Beatriz Portillo: ‘We understood it was essential to belong to an association that spoke in the interest of our activity’
Every year, there is a reduced amount of relevant events that draw the attention of an important share of representatives of the Spanish workspaces sector. One of them is the WorkSpacesDay Conference, which will take place in Madrid next October 18-19, organized by ProWorkSpaces, the main meeting point for workspaces. This year, Gran Via Business & Meeting Center will be once again attending to the event.
Since its first days of existence, Gran Via BC has committed to consolidate a single model of Association that represents and clusters shared workspaces at a national level. ‘From the center we understood it was essential to belong to an association that spoke in the interest of our activity’, explains an accountable of the center, Beatriz Portillo.
Gran Via Business Center shares the point of view of ProWorkSpaces members, who has seen how the original Asociación Española de Centros de Negocios (ACN Spain) has evolved, taking a new name and a new image until the current context, where the Conference celebration coincides with the institution’s 25th anniversary.
‘There was a point where the bases were established to open contacts all over the world, and to take into account the real requests of the new customer’, points out Portillo about how the necessary work was carried to adapt the Association to the new working methods the market demands, in order to represent the sector in a better way.
New technologies, systems digitization, the rise of the millennials, a demand of more open and collaborative spaces… are just some of the new topics that have taken shape and become a basis of discussion in the Association annual events, making its participants equally diverse and with a broad view of the sector: ‘It is always interesting to check how the UK or the USA markets are, and to foresee whatever is coming next’, highlights Gran Via BC Center Manager, Susana de la Rubia.
WorkSpacesDay constitutes as two days full of contents and insights about the sector, where new work profiles, the trends and future of professional workplaces, and a panel discussion will be addressed, in order to give an answer to the questions and needs of the associate members.
‘There are workspaces which belong to great chains, but in the Association there are also many independent centers, which are given strength and visibility’, explains Center Manager about how the goal of ProWorkSpaces is to unite every center, from the smallest ones to the most important chains in the country.
‘Belonging to an Association allows to address our issues in general or regional meetings, which is quite relevant’, underlines Beatriz Portillo, about how the cohesion and integration of the centers’ activity is essential in order to suggest joint improvements, with the international factor provided by an event such as the ProWorkSpacesDay Conference, where Gran Via Business & Meeting Center will take part for the third year in a row.