When Liz Elam goes and looks at office spaces, one of the first things she comments on is how she can tell when a space was built – older buildings are built with all the windows taken up by offices and the “worker bees” have cubicles in the corners. And Elam points out that the notion of where you work in an office, “a corner office with a view,” has always been a sign of an employee’s status in their respected field.

But Elam believes this notion is changing, and changing drastically, with the growing trend of individuals and companies renting office space to work in, or “co-working.”

“Success isn’t measured anymore by the space you work in,” said Elam, the curator of Link CoWorking, an Austin, Texas-based co-working company. “People have been empowered to fundamentally change the way they work and part of that is choosing where they work.”

With more and more individuals branching off to start their own businesses or start-ups looking for a reasonably priced place to conduct business, “co-working” has evolved in the United States. And two women, Elam of Link CoWorking and New York-based Debra Larsen of WorkHouse NYC, are providing individuals and companies the affordable and safe space that they need to succeed in – and the “corner office with a view” at no extra cost.

The 3rd Annual Global Coworking Unconference Conference (GCUC) was held March 5th and 6th in Austin, Texas. Reflecting the strong growth of the coworking industry, there were well over 300 attendees this year - more than triple the number attending two years ago. My major takeaways were...

1. The Mix of Attendees: GCUC attracted a wide range of folks this year. In addition to owners of traditional coworking facilities there were attendees from large corporations, state and local governments, real estate developes (see 2 below) and a surprising number of vendors looking to sell goods and services to coworking spaces.

The office business center industry was also well represented this year. A number of OBC owners/managers were in attendance as well as Richard Myers, the Executive Director of the Global Workspace Association (GWA).

The GWA is a trade association focused on the workspace-as-a-service industry. GWA members used to be almost exclusively business center and executive suite owners/managers. But over the last couple of years they've expanded their mission and many coworking facilities have joined. We see this as very healthy for the coworking industry. Both groups have much to learn and share from/with each another....

Austin is quickly becoming the southern hangout of small businesses and startups, and Link Coworking is the perfect place for entrepreneurs and freelancers to gather in this Lone Star city.

Consider this statistic for a moment: In 2005, there really weren't established coworking spaces (at least, according to the people now in that business). Today, those folks say there are more than 2,000 of those spaces around the country.

Four evangelists of this way of working—all of whom are actually in the business of setting up new work spaces—offered some intriguing thought trends in the fledgling coworking-space industry.

Coworking space owners and community managers weigh in with some reasons to try coworking that you probably haven’t heard before.

As a mobile worker, you can set up shop just about anywhere, from your sofa to your local library or favourite coffees shop. Or, of course, at a coworking space. As the coworking movement grows, you’ve probably learned that these flexible spaces provide mobile workers with desks and office amenities at reasonable prices, as well as offering stellar networking opportunities. But are there any less often heralded benefits of joining a space?

Coworking spaces are a really cool option for a lot of workers that, for whatever reason, don’t really fit in to a traditional office space like startups, telecommuters, small businesses, and especially creatives in search of collaboration. With free coffee and Internet, workspaces, and built-in community, coworking spaces provide a great place to get things done without feeling the isolation of working at home, or trying to overcome the frenetic nature of working in a coffee shop. But some coworking spaces really take things a bit higher, offering gorgeously designed spaces in historic buildings, community events, and even office mascots. We’re really impressed by these 20 coworking spaces, and we encourage you to check them out if you’re in need of a work space in the area.

Office space in Austin has changed a great deal since Mike Judge’s 1999 cult classic of the same name. Today workers wear what they want, bring their pets, and even have a beer on the job.

KVUE News recently explored some of the city’s coolest spaces. The first stop included the Internet company Vast, where the theme is “rock and roll.”...