A certain vision of the world | Nicole Mottet | TEDxMartigny

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx

Nicole Mottet's professional experience has included working as a representative for the Migros Valais cultural Service, then Vaud, while also maintaining her activities as a stylist at Atelier NM, an event producer, and mother.

"Those who risk nothing, have nothing". With this in mind, on May 1, 2013, she took the risk of working completely independently, reinventing her daily life, and discovering coworking: a concept that is innovative, uniting, and with the strong potential to create value. She then decided to found the Simplon 8 Space, the first coworking center in Valais (Switzerland), in Martigny, right next to her studio. She then dedicated much of her time to both spaces, working in culture, writing, and fashion, and with no shortage of ideas or new challenges to face!

Are there any freelancers
here in the theater?

Raise your hand, freelancers!
I can't see well,

but I still can see
several hands in the air.

Have any of you
already experimented coworking?

One hand, two hands...

In fact, coworking
is based on two principles.

The first principle
is to share work spaces

and to form a network, a community.

And this community will favor exchanges,
helping each other out, and creativity.

It's a very simple idea,

and it makes you wonder
why nobody thought of it earlier.

Coworking was created
in 2005 in San Francisco.

And in fact, what really promoted
the emergence of coworking,

was the development of new technologies.

Nowadays, with your computer,
you have become completely mobile.

You can go anywhere you like.

In one click, you have access
to your entire office's content.

And to all the information,
all the knowledge of the world.

It's the equivalent of entire libraries,
and you're connected to the entire world.

Under these conditions,
you can work from anywhere.

Do any of you take the train
in the morning?

I took it for quite some time,

and I was surprised to see
how before arriving at work,

the majority of riders
were already working,

with their computers, on the train.

Now, trains are
not coworking spaces,

but who knows, one day they may
become coworking spaces.

In fact, anything is possible.

I'll continue with some more questions.

Are any of you subscribers
to Mobility? Nobody?

Well, you're missing out.

I've experimented it for two years,

because I didn't have a car at one point,
and it's absolutely amazing.

First, I had cars much better
than the ones I have now,

and I also had no worries.

I encourage you to take a look at
what Mobility offers.

Maybe I'll be more successful
with my second question:

Are there any of you

who have already lived
or who currently live with roommates?

Maybe back when you were studying.

Well, when you have tried Mobility,
and when you have lived with roommates,

you are living in and practicing
a collaborative economy.

A collaborative economy
is a state of mind.

In fact, it's based on consumption
and on a way of life.

When you share a car, you're
experiencing collaborative consumption.

You're offered a good, and rather than
purchase it, you use it.

Doing so, you optimize resources.

When you live with roommates,

you experience
a collaborative way of life.

Rather than everyone
having its own apartment,

you share the same apartment,
you share the kitchen,

you share the living room,
you take turns cleaning the apartment.

It's a collaborative way of life.
You share resources.

Coworking uses the same logic.

In a coworking space, you have
workplaces, you have wi-fi connections,

you have a photocopier
for printing or scanning,

a kitchen where you can make food.

In other words, everything you need
to work together with other coworkers.

Coworking is a response
to the economic crisis.

And the collaborative economy is too.

They are responses to a gloomy situation,
to distrust, and suspicion.

How does this happen in a coworking space?

In a coworking space,

you will look for and find
the solution that works for you.

Most of the time,
coworkers are freelancers.

There are several types of freelancers.

You can be a freelancer to the core

and still need a certain regularity,
and structure,

but not necessarily ready to invest
in very costly fixed structures.

So, you choose to go
to a coworking space full time.

You have your office,
you can get your own cabinet,

and you have all
the basic technological tools

necessary to be able to carry out
your work properly.

But maybe you don't feel like
spending all your time

in a coworking space, as you
might have done somewhere else

I might have done that in a previous life
by working in an office.

That hasn't really convinced me, in fact.

So, in a coworking space,
you can also choose to come

to break up the loneliness
of working at home a bit,

to meet other people,

to test your opinions
against those of your coworkers.

