Playspace is a get-together and coworking session for the kind, nerdy, and creative. I helped to start it in SF and cohost it with a lot of my wonderful friends :)
Come if you like to learn to draw from youtube videos, create websites for friends, play music, write blog posts, compose songs, arrange flowers, research distributed systems — and everything in between. Playspace is for you to explore what makes your world sparkle :)
Philosophy
Play allows us to create and share in ways that competitive environments disincentivize. We’re a group of people that values exploring, learning, and building based on curiosity and intrinsic motivation.
Part of the magic of it is that it’s a very high-trust environment where people can fully be themselves and be comfortable exploring new facets of themselves. Although Playspace is open invite, we ask that you hold a respect for the space and the people within it. Everyone who attends Playspace is, in many ways, a host of the space as well.
Retro Notes
Sept 29
- Main things we’re noticing
- The late-start problem: we are starting sessions later and later and people who come for the first time are like “where are the people” and then also subsequently show up later.
- The lax-ness of when we start also bleeds into how we treat the space (it’s ok to ignore structure, etc.) which makes the jobs of hosts harder
- Lunch chaos + General format
- Historically had the problem of people leaving too early after Playspace ended (Playspaces 001-012)
- But now that the vast percentage of attendees are returning, the ‘end’ of Playspace is very vague as people get lunch afterwards, etc.
- The process of shepherding people out of the space and to lunch, along with the actual lunch logistics (where are people going? is it one group or multiple? how do we get there? etc.) get stressful.
- This also means Playspace is now a sort of ‘full-day’ commitment from 10am to ~3pm when it usually ends.
- Host burnout + Host cliqueness
- I think this is actually two-sides of the same coin
- “i am somewhat confused about playspace social dynamics. i think bc it’s in a weird middle between being a stranger-friendly coworking event and a large strong existing friend group”
- Also, as Playspace isn’t bound by school terms, there isn’t a natural ‘cycling’ process for hosts and change
- Hosts are never fully participants either, so while there are usually 2 ‘main’ hosts, all the other hosts are still somewhat in a semi-host capacity which after ~10 sessions definitely takes a toll
- This means that some hosts will do the social-battery-conserving-thing and sit with other cohosts
- People have felt that, at least for returning members, Playspace feels more like a hangout than focus time
- How is Playspace oriented?
- More as a social space or a place to get things done?
- Things feel less productive than they used to (the difference between 1-20 and 20-present feels very noticeable)
- The late-start problem: we are starting sessions later and later and people who come for the first time are like “where are the people” and then also subsequently show up later.
- Core things to change
- Clarifying host responsibilities
- See Host Guidebook subheading below
- Normalizing ‘host time-off’ as things get more busy. Also normalize host retirement and shifting into advisor mode
- Disambiguating hosts who are actively hosts vs hosts who are participants
- Only 2-3 main hosts, if you are not a host you are fully in participant mode
- Allow hosts to feel like they can truly just relax and participate in the weeks they are ‘off’
- Implement a Host handoff ritual (also see guidebook below)
- Larger retros every ‘term’ (quarter year) is probably healthy for long-term sustainability and change :)
- Community Fund
- @playspace on Venmo exists now
- Hosts can request the fund Venmo account after paying for groceries, nametags, etc.
- Start-time
- We’re going to try experimenting with 1pm-4pm as a schedule
- Always hard-start 15min after stated start time
- Looking for longer-term spaces to host Playspace
- Requirements
- Ability to fit at least 30
- Food prep or serving table
- Relatively transit accessible
- (ideally) not an office environment
- Requirements
- Clarifying host responsibilities
Host Guidebook
- Before the session
- Make sure the Luma sign-up exists
- Generally we try to keep sessions to ~20 people
- Be mindful of participant diversity, actively reach out to people who you think should be there at Playspace
- Make sure you have some sort of snacks/food
- Venmo request @playspace for reimbursement :)
- Make sure venue is confirmed
- Make sure you know who is cohosting that week!
- Have only two main cohosts, everyone else on the host roster should be fully in participant mode and should feel like they can be fully present enjoying the session
- Make sure the Luma sign-up exists
- Setup for the session
- Come up with a question of the day! It should be a little whimsical but also give good threads for people to have follow up conversations on
- Here’s a good starting point!
- Up to the host as to how to split the intro circles
- Generally, it’s good to do something that splits up groups of people who come together; we want people to mingle and make new friends!
- Come up with a question of the day! It should be a little whimsical but also give good threads for people to have follow up conversations on
- During the session
- Always hard-start 15min after stated start time
- Intro + Intro circles
- It’s nice to tag-team this with the two cohosts
- Generally we recommend a structure of:
- What is Playspace
- What does Playspace mean to you
- Logistics of the working blocks
- Logistics of the space (e.g. restrooms, food, wifi, etc.)
- Send off into intro circles (generally aim for ~10 people per circle)
- Designing the space
- Space matters! It changes how people choose to show up
- Prefer cozy places like homes and art/community spaces over corporate offices and coworking spaces
- Have a silent working room for people who really want to dial in for serious work
- Be on top of the noise-level; it should be generally library level silence during focus blocks
- [tbd] designing for louder activities? e.g. if people want to collaborate or play instruments
- During breaks
- Encouraging people to show-and-tell! Show that it’s low-stakes and that even in-progress things are ok
- Making a welcoming environment for new folks. Making sure they aren’t hanging out in a corner alone!
- [tbd] its actually very hard to have a good number of good convos with people to feel like you can get around to everyone, how do we do this well?
- Show-and-tell + Scrapbook
- Gather folks around to contribute to the scrapbook! It’s a great way to encourage people to come back week after week and see the progress and also to connect with others
- After giving people 5min to contribute to the scrapbook, gather people around for show and tell. There are many ways to run this!
- Some people like to organize it by intro circle so theres many show-and-tell circles and everyone gets to demo. Downside of this is that you don’t get to see what people in other groups did
- Other times, we have big group show and tell where we ask people to come up and demo to the group. This works well if you’ve spent some time during break talking to people and have an idea of projects/people you’d like to highlight! This is more effort on the cohosts though :’)
- Aim for show and tell to last 30-40min with ~8 demos
- After the session
- Cleanup the space! Engage participants and ask them to help
- Good chance for people to talk to each other while helping out :)
- After everything is clean, its a good way to start signaling the ‘end’ of the event so people can leave or go elsewhere to continue talking
- Have a short handoff meeting between the hosts. Should be short meeting (3-5min) after cleanup
- What went well today?
- Who is cohosting next week?
- What do they need help with?
- What didn’t go well today that we want to change for next week?
- Cleanup the space! Engage participants and ask them to help