CORE: Building something together

"Innovation belongs in the heart of the city," says the CORE team. Three years ago, CORE was created in the middle of Oldenburg's vibrant city center on more than 2,500 square meters - an ambitious community concept that unites the region's strengths and defines community in a new way. CORE defines itself as a dynamic ecosystem for forward-looking ideas, networking and creativity. As an interface between research and business, a co-working space, a meeting place for teams and start-ups and a public marketplace with urban gastronomy, CORE is open to everyone. Every day, from morning to night.

It is also Deike Petrack's aim to create the best possible projects, collaborations and synergies in this agile and colorful place through interdisciplinary exchange. As Community Manager, she holds the communication strings in her hand. We spoke to her about the flagship project CORE, the changing world of work - and the benefits that coapp offers her community work.

Deike Petrack, Community Manager at CORE

Deike, what is it about communities that fascinates you so much that you work as a Community Manager at CORE?

I've always loved being a hostess and networking with people. As I'm very sociable myself, I always try to bring different people together. I also work as a kite instructor, so I have to deal with a lot of strangers who don't know each other and come together in a field of interest that is new to them. It's the same here at CORE: everyone who comes together here is interested in building something together.

I recently spoke to a coworker who works here day in, day out and told me: "I really enjoy coming here and after a day's work I don't need any other social interactions because I've built up all my connections here." It was great to hear that the community enriches people's everyday lives. The coworkers appreciate the fact that there is a community for them.

Do you think people have become aware once again since corona that, in addition to family and friends, there are also communities in the workplace that are totally important for well-being, whether hybrid in a coworking space or in a small office?

Yes, many people probably underestimated that before, even though we spend a lot of time together. I only realized this again recently because a colleague of ours is getting married this year - and I found it touching that he invited the team. Another colleague will be his best man, they got to know each other here and have become one heart and one soul. I think this is a wonderful development and we are all very happy to be part of this important event. In a community like ours, you no longer learn to draw such a hard line between colleagues and friends. When you spend so much of your lives together, it's great to feel at ease.

You are more than just a coworking space, you have a lively community and a series of live events to bring people together, but digital also plays a big role in communication. To what extent has coapp been able to support you here?

In any case, coapp builds a bridge for us between the workplace and people's private lives - even if there are of course topics that only belong at work and vice versa. Especially since corona, people have realized that they are missing something if they only work remotely from home, that they don't always want to sit at home alone. That it's worth a lot to have an environment where you feel comfortable and have a place where you can work well.

I always find it really nice that CORE is a place where hybrid working is so well possible. We also have some companies that make rooms available here with their entire workforce, but also give their employees the opportunity to work 100% remotely and take advantage of the offer depending on their needs.

You make other contacts at real meetings that you couldn't make digitally, because there's this vibe that you only feel when you see each other in person.

So you can see that it's important for people to have a certain degree of flexibility and to be able to choose when they can work on something from home or go to lunch with the team to discuss topics in a more informal way?

Yes, relationships can be deepened in a different way. It's the same in our team, one of us is much more efficient here, the other in the home office. But a lot falls by the wayside if you don't see each other at all and don't notice the little things in everyday life.

How did you find out about coapp?

The first contact came about via Hafven; we had initially used Cobot and when the CORE concept really took off, we needed a community tool like coapp that would allow our community to network with each other. With coapp, there were more extensive features and the possibility to create an exchange among each other.

So you specifically wanted to have an app that brings you many things together, that brings the community together and helps with networking where WhatsApp and the like simply aren't enough.

Above all, CORE is not just a pure coworking space. We have the market hall downstairs, meeting rooms, events and much more. We wanted to have a platform that brings everything together, where both our community and our coworkers can see everything. From free meeting rooms that can be booked to a public lecture or a bingo night. The fact that all activities take place in one place and that we use one platform as a team is a great advantage, because it means that our event manager can post dates just as easily as I can post community-relevant information, such as when a tradesman is coming. Or simple things, such as a colleague who has brought too much lunch and wants to share it with the community.

On the other hand, it is difficult to educate the community from scratch so that everyone uses the same platform that is available to them. But the first stones have been laid, the possibility exists and because coapp is constantly evolving - often based on our needs and feature requests - we often hear from the community what works well for them and what they would perhaps also like to see in the app. In this dynamic, new functionalities are added for everyone.

As you describe it now, various groups and stakeholders are part of CORE, so surely it's a great relief that you don't have to look after them all individually, but that a lot can come together and that you, as the administrator, hold the reins?

Yes, totally. I would still like to see more of what activities are taking place in the background, but these are developmental things that will only become apparent over time. The classic coworkers who work here with a classic fix or flex desk certainly use coapp a lot to stay up to date, see when they are here, get checked in and so on. But then there are certainly a lot of people who don't really dare to do so, it's a hurdle for them to simply post publicly. I always take every opportunity to link or tag relevant contacts or groups in order to initiate activities.

Of course, that's also a bit the nature of communities, that they only work as well as the people who are up for it and actively participate, isn't it?

Just last week there was a classic Oldenburg kale tour, we called it the Green CORE Tour. (laughs) What I was particularly pleased about was that 15 people came along who didn't know each other well yet. I always try to make sure that all communication with the community only takes place via coapp, so that everyone is forced to check it out. (laughs)

I've often been asked whether there will be a proper app at some point. Then it would be used even more actively and people could stay much better informed via push notifications. Of course, nowadays it's always impractical to open the browser first.

Approximately how many members does your community have?

We currently have community users, around 400 active registrations from people who take advantage of our event offerings. Of these, perhaps 130 are coworkers who also buy day passes to work here or are members of offices, which of course makes it difficult to say in general how people use coapp. Some are already here with their team, others register on their own and are specifically looking for a network, freelancers or similar. On the one hand, this is a challenge for me in community management, but on the other hand, it also makes it much easier for coapp to reach everyone who is part of CORE...

All images of CORE © Ulf Duda, portrait of Deike Petrack © Martin Behrends