A Big GCUC Bite Out of the Big Apple

GCUC took New York City by storm last week. GCUC would not be possible with out the support of the community as well as our sponsors. One of GCUC top sponsors, essensys, published this shortly after the conference and we couldnt help but share it….

A Big GCUC Bite Out Of The Big Apple

GCUC 2017 in NYC raised the bar for industry conferences. From Convene, the impressive venue, to the refreshing content and panels from industry experts. It’ll be interesting to see how the organizers at GCUC will outdo themselves next year. But we won’t get ahead of ourselves…

Cities-as-a-Service

The show kicked off with a keynote from Greg Lindsay of New Cities Foundation. Greg grabbed our attention with “Coworking is eating the world.” The scale of work, he explained, has seeped beyond office buildings and into the realm of the city. Since 2009, part time gig work contributed significantly to job growth, and cities began capitalizing on Coworking spaces. Across the globe, we are seeing more independent workers, a shift to city living, and, as follows, a greater desire for human and social interactions. Coworking is the vehicle bringing people and work together. An essential part of what we do collectively as partners to the industry is bridge the gap between the office and the city and deliver new and easy ways for people to connect like never before.

Mantras for Entrepreneurs

Amrit Dhir of Google for Entrepreneurs conveyed ten enlightening mantras for operators in the room at GCUC. Those that resonate the most with our service-based industry are to focus on your members, and all else will follow, to be uncompromising with your culture and flexible with your community, and to let the community teach itself. Another worth highlighting is to welcome your competition. According to Dhir, “competition is validation that you’re in the right place“. With workers seeking greater social interactions in today’s high-tech and urban environments, creating nodes of connections and integrating people is in high demand. Operators of flexible and shared workspaces are at an advantage. The key to working beyond the competition is differentiating your niche and proposition, building your community, and optimally managing your space.

To read the rest of the article, check out essensys here!