Marcel van Marrewijk's Blog, page 161

Pilot ‘Seats2meet for Locals’ starts in Utrecht!

Are you planning to work from home today, and you have another empty chair at the table? Soon you’ll be able to share that space with another independent professional! Today we’re launching the Seats2meet for Locals (formerly known as ‘Chairify’) pilot in Utrecht, the Netherlands. You happen to live close to Utrecht and want to share your desk with someone else? Be sure to sign up for the 3-week pilot! We had a kick off moment this Monday where immediately 4 locations in Utrecht joined (and 5 from other cities) but we are hoping to gather some more locations before we start the second phase of the pilot. The part where you can try S2M for Locals yourself!

Seats2meet for Locals was created with the aim of building a platform for people to share workspaces at their house. Kind of like AirBnB, but then with desks instead of beds!

In order to further facilitate serendipity S2M for Locals is linked to the entire S2M network. The S2M network is an established platform where people connect and share knowledge. We will be able to use our experience with this tool to create the most relevant matches, at your own home! Open your doors for spontaneous serendipity, and join someone for a day at their dining room table!

We’ve been conceptualizing and working on this idea for a while, and now the time has come where we just throw it out there and see what happens. To be able to properly test S2M for Locals, and to easily gain valuable feedback, we’ve decided to initiate a pilot in a small area of the S2M network. We hope that throughout this pilot at least 10 locations in and around Utrecht will join the program, but the more the better, right?

What can people expect if they participate in the pilot?

Throughout the first three weeks of May your workspace in/around Utrecht will be offered as a ‘S2M for Locals’ location in the S2M network. As with the other S2M booking tools people can then book a workspace at your home. We expect some curious first movers to dive in and we would love to hear all about your experiences! Someone from S2M might even drop by from time to time to report on how things are going, so be sure to check the magazine for the newest updates. To conclude the 3-week pilot we’ll set up a general (virtual) feedback session where everyone can share their experiences. This should give us sufficient information to see how to proceed from there!

Are you in Utrecht and would you like to participate? Send a mail to vincent [at] seats2meet.com

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YouGreen welcomes Society 3.0 to Brazil

The last 3 weeks I spent in warm and sunny São Paulo. What was I doing? Packing, selling or simply giving away everything I accumulated for the last 3 years. The amount of things we accumulate we a not-so-large amount of money deserves its own blog. For now what I want to talk about is a magic moment that occurred during my short trip back to Brazil.

In my period living in Brazil I got frustrated. Always reading about B corporations, alternative business models, society 3.0 and I never found anything about it happening in Brazil. Now I know I haven’t searched enough. Ironically in The Netherlands lots of people gave me examples of initiatives happening in Brazil such as Fora do Eixo, or Brazilian people that are a reference here as Ricardo Semler. Seriously. Ricardo Semler is huge here. If you are Brazilian you might have heard of him if you are an economist. If not is possible that you haven’t heard about him at all. If you haven’t here is some interesting piece of information.

The best part of my last staying in Brazil is realizing that there are lots of things going on there that we could actually bring to The Netherlands, not the other way around. One particularly conversation really inspired me. , remember that name. Roger was born in a poor neighborhood in Brazil but in a medium class family. He had a good education and when he as 21 he was getting loads of money working from the biggest corporations in the world.

In the middle of a tragedy he volunteered for the Red Cross. His work consists on optimizing processes. Seeing the mess that was going on he spend the whole day changing how other volunteers were working, making it smart. In the end of the day double of donations were being sent to the tragedy site. Next Monday he stepped in the office realizing that what he was doing didn’t have the same meaning that it used to on the Friday.

In Brazil we have the so-called catadores. Catadores are the people who get garbage straight from the cans, select them, take them to recycling companies and sell it for living. They are usually excluded from society for the type of job they have. Roger visited a cooperative, the kind of company where catadores work. There he realized that they can be really productive without any processes simply because they like what they are doing. In a cooperative everybody owns a part of company, every single one has a voice on the decision-making.

Catadores collect garbage directly from the can to sell to recycling companies

Sum motivated people plus smart processes and you get YouGreen. A cooperative that aims not only recycling but also making Brazil realize the importance of the catadores and increase their life quality.

Two interesting examples of how things work in this cooperative. First is how they pay their cooperators: they have different layers of cooperators but it all comes down to the catadores, the people who go to the streets, collect the trash and take it to the cooperative. They define their payment as N1. Everyone iN the layers above the N1 take a paycheck proportional to the it. So the person on the next layers gets what N1 makes times 1.25, and so it goes for the other layers, always proportional to the smallest paycheck. In that way for one to succeed, everyone has to succeed as well.

