[EVENTS] A conversation with Martyna Czarnobaj-Borowska, organiser of Coworking NOW, the Polish coworking conference.
If you are looking for amazing coworking conferences around the world, stop right here, sit back and discover Coworking NOW, the polish coworking conference organized by O4 Coworking in Gdansk. We’ve had the pleasure to contribute to it last year and we loved it! We sat down with Martyna Czarnobaj-Borowska, Project Manager at O4 as well as organiser of the conference. With her, we talked about the early days of Coworking NOW, the growth of the Polish coworking market over time as well as its uniqueness compared to other cities in Europe. Scroll down to discover her insights!
Hi Martyna, can you start by introducing yourself?
Hi Pauline, for over two years I have been working in O4 Coworking as a Project Manager. Long story short: I bring ideas to life :) I am preparing and closing various projects.
At the moment my most important project is, of course, COWORKING NOW CONFERENCE. But on a daily basis, I am organizing business and self-development workshops and training for the community, accelerator program for professional beginners, and 2 international programs for entrepreneurs.
We provide mentoring support for them.
You are the organizer of Coworking NOW, which is the polish coworking conference, how did it started?
Everything started in 2017. We (the whole O4 team) participated in many coworking events around the world — Coworking Europe, Unconference Asia, GCUC in the USA. We have seen how greatly the international coworking community is integrated and how they support each other.
In Poland, the coworking movement was just beginning, so we decided to make such a meeting which would help us to connect and bring together the polish coworking community. Our aim is also to promote the coworking movement among local governments and city offices.
The first edition was rather low-key but has valuable input for the next meetings. Everything started from this :)
Can you talk about the evolution of the Polish coworking scene over the last 5 years?
I think that 2018 was crucial for the coworking movement — it started to gain more and more popularity in mainstream communication.
The annual report, that O4 Coworking has published in April 2018, showed that there are 200 spaces in Poland, that could be called coworking spaces. (There were about 150 of them in 2017). Half of them declare that they are also an incubator, venue for events and training, as well as community-driven spaces.
68% of coworking spaces operate for more than 2 years and 12% for less than a year. Typically, coworking spaces are located in large cities — over 500,000. residents (54%). Nearly 70% of coworking spaces have an space of less than 300 m² and accommodates 30 workplaces. Only 7% could offer over 100 desks and have a space of more than 1000 m². 76% of coworking spaces associates less than 30 entrepreneurs.
What may seem surprising is that the Polish coworking spaces are more like the Asian ones rather than the European ones. The main problems of Polish coworking spaces are the issues of profitability and recruitment of the team, while coworking spaces in Western Europe debate together on the personal development of members. In Poland, as in Asia, we prefer intimacy (separate desks) than a long table with computer stations.
We have seen that many small private coworking spaces that were opened before 2018 and that are closing today. Perhaps the reason was a misunderstanding of the idea behind coworking or freelancers not understanding the benefits of using coworking spaces and maybe the lack of support for the coworking community.
The coworking movement has grown considerably since the second half of the year — 2018.
How it has changed over the year? We will show you 4th and 5th of April, during the third edition of the COWORKING NOW conference.
What is the conference going to be about this year?
During this edition we will focus on relationships in the work environment, sharing knowledge and effective networking — the values that result in real businesses. We will host international speakers who will share with us their knowledge and experience — discussing topics related to trends and innovations for coworking spaces and companies.
Moreover, as I have already mentioned, we are preparing another report! We are conducting research devoted to networking and changes taking place in Polish coworking spaces and other workplaces. This research will allow us to determine whether networking and coworking are developing and to see how this collaboration should be implemented in order to be effective. Our report will be a source of inspiration not only for coworking spaces but also for HR departments or real estate managers.
What will people learn?
It will be a huge dose of knowledge and inspiration:) We want each participant to take the piece of it for him or herself.
Since the beginning, we focus on the content — we bring specialists from around the world. We have invited, among others, Christoph Fahle — founder of Betahaus, one of Europe’s first and most influential independent coworking space. He will tell us about the perfect partner program for your coworking space! Beatrix Bedo, the creator of Impact Hub, who knows everything about the financial balance will share some hints about it. There will be a series of specialist meetings and workshops about how to form an effective business collaboration, how to effectively sell and how to achieve financial balance, efficiently communicate with coworkers and business partners.
An ocean of inspiration from Asia, South Korea, Israel and from you :) I’ve heard that you will bring the fresh look, from your amazing world tour of community-driven coworking spaces :)
In general, I can’t wait :) hahaha
What has been one of your biggest learning from the previous edition of Coworking NOW?
Coworking Now is one of the world’s most important conferences in 2019. So claims Deskmag.com — the world’s largest website about coworking. We confirm that!
I believe that during this edition we will be able to establish and check how cooperation between coworking spaces, community, local governments, freelancers, large companies, should be implemented in order to be effective.
It pays off for each party — work requiring creativity, innovation, teamwork and commitment is performed more effectively in the world supporting coworking. And we will meet in a unique place :) Do you know that Gdańsk is one of the most beautiful cities in Europe?
In 2017 it was on the podium in the European Best Destinations plebiscite as the most attractive tourist city in Europe… ;) Hope many people will visit us during Coworking Now Conference.
It’s wonderful to be part of such a breakthrough event in so beautiful city :)
So let’s meet together 4th and 5th of April in Gdansk.
