Is there room for co-working spaces in financial events?

Financial events (investor days, analyst presentations or financial roadshows) have a lot of boxes to tick in terms of organisation, production and confidentiality.

They also demand seamless logistics, impeccable delegate management as well as a very high level of professionalism to ensure that each event runs like clockwork. The success of an event, financial or otherwise, comes down to the overall experience and the impact that it has on its attendees.

In the case of financial events, the weight of this impact comes down to how the company presents its brand, its equity story and what key messages its senior executives want to transmit to their audience. In short, how they are perceived. This process starts by choosing the right venue.

Five-star hotels, business centres and venues that are specifically tailored to financial events have become the norm – confidentiality is never an issue. When combined with a financial events agency, the result is a professional event that meets the requirements and delivers on the needs of the clients.

The catch is that once you have been to a few of these events, they can start to blur into one. This reduces the chance of making a lasting impression on analysts, investors and the press.

One possible way of avoiding monotony is a change in the style of venue and this is where a co-working space enters the picture.

The term ‘co-working space’ covers a whole range of options. At one end of the spectrum are spaces that are home to early stage start-ups and other companies of that nature. To people who work in finance, these spaces could seem unprofessional, verging on chaotic, and lacking in the means to guarantee confidentiality. For these reasons, if there is a place for co-working spaces when it comes to hosting financial events, the focus must shift to the other end of the spectrum, the well-designed, original and modern spaces that can really wow attendees.

For a financial event to work at one of these spaces, it needs to be able to deliver on confidentiality as well as offering a slick space that meets all the requirements of the brief, from logistics facilities (and kitchen space for the food and beverage side of the event) to production ‘must-haves’ (three-phase power, high speed internet, access for kit and crew). Furthermore, it needs to maintain their creative, progressive and often experimental atmosphere.

Great co-working spaces tend to have a very open and uplifting feel that will certainly impact on corporates used to the regimented corridors of skyscraper offices. We have become open to using these venues at an opportune moment when corporates are beginning to appreciate and act upon the importance of individual well-being as a vehicle for productivity.

Admittedly there are very few co-working spaces out there with the potential to meet the above requirements and achieve the desired result – to enable progressive, forward thinking financial companies to stand out and leave a positive lasting impression. However, we have recently proved that this is possible, rather than just a pipe dream, having hosted an analyst presentation at a co-working space in central Paris.

The event was by all accounts a success and the venue enhanced the overall experience and helped the presentation stand out from the rest.

It is hard to do the space justice without the aid of some photographic evidence so below you will find proof of the potential. Our Logistics team is looking to source similar options across all the major cities that we operate in to allow companies to adopt this approach in the future for those who want a shift away from tradition.

This will enable us to establish whether our Parisian co-working space is an exception to the rule or if there really is a more regular place for these types of venues in the world of financial events. Watch this (co-working) space.