GCUC is headed to Salt Lake City and we would love for you to join us.
GCUC brings together decision-makers and game-changers in the coworking and flexible workspace industry.
👉 Explore the conference Agenda here.
P.S. Use code TWIC to grab a juicy 20% discount before March 31st.
🎉 Coworking celebrations.
🎊 Call to action: let’s celebrate 25 years of coworking! #
Doris Schuppe put out a call to invite you, and every workspace operator, to get involved with a distributed and global #Coworking25 campaign.
In short: It’s been 25 years since Bernie DeKoven coined the term "coworking" with relation to how people work. To celebrate you’re invited to join the ‘coworking blog carnival’, in which we each create a piece of content, publish it between March 6th, 2024 and April 20th, 2024 and then amplify and engage with each others’.
Of course, please also submit your #Coworking25 posts to TWIC here.
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✊ Coworking impact.
👀 People of Coworking launches with 2 diversity-empowering initiatives #
Jerome Chang introduced the People Of Coworking initiative at The Summit this week. The project focusses on improving the representation of People of Color at industry events and on organizational boards.
The project launched with two initiatives: a pledge (already taken by 33 industry leaders and speakers) to only be on stage when the speakers are diverse, AND a list of recommended speakers and resources for organizations looking to improve representation on panels/boards/etc.
🅱️ Portland gets a coworking space for B-Corps and impact orgs #
Place to B, a 6k sqft coworking space is opening in Portland, aiming to support the city’s robust community of B Corps.
Melanie Marconi, CEO at Vida – another coworking space in Portland, shared the news and welcome the new operator to the local ecosystem, signing of with " As always, coworking for the win!". Yes Melanie. Yes!
📰 Coworking news & views.
🍽️ What is the relationship between coworking and hospitality? #
Bernie Mitchell shares a fantastic answer to a query that pops up often in discussions around flex spaces and hospitality. Often, the idea of ‘hospitality’ in coworking is confused with the culture of running a top-class restaurant (mostly thanks to the book Unreasonable Hospitality being written from that context).
Instead, he expands on Ian Minor quote that "it’s the art of being hospitable", comparing how it’s very obvious the difference is when someone is ‘made’ to just say sorry, and when someone really is.
😅 “Is the era of coworking and flexible workplaces over?” #
Dasha Shunina asks if coworking’s era is over in her recent Forbes long-read piece.
As someone who is (a little bit) invested in supporting coworking and the amazing work you all do, I instinctively dove in to find points to disagree with. But was happy to see that Dasha was actually, in their own way, dispelling that damn perpetual myth that "coworking spaces are just for tech co’s and VC-backed startups".
🇦🇺 How this Australian indie brand embodies a hospitality mindset. #
The Optix team shares how James Sledmere, co-founder at Hello Friend, is growing their community by taking a hospitality-first approach to coworking.
Notable quotes are that "coworking is long-form hospitality", that spaces impact how people feel, and how "Hello Friend is about working near home, not from home".
📯 Coworking spaces are waiting for USPS to rise to their own challenge #
PilotoMail share the challenges and frustrations of coworking operators like Peter Chee (Thinkspace), David Adato (Downtown Works), Channen Smith (Venture X and Office Evolution) and Tamara Payne (Ensemble Coworking) who have been trying their hardest to be compliant as CMRAs.
📬 Creative marketing idea with postcards #
Imagine being handed a stamped postcard. You can send it to anyone you want. This has so much potential for coworking communities!
Caroline Feeney shares how after celebrating a big win she was given a branded postcard with their check and told by the waitress that they could use it to sane note to to anyone, anywhere in the world, and the bar would pay the postage to have it delivered.
I love this, and the ideas for where/how this could be used in coworking flooded through my head. Seen someone land a new job? Branded postcard! A great pitch landed in your meeting room? Branded postcard! Big new customer deal closed? Branded postcard! When was the last time you received a postcard? Exactly.
💷 Brokerage’s flex deal count in 2024 already surpassed annual average #
Matthew Fielden shares that Flex Office Solutions have already surpassed their average annual deal total, and it’s only week 10 of 52.
I’ve said it before, so I’ll say it again, ignoring channels can often mean leaving money on the table. CRE and flex-focussed brokerages are starting to see and share a growing number of flex deals.
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💻 Coworking technology.
💰 Netherlands-based hospitality tech co raised $110M #
Mews share that they’ve raised a significant round (with a $1B+ valuation) into their company that builds and manages the tech used to manage over 350,000 hospitality spaces by 5,000 customers worldwide including hotels and hybrid work/stay companies like The Social Hub.