The second way is how they hire people. Similar to Semco if you want to work at YouGreen your first interview will be with no one else than Roger, the idealizer of the cooperative. Then the HR will interview you and only after that you will go through the most important interview: with your colleagues; the people who will actually work side-by-side with you. I mean, it makes sense right? The people who you will work with, who you will see five days a week, and who are responsible to train you will actually have the final world if you work with them or not. Think of all the trouble companies would save if they hired people that way. I am not going to give examples but I am sure you can think os some by yourself.

YouGreen got their first client in 2013. Right now they have several costumers and cooperators, won worldwide prizes for innovation, give talks about cooperatives and waste management and most important of all they are making the catadores being recognize in Brazil as the essential people they are for the community.

 

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Niekee gives authority to the children

Friday 8 April 2016: this afternoon we (a group of students) had a conversation with Jan Fasen. the man that leads the seats2meet location at our school. He said that our location was not visited very often.

A few weeks before that the people of permanentfuturelab came by. They had a robot, a 3doodler and the google glasses with them. And in a no time there were a lot of other students playing and programming the robot and drawing in 3d. there even where 2 students (including me) that even skipped classes to give the people of permanentfuturelab a tour

Sorry for my late update about this subject, i am one of the students of the group that is going to help make seats2meet more active at our location but i am also very busy with my exams.

 

 

 

 

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Jeroen Pliester pt 2: The 3 Major Trends

Welcome to the part 2 of my interview with the unique figure that is . He being a trendwatcher I asked him what are the major trends he predicts for the future. Long story short; the way of working will change, country barriers will get blurry as we will go through another rural-urban migration and people will value more craftsmanship.

Aligning employment with entrepreneurship

We already know that the way we work is changing; we can see this happening right in front of our eyes. The new point Jeroen raises is there won’t be solely employees or entrepreneurs. Both things can integrate. You can spend your time working for a major company and in the meanwhile think as an entrepreneur.

For you to open your own company experience in business management is needed. For you to succeed as an employee in a market in constant change you have to be creative, see demands and know how to cope with them, just like an entrepreneur. The same thing goes with collaboration between companies. Big corporations to survive will have to hold hands with smaller and more flexible companies; in that way they can create a smoother flow without compromising themselves.

Countries barriers and the new rural-urban migration

The second trend Jeroen mentioned was that country barriers will change. That is another thing that we can see happening right in front of our eyes. But what we observe is countries now will be mega cities in the future. You can find millions of people in the same country, as Brasil, but being in a metropolitan city as São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Florianópolis makes all the difference when it comes to being connected to the rest of the world. Going a little bit further, urban people from different countries will have more in common with each other than people in the same country.

For this reason more and more people will go from the countryside to the big cities, and then we might have another problem, that has everything to do with our next trend, our connection to the nature and craftsmanship.

Craftsmanship

Recently I watched the Netflix show Flaked. I don’t recommend it. In one of the episodes , aka McLovin hilariously interprets a .com billionaire who gets obesessed with the main character because he makes stools. He freaks out saying that this is what he needs, something real. Something he can touch, break, build, fix.

With all the advances in technology and being 24/7 connected the human being gets distant from its own nature. We were meant to be social, but we cannot cope with the fast-pace progress. The species we belong to is tactile; we touch, see, understand how things work and where they come from. We feel safe with the tangible. That is where the craftsmanship goes in.

Craftsmanship comes from craftsman. It means a person who makes beautiful objects by hand. Craftsmanship is the act of making them. That is when we know where something comes from and was made especially for you. Taylor made. That is what holds us to the ground when everything else is up in the cloud.

We already see some brands doing this, see Lush for an instance. The company puts in its products a friendly drawing and the name of the person who made the product. In social media they present those people to you, welcoming each new employee of their “kitchen”, the place where the product are developed and created. Is like buying from that neighbour, but all over the world.

[image error]lush packaging shows you who handmade the product you are consuming.

According to Jeroen this trend will be bigger than we can realize right now. Just think about the beer you would find in a bar 10 years ago and all the different types you find right now, or the do it yourself movement. Better keep an eye on it.

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Doe mee met de pilot: Deel je keukentafel als cowork plek!

Ben je van plan om vandaag thuis te werken en heb je nog een lege stoel aan je keukentafel? Als het aan ons ligt deel je deze stoel binnenkort met andere zelfstandige professionals. We lanceren vandaag namelijk de pilot van Seats2meet for Locals! (Voorheen Chairify). Wanneer je woont in (de buurt van) Utrecht kun je jouw locatie vandaag inschrijven voor een Pilot van drie weken die start op 2 mei: Seats2meet for Locals

Seats2meet for Locals wordt een platform waar mensen een werkplek in hun eigen huis aanbieden. Vergelijk het met Airbnb, waar mensen elkaar slaapplekken aanbieden.

