Thursday the 31st of January saw the launch of our program “Tous à table” (Dinner’s ready, come and get it!)
So what was on the menu? A press conference with our partners, BarCamp at La Cantine to brainstorm together about our future space and a “Graff Party” in our new premises which are under construction down at 39 rue du Caire!
Thanks to so many of you coming along, the event was a huge success.
Ideas overflowed at BarCamp and we certainly saw a whole lot of graff throughout the evening! Lots of positive energy was put into action in order to reflect on the way the new workspace could be set up and quite a few different visions came out of it. Many interesting ideas to go on with. A promising few months to come, no doubt.
From 5pm, around twenty journalists from agencies such as Le Figaro.fr, Presse Citron, Clubic.com, Maddyness, l’entreprise.com, not to mention Transmedia/Arté, all came along to hear talks from our various partners: Muriel Guenoux, Regional Councillor for the Greater Parisian region, Jean-Louis Missika, Secretary for Innovation, Research and Universities at Paris City Hall, Nicolas Demassieux, Director of Research & Strategy at Orange Labs and Martin Görner, Startup Relations Manager at Google France. Result: around forty articles online and in print media have since demonstrated the interest piqued by the event as well as a real desire to get involved in the project and monitor its every move.
Talent Cafés, After-School drinks, War Rooms and night clubs… at BarCamp, ideas abound!
How can we gather people together, stimulate meetings, mix the skills of different members of the community on site? Moving out means answering questions. The sheer breadth of the exchanges, the variety of the players and questions of well-being in the workplace are, now more than ever, huge issues that occupy our minds. A group of 80 people got together to discuss these types of issues on Thursday afternoon down at La Cantine. Everyone was in agreement with regards to one point: we must create a place of experimentation, surprise, in which everyone is invited to create, experiment throughout the ephemeral location or perhaps in the most simple of movements, within the building itself.
Three main trends made themselves clear
- Design: Giving the possibility for personalisation of the space, for visualisation of the people on site according to their skills, in order to make way for multi-platforminteraction. It remains vital, however, that the space be favourable to exchange, mobility, conversation, the idea is also to provide a space that ison the quieter side, a place where it would be good to work or get some rest: things such as a hammock being provided or different lighting and textures were suggested to create these special areas.
- Facilities: A “talent café”, systems for time banking and for the centralisation of calls for tender, a Help Desk, a War Room, regular, themed meetings (“Geek”, “Non-Geek”…). Lots of ideas were thrown up as a way of promoting unexpected exchange. For students as well, it is time to create more meeting platforms, and we’re not short of ideas: “After-School” drinks, new recruiting forums, digital training events, opportunities for students from different schools to get together or even a night club: the possibilities are virtually endless to strengthen the links between the worlds of the entrepreneur and the university student.
- Integration in the City: highjacking the space, sustainable development, integration of local actors…
Such a sexy place…
After reflection comes action! As soon as BarCamp wrapped up, the evening took on a whole new festive mood and we set sail for our future premises in 39 rue du Caire. On site: a whole artistic get-up on the facade by our graffing partners, Poscas, paint pots and spray-cans were distributed… To put it lightly, youguys went nuts and we loved every minute of it!
Right from the get-go, you got the idea, this space is your space! We wanted you to be the very first to make your collective mark, to make it your own… Mission accomplished! The event came to an end around 11-ish amid inner tubes pumped to the max.
Stay tuned for the rest of the story! See you soon on the interwebs…