Introducing Indy Hall Campfire Stories
Alex Hillman
Over the past few weeks, a number of conversations about how we talk about Indy Hall really sparked something special.
Most recently, a conversation in our Discord from members who were sharing the difficulty explaining what makes Indy Hall different from “just another coworking space” - and coming to the realization that there isn’t a magic one liner tagline that does it.
We can say words like “community” all day long, but it’s easier to use the word than to demonstrate what we really mean.
During that chat, I remembered an old lesson we used to share with fellow coworking community builders:
…you don’t need taglines or branding for people to find your community. You need Campfire Stories.
You know the kind. It’s those stories that rarely get written down but instead get shared in casual and social settings. The stories that have a lesson or takeaway, even if they don’t beat you over the head with it. The story that’s so relatable that you not only see yourself in it, but that you may even have a version of that story yourself.
That’s when a bunch of things clicked.
We’ve got 19 years of Campfire Stories to share
In the recent months, especially at our first ever “MiniBar event,” we found ourselves sharing those bits of lore from our history as a way of helping members understand Indy Hall a little better. Some stories helped us frame their new ideas as echos of things we’ve done in the past that we’d love to bring back, others helped us answer a question about something unusual that we do (or don’t do) compared to other communities and spaces.
And like I said, we have nearly 2 decades of those stories.
So…what if we started telling them more often?
That’s our plan for this year long series, leading up to our actual 20 year anniversary in 2026!
We’ve come up with 12 themes - nay, 12 eras – that capture a mix of time and place and people and lore that weaves through Indy Hall’s history. It’s interconnected with our friends and collaborators, our memories and milestones.
Each era, we’ll tell a few choice stories that illustrate who we really are, how we make decisions.
Our hope is that as you read those stories, they’ll remind you of YOUR stories, whether you were in the room with us or not. And we hope that you’ll share those stories back with us, too!
Think of this like a big virtual campfire, and we’re all sitting around it together.
Indy Hall Era #1 - The Spark
We’re calling the first era “The Spark.” Think of this one as the answer to “Why does Indy Hall exist in the first place?”
Because honestly, after the recent years of survival mode, sometimes even I have to remind myself why we’re still here besides “…because we survived.”
Nearly 10 years ago, Adam and I told this story into a pair of microphones as we recorded an audiobook that we call The First Ten.
The First Ten refers to the power of the first 10 members of ANY community, and how that influenced ours.
It tells a chapter-by-chapter story of everything we did in the year before opening the doors to our first coworking space in 2007. Across 11 chapters we describe the people, the events, the influences, the counterintuitive decisions…it’s a lot! Truth is, the way we started is still amazingly relevant today.
It’s a bit like a podcast, with Adam as the curious proxy for the listener, but it’s thoughtfully curated and tightly edited for easy listening.
We’ll be sharing more from The First Ten and other eras throughout the year. Stay tuned!
Don't miss our next post
Stories, insights, and community updates delivered to your inbox weekly.