Although focussed on serving the hotel and traditional hospitality sector, they do mention coworking (albeit spelt incorrectly) on their homepage. So expect to hear more from them.
🚀 LATAM flex space app sees bookings soar 4x #
Andrei Cretu shares that Pluria have seen a 4x increase in bookings for flex spaces across Latin America (600+ spaces in 15 countries) via their app.
I confirmed with Andrei, that this is a 4x increase in bookings, and not a 4x increase in spaces listed. Good to see utilization growing across the region!
📈 Coworking data.
🇬🇧 Since 2021, 6 cities (outside London) account for 58% of UK’s new flex spaces #
In Office Freedom’s recent UK Flex Office Market report, they share that Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, Glasgow and Edinburgh accounted for 58% of the total new flexible centres outside of London since 2021. They also share that Nottingham and Reading are seeing a spike in desks per deal in 2023 vs 2020, highlighting their emergence as flex hotspots. What about London? 586 new flex centres opened in Central London over the same period.
Interestingly they also note that the time from lead to move-in outside the capital decreased from 64 days in 2021 to 55 days in 2023. In London, that decreased from 100 days in 2020 to 61 days in 2023.
😳 Recent survey reveals surprising customer patterns #
OfficeRnD‘s recent Flex Space Demand survey reveals that although "Location" is the top factor for customers in deciding which coworking space to work from, the three other factors came in second with almost equal number of votes were "Space Design", "Price" and "Amenities".
When it comes to what services members want and us the most hot desks came in top with 36.9% – followed by "Day Offices" (27.6%) and "Meeting Rooms" (23.8%). This contradicts recent ‘studies’ or ‘findings’ from platforms claiming that open plan and individual drop-in workspaces had fallen out of favor.
🤝 Coworking market moves.
🏋️ Looking at the growing trend of fitness-meets-coworking spaces in DC #
Axios summarizes the D.C. trend of desk-based workers clocking into to work after workouts in fitness-and-coworking combo spaces.
The story highlights examples like Life Time’s coworking arm, Alkova which offers yoga and pilates classes at their in-house studio, and how mega-spa Balian Springs and and D.C. Bouldering Project now offer work areas.
🇫🇷 Local indie operator opens 10th location in Paris #
Coworking Europe share that French coworking operator Work & Share will open its 10th location in Paris this summer. The new location will be in partnership with Real Estate group COFIPARIS.
Matthieu Russel, CEO at the operator, notes that in Paris, "coworking has become part of the customs of all companies".
🚀 IWG posts highest revenue… in THIRTY FIVE YEARS. #
IWG just reported in preliminary results for last year that revenue had grown 10% to £3.3B (approx $4.2B). Of that their gross profit increased by 41% to £528M, with margins up from 15.9% in 2022 to 20.4% in 2023.
For those holding shares via the London Stock Exchange, it’s interesting that they have announced that they will both pay a dividend (of 1p per share) and are considering a New York listing.
For everyone else, it can be helpful to see what kind of scale and revenue a multi-brand operator with 3,514 locations across 120 countries is getting – especially when the media and certain companies like to paint coworking and flex workspaces as "unsuccessful" or unprofitable.
🎙 Coworking conversations.
Bernie Mitchell joins Suzanne Murdock on the Powering Productivity podcast to discuss the nuances and added values of smaller and regional coworking spaces, driving a sense of belonging, and how coaching can help coworking operators.
Tony Bacigalupo and Jon Alexander unravel the concepts presented in the "Citizens" book and discuss practical ways to foster a sense of belonging and community on the Coworking Values Podcast’s Belongfulness Series.
Laura Kozelouzek shares about how she got to having clarity around her brand, her culture and her business model with Jamie and Gio on the Flex Uncensored podcast.
Matthias Zeitler joins Bernie Mitchell on the Coworking Values Podcast’s Community is the Key series to dive deep into crafting communities, even if your space is based at the top of a mountain.
📆 Coworking events.
💬 Convo: Attracting perfect-fit members to your space #
March 29: How do you attract perfect-fit office members to your coworking space? Let’s chat about it! Join us for a free, informal, community conversation with fellow workspace operators and coworking pros around the world.
👋 Belonging happens here #
April 2: Learn about the Belongfulness project and how your space can get involved with fighting the loneliness epidemic.
🇺🇸 GCUC in SLC #
April 9-11: GCUC is hosted in Salt Lake City this year, use code TWIC to get 20% off your passes before March 31st.