GCUC AU was a blast! We are so thankful for everyone that came out and participated in GCUC Melbourne. In case you missed it, our friends over at Colo have written a quick over view of the take aways.

The Future of work: 

The day kicked off with a discussion between Liz Elam & Brad Krauskopf around the future of work, chatting about the latest developments in the wonderful world of coworking. While it was established that the need to work alongside others has been around for a long time already, Brad pointed out that “coworking is really being driven by people wanting to work in a different way.” People are becoming more and more flexible, and expect to be able to translate that flexibility into their work day too. With the rise of freelancers, contractors, solopreneurs, startups and remote workers who don’t prescribe to the traditional 9–5 office structure, this is becoming especially prevalent.

Productive Atmospheres:

Next up was an in-depth look into the idea of productive atmospheres with Intel’s Melissa Gregg. This followed on well from the previous talk as it continued by emphasizing the data showing that the future of work is all about the freelancer, independent and remote worker. Since 35% of the US workforce are freelancing, this is forcing a shift in workspaces, and moving control from organizations to their individual workers. Since these individuals are searching for flexibility, Liz stated that “coworking operators need to be better than home,” as this has become one of coworking’s main competitors.

How to negotiate with corporate and REITS:

We then stepped into the next panel with Daniel Stiffe and John Preece as they discussed how to negotiate with corporations and REITs (Real Estate Investment Trusts.) They guided us through navigating negotiations and partnerships with big players and reminded us of the difference between landlords and coworking operators: landlords won’t do anything they don’t have to but coworking spaces do everything for their residents.

To read the rest of the article and see some of the teams photos- click here.