You can come part time.

When people work freelance,

they can end up in a situation
where they are very busy,

and have to move around a lot
and they need solutions that are flexible.

In a coworking space
you can choose to come for a full day,

there are packs for four days, ten days.

At that moment, when you need it,
you register in an online agenda,

and you reserve your spot
in the coworking space.

All of this can be varied
over the long term or the short term.

And when you have found the right formula,
what happens in a coworking space?

Theoretically, when you get there,
it is to work.

OK, I swear to you that on some days,

there's no way that anyone who goes
to the Simplon 8 space in Martigny

can tell whether, in the space, there are
one, three, or eight people working there.

You could hear a pin drop.

The concentration level is at its peak.

It's like being in a library:
everyone is focus on its work,

and in fact, coworkers
often tell me that it is

the concentration of their neighbors

that positively impacts them
and enable them to finish their work

and to move forward, without
being distracted by all sort of things.

On other days, it's buzzing with activity,

everybody talks, everybody exchange.

In a coworking space, you have
an entire community of resources,

of people who are complementary,
who want to share,

people who have talents

and, at any given time, are very likely to
make contact and exchange with each other.

These exchanges come in
several different types.

In my coworking space, I have
somebody who might one day be called

to do an activity report
on her work, on her small business.

To do the report properly, she decides
do it in French and German.

She speaks German perfectly, no problem.

She prepares her activity report,

and at the last moment
she has second thought,

"German isn't my native language,

it would be nice if I could find
someone to reread my report."

There's a translator
in my coworking space.

This person will ask him to take
a quick look at her project,

to give her some feedback,
to make a few corrections, if need be.

This translator hasn't been
settled for very long,

and for some times,

he has begun to prepare
the launch of his own website.

He fund a web designer
who is working with him,

but it's not that simple.

Even if you find someone who can do it,

you must provide the person
with text and images,

and he is experiencing just that.

At a certain point, he didn't know
anymore and wondered,

"What pictures should I use
what can I put as tabs,

what kind of themes are there?"

A web designer recently began
to come regularly to the space.

Well, he won't build
the site for the translator.

However, when he heard
about the website's problems,

he advised the translator.

He told him, "Pay attention,
don't use too much text,

make sure that each page
is very easily accessible,

that users know
where they are in the site."

That advice is extremely valuable.

Since he's new, this web designer
has just opened his box

to set up his start-up.

When he's received
some orders from clients,

sometimes he gets a bit stuck
with the graphics.

Because that's not his strong suit.

He prefers programming,
working with the back end,

but the graphics
aren't what he's good at.

There aren't any graphic designers
in my coworking space.

Despite this, he's tried
asking other people:

"Is there any chance you know
a graphic artist who could help me?"

And I know a graphic designer
who I work with regularly,

and I've given him his address,

and from then on, he works
with this graphic designer.

And this graphic designer
will maybe need a translation later.

And it continues that way,
in all directions.

These aren't big jobs.
There is not exchange of money.

People are simply helping each other,

"I'll help you one day,
then you help someone else,

and the next day that someone else
will maybe help me in return."

It's a formula of mutual assistance.

It happens in a very informal way,
almost every day.

One other form is bartering.
You all know what that is.

People who come
to coworking spaces regularly

are very often people
who work in communication.

And when they write texts, it may be
useful to have those texts reread.

I myself write texts.

In the company where I used to work
official reviewers were paid to do that.

Now I don't have anyone.

I have people to ask occasionally,
but they are not always available.

There's another person in Simplon 8
who works in communications and writes.

And he regularly gets asked
to reread texts. It's a barter.

So, the translator,
with his website up, says to himself:,

"I need to do a Google Adwords campaign."

But he's never done one.
Social networks are not his thing.

All of a sudden, he talks about it,

and realizes that there is
a web communication specialist there.

Since the web specialist is very busy,
she really won't be able to take the time

from her professional work
to do his AdWords campaign.

