Note: There will be no TWIC for Week 16, 2023.
Aiming to be back in your inboxes from Week 17.
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✊ Coworking impact.
🚮 UK multi-location operator teases Impact Report #
Sophie Turnbull shares some highlights from Work.Life for their upcoming Impact Report including that 64 tonnes of carbon emissions were avoided, 91% of members are happier since joining and over $21k have been donated to charity.
The report will be released on Earth Day (Apr 22) this year, and I like the idea of more coworking brands sharing reports of their environmental (and other) impact. Are you sharing a report? Let me know.
👉 Read this.
Coworking news & views.
🇩🇪 What are the rules for parliament members using coworking spaces? #
Katja Thiede shares a 2min clip of politician Johannes Arlt Bjerrehøj sharing that they consistently use coworking spaces in his constituency and the regulations around usage.
In the video (in German) he notes that members of the Bundestag (national parliament) only have one rule that they have to have their own separate area. A locked door, or having their own conference room, is required, and so a fixed desk works. Great internet and ability to easily book private meeting rooms are also important.
Keep an eye on the trend of governments and coworking.
👉 Read this.
🗞️ How to get more press for your flex space #
Zoe Ellis-Moore shares 7 things the media want from flex workspaces following her recent webinar with the Flexible Space Association which was hosted by Jessica Morgan.
Some of the tips include sharing: launches in local business publications by focussing on what makes you unique; data from end-of-year results or internal/local surveys; strong opinions or different takes; highlighting diversity and key profiles. Others include being speedy in responses and engaging with journalists on social media.
👉 Read this.
💼 Two-decade exec joins digital mailbox provider #
iPostal1 share that William Edmundson has joined their exec team as Senior Vice President. Most recently he was board president and is currently a board advisor to the GWA and had served as President & CEO of Abby Executive Suites, COO of Office Evolution and a strategic consultant.
Would you like to see more (or less) hiring moves or opportunities in these newsletters? Let me know via here or by replying directly to the email version.
👉 Read this.
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💻 Coworking technology.
🤖 Researchers share paper on API-connected AI #
AI Researchers from Microsoft share a paper on TaskMatrix, in which they look at how AI can complete more complex tasks by connecting foundation models with millions of APIs.
What does this have to do with coworking? If you get through the doc, and get to their “system overview” diagram (or click here) you’ll see the second example application is “AI for Office Automation”. Watch this space, trust me.
👉 Read this.
Coworking data.
🇺🇸 In 10 cities, the gap between WFH & coworking is under $100 #
For their latest analysis, researchers at CoworkingCafe compared the average monthly price for open workspaces in 48 U.S. cities to the costs of working from home, as depicted by utility expenses, in order to find the places with the lowest price gap between coworking and WFH.
In 10 U.S. cities, the cost of working from a coworking space rather than from home amounts to less than a basic monthly coffee budget – $100. They also found that the lowest gap was $37 a month in Roseville, CA. On a state level, California and Arizona both feat. at least 2 cities where the additional cost is lower than $100 p/month.
👉 Read this.
🧐 Are coworking spaces seeing the “new normal” yet? #
Jerome Chang notes that in coworking spaces across LA, employees are not seeing the ‘new normal’ that survey results (shared by Nick Bloom) suggest.
In the data, it’s suggested that 80% of California firms see that the “current levels of commuting, office use, city center retail, weekday leisure and other activities” impacted by remote work are likely to be permanent. I’d love to hear from other CA operators, are you seeing/hearing this from your members and their teams?
👉 Read this.
📲 Booking-related KPIs recovering, now 6% above 2021 benchmark #
In OfficeRnD’s FlexIndex report for Q1 2023 we see some key booking-related KPI recoveries from the slower holiday season in December 2022.
Although there was a surprising 3% dip in the metric for “Static Desk Occupancy” and a 7% drop in “Revenue per Available Workspace (RevPAD)”, both “Average Booking Duration per Paid Meeting Space” and “Booking Revenue per Paid Meeting Space” are above the 2019 benchmark – 6.5% and 6.2% respectively.
👉 Read this.
Coworking market moves.
🐣 Georgian network opens new hub in Texas #
Roam have announced their first (I believe) hub in Dallas, Texas.
👉 Read this.
🎨 What’s next and why some spaces needed to “grow up” #
Ebbie Wisecarver shares how some WeWork locations are evolving (design wise) to offer a more mature workspace product.
The Q&A and photos are a great look into how the global brand is (re)designing spaces to serve whole new sets of clientele. Def worth checking out, if not for the changes happening at the company, then just for some design inspiration.
👉 Read this.
🎙 Coworking conversations.
Mark Dixon chats with Andrew Tuck on The Entrepreneurs podcast about IWG, why the office will never go out of style, and their strategy for suburban growth.
Marcus Geromes discusses coworking for therapists with Jamie and Giovanni on the Flex Uncensored podcast.
📆 Coworking events.
👋 Discuss this week’s newsletter #
13 April: Join me and other TWIC readers and industry leaders to discuss this week’s newsletter, the links I’ve summarized for you and the trends they may represent.
👉 Read this.
🇺🇸 GCUC in Chicago #
19-21 April: GCUC North America returns with a conference in Chicago.
👉 Read this.
🤖 Convo: Using AI to support your coworking brand #
28 April: With the influx of oh-so-many AI tools to help with content creation, it can seem daunting (and even a little silly) to use AI instead of creating content yourself. While AI can’t replace a human touch, it can work to simplify your workload. Let’s chat about it.
👉 Read this.