Cowork Frederick to Celebrate International Coworking Day Friday August 9

USA - English

• USA - English

FREDERICK, Md., July 30, 2019 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Friday August 9th, Cowork Frederick, along with other coworking communities around the world, will celebrate a movement that is changing how we work. That movement started 14 years ago with someone who was unhappy with his work situation and decided to create a new kind of space to support the community and structure that he hungered for. More on that below, see "About Coworking".

At Cowork Frederick, we will celebrate International Coworking Day with a nod to the daily routine established in the first coworking space. We will open our doors at 8:00 AM and gather for breakfast and a brief chat to share our goals for the day. Then everyone will grab a spot and hunker down to get some work done. To help, we'll join others around the world in doing work sprints (AKA Pomodoros), two in the morning (10:00 and 10:30 am) and two in the afternoon (2:00 and 2:30 pm). In between, we'll stretch our legs with a walk to a local restaurant for lunch. The day is considered the birthday of coworking so, of course there will be birthday cake. We'll break it out at 1:00 pm and also take a group picture. We'll end our work day at 5 pm with a happy hour and time to relax and socialize.

How you can help
We are seeking event sponsors in exchange for acknowledgement on our website event page, social media, and signs at the event and, of course, our deep gratitude. Contributions, either in kind or in cash, will be routed through the Cowork Frederick Foundation, a newly formed non-profit. The Foundation is awaiting its official 501(c)(3) status, which we expect to have before the end of the year. Assuming that happens (and we have no reason to believe it won't), receipts for tax-deductible donations will be mailed by December 31.

Here's what we need:

• A large cake (enough for 30 people) with "Happy Birthday, Coworking!" written on it
• Soft drinks (four 12-packs of cans)
• Breakfast fare for 20 with vegetarian/vegan
• Food for the happy hour (enough for 40 people)

The Cowork Frederick Foundation
The Cowork Frederick Foundation aims to help freelancers and entrepreneurs be more successful by creating ways for them to connect, learn, and create better businesses – and lives - together. The Foundation will do this through programs that harness the empowering energy of the Cowork Frederick community to foster and promote creativity, innovation, and opportunities that elevate small business in the Frederick area.

2020 will see the launch of several key programs.

• Immersion: This program aims to elevate social-impact for-profit and not-for-profit startup or fledgling organizations by covering the entire cost of a full time Cowork Frederick membership for up to two people for six months and then 50% of the cost for an additional six months.
• Lunch & Learn: A monthly brown bag event designed to build expertise, catapult the success of small businesses, and ensure equitable access to knowledge. Topics will vary: contract basics, marketing strategy, budgeting, keeping your focus, riding out the rough times, etc. Experts from all walks of life will share their experience and expertise in a 45-minute educational talk, then will engage participants in

active conversation for up to 30 minutes. The event is designed to spark inclusive conversation and circulate the abundance of knowledge within Frederick's entrepreneurial community.

• Frederick All Creatives Event (FACE): Creativity and business merge in this all-day First Saturday that starts with educational talks and/or round tables focused on the business side of creativity or how creativity is essential to business and ends with Frederick Artists Night that showcases Frederick County artists with an art exhibit, music, and spoken word open mic. Emphasis is placed on providing a venue for new artists to gain exposure and experience sharing their work in supportive environment.

About Coworking
It all started in 2005 in San Francisco with a guy named Brad Neuberg. Having worked for himself (alone) and also as an employee and not being happy with either, Brad decided to create something that would provide the community and the structure that he hungered for. He called it "coworking" (no hyphen). An August 9 blog post announced, "This week is the first week of coworking, something I am setting up.", and he went on to describe the problem coworking would solve:

"Traditionally, society forces us to choose between working at home for ourselves or working at an office for a company. If we work at a traditional 9 to 5 company job, we get community and structure, but lose freedom and the ability to control our own lives. If we work for ourselves at home, we gain independence but suffer loneliness and bad habits from not being surrounded by a work community."

Brad invited "free spirits and creators" to "come together in community, sitting at tables or relaxing on couches as we do our work." and noted that "even though each of us is doing separate work, perhaps programming or writing a novel, we can feel each other's presence, run ideas by the community, or take breaks together at the watercooler."

It was about much more than a desk. It was about connecting with and helping others and a way of working that is healthier and happier. Today, for many coworking communities, the essence of coworking remains remarkably true to Brad's vision. A 2018 global study conducted by Emergent Research revealed:

• There are over 14,000 coworking spaces (differentiated from telework centers and office suites).
• Independently owned and operated spaces (like Cowork Frederick) make up 93% of them.
• Over 1 million people are coworking members in those spaces.
• 89% of people using coworking spaces reported being happier as a product of working in a shared space
• 84% are more engaged and motivated.
• 73% of the people polled say they maintain their sanity through coworking.
• 83% those polled reported being less lonely.

Locally, and globally, we coworkers are a community of forward-thinkers, innovators and game-changers paving the way for the future of work. While we were collaborating, connecting, and contributing to each other, we were also building a platform for change.

SOURCE Cowork Frederick