Don’t worry. We don’t mean to imply that you should work without pay. No, what the message we’re trying to get across with that headline is that Monday, July 7 is Free Drop-in Day at Office Nomads. It’s something new we’re doing so you can experience the joy of coworking for yourself.

So if you’ve been meaning to come and check out Office Nomads and to find out if coworking will work for you, July 7 is is your chance to try it out, no-strings attached. As an added bonus, that’s also the first Monday of the month which means it’s also our monthly Game Night so at the end of the day, you can hang out, drink beers (or whatever) and enjoy any of a number of fun, unique games (no Monopoly here).

Of course, your first day of working at Office Nomads is always free, so if you can’t make July 7 and you’ve been meaning to check it out, don’t let your budget stop you from experimenting. But even if you’ve been in before, working on July 7 is gonna be free.

As always, Office Nomads will be open for drop-ins from 8:30 am until 6 p.m. on Monday July 7 for free. And as always, we’ll offer free high-speed Internet access, free prints and faxes and free coffee, tea and water. Any questions, please let us know.

That’s right, it’s true. Seattle is one of the 12 most innovative cities in the world according to FastCompany.com. The reasons they give include $1 billion (!) in VC funds a year, Google’s new Fremont campus attracting a new group of tech startups to the city and the new Olympic Sculpture Park. Somehow they missed the fact that Seattle is also turning into a nexus for co-workers thanks to the efforts of Office Nomads, Start Pad and Giraffe Labs. Weird.

This video might not be related to innovation, but I thought it was worth sharing. Heck! It is innovative. in what corporate office could you see anything nearly as cool as this? This is what makes co-working the wave of the future.

Big news this week folks! Office Nomads welcomed our tenth monthly member! As the kids say, “W00t!”

We’ve been planning to profile each of our monthly members for some time now, but you know how things can get put off? Right, well since signing up the 10th member is big enough news for posting, we decided to start doing it here and now. Why, we thought, should we start with the first one? He gets all the press.

So please welcome Henrik to the Office Nomads world. He’s a software product manager for Pace Systems Group and an all around cool guy. I think he’s going to fit right in. The first thing he did when he signed up was to choose his desk which ended up being right next to mine. While we were talking on his first day, it took less than five minutes for him to tell me how he’ll probably like hearing me be on the phone all the time because he’s been stuck at home and isolated for so long.

A true Office Nomad.

As you can see, Henrik comes complete with a dog. Her name is Stella and she’s a sweet as can be (she also gets along famously with Cortez the Killer). He’s got a wife who stopped by the other day to give her approval of the new space (she liked it). Right now, he’s trying to get back into soccer-playing shape. (Ask him how his legs are feeling two days after his first game in a long time.)

Welcome Henrik (and Stella), to the Office Nomads fold!

This weekend Seattle is having our first BarCamp event at the Adobe Conference Center in Fremont. For those of you unfamiliar with BarCamp it is “an ad-hoc gathering born from the desire for people to share and learn in an open environment. It is an intense event with discussions, demos and interaction from participants”. How it works is we have lined up the venue and the sponsors (free t-shirts & lunch) and the content of the conference comes with the attendees. First thing Saturday morning people who want to give a talk, or facilitate a discussion sign up on the big board in the room/time slot they choose. Throughout the day there will be all sorts of presentations on a wide range of topics. The event is free for everyone and runs Saturday from 10AM-5PM and Sunday from 10AM-1PM. Saturday night there is also a big party at The Red Door. Susan and I are planning on talking about Coworking on Saturday around 2PM and we’ve invited all the regional spaces to join us. It is going to be a great weekend.

Tonight we are having a volunteer meeting at Office Nomads at 7PM. There are plenty of opportunities to volunteer so please come if you would like to help out. For more information on the event visit http://www.barcampseattle.org.

It’s important to us to create an environment that is comfortable, friendly and welcoming at Office Nomads. For some, coworking can only be a reality if they’re able to bring their dogs along with them, so we have an open-door policy for pups (with the right to veto loud yappers, hyperactive sprinters, and those who like to leave little “presents” around wherever they go). Recently we have had the pleasure of Cortez the Killer’s company, rockstar Nomad Ryan‘s new puppy. Cortez spends most of his days at the office either entertaining us with various small-dog antics or quietly napping in Ryan’s lap while he works. He’s a joy. In fact the other day I let him take charge of greeting folks from the front desk, and personally I think he did a great job. We like him so much we thought we’d give him a little shout out on the ol’ blog.

He might be pint-sized (ok maybe not even that big), but he sure is a tough cookie…I mean, killer.

Man, is it Monday already??

Thanks to everyone for coming out and making our 6-month anniversary open house a success! Particularly large thank-yous go out to:

• Scott at Elemental Catering for providing absolutely delicious food for our guests. If you’re looking for a caterer for an event, Scott is definitely your guy!
• Chris and his crew at Sierra Nevada for their delicious brews. What a spectacular company with a wonderful dedication to sustainability.
• Piper and Chelsea of Natural Balance for helping put some of the finishing touches on our space before the event – the space looked spectacular!
• Kristi & Kelsey for letting us display their beautiful photographs – your pieces made the space really come together.

We were also very excited to meet a few other coworking space owners during the evening – Mark & Amy from The Village Bellevue and Brian from Giraffe Labs were all in the house on Friday. It was great to connect with these folks and to build strong relationships with our fellow coworkers. A wonderful time was had by all and we look forward to another event soon. We’re hoping to host regular open houses with the rotation of our artwork, so keep posted for our next one!

For more photos of the event and more, visit our Flickr site!