Goodbye 2020 and why I am optimistic for 2021

Well, that was quite the year! I look forward to having a drink with many of our members, partners and the broader community to wish farewell to 2020 at the Spacecubed Christmas Party.

2020 has been a year that presented both large challenges and new opportunities for Spacecubed and our members. I am very proud of the way the Spacecubed team worked with our members to ensure we could all get through the uncertainty of COVID-19 and rebound quickly from the immediate impact from the pandemic. You can see a full rundown of the year in our Annual Report here. 

Spacecubed used the pandemic to take many of our programs online including Plus Eight, She Codes, and Meshpoints, as well as launched both #AdaptDontStop and Your Business, Digital to ensure we could keep delivering value through our community. We hosted a series of virtual events during the lockdown, focusing on health and wellness and opportunities to connect while everyone was working from home, which over 273 members took advantage of in March 2020. We now continue to deliver our programs in a hybrid format and have delivered them both nationally and internationally. 

 In the wake of 2020, how people work has changed dramatically. We are seeing companies who may not have used coworking or flexible space in the past, now reduce their leased spaces and take up more flexibility for their teams. We are seeing a drive of people coming back to our spaces in January and February as they augment where they can best get work done. This has also resulted in an increase in companies using our spaces for collaborative teamwork and meetings. We have outlined this in our latest report in collaboration with Ewert Leaf, explaining how a new hybrid space caters to the megatrends resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. Our confidence in our amazing spaces was reinforced in September when we opened Fern in partnership with Mirvac.

 There are a number of indicators which show we should be optimistic heading into 2021, including promising vaccine news, $10 trillion in global infrastructure spend which will drive WA's mining industry, the opening of national borders and general sentiment in the WA business community that things are improving. All of the above is resulting in many of our community hiring and looking to grow in the coming 12 months, with our last survey reporting that over 72% of members are looking to expand in the next five years.

 A big thank you goes to the Spacecubed team for their hard work in 2020, it was a rocky year where we restructured at least four times to refocus on how we could deliver value to members and partners. The team did a great job in reinventing Spacecubed and positioned us for the new world of work we find ourselves in, by doubling down on supporting our members when things got tough. 

Finally, I want to thank you for supporting a WA owned and operated company that is built around enabling a community of positive change. This has been demonstrated through the increasing use of our space, attendance at events and partnering for through programs. 

If I don't see you on Friday night, happy holidays and look forward to catching up in 2021!