The Ultimate Space for Meetings & Events
As the cost of traditional hotel event spaces continues to climb while service remains the same, we sat down with Nicholas Minors, the Meetings and Events Sales Manager at Industrious Office, to explore how the company is transforming corporate meeting and event spaces. By blending stylish design with seamless functionality, Industrious is reshaping the way businesses approach meetings and events.
Tell us about the founders and/or people that helped launch Industrious as it is today.
Industrious was founded in 2012 by our co-founders, Jamie Hodari and Justin Stewart who had been next door neighbors and childhood best friends since they were two!
Prior to founding Industrious, Jamie was running Kepler, an experimental university that aimed to make college education more accessible in Rwanda. Jamie was working out of a shared workspace, but the space itself was so bad – lightbulbs out, people loud and unprofessional, terrible design – that he couldn’t imagine taking investor meetings there. So, he took meetings at a coffee shop instead, and realized there must be a better way. Justin at the time was running the US arm of a Chinese Real Estate company, and actually was having a really similar experience in a shared workspace himself.
They decided to launch a new shared workspace brand: one that felt premium in terms of design, but even more so in terms of experience. You felt taken care of and deeply welcomed when you walked in the space. You had someone to take care of all the small details of an office space so you didn’t have to. And it felt professional and polished, so you’d always feel proud to bring in investors or clients. They opened their first location in Chicago, and have now scaled to 200+ locations around the world.
Tell us about the recent merger with CBRE and what that means for Industrious and its clients?
In January, we announced that we were merging with CBRE, the world’s largest Real Estate Services & Investment firm. They had been our largest investor for the past four years, owning about 40% of Industrious. Now they are acquiring the remaining 60% and we’re thrilled to be joining them more closely. This is great for Industrious, and an incredible validation of our hard work over the last 10+ years to deliver the world’s best workplaces.
CBRE recognizes that flex is the future of commercial real estate, and has placed its bets on the company that delivers the best day-in and day-out experience for employees. For us this means we have a great long-term home, even more fuel in our tank so we can keep growing our network, and opportunities over time to do some amazing joint product development so we can serve our customers even better.
How and why did you start your meetings on demand?
The first 1-2 years of COVID had real implications on teams: lots went fully remote, others went remote-first with a bit of in-person work time, and employees moved around the country. All this has led to lots more flexibility in location and hybrid work – something we believe is actually great for employee morale and productivity.
BUT there are some real downsides to that: we kept hearing over and over again from leaders of teams large and small that the thing that was missing was collaboration and connection. Even if they were fully remote, they needed a way to get their teams together regularly for planning, culture-building, onboarding, training, and hashing out problems together. And they needed a reliable, easy way to do so, in a location that was so delightful their employees actually wanted to come in for the meeting. So, we launched our On-Demand meetings platform, allowing teams to book space by the hour or day, and added meeting space all across our network.
Some of our rooms are small (for that 3-4-person huddle), while others go as large as 150 at our larger conference and event spaces in NYC and SF. And the results have been amazing: we see tons of repeat bookers, who love their experience the first time and decide to get their sales team together quarterly at Industrious, or their leadership team 1x per month, just to keep bonds strong.
What makes Industrious a great choice for event planners looking for temporary meeting and event space?
The real driving force is our ethos around providing a premium experience for guests alongside a quick and efficient process for planners with transparent upfront pricing, on demand room reservations for smaller groups or quick and easy contracting for larger conferences.
We are proud of our current offering of premium spaces that clients love and our amazing team who provide best-in-class customer support onsite, welcoming guests, answering questions, and most importantly being your point of contact and guide from inquiry to contract to close.
Our network of 200+ locations across 65+ cities globally. Means your client can find somewhere they like and keep coming back to a reliable experience each time.
What types of events and meetings are best suited for Industrious locations?
Our core product is plug and play corporate meetings. Our typical clients host weekly team meetings, quarterly board meetings, multi day offsites and holiday receptions. We’ve even hosted multi-day, multi-city hackathons. With 200+ flexible office locations globally we have also been able to do some fun things like renting out entire floors at newly built out properties for week long team offsites.
