As the way everyone works has changed to be more remote, there is a huge opportunity for events teams and organisations with private hire space to be really creative and tap into emerging demand.
The Covid-19 crisis has led businesses everywhere to adapt the way the operate in order to continue to provide services to customers.
For the events and private hire industry that means reviewing capacities, arrival and on-site procedures, food and drink services and cleaning procedures in order to provide access to facilities safely and with social distancing rules in place.
Those compromises naturally mean fewer people can attend, the cost to serve is higher and the experience might be diminished so much that customers question whether it's worth bothering.
The answer to adapting might not lie in trying to provide the same services as before the crisis, but in re-thinking what consumers and businesses might now need space for.
The future of work
At the same time that the events industry is looking at providing an adapted service, people everywhere have fundamentally changed how they work.
Scores of employees are working remotely and even with all the distractions that come with this enforced change, they are coping and still getting things done.
As a result businesses are questioning the pre-crisis model of large offices spaces, daily commutes, 9-5 and all the costs and barriers to employment that working like that way creates.
Many companies will move forward post crisis with a new way of operating. Smaller city offices and a far greater emphasis on working from home.
But that will create a different need for space. Drop in spots to work, collaborate and socialise from, without the commitment of long leases. And those spots will need to be in more distributed locations, closer to employees' homes. With easy parking and the option to hire specialist equipment a big bonus.
Opportunity for the events industry
Whilst a large room with a reduced capacity of 10 might not appeal for a birthday party or conference, it can easily be setup as drop-in work or collaboration space. Seating, coffee and broadband are all that's needed to get started.
Hotels, sports clubs, schools, colleges, universities, gyms, local council facilities, halls and parks all have the space to be able to re-think their proposition and offer a solution to businesses seeking casual, on demand space.
Those venues will all need to alleviate the revenue pressures caused by the crisis and offering reduced, traditional services might not cut it.
But they can tap into a new surge in demand for distributed workspace without fundamentally changing their services.
How we can help
We can help organisations access this opportunity by introducing our software, Switch.
Switch is designed to manage spaces with a variety of configurations and for a range of purposes.
It can break rooms out into sections and offer individual level pricing for using spaces.
It allows venues to sell individual food and drink packages, and manage whatever additional equipment or support services you want to promote to customers. You can even book out parking spaces one by one.
It will allow you to advertise this through your website with online booking.
And through our sister platform Dispace we will promote your spaces to a market of subscribed businesses looking for space.
Find out more by booking a video chat here or emailing us at hello@dispace.co