How to Energize Your Third Place with Original Activities?

Offering events in a third place is a key strategy to ensure its dynamism. Organized events help bring the community together, provide a unique sharing moment, and foster creativity. These events also strengthen the image of the third place by demonstrating its dynamism and its ability to meet the expectations of its members. Offering original events, in addition to "classic" events such as repair cafés, training sessions, and open labs, is also an effective strategy to generate interest among new members and attract new profiles.

What original activities can you implement to revitalize your third place? Let's take a look at the members of the Fab Manager network! Some third places, whether fab labs, makerspaces, or fabrication workshops, have no shortage of ideas for implementing original activities.

Offer a playful discovery of your space.

Harness the playful dimension to captivate the public's attention and stimulate their interest more effectively than a "traditional" discovery of your third place. A playful visit in the form of games, quirky activities, etc., will be a vector of surprise and amusement that will make the visit more interactive and memorable for participants. Not to mention that this originality will also attract a broader and more diverse audience.

Zoom in on the Escape Box at the Fablab La Verrière in Montreuil.
La Verrière has set up an escape box with a well-crafted story for a successful playful discovery of the fablab. To find out more, click here: https://fabmanager.fablab-laverriere.org/#!/events/69

Organize evening activities.

In the evening, people tend to look for activities to relax, socialize, share, learn, and more. And why wouldn't they come to your space?

Organizing nighttime events or evenings allows you to diversify your activities and reach a different audience than during the day. You can host themed nights, debates, collaborative workshops, and more. The key is to offer activities different from those during the day that cater to the interests of your community.

Focus on

• Vichy fablab. Every Thursday night, they host "nocturnes," collaborative workshops where participants come together to imagine, design, and create open-source and innovative projects: https://vichy-fablab.fr/#!/
  
• Au Boulon fablab. Interested in a digital evening focused on video games? That's what Au Boulon Fablab offers: https://fablab-auboulon.vitamines-coworking.fr/#!/events/29 

Set up themed workshops throughout the seasons.

Draw inspiration from the seasons to design original workshops throughout the year. These seasonal workshops (Christmas, Easter, Halloween, etc.) will take place in a festive atmosphere that will surely be appreciated by your members.

• In spring, at Copeaux Numériques, a fablab in Rouen, it's a clothes swap event: https://reservation.lescopeauxnumeriques.fr/#!/events/1086
  
• In summer, children can experiment with the properties of air and physical forces by building a mini-parachute at La Casemate Fab Lab.
• In autumn, we prepare Halloween decorations at Au Boulon Fablab, while children become digital apprentices at Fabdulys, making their own masks.
• In winter, you can make your own Christmas baubles at Au Boulon Fablab, or your own greeting cards at the Grenoble Fab Lab, La Casemate. At the MJC fablab in Saint Lys, near Toulouse, you can even make candle holders, coasters, and other decorations to dress up your home during the holidays. In Rennes, at Comme un Établi fablab, a Christmas market featuring numerous artisans takes place right in the heart of this shared workshop.

Collaborate with local partners to create unique events.

You can also create events with local actors to share new perspectives and expertise on various subjects. Your partners will bring complementary skills and resources, such as services or creative ideas, that will help you create high-value events for your members. Not to mention that your partners likely have a different and complementary audience to that of your shared space, which will help broaden the event's reach.

Zoom in on

• Les Ateliers du B7, a Collective Autonomy Workshop in Quebec, which offers workshops with a retired expert mechanic aimed at anyone wishing to learn how to pamper their car and keep it healthy for a long time: https://ateliers.batiment7.org/#!/events/68
  
• Returning to France, at Tiers-lieux Quartier Libre, where one can relieve stress, gain serenity, and vitality by participating in a sophrology workshop with an expert: https://monespace.quartiers-libres.fr/#!/events/194 
  

The members of the fab-manager network propose numerous creative events, a source of dynamism and attractiveness for their spaces. You too can draw inspiration from them to create original events in your shared space.