Coworking Spaces with Cozy Community

Things are growing great at Collective Agency and so many good things have happened. Joy-filled updates below.

Our yearly Christmas party is December 8, from 5-8pm. You’re invited!

Thank you for referring new members! 
Out of 5 people who came by last week, 4 people signed up as new members and almost everyone who signed up was referred. Reviews and referrals are always helpful. We’re on Yelp, Google, Twitter, Facebook.

Open workplace – the Collective Agency vision of coworking
We are an open workplace. What that means is we have an open floorplan and everything here, all of the furniture and equipment, is for everybody to use. We’ve found people are much more joyous with an open workplace than with any other way of working.

“I’ve been working at Collective Agency since I moved to Portland in June 2013. I love my commute over the bridge, I love coming in and seeing busy happy people. I’m on phone calls often and have the space available for privacy. I’m broadened by the community here.” -Stefanie, Member Interview and Review

Members here value productive work, socializing and community activities at their workplace. Friendships, learning, inspiration, in-depth open conversations with laughter are largely what defines a successful event and a great day here.

“Friendship. I was surprised that this was such a high value for a workplace, but since seeing this, I’ve started to expect it here.” -Alex, Values that Members have here for Coworking

Membership is $250 per month or $2,500 when prepaid for 12 months.

People come here to work alongside other inspired self-motivated people. Collective Agency is the coziest, best-rated, most open and friendly coworking place in Portland. We’ve been open since 2011.

“The feedback I’ve gotten so far has been invaluable, and I’ve gotten some unexpected advice from those who have gone down the publishing and self-publishing paths already.” -Meryl, Added Value: Getting Feedback at Project Sharing Workshops

Many of us eat lunch and talk on the sofas here each day. There are weekly activities. Most of the time people are productively working.

“This was an epiphany moment for me, I liked it, a lot.” -Heather, Why I Brought my Sewing Machine to Work and Espresso-Making Workshop

Sign up online for membership: Monthly or 12 months prepaid

Happy Thanksgiving, Alex

To get the newsletter, type in your email address here: https://collectiveagency.co/newsletter

Stefanie Zasyatkina, Director, InReach Solutions.

What’s something you’re passionate about?

I’m passionate about cooking, being outside, playing with my boy, and trying to make a difference:  feeling I’m of service to other humans.

What are you working on when you’re here?

I’m rarely here. But I work a lot on accounting and support work. What am I doing here today? I try to use this as a thinking forum to better my service to the clients.

What’s a memorable or valuable experience you’ve had at Collective Agency, and why?

The memorable experiences are the parties, the dancing. It brings together all the people, it loosens everybody up, it makes everybody feel more free. Even if you feel free with your work, the parties give you another side to people that you don’t normally see.

What’s something non-work-related that you’ve been learning lately?

This week I learned how to screw hooks. I made myself a little hook hanger. I thought that was fun. I’ve got some jewelry here; I’m going to try to learn jewelry making in a little bit. And I pruned an apple tree this weekend. It was great. I have bruises, I was crawling, hanging on. And I think I did it well.

Why do you work at Collective Agency?

I like it. It’s a good vibe. It’s bright. There’s lots of people always doing things. I like Collective Agency being downtown because it allows me to cross the river and change my scene. I like a place to be downtown so that I can park my bike and just walk around and be downtown and have a safe space.

What question would you like me to ask you, and what’s your answer?

Ask me how I am. I think you always do that too, ‘How are you doing?’, and that makes me feel welcome. And my answer right now? I’m feeling good. I bike downtown here — it’s a change of scene — in the rain, I feel like a badass.

[Heather joins in:] It’s pretty badass.

Stefanie: So it makes me happy.

Co-working for me has always meant working alongside people. It’s the opposite of networking. I get to know how people are, and they get to know me, by working alongside. And then we go to lunch. Or happy hour. Or somehow a conversation starts. And people, by socializing here, often feel inspired, and often become friends.

Recently a member, Ben, who’s visiting from Dropbox to study how we work here, was asking me about collaboration. I’ve always said I value cooperation more than collaboration, and what is the definition of collaboration, anyway? But it got me thinking. And these are some great photos of collaboration, which most often happen here consistently when people are working at the same company or on the same paid project. I love when there are different conversations happening in various groups here at the same time. Pictured: people working here via the American Marketing Association, Portland chapter (AMAPDX).

I will start off with the disclaimer that I am not a coffee person, I have always preferred tea, but I was curious about the new espresso maker, so I attended the workshop with the hopes of demystifying the machine and learning some of its secrets. Kenneth was a great teacher, his enthusiasm and showmanship made the class a lot of fun. Afterwords some of us were still playing around with the machine and Tom made two shots that he said were his best yet. He offered me one, how could I say no? This was an epiphany moment for me, I liked it, a lot. Tea is still my drink of choice, but my horizons have now been expanded to appreciate espresso as well, thank you Kenneth and Tom!

-Heather

All photos except the last photo in the blog post are by Ankur Dholakia, @photoscribbler

This calendar is printed at Collective Agency for members, and is shared here so you can see some of the community activities.

Hi all, September events for Collective Agency members are at: https://collectiveagency.co/events/2015-09/

As always, bringing family and friends is great.