How does Industrious differentiate itself from traditional event venues or hotel conference rooms?
We know how much planners have on their plate and so not only do we try to make the process as easy as possible, we offer a reliable product and enjoyable experience to encourage long term relationships.
We do this through a quick and easy booking flow, modern plug and play conference rooms and we shy away from unnecessary minimums. Our company’s focus has always been creating the best workplace, an environment where people feel engaged, inspired and productive and we’ve applied that approach to our meetings business.
What amenities and services do you offer to support corporate meetings, workshops, and networking events?
Our conference rooms come equipped with video conferencing and presentation equipment as standard. Most of our large conference centers also have contracted catering services onsite and we have vetted catering partners for those locations without catering. We also have partnerships with local hotels providing corporate rates for room blocks near our venues.
Can event planners customize the space to fit their specific needs, and what are the options available?
We have two distinct product types, set boardrooms ranging in size from 3 to 20 seats most of which are available to book On Demand at our coworking locations. We also have Request to Book multifunction rooms at our conference centers in NYC and SF. These spaces can accommodate up to 150 guests in a single room at max capacity but offer the freedom to host a variety of events in various configurations.
What are the typical costs associated with renting space at Industrious, and do you offer flexible pricing for different event sizes and durations?
We have a huge network of spaces globally but taking a look at New York market a 4-seat huddle room could be booked at $50 per hour at one end of the spectrum or at the other end of the spectrum an entire conference center with multiple rooms and common areas for up to 275 guests can be reserved at $3,000 / hr. Our most premium event location is a historic NYC architectural landmark. A three-hour cocktail party or dinner at this space for 200 guests starts at $40K.
How do you handle technology and A/V needs for events? Do you provide Wi-Fi, projectors, video conferencing, or other essential tech solutions?
Our conference rooms have built in presentation monitors, cameras and whiteboards and our larger multifunction rooms come with ceiling mounted and hand-held microphones. Wi-Fi is available complimentary at all of our locations. For larger productions and A/V needs that fall outside of our scope we work with reliable vendors like Hartford whose client focused approach to service compliments our own.
What locations does Industrious have, and do you offer multi-city booking options for planners managing events in multiple places?
Our network of 200+ locations across 65+ cities globally, our six largest spaces are currently in New York and San Francisco but our focus will be growing in these and other markets in the coming months. We regularly book multi city meetings and it’s my job to work with planners to get the best possible rate. Our clients who book multiple meetings in a calendar year benefit from preferential rates catered specifically to the number and size of events as well as annual budget.
Do you have any success stories or testimonials from past event planners who have used Industrious for their events?
Every event where the client, planner and guests leave happy and impressed with the venue is a success and we’ve got a nearly perfect average. I didn’t get permission to include any company names but I will say that the vast majority of our business is repeat business, clients who had never heard of industrious three years ago now book with us quarterly, other clients return annually with their entire teams for their multi day offsites, some clients come to me when their planning their meetings for the year so they can focus on cities where Industrious has a presence. That’s the kind of endorsement we work for.
What advice would you give to event planners looking for a flexible and professional event space in today’s market?
Experience matters, both the booking experience and the feeling of the space. We think the future of corporate meetings is plug and play, ready to book, chic modern spaces in sustainable buildings powered by a hospitality powerhouse of a team with high-quality in-house services. That said, whenever possible, take a step back from the traditional ballroom approach and take a look at special venues because clients may not remember the name on the building but they will remember how they felt in the space.
How can clients get a hold of your company for any questions they may have about conference or co-working spaces?
There are many channels to get in touch with us, either through Industriousoffice.com where you can take a look at our locations and get in touch with the sales team, via the On Demand website where you can view immediately bookable rooms or reach out to me directly at nminors@industriousoffice.com where I can support your event request or point you in the right direction for coworking inquiries.