Yay – thank you for joining another Town Hall!
In case you haven’t heard of the Work Nicer Town Hall, it’s simply another avenue for members to offer cool ideas and give feedback – and for the Work Nicer team to look for ways to say yes – let’s do it! It’s also a way for the team to provide announcements to members first, and most importantly – a time for the community to break bread together.
After Town Halls, slides and a quick recap on the blog here is posted so that members who missed it and the greater community can see what’s up!
This was another Town Hall broadcasted between Calgary and Edmonton. While the tech difficulties are improving, the team wants to thank those in Edmonton who stuck around through it!
Teasers: The Work Nicer team add a few more faces to the team, ATB X’s next cohort is now live, an official Talk Nicer Podcast Network, and some incredible partnerships growing and continuing, including Lighthouse Labs, ATB X, and Startup Calgary.
It’s always important to start off Town Halls with a guiding principle, as it sets the tone for why are we all here and what’s the current direction. One of Work Nicer’s guiding principle includes: Do what’s hard because growth comes from struggle.
Alex, the Founder of Work Nicer, started off Town Hall with this. As most members know, Work Nicer community has experienced some serious growth over the past year and a half. And while exciting, it comes with it’s fair share of “OMG. What are we doing?” “How do we fix this?” and “How can we make this happen.”
It’s been exciting. Terrifying. Hard. Scary. But. Growth is coming from the struggle and the Work Nicer team is so grateful to struggle and grow alongside you. After all, no one succeeds alone.
Let’s get into sharing some cool updates!
Quite a few exciting things have happened since Red Mile’s opening, and the launch of 2nd floor. There has been an incredible amount of collaborations and activity in the community that has come to make the outposts feel like home quickly.
Jam Nicer was introduced by host, Stephen King. What an incredible group that comes together to share their talent during Drink Nicer.
Events
There has been over 23 events held at this outpost since it opened with everything from Lunch & Learns, to SoGo, to a Murder Mystery Party, and a number of launch celebrations. The team is learning so much about events and what works best for the community. With that, events happening on 3rd floor will no longer happen as of Jan 31st (and try to stick to 2nd) to better celebrate members while at the same time avoiding disruptions.
Some incredible partnerships with good friends continue to make waves, including:
ATBx Cohort
Since the launch of ATB X at Work Nicer in both Calgary and Edmonton, there has been over 65 entrepreneurs come through the doors to work on their business under the guidance of ATBx and Alumni. The most recent cohort includes six Work Nicer members who it’s exciting to see then grow and pivot.
The program does a deep dive into all facets of business through focused weekly sessions and mentorship. Members interested in applying are automatically granted an interview if your business is generating revenue. See Kate McKenzie (Calgary) and Meghan Dear (Edmonton) for more info. Their offices are at Work Nicer Beaver House and Work Nicer Red Mile 2nd Floor. Applications are now live here, due Nov 22nd.
Startup Calgary
Startup Calgary has recently joined the community and will be running all of their programs out of Work Nicer Red Mile. Focused on growing the startup community, they will be running Business Model Canvas workshops, holding office hours for their team, as well as community partners including A100 and Futurepreneur. It’s an increidble opportunity for the community to see fresh ideas and faces join.
BLG
Have legal questions you’d like to discuss with a lawyer? Announcing that Work Nicer has partnered with BLG; a leading full-service law firm with offices located across Canada. In addition to its Corporate, Litigation and IP offerings, BLG has launched STARTUP&GROW™, an initiative that offers practical, efficient legal solutions for entrepreneurs, startups and emerging-growth companies.
You’ll spot four incredible reps every Thursday from 11am-2:30pm at a Calgary outpost, taking all of your burning legal questions, free! Follow the #events channel on Slack so you can locate them every week.
Town Hall is basically like an accountability partner for the Work Nicer team. Leading up to it, the team compiles all the requests made from the community and focuses on solutions. How many yes’s can the team offer.
At Town Hall, the team reports to the community of what we we’ve done, what we are not doing (including the sometimes clever, sometimes crazy ideas), and what we are doing (aka still working on). It’s always great to share the wins and laugh (and dream!) at some of the ideas that did not make the cut.
Have you noticed a number of shiny new updates between the outposts this past while? This is because of feedback from you, the community.
Based on member requests from the Community Wish Lists that are pinned up at every outpost, the above two lists have been compiled lists from the community. Numberous items are now officially “Done” across all outposts and of course, the community will always be a work-in-progress, and the Work Nicer team will continue to work hard to see what else you need to get the most out of outposts, and your community.
Alex: Alex is the Founder, bartender, bouncer… and when he’s not doing tha,t he’s in meetings, fighting building management for fixes or scoping out the next best outpost opportunity – all with the intention of making Work Nicer even bigger and better than it already is.
Bob: is the Navigator! He coaches the Work Nicer team weekly, asking all the tough questions to ensure the team is focused on all the right things –ultimately you, the members! Members have also coined him the “Work Nicer Dad” for his genuine care and concern.
