The local technology community of Grand Rapids hosted this year’s Midwest UX. The excitement from the local community was outstanding and The Factory was lucky enough to be a part of the event.
Attendees of this year’s event had the option of participating in an excursion to The Factory. The excursion gave the attendees an inside look at The Factory and insights into building great communities where people can share and collaborate on innovative ideas. The Factory founder, Aaron Schaap, lead the attendees on a quick tour of the space, showing how The Factory operates on a daily basis as well as a history of the interesting changes made along the way.
Schaap (@schaapy) also presented his talk on “How to Design Community and Create a Sense of Place”. Schaap presented how people seek out a sense of place as a way to more comfort and productivity. He spoke about varying types of work accomplished at coworking spaces and how The Factory designs their space to accommodate those types of work. He also talked about turning a coworking space, like The Factory, into a community space where members feel connected with other members and sharing experiences beyond just their work.
In addition, other Factory members participated in helping make Midwest UX happen. Factory resident, Tom Engelsman (@omnom_tom) participated in the organizing team by contributing his own visual design work. The entire organizing team did a great job making sure the event came together.
We believe in the importance of bringing conferences like Midwest UX to the city of Grand Rapids and look forward to participating in conferences like this in the future.
Find out more about Midwest UX.