now and again, and no more so when we work at home - you can get too much of a good thing! This really is a working day - just in a different location - so the great news is that you can still come if you're busy! You can't say that of most events, can you :)