Co-working: Nothing ventured, nothing gained! Guest blogger with the Society of VAs

I'm delighted this month to have been asked to be a Guest blogger for the Society of Virtual Assistants.

CLICK HERE to read my blog post Co-working: Nothing venture, nothing gained! 

Homeworkers chat about making money from social media at co-working day

Shepherds Dene

Wednesday 29th September witnessed our long-awaited Colleagues on Tap co-working day at Shepherds Dene Retreat in Ridings Mill, Northumberland.

The beautiful sunny day defied the late September date for the event, temperatures reaching 28C during the day!

The windows of our 'pop-up office' for the day were opened, allowing us to take in the full impact of the breathtaking  views while we worked, and to savour the crisp, clean air of the Tyne Valley.

The new environment inspired productivity, as laptops were fired up and all involved were heads down getting on with their day's work (some had completed everything they'd brought for the day by lunchtime - a lesson for the future!).

Lunch was tasty, homemade fayre served in the dining room, enjoyed while getting acquainted with fellow co-workers.  As usual an eclectic and interesting mix of people.  A web designer, 2 accountants, a writer, an IT consultant, a well-being through movement coach, a marketing consultant, a virtual PA ('the admin doctor'!), a strategic adviser and the day's hosts from Space on Tap.

Our usual post-lunch SpoT chat took place on the lawn, again the warm weather and wonderful views providing an inspiring back-drop for the topic for the day, chosen by those who attended:  Making Money from Social Media.

Co-workers exchanged views and experiences of the range of social media they've used, and the indirect and direct benefits they'd achieved from it.  Here's a quick synopsis:


Social media used by the group - ultimately it really is down to personal choice and preference, but it was generally agreed that the broader your range of tools, the broader your audience will become and the greater the impact will be. 

• The usual suspects (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn)
• Video/image media (YouTube, Vimeo, Flickr)
• Alternative chat facilities (Ping and Myspace)

 Impacts of using social media: expected and experienced

• Improved search engine rankings
• Profile - business and personal
• New customers (usually through indirect conversation, not hard selling)
• New suppliers and associates (through effective use of keywords to find people with specialist skills)
• New employee/job through a 'friend of a friend'
• Expanded networks without attending events (although it was generally agreed that meeting people face to face can reinforce online relationships

Key messages

Every member of the group is using social media in some form or another, and to varying degrees. It was acknowledged that to have a real impact it needs a time investment, and it's difficult to commit that without being certain of the rewards.

Co-workers generally agreed that effective use of social media involved conveying a personality (for you or your business) and being consistent, and ultimately agreed that you can certainly make money from social media.  Whether the rewards justify or balance the input is open to question, but ultimately isn't that the case with all types of marketing? You never know ...

© Copyright Space on Tap Oct 2011

Coworkers' skills swap - delivering great presentations that hit the spot!

At Colleagues on Tap co-working days we do our best to share the skills of our co-workers, making sure everyone goes home from the day with a little knowledge they didn't have before!

Anna Dorward

At our co-working day in Sunderland recently, Anna Dorward of Anna Dorward Learning Solutions led a skills swap session on delivering great presentations that hit the spot.  Here's a quick summary of the collective contributions of the group:


What type of presentations do you have to do?
• Informative
• Sales
• Educational slots
• Training


Where do you or could you do them?
• Webinars
• Lectures
• Launch events
• Workplaces
• Classroom
• Networking


How do you get your presentations right?


Effective preparation is key - focus on both the preparation stage and the delivery.


Points to consider and self assess may be:
• What is my mindset towards presentations?


• What can I do to ensure effective preparation - we discussed tips such as checking out venue in advance, preparing for questions may receive, your preferred method for your notes to ensure keep focused, methods to engage the audience, pilot the presentation to establish timings and so on


• Delivery of the presentation - think about opportunities to practice to receive feedback
such as training events with supportive facilitator, family or friends, you could record it
and watch it back, go through it on your own to actually hear yourself saying it etc


The group contributed to a fairly extensive list of effective and ineffective aspects of delivery derived from their own experiences.  If you'd like to see the full list get in touch with Space on Tap help@spaceontap.com or Anna Dorward www.annadorward.co.uk 


If you'd like to join us at future co-working days for homeworkers get in touch or request our current co-working calendar - we'd love to see you there!

WEBINAR: Why Coworking's good for business

Thanks to The Mussel Club for hosting this 15 minute webinar:  Co-working and why it's good for business.

CLICK HERE to find out what Co-working's all about, why it's good for business, and how/where you can do it.

If you'd like to find out more about co-working get in touch at help@spaceontap.com