Om mensen slim te verbinden, is S2M for Locals gekoppeld aan het netwerk van Seats2meet. In dit netwerk delen gebruikers  nu al hun kennis . Binnenkort kunnen we ook voor S2M for Locals inschatten welke mensen voor jou relevant zijn. Het liefst boek je spontaan een plekje bij iemand thuis, die aansluit bij jou interesse.

We lopen al een tijdje rond met dit mooie idee en willen het nu in de praktijk brengen. Om dit goed te kunnen testen willen we in een kleine regio binnen het Seats2meet netwerk een kortlopende pilot starten. Ons streven is in ieder geval 10 locaties in (de regio) Utrecht maar meer is natuurlijk altijd welkom.

Wat kun je verwachten als je meedoet met de pilot?

In de eerste drie weken van mei wordt jouw locatie als S2M for Locals locatie aangeboden in het netwerk van S2M. We verwachten dat er een aantal mensen een plekje bij je boekt en zijn natuurlijk benieuwd naar de ervaringen. Daarom sturen we een S2M reporter langs die jou en de gebruiker komt interviewen. Na die drie weken hebben we een (evt. virtuele) evaluatie meeting waarin we onze ervaringen kunnen delen. Dit geeft ons voldoende input om de volgende stap te kunnen zetten.

Tot slot, omdat het een pilot is, publiceren we je adres zonder huisnummer. Dit zorgt ervoor dat je altijd persoonlijk contact met de boeker moet opnemen en dus ook zelf besluit of je de boeking accepteert of niet.

Meedoen? Stuur een mailtje naar vincent [at] seats2meet.com! 

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What is holding you back this week?

Each month thousands of people use the Seats2Meet platform to find someone in their surrounding area that might be able to give them a boost and help them out on the things they are working on.

If you haven’t used the platform for this already, these are the steps to take

Clicking on People present at the top menu bring you to the “NOW” environment where the platform gives you an overview of what is going on right….now.

On the submenu that appears click on the questions page.

Here you can see an overview of the questions and subjects that people are talking about. If you read something that you could give your advice on, reach out.

Once you are logged in, you can write down your question at the top right corner.

Add a few tags and post your question.

My well-conceived question is now posted, ready for you or someone else to respond. Try it and comment your story on how it worked for you.

(ps: Tips on time management are also more than welcome in the comment section below)

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Lab 55: S2M for companies- usercase

Inhouse solution for companies

Lab 55 is a seats2meet.com coworking space within the Achmea Headquarters in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands. By offering free coworking spaces and workshops, innovation from outside the company is brought indoors. By connecting the external knowledge and innovation to their own employees, new products and ideas are developed.

“With Lab 55 we want to create a platform where employees and coworkers come together and reinforce each other. This forces them to break loose of the fixed patterns and come up with innovative solutions.” -Silvia Onos, Programmamanager Klantbelang Centraal

Working in different environments with different people gives a different energy to employees. We noticed that our employees would come back to the office with a different kind of energy and enthusiasm whenever they had been working from a coworking location or for example at one of the start-ups that we support. We wanted to be able to facilitate this energy and enthusiasm within the walls of our own building and combine the best of both worlds.

Employees had already experienced working at seats2meet.com . Their vast experience in building a platform where people can meet and co-create is what triggered us. Within a few months we went from finding the right partners to opening our doors to coworkers! Our other partner is CVJO Apeldoorn, who help starting entrepreneurs with their broad network, workshops and knowledge.

“By challenging employees and coworkers on both their field of work as intrinsic motivation, we strengthen their true potential”-Silvia Onos, Programmamanager Klantbelang Centraal

We are constantly looking for new partners to join Lab 55 in order to create a certain energy where employees of Achmea and coworkers can work together on multidisciplinary issues. We truly believe that bringing these two worlds together will bring the best to both worlds. The coworkers can help the employees with new insights and different methods of working what will have it’s impact on the rest of the organization. On the other hand the different experts of our divisions can help the coworkers with the forming- or increase of their own business and connect them to the right people in the industry.

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Niekée: S2M for schools- usercase

Inhouse solution for schools

Niekée is a seats2meet.com coworking space within a school in Roermond, the Netherlands. By offering free coworking spaces and meetingspaces, expertise and knowledge from outside the school is brought indoors. By connecting the external knowledge and innovation to students and staff, a new way of education is being formed at Niekée.

“Niekée is the world’s first school with flexible workplaces from seats2meet.com and we take grade pride in this. The strength lies in the link between education, business and government, and knowledge sharing.” -Jan Fasen, CEO Mundium College

Niekée is a so called Laboratorium school where our focus lies on involving the knowledge and expertise from the outside world in a new way into the education of our students. Learning in schools often focuses on the cognitive side. Niekée wants more; The school wants to develop skills, knowledge and attitudes associated with lifelong learning in students. This ensures that students show enthusiasm for learning; stay curious; creativity, inventiveness and develop flexibility. Seats2meet.com is the perfect partner to help us make the connection with the outside world, provide insight into the different expertises and bringing the self-employed professionals to our location.