But, they've worked out a price,
they come to an agreement

and finally the translator hires
the web communication specialist

to make him a Google AdWords campaign.

Who are the people involved in coworking?

As I told you just now,
mainly freelancers.

I've had the occasion, at the beginning
of the year, to host a business manager.

He owned a small business
with about 30 employees.

He came to see me because he wanted
to sell me internet services.

So, he came over,
and some other coworkers were there,

we had something to drink together,
and began to chat,

and he found it really nice to have
all these resources in the same place.

He happened to be in the process
of getting a postgraduate degree,

and he needed to write a publication.

He was a young father,

he didn't have time at home
to work on it in peace.

At his job, he was always preoccupied.

So, he decided to come to the Simplon 8
space to work on his publication.

He came, he took out
a subscription of 4 flexible days,

he came when he had time;

it was very useful not to have to worry
about anything else for four full days.

What's more, he made exchanges
with the others.

I don't know if he sold
his internet services,

but it may be possible.

In addition, there may be
directors, managers,

who at any given time in their lives

need to take a break from
their relations with their company.

In a coworking space,
relationships work horizontally.

There is no hierarchy,
no vertical functionality.

There is no competition, or judgment.
That's a change for a business manager.

Imagine the pressure and tension
of leading a whole team.

Who can you trust
when you have problems? No one.

It's a jungle.

And maybe there are a few people
who dream of taking your place.

It's not easy.

In coworking, this problem doesn't exist.

He can come to work
and exchange with the others,

find solutions to his problems,
get completely disinterested advice,

and there's even an innovation specialist
in our coworking space.

Well, I can tell you that he has
already given some solutions

to a number of people who have come there,

whether they are coworkers,
or clients, or just visitors.

And there are also people
who use it as a home office.

If you live in Martigny,
and you are required to work

in Lausanne or in Geneva, perhaps, if you
have an understanding boss, he will say,

"OK, one day per week
you can work from home."

So, you begin to work from
home.

Except that you aren't used to
working like a freelancer,

you are not used to scheduling
and disciplining yourself

and this isn't easy.

In addition, the people around you,

if you are at home
think that you are available.

For kids, it's the same.

You are tempted to get
food from the fridge.

Your house is full of temptations.

The solution might be, effectively,

to work one day per week
in a coworking space.

Obviously, this doesn't have to be
in Brigue or in Bulpliz,

because it would not solve anything.

But if you have one space near you,

going there to work once a week
is an excellent solution,

to create a home office
a bit farther away from home.

Now, I'd like us to have
a bit of an experience.

I'd like to ask you to imagine

that you just created your own
event production company.

Your event company.

You work alone,
and you decided to schedule

part of that time
in a coworking space.

Your coworkers are you.
Your other coworkers, also you.

Everyone you can find there.

At the end of the evening,
the TED organizers come to tell you,

"We know that you have an event company.

And we have too much stuff,
our organization has gotten bogged down,

we'd like you to organize
the TED event for the next year."

You are very honored,
you accept the offer,

you discuss the conditions a bit.

You end up back at your coworking space

and now you tell yourself,
"How am I going to do this?"

First, the most important thing
is to think of the basics.

So, this event, for example, has
a theme, it's called Galaxy.

You say, "I'm going to need
to find a theme,"

All alone in your corner,
your little idea lab, it's still not easy.

Maybe within the team members here,

there is someone who has
a talent for animating events,

and who would be
capable of brainstorming.

Is there anyone capable
of doing one, who has already done one?

I see a few fingers up in the back.

You'll be able to "brew" your ideas,
and all kinds of other things.

The only person missing is the leader,
but other people can send ideas.

I think that you will find

some people who will agree
to giving some of their time

in order to help find a theme
for the evening next year.

Now, you have the theme.
You still need to find speakers.

Based on the theme, you will reflect
on who can come to speak next year.

Maybe among you there's someone.

I don't have the theme yet,
you're the ones who, with your team,

will see which theme to use.

