Nestled in the region’s North Country, adjacent to a championship golf course, WorkSpaces 2023 was held at the Rancho Bernado Inn in San Diego. Featuring a range of great experiences including surf lessons, wine blending, live music and peer roundtables, event organisers, Influence Group, ensured a great time was had by all. Attendees had the golden opportunity to explore new ideas, make meaningful connections and evaluate new supplier solutions, in what could be called a summit of workplace and real estate royalty!

Adrienne Rowe (Raytheon), Peter Van Emburgh (CBRE), Alana Collins (Zoom) and Gabe Burke (Accenture) discussed the return-to-work debate and strategies for optimizing occupancy. The focus was on whether the current changes in work dynamics pose a crisis or an opportunity for organizations.

In a talk with the topic, Who Needs an Office Anyway? The Purpose of Physical Space in a Non-Linear Economy, Dror Poleg challenges the notion of a traditional office comeback, emphasizing that “the office of the future is not a place, it's a network of places”. The discussion delves into the evolving role of physical spaces, its impact on cities, and the opportunities it presents for entrepreneurs and investors.

Spacestor exhibited their Residence Connect Accessible, inviting guests to experience the Best Ever Video Conference Experience, for All. Attracting huge interest, this fully optimised single person booth is unique in the market for the level of user comfort it guarantees, and accessibility offered towards a wide range of employees in the workplace. The only booth developed from the ground up to be a video conferencing booth, Residence Connect Accessible can support the user for a longer period of time with greater ergonomics and autonomy around how each individual works.

Patrick Hoffman shared insights from Syneos Health, where they view the workplace as a competitive advantage. In a discussion with Jen Sisak (M Moser) called Grit, Gumption and Getting it Done: Keeping Up with the Rate of Change in Today's Workplace, Patrick explained that despite reducing their real estate footprint significantly, attendance has surged by 71% with one of the most utilised spaces being a popular, tech-enabled 4-person conference room/private office with demountable partitions.

In a panel with Paper, Airbnb, Riot Games, Stripe and Verizon around designing a Better, More Human Employee Experience: The Intersection of CRE and HR, Sara Escobar (Riot Games) emphasised that “building relationships is work”. This highlighted the impact of culture on brand perception, client relations and employee attraction and retention.

Spacestor also partnered with workplace and real estate platform consultants, Density, on their workplace podcast. Nellie Hayat, Workplace Innovation Lead, led a range of insightful interview podcasts from the acoustic sanctuary of Spacestor’s Residence Meet, ensuring prime sound quality amidst the buzz of the conference hall.

Thank you, WorkSpaces, for another remarkable event and providing the platform for catalysing collaboration as we continue to navigate uncharted workplace waters!