By opening our doors to self employed professionals, we offer a completely new source of knowledge to our staff and students. Staff can enrich their course materials by discussing it with these professionals and adding current case studies and innovations in the field, making it more interesting for our students and easier to relate to. On the other hand, self-employed professionals can learn from our staff how we organized this new way of learning within our school.

“We want to enable our staffand students to find knowledge within the walls of our schools and beyond. By facilitating Serendipitous encounters we enrich the ongoing education of staff and students.” -Guido van Dijk, coach and developer Agora

Niekée focuses on personalized learning paths for each child. The level, pace and present qualities of each child are leading in how education is organized and offered. We educate our students for a society in which networks and co-creation determine how successful you will be and we see our school as a marketplace where everyone is welcome, provided that your presence is in the light of the development of the children. Our partnership with seats2meet.com enables our students to learn the skills needed to succeed in the future. Starting to network and co-create on a young age with the help of Seats2meet.com Connect and physical meetings with professionals will give our students the head start we aim to give!

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S2M for Shopping malls- usercase

 The changing society is forcing shopping malls to change along with it. Among others, the rise of online shopping and the fact that the distinction between work and private life is fading. The Seats2meet Connect platform provides the opportunity to reduce vacant shops by transforming them into a meeting place where local entrepreneurs come together to work and create new ,value not only for them but for the shopping center as well.



“Awesome concept @s2mberlin meet people do business for free.” – Tweet by Patrick Fernandes, Coworker Seats2meet Boulevard Berlin


Seats2meet.com Boulevard Berlin

By combining the organization of different events and offering free coworkspaces to local self employed professionals, we are transforming the experience people are having in the shoppingmall. By offering this completely new experience, we are not only creating ambassadors for our coworklocation, but for the shopping mall as well. Coworkers are telling their friends about this totally new experience where work and private life are merging, bringing more people to our location and the shopping mall.




Seats2meet Pop-up workspace @ Hoog Catharijne
With our Pop-up location in the middle of the Hoog Catharijne shopping centre, we offer self employed professionals a unique location to work. The vast amount of traffic (on average 30 million persons per year) gives them the opportunity to test their ideas and engage with
shoppers. By doing so, the shopper is experiencing a totally new way of shopping and we are helping coworkers grow.



“How cool! Working betwee n  stores #s2mpopup for  @bvzutrecht. Come stop by.” –Tweet by Maurits Riton, Co-worker at the S2M Pop up

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Kickstart je carrière bij AmsterdamConnected

“Ben jij of ken jij een ambitieuze student die op een van de meest innovatieve plekken in Nederland zichzelf razendsnel wil ontwikkelen tijdens een uitdagende stage? Kickstart je carrière bij AmsterdamConnected, en neem contact met me op!”

Ik stel me graag even voor: mijn naam is Marco Verwoert en mijn succesvolle carrière in het ontwikkelen van de leukste en slimste werkplekken van Nederland heeft mij als serie-ondernemer veel kansen gebracht. Al die kansen komen nu samen in mijn allernieuwste project: AmsterdamConnected. In Amsterdam zuid-oost ontwikkelen we op 30.000 vierkante meter sinds kort een gigantisch en prachtig pand tot de werkplek van de toekomst. Een plek waar je vooral komt om de juiste mensen te ontmoeten, nieuwe energie op te doen, je talent verder te ontwikkelen en om nog succesvoller te worden in wat je doet. 

Samen met mijn Ricoh Document Center laten we heel Noord-Holland vanuit Amsterdam zien hoe technologie en slimme software bedrijven en teams kunnen helpen nog succesvoller te worden en ben ik samen met mijn team een plek aan het creëren waar leren voor iedereen de norm is. De tijd waarin je een paar jaar naar school ging om daarna je carrière te starten is al lang voorbij, leren is een dagelijks onderdeel van ons werk geworden. 

De stage

Tijdens de stage ga jij aan de slag als mijn personal assistant. Dit houdt in dat jij ervoor gaat zorgen dat ik optimaal kan presteren en wij er zo samen voor zorgen dat AmsterdamConnected een enorm succes wordt. Waar ik ga, ga jij mee en ontmoet jij dus dagelijks diverse mensen uit het ecosysteem en treed jij wanneer nodig op als mijn sparringspartner. Amsterdam is de eerste stap en wie weet welke steden volgen.

Durf jij bovenstaande uitdaging aan en wil jij je carrière de kickstart geven die het verdiend? Neem dan direct contact met me op! marco.verwoert@AmsterdamConnected.nl 

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