Maybe among the coworkers, there are
some people who might be able to help,

who have abilities, resources, knowledge,

whose experiences and lives
you can benefit from.

But, if there's no one who can come
to bring their abilities as a speaker,

I'm sure that among you, there's
someone who knows someone else,

or who has heard of
other people who might come

and fill the role
of TED speaker next year.

When you've done the brainstorming,
you're helping each other out.

Now, you're in the network.

Everyone makes their own network work,
and they find solutions.

Now you have the theme and the speakers,

you now need to think about
the practical things.

The location, that's good,
you can do it here again.

But you will need to promote the event.

You'll need to make a program,
to load the information online.

To put it online, you must have
someone who can write text,

you must have someone to do the graphics.

You understand how this works.

You're going to find someone
for the communication

and to put information online
on the website.

You're going to find a printer,

and I'm sure that if you cannot do this

you know some people
who can fill these needs.

Then, you'll need to pay a bit
for the services, though.

I think that TED
would have given you a budget.

You'll need to find partners,
sponsors to finance the event.

But that's easy.

With all the people who are here,

I'm sure that you have some connections
with banks and insurance companies,

with private parties who have money
and are ready to back the event,

who believe in TEDx.

So, that's good. You've got money,
the website, the information,

Surely there are some things
I've forgotten, but you'll think of them.

And now, there's one important thing left.
That's you, the audience.

How are you going to find the audience?
Well, you're going to use the network.

And this event will be
exciting and memorable.

So, there you go.

That's the way that this can work
in a coworking space.

There, you're in project management,

but there could be all
of configurations in terms of coworkers.

The most represented people
in coworking spaces,

as I've said, are people in communication,

there are creatives,
there are graphic designers,

At my space, as I've said,
there's a translator, a web designer,

a specialist in web communication.

And starting this week,
there's a researcher

who's interested in
what's happening in Greece.

So, I can tell you
that he has some work to do.

And it's open to all sorts
of personalities.

We sometimes get the feeling

that there is exclusively creatives
working in coworking spaces,

but I also have a finance specialist
and you could imagine an accountant,

a trustee, really
the possibilities are endless.

And the people who come
to a coworking space

very often, have been informed
about it in advance,

they have already acquired
the coworking values.

So, what are these values?

I've already told you
about them informally.

The first of these values is durability.

There's a wifi connection, materials,

and all these resources are actively
made available to the coworkers.

The second value is community.

Community means all the people
who work in a coworking space

and this is what you try
to create with other people,

by trying to respond to their needs,

by trying to respond
to their expectations,

by trying to respond to their values.

The third value is cooperation.
I think that you've understood.

I don't need to redo the demonstration.

That's good, you can cooperate
in a coworking space.

The fourth value is openness.

You share experiences, and ideas,
you enrich each other mutually,

you believe and you make
your business grow.

And finally, the last value
is accessibility.

Working is fine.

But working where, when, how,
and who I want to work with,

that's possible with coworking.

These values make up
the five pillars of the coworking base.

Once they're in place,

they are the generators
of creativity, innovation, sharing,

exchanging, and quality.

I have told you before

that coworking was born
in 2005 in San Francisco.

In Switzerland, the first coworking center
was opened in Lausanne.

It was "L'Eclau" which opened in 2008.

It was quickly followed
by "The Muse" in Geneva

which you have certainly heard about

because it's a very dynamic place,
that has got lots of coverage.

It's the standard
for coworking in Switzerland,

and since 2009, it's already hosted
more than 400 coworkers.

Later, there were
other centers that opened,

in Lausanne, in Freiburg, in Montreux,
in Neuchâtel, in Geneva too.

The Simplon 8 space, that I founded
a year ago, is the first,

and to my knowledge,
the only coworking center in Valais.

But, through the network,
I've heard it said,

that there's a center
being prepared in Sierre,

that there was another
being prepared in Colombais,

and that there's a center
in preparation in Sion.

So, if you're convinced by coworking,
don't wait any longer.

Do it, get involved, experience it.

(Applause)