a single source, nothing corroborates it

Leave a ritual half finished and let members complete it

Drop something incomplete and low effort into the space, then step back while members escalate it into a shared habit, rather than programming activities on their behalf. Back the subgroups that form instead of suppressing them, and design the physical or digital route so people cannot slip past each other, because a packed calendar is not what makes an ordinary day worth showing up for.

The method

1. 01

   Start a shared ritual by dropping an incomplete, low-effort prompt into the space and let members complete and escalate it themselves, instead of programming activities for them.

2. 02

   Let subgroups form inside your audience and back them rather than forcing or suppressing them, since the whole stays healthy as long as the subgroups keep talking to each other.

3. 03

   A crowded events calendar is not what makes people want to be somewhere; make an ordinary working day worth turning up for and the events matter less.

4. 04

   While you are growing quickly, deliberately increase how often you run events and shared projects rather than assuming the culture will hold, and plan for some churn regardless.

5. 05

   Design the route through your space so members cannot slip past each other, and accept that this is less convenient, because the convenient path quietly removes the chance encounters people are paying for.

What it returned

• Chess pieces turned up on an Indy Hall kitchen table with no board; a board, a timer and a sign inviting a single move followed days later, and open games then ran for days or weeks.

• Indy Hall had spawned internal groups named Countr Culture, Night Owls and Day Glo, and Hillman saw each as a potential named community in its own right.

• Asked on Twitter why Indy Hall felt like a clubhouse, Hillman said it was not the volume of events, and pointed back to Tara Hunt's line about it being like a barcamp all the time.

• Hillman says Indy Hall raises the tempo of events, community projects and chances to take part specifically during growth periods, and treats a degree of fall-off as built into the model.

Sources

• A Coworking Parable: The Game of ChessAlex Hillman · dangerouslyawesome.com · 2011-06-01
• Every Day is an EventAlex Hillman · dangerouslyawesome.com · 2011-08-01
• Not a Joke: Indy Hall v3.0 - The Future of Indy HallAlex Hillman · dangerouslyawesome.com · Scaling Community · 2012-04-01
• How my commute changed my relationship with my communityAlex Hillman · dangerouslyawesome.com · I love my commute again · 2019-09-01