What makes a coworking space successful?

I've got 3 things i really like about coworking spaces (and that i believe can make a coworking space successful)...it might help you to read them simply because they come from a coworker point of view (....you won't read too many coworkers opinions on the web...so that's why i'm gonna share mine and hopefully collect others).

These are 3 points that, IMO, can be considered attributes of a successfull coworking space:

1. Price & Quality

Price and quality of the space (i cant pay 250$/month for an "ok chair" and "ok desk"....where "ok = ikea standard").

- Staying 8-to-12 hours in a bad workstation can be really bad for your health.

- Being a startup or a Freelance doesn't always mean "being rich"...if you consider city transports, taxes and insurance...the amount we are all paying monthly is already enough...and coworking should help you to solve that problem (not making it worst!).

2. Community

It's always nice to meet like minded people!

Although remember: coworkers will be working most of the time (and nobody wants to meet 10 new people EVERY day...and if you think about it: some days you really don't want to because you're probably very busy working).

Anyway: this word means nothing without the touch of a good workspace staffand i believe that those spaces which organize events all the time are the best...simply because it's one more event to attend in your town! (and one more chance to get in touch with new people, share ideas, etc.)

.....and I won't say community = events ......but that's what i'd like to think because there you can network and eventually end up with a new partner/collaborator/business idea or contact.

3. Space Design.

It sucks to go in places that are simply a bunch of desks. What helps me:

- Plants, green spaces, outdoor relaxing spaces, etc.

- Common areas (maybe with free water/coffee/tea) where to occasionally meet and talk during work hours

- Free meeting rooms/spaces for quick meetings or skype conference calls (to avoid people to talk in common areas)

- Silence (and no echo) because it sucks to work with chaos, no? :)

2a. "Too much community" problem:

I think this is not that common....but it's something i want to talk about here:

when there is "too much community" the space's initiatives might start to look like "things you HAVE TO participate if you work there".

Community is good until it allows external inputs/people to come in simply because new potential members tend to be less attracted (or not attracted at all) when facing a "close community" of people that have too much history together.

...and although i can see that this might be good on a business level (having people filling up your fixed workstations for years and years it's a solid income for the coworking business) it might, at the same time, become the end of the global coworking movement and the beginning of isolated local communities which will give a warm family feeling to the coworkers but eventually won't help them to make their freelance business or their network grow.

I had only one "too much community experience" and i left the space (after 3-4 months) because of that:

too much family feeling + too many friends + too many distractions and events = not enough time to actually work.

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