2020 Goal Setting With The London Coworking Assembly

• The London Coworking Assembly is a knowledge-sharing hub for anyone involved with coworking in London, UK.
• Coworking champion Bernie J Mitchell leads the Assembly and is committed to building a community that cherishes fairness, inclusivity and diversity.
• Allwork.Space attended the Assembly’s January breakfast meetup held at The Ministry, to find out more about their vision for 2020.

If you happen to be a London coworking operator, placemaker, manager or [insert job title here] and haven’t heard of the London Coworking Assembly yet, where have you been?

Gather round. 

The London Coworking Assembly is a sweet find for anyone working in or around the industry. With coworking champion Bernie J Mitchell at the helm, the Assembly is a small – but very much growing – group of coworking people committed to building a community that cherishes fairness, inclusivity and diversity. 

The Assembly can also be used as a space for bouncing new ideas around or simply as a sounding board for venting frustrations. Oh, and it’s free which is obviously a bonus.

Once a month the Assembly meets in a different coworking space to share success stories and chat about challenges. January 2020’s meetup took place in The Ministry in Borough –  a “curated community” for creatives by the Ministry of Sound.

We tagged along to find out more about London Coworking Assembly (and couldn’t resist having a nosy around The Ministry while we were there).

Anyway, back to the London Coworking Assembly highlights. 

1. Raising the public’s awareness of coworking

Collectively, there are more independent coworking spaces in London than there are large coworking brands. Yet the average Joanne on the street doesn’t know that – yet. One of the Assembly’s goals this year is to get independent coworking embedded into the public consciousness. Start spreading the word by using the hashtag #coworkinglondon.

2. Join the Coworking Assembly LinkedIn Group

London Coworking Assembly is open to anyone (who’s passionate about coworking). Bernie is looking to expand its membership base in 2020. Request to join here.

FYI: The Coworking Breakfast takes place on the third Tuesday of every month. 

3. Come along to Silicon Drinkabout

Silicon Drinkabout is an informal networking meetup for dabblers in the tech and/or startup scene and is run by volunteers. You can RSVP to the next one here. Network, chat, vent, socialise, or simply enjoy a post-work beverage with interesting people.

4. An eye on underutilised spaces

WeCoffee attended the breakfast and is bang on trend at the moment. Why? Because they’re making spaces that are underutilised at specific times available for freelancers to cowork in. Venues listed on its platform include a Reference Library and Dalston Superstore.

Check out our interview with the guys from AndCo who are doing something similar.

5. London’s Workspace Advisory Group

Shazia Mustafa, the mastermind behind London’s first coworking space with childcare, is a member of the London Workspace Advisory Group. WAG is an advisory body to the Deputy Mayor and the London Economic Action Partnership (LEAP).

Watch this space for information on the Affordable Workspace Accreditation Scheme that London operators can get involved in.

6. East London Coworking Alliance 

The East London Coworking Alliance has been set up this year to raise awareness of coworking among young people and diverse groups in East London (from Stratford to Whitechapel, specifically). 

The first session will involve a collaborative map jamming session. Get in touch if you’re an East London coworking person and would like to participate or host a meetup.

7. The Coworking Library

The Coworking Library is such an amazing find. This remarkably rich resource is an interdisciplinary open online database that houses all current and former research about coworking. It’s free to access so get reading!

8. National Coworking Day in the UK

A date for your diary. Friday 5th June is National Coworking Day in the UK, and London Coworking Assembly is looking to partner with coworking spaces to promote it (and you). The day fell a bit flat last year so let’s work together to make this one memorable. 

9. Urban MBA

Founded by Kofi Oppong, Urban MBA is an award winning charity that delivers enterprise and employability training to young adults who aren’t in education, employment or training. Urban MBA is partnering with London Coworking Alliance to focus on the problem of lack of diversity in coworking. How can we make our spaces and industry truly inclusive? 

A huge thanks to London Coworking Assembly (particularly Bernie) and The Ministry for hosting us. Fancy popping along to the February Coworking Breakfast? Sign up here.