Phoebe: As the Stage Manager, Phoebe runs the show behind the scenes, handling all things operations. Phoebe makes sure you have everything you need in way of office equipment, she processes memberships and handles membership inquiries.
Sean: If your team is growing, Sean is here to help, whether it’s transitioning into an office or change of office size). Sean leads tours in an effort to add more awesome humans into the community, which means more people for you to connect and collab with.
Arielle: empowering the marketing and communications humans, Arielle ensures that the community is able to scream and shout about you and the incredible things happening in the community. Arielle also creates programs to build a better and deeper culture for the community. Have any cool ideas? Reach out to her, as she’d love to chat!
Justin: Basically take all of the roles I’ve mentioned and that’s Justin in a nutshell. He wears all the hats for Work Nicer Beaver House in Edmonton. From touring to onboarding new members, to engaging with the community, building operations, etc. He does it all! Don’t get him going with puns though!
Jenn: with a natural nack for making you feel at home, Jenn helps get you set up with all the necessary tools so that you can focus on growing your business as soon as you join Jenn listens to members needs and finds ways to make that happen.
Meet the Gabes! And the other Sean. Let’s call him Parker to keep it easy.
First off, these three incredible humans are members, great pals of the Work Nicer team and huge advocates for community. It’s been a natural fit from the start to have these humans help build Work Nicer.
Gabe Kane: in charge of marketing campaigns and automation, Gabe’s team, Brandwashed, are masters in generating and converting potential customers into raving fans. FYI – bringing more friends for you! You can find his team’s office at Work Nicer Red Mile. Stop in, say hi!
Gabe Wong: all things graphic design and branding, this guy is a creative genius. If you see something cool, like a Work Nicer t-shirt, most likely it’s been Gabe’s team at Studio C+G. His team’s office is at Work Nicer Stephen Ave and he’s always down for a chitty chat.
Parker: Mr. Parker runs the in-house podcast studio, from helping you get you comfortable with the equipment to editing and preparing the final product, Parker ‘get’s’ it and will help you create a well-rounded Podcast product. You’ll tend to spot him at the Work Nicer Red Mile outpost, where the Podcast Studio is located.
Work Nicer Stephen Ave is considered the OG of the outposts, and it is receiving a few, new, uber cool updates. Here they are:
New fellow neighbours! Please join us in welcoming the team at Lighthouse Labs, who will be moving into the Work Nicer Stephen Ave outpost. Lighthouse Labs takes people from coding hobbyists to professional developers in 12 short weeks. You will see be seeing hundreds of developers launching their career right from your own community, a pool of incredible humans that could be hired and likely already familiar with you and your business.
With that, there will be more updates to the physical outpost. Yes, you probably noticed the fresh set of red paint (woohoo), but there’s more coming. There will be more new configurations of dedicated open space. Also – the cubicle sections are quite loved, and they will be moved – but not gone. You’ll love it, the team promises.
With all these new faces there are many incredible opportunities to meet new people and make new connections. Be sure to welcome these folks in and show them what Work Nicer is all about.
By now, let’s hope you know about the Podcast Studio! In case you haven’t heard, it has moved from the Work Nicer Roxbury outpost to the Work Nicer Red Mile and swankier than ever. (Can we still use that word, swankier? Swanky!)
Reach out to Sean Parker ([email protected]) to get in touch with Parker if you’re interested in exploring podcasts. (Fun fact: we had to change his email to say Parker, as now there are two Sean’s on the team.)
Cool update. Since members are creating such cool podcasts out of the studio, a podcast network, called The Talk Nicer Podcast Network, is being created to better scream and shout the incredible conversations that are happening.
What does this mean for you as a member?
- try out podcasting without having to invest a ton of money and time into it. Throw it into the network, or spin it off into your own.
- get comfortable with top of the line equipment from Parker himself
- be supported on how to create a successful podcast from start to market
- start podcasting with fellow members and easily find members’ podcasts!
Again – The Talk Nicer Podcast Network is coming soon. Wanna see a quick sneak peak? Here you go:
That’s it! Now let the fun begin: the most important part of the event: Round Table.
During Round Table, it’s all up to the members attending to run with what they want to ask about, chat about, brainstrom about.
Members offer some really cool ideas, share feedback of where the team can support, and ask about what else the future holds.
This time was live feedback from Calgary, with Edmonton pooling together questions and ideas and sent over via Slack. It’s pretty cool to see a lot of the ideas come from both cities. Y’all aren’t too different afterall, we tell ya!
THANK YOU for all the incredible ideas and sharing all feedback so that the Work Nicer team can focus and continue to add more value to you.
Stay tuned to next Town Hall to report back to you on how improvements and add-ons will be made for you based on these ideas and questions.
And that’s a wrap.
Thank you to those who showed up. Ate pizza. Laughed at the team’s silly jokes. Cheered the improvements. Added in ideas. Shared feedback. Connected.
It’s an absolute pleasure working for you all. Thank you for choosing this community as your community.
NO ONE SUCCEEDS ALONE,
Alex, Sean, Bob, Phoebe, Arielle, Justin and Jenn
