From lunch and learns, happy hours and workshops, to book clubs, worksprints and everything in-between, there are so many ways that you can connect with your community even when working from home. Do your research, reach out and make shifts in the schedule to accommodate time with friends and colleagues, staying in touch is important to well-being. To help you feel connected in these times, here are 10 virtual ideas for working from home in community.
10 Ways to Work from Home in Community
1. Worksprints: Gather a few people in Zoom, set a time for 20-30 minutes and do worksprints together. Short pomodoro sprints are a surprisingly powerful way to stay focused and get a lot done in a short time.
2. Coffee Break: While chatting with people around the coffee machine isn’t part of your day-to-day, you can recreate some of that spontaneous, casual banter with virtual coffee breaks with one or two people for short intervals.
3. Accountability Check-ins: Having friends or colleagues share what they’re working on adds a nice bit of peer accountability. These can be standalone updates or be incorporated into a worksprint.
4. Lunch and Learns: Attend a Lunch and Learn hosted by local organizations or host your own. Open up a Zoom room at noon and ask someone to share information or insights around a specific topic. Voila, you have a Lunch and Learn. Sign up for webinars hosted by The LAB Miami, Venture Cafe, StartUp FIU and the Idea Center at Miami-Dade College, which are hosted weekly for the entrepreneurial community.
5. Expert Talks: Your local community is full of experts. Tune for a virtual talk to learn a new skill, get expert advice or hear what other leaders in the field are talking about. Talks are a great way to add to your knowledge base. Entrepreneur, Inc and Forbes are hosting weekly virtual webinars with guests like Shark Tank’s Mark Cuban, Research Professor Brene Brown and Chief Officers of Airbnb with discussions on how to innovate and strengthen your business model.
6. Virtual Breakfast or Lunch: Invite coworkers or friends, jump into Zoom, and connect over a meal. It’s a great way to start the day or check-in during the day to make connections. Easy peasy.
7. Yoga and Wellness Classes: Virtual yoga classes and streaming workout videos are great ways to incorporate wellness in your day. Round up a few people, set up a screenshare and get the blood pumping. A little can go a long way. Prana Yoga in Coral Gables is offering virtual yoga sessions of it’s normal class schedule.
8. Stretch Breaks: Working from home means a lot less moving around. Schedule regular stretch breaks for yourself by joining in or hosting a community stretch with those on your team. Short 10-15 minute stretch and check-in sessions can go a long way
9. Music: Musicians, artists and DJs are putting out amazing streaming content right now, including concerts, dance parties and listening parties. Invite people to share what they’re listening to as a music exchange and ta-da, you have a whole new soundtrack and another touchpoint for conversation. Bonus: no need to create playlists for a while! The University of Miami Frost School of Music is hosting regular live streams of their concert schedule and the college radio station WVUM 90.5 is still streaming. Local publications like the The New Tropic also post livestream music events on their weekly newsletters.
10. Happy Hour: Pick a time, invite coworkers, friends or business partners to bring their favorite drink, and see where the conversations go. The Coral Gables Chamber of Commerce is hosting free networking happy hours, sign up for one in their events schedule!
Your Workspace in Downtown Coral Gables
When social distancing is over, FORUM is here for you. An elevated workspace in Downtown Coral Gables, FORUM offers various coworking memberships created to suit the needs of entrepreneurs, freelancers, startups and enterprise businesses. From hot desks to private suites, business support and more, FORUM is ready to support our community in these times. Contact us to learn more [email protected] | 305-203-5006.