Starting in September, Kenneth will be staffing here — (and continuing to lead the works-in-progress and being here generally as a member at other times), and Heather will be staffing –. I’m very happy with how everything’s going here. And I’m eager for these upcoming events!

Sunday Aug 30^th • 10:30am-7:30pm 
Ed’s Bike Move and BBQ

Ed writes to other Collective Agency members:

“I’m having a bike move starting 10:30am at — from 2pm-7:30pm. You and friends are invited to either or both!”

Wednesday Sept 2^nd • 2-2:30pm
Optional Member Meeting

On the first Wednesday of every month for half an hour, we talk about what we like here and what we’d like to be even better.
The agenda:

1) Go around, say your name and something you’re passionate about in 30 seconds or less. (5 minutes)
2) What are some things you’d like to do or see at Collective Agency? What’s something you’re passionate about that you’d like to share with other members?
Then we’ll talk about the planned events on the calendar. (25 minutes)

Optional member meetings have led to many happy hours and other events as well as improvements here.

Thursday Sept 3^rd • 5-7pm
Game Night Happy Hour

Last month we had Collective Agency’s first game night happy hour. We had Pictionary, Chess, Charades, along with some great food and drinks and guessing and laughter. There will be beer and wine (we have extras from the last happy hour). Games might include: Team Chess with 2 boards, Quoridor, Catchphrase, Scotlandyard… and what else?

Bring in any games you’d like to share and play. Cooperative, cozy and inspiring might be some of the values for the games. Bringing people you like is great.

Monday Sept 7th
Labor Day – Staff Holiday

Federal holiday and a staff holiday; we’ll be closed to the public but as always, members have 24/7 access.

Tuesday Sept 8^th • 2pm-2:40pm
Works-In-Progress Sharing

Meryl, Ankur, and Heather have RSVP’d to present. We could have room for 1 more person this week. And we have room for more people next time.

We’ll meet in the SW Conference Room. Share what you’re working on (and/or caring about) this week, and get input on the current version or a new part of something you’re passionate about. Share the same thing you shared last time, but updated. Or share something new that you’re thinking about and caring about and want input on. Or just come and hear what other members are working on and share how you relate to it.

4 Tuesdays, Sept 8-29 • 7pm-8:30pm
Behavioral Economics Workshop, Portland Undergraduate Grad School

Space limited to 14 students. $62 total. Register:

http://www.pugspdx.com/behavioral-economics/

Taught by Douglas Tsoi, Founder of PUGS, J.D. NYU School of Law. Why do seemingly rational people make irrational financial decisions? What triggers the impulse to ignore common sense and act against our self-interest? The emerging field of behavioral economics studies the predictably irrational financial behavior. We’ll examine how people fall into common patterns of thinking in how we spend, save, borrow, invest, and waste money. We’ll also talk about how our family histories play into how we understand and value money. This fun and interactive course will open your eyes to how you can better make better financial decisions.

Thursday Sept 10^th • 6pm-8pm
Chapman Swifts: Thousands of birds fly into a chimney, watched by hundreds of people

We’ll have a picnic on the grassy hillside, and watch thousands of birds make dot patterns in the sky, usually with a hawk in the sky too. 20 of us had a picnic there last year. It’s one of the most fascinating beautiful things. There will be many people there, so you can call Alex’s cellphone: (503) 369-9174 to find us.

More info on the swifts at: http://audubonportland.org/local-birding/swiftwatch

P.S. Around 5:30pm some of us will bicycle over from Collective Agency so you could meet here and go over with us; it’s a 15 minute bike ride. And if you’re there on the hillside with other groups with friends, come and say hi! It lasts until 8pm, and then maybe we’ll get drinks at Lucky Lab nearby on 1945 NW Quimby. Hundreds of people watch, picnic-style (picnic blankets and food). Bring friends and family, and friends-of-friends are invited too.

RSVP on the FB page – the link is on this event’s https://collectiveagency.co/events page.

Tuesday Sept 15^th 5-8pm
Closing the Customer Gap. A SilverPop event. Big Loft Room rental.

We’ll have a large user group in the big loft room as a paid rental; at 5pm staff will start moving chairs and wiping down tables in the big loft room. As always, members have unlimited conference room access during event rentals. (And if it’s ever desired to have fewer event rentals, we can do that too, just let Alex know what you prefer.) Members are welcome to come to the event.

RSVP: http://pages.silverpop.com/PRT_Janrain_CMD_Sep_2015/

Only 44% of marketers are confident they know which channels customers prefer. Even fewer are confident how often (37%) and when customers want communications (34%), according to a 2015 Econsultancy and IBM Marketing Cloud study. Join our star-studded panel for an interactive discussion around

• How to connect your marketing stack to enable more responsive marketing
• How to mine your data for actionable insights
• How top performing companies in Portland (and nationally) are closing the customer experience gap

Panel:

• Kevin Murphy, Director of Digital Strategy at CMD
• Jamie Beckland, VP of Marketing at Janrain
• Hannah Egan, Product Strategy for IBM Marketing Cloud

Tuesday Sept 22^nd • 2-2:40pm
Works-In-Progress Sharing

RSVP to let us know if you want to present something you’re working on.