The Year In Review: What Hire Space Got Up To In 2023

As we approach the end of the year, there's only one way to wrap things up (other than our Spotify Wrapped, of course - we're proud of our 'Hire Taste' playlist!). Introducing the next big thing... Hire Space Wrapped!

It's been a big year at Hire Space HQ: we've brought on board lots of new team members, helped thousands of eventprofs plan the bash of the year (well... thousands of bashes of the year!), and released some exciting new services!

As well as keeping our eye on the top trends impacting events, from AI to accessibility and sustainability, we've made leaps in our services and helped our clients to increase their own events output by up to 60%! We're always looking for ways we can make event planning a joy, and here are some of the ways we've done it this year!

Here are some of Hire Space's highlights of 2023

We've expanded our Hire Space 360 service

2023 saw us making our all-in-one event-sourcing solution for businesses, Hire Space 360, even more of an integral part of our service. Since launching the service in 2021, we've helped numerous companies with full scope support on venue and supplier sourcing and event management across their events calendars.

Our Relationship Managers have been kept busy helping our Hire Space 360 clients book events around the world - in fact, this year alone they've worked on finding the perfect venue for events in over 20 countries! To stay on the pulse of international event trends, and make connections with the best overseas suppliers, they've also recently spent time attending IMEX America in Vegas and M&I in Turkey.

If you're interested in hearing more about how Hire Space 360 can help you to streamline your event operations and put on stand-out events, get in touch below.

Our event delivery team has been busy with incredible events

This year also saw Hire Space expanding our Event Delivery department to support companies on event management and on-site delivery globally. With our network of eventprofs across the world, we've supported on events in Africa, America, Europe, and Asia this year - and we're fired up to take on the rest of the globe in 2024 - Antarctica, we're coming for you!

With decades of experience under their belts, our fantastic event delivery team are on hand to provide guidance and extra expert hands on everything from event planning to on-the-day management. Find out more about how we can support on your events by getting in touch with our team today!

We released industry-leading instant booking technology!

Booking venues can take weeks, with seemingly endless back-and-forth with venues eating into valuable event planning time. That's why we've developed an exciting instant booking service to save event planners time: after all, every eventprof knows that time is money!

It's currently offered on 3000 venues, with plans afoot for eventprofs to be able to instant book any venue in the near future. Keep an eye out for more news in 2024! 👀

Browse instant booking venues now.

We hosted several inspiring stages and panels

This year, Hire Space hosted stages at some of the events industry's top conferences and exhibitions. These events are always a fantastic opportunity to reconnect and get inspired, and this year's discussions were particularly valuable for resetting after the pandemic, and tapping into the opportunities that lie ahead.

In March, we hosted the Let's Do London stage at International Confex (and we’ll be back again in 2024 with content topics hot off the event trends press). In May, we hosted an event for corporate event planners, at gorgeous new venue on the block, Convene 22 Bishopsgate, called 'The Events Outlook: Optimising Business Event Programmes'. This saw a panel of corporate eventprofs coming together to share their insights and strategies on strengthening event programmes against tight budgets.

In November, we also put on two panels at Event Sustainability Live, where we shared a stage with some of the real experts and change-makers in the industry and beyond. We looked at sustainable venue finding and how technology is driving sustainability in events - there's big things in the pipeline on both of these fronts for us next year, and we're excited to carry on our partnerships with leading organisations in the industry. Check out our sustainability hub for more tips and guidance from Hire Space and our friends leading the way in sustainability.

Our team has gone from strength to strength

It's been a busy year for us outside of the office as well, with lots of team socials to cement our fantastic team culture. We've had our annual sports day, a Laser Quest adventure, and a Sip 'n' Paint evening, among lots of other brilliant socials. Most importantly, we've welcomed a whole host of new team members since January, which has made our team an even better place to work!

We're looking forward to the new year, where we've got a whole host of activities up our sleeves, from volunteering, to team walks, and the return of the Hire Space bake off! If you'd like to join us, check out our open roles, or keep an eye out for more as we grow our team!

And sustainability has become a bigger part of our ethos

Sustainability has been increasingly important to our company over the past few years. We set up a sustainability committee in 2022, and this year we've been working with our sales and venues teams to embed sustainable event practices in our procurement and event planning.

We've also partnered with sustainability-focused event organisations and industry bodies to produce a sustainability hub with the goal of making sustainability accessible to more people in the industry. This hub features some really key guides and resources to help eventprofs and venues on their sustainability journey.

Here are some of our highlights:

• A guide to sustainability venue finding
• Setting and measuring sustainable event objectives
• The best sustainability tools for eventprofs

Plus, we've put together lists of the top sustainable venues around for different event types so you can make a head start on planning greener events in 2024!

Get in touch to find out more, or check out the hub for advice on planning sustainable events and transitioning to more sustainable practices as a venue or supplier.

What's next for Hire Space?

As we move into 2024, there's lots of exciting things in store for the company. From growing our international venue-finding service, to growing our team, 2024 looks set to be a seriously busy year for all at Hire Space.

We really appreciate all the faces, familiar and new, who've joined us on the journey this year - thanks to all of you, we're gearing up for an even bigger and better year ahead! After all, there's no better place to be than the events industry!

Stay up to date with Hire Space by following us on social media to get all of our latest news, updates, and insider advice on all things events. Here's to the next year - we look forward to working with you all!

Author

Jessamy Cowie

Jessamy channels her passion for sustainability and cultural events into shining a spotlight on innovation and inspiration in the events world, and heading up Hire Space's sustainability committee.

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