GCUC Blog

History of GCUC

By Liz Elam On January 13, 2014 In Coworking•Community•Retrospective

It all started as a meet-up of people coming to SXSW with an interest in Coworking. The meet-ups were held in Austin in 2008 and 2009 and organized by a local Coworking enthusiast. In 2010 Loosecubes decided to turn it into an actual event—the first ever Coworking Unconference. Liz Elam of Link Coworking helped the Loosecubes team with logistics and finding sponsors.

The half-day Unconference was a huge success and drew about 120 Coworking enthusiasts from around the world. In the summer of 2010 Loosecubes approached Liz Elam about taking over the conference. Liz gladly accepted and took to planning the Global Coworking Unconference Conference (GCUC). The name was a tip of the hat to Stephen Colbert. If you say the acronym out loud it sounds like juicy, so we decided to call it that for short.

GCUC 2012 was an all-day conference with an all-day Unconference that took place simultaneously. The conference was held at the AT&T conference center and was geared towards those that are new to Coworking or just learning about Coworking. We had panels about design, building community and Ask a Coworking Owner anything. We thought that the Unconference would be geared toward those who were already running a space so that they would be able to talk about whatever they needed to. We had over 250 Coworking enthusiasts from 7 countries attend. The conference validated the coworking movement at a point in time when it needed to step up and show that it was serious.

GCUC 2013 expanded to a two-day conference – a full day Conference followed by a full day Unconference. Growth and change was the theme for the 300+ in attendance at at the Austin Music Hall. Speakers came from Australia, Brussels, Germany and more. 85-90% of the attendees were space owners and operators. They’re early adopters, influencers and change makers. This year we are focusing on growth and change because that is what we’re all experiencing. Coworking is exploding. Spaces are specializing, expanding and looking for financing. The industry has been growing at a rate of 200% per year for seven years straight. The conference reflects that growth.

GCUC will delight and amaze and impress you. Join us.