Society1 : 2023 in Review
As we look forward to 2024, let’s take a look at Society1’s wins and milestones of the last year – see what we achieved together as a community!
Our Events Programme
In 2022, after a difficult few years due to COVID restrictions, we were finally able to get our Events Programme back up and running. We continued that momentum in 2023 by continuing long-established events and introducing new ones.
This year, we’ve moved our monthly Members’ Happy Hours to Thursday, which has unanimously been met with enthusiasm. We love our monthly drinks with the community, and we’ve been fortunate enough to check out quite a few awesome local bars and pubs through these events. We’ve also continued our monthly Breakfast Socials, where we welcome our members for a mid-morning coffee and pastry with the community.
Following the success of our inaugural Freelance Dream event, in which we hosted a panel of established freelancers to give the audience an insight into what they do, we commenced our monthly Freelancer Meet-Ups. Each month, we host local freelancers for a guest speaker, a coffee hour and an afternoon of coworking. It’s been a fantastic event and we’ve made so many valuable connections.
One Tuesday per month, Lancashire Digital Hub brings their Techy Tuesday meet-up to Society1. The first of its kind in Preston, this lunchtime meet-up welcomes digital and tech professionals to meet, network, and discuss their challenges, wins, and ideas.
The Events schedule is filling up nicely for the beginning of 2024 – head to the events page on our website for more information. If you’ve got an idea for a Community event or are looking for somewhere to host your next seminar, book launch, networking event, etc – please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Improvements
We’re always taking steps to improve the way we do business and provide our services to the community – and 2023 was no exception.
This year we:
- Updated our printer and printing system so all members can print as and when they need, seamlessly.
- Installed ipads outside the meeting rooms to display booking information, so you’re never guessing if a room is available. You’re also able to use the ipads to book your meeting.
- We’ve made the Drop-in spaces bookable, so you never have to gamble that they’ll be free when you need to make an important call.
- Installed a screen at reception that displays important information like events, announcements and more.
- Updated several of our back-of-house systems to help us provide the best service possible to our members and customers.
Society1 Wins
Our members have had an excellent year – from new ventures to promotions to podcasts and more. Our Slack channel is an excellent place to learn what our members have going on – we encourage everyone to share their wins and projects there. This year, we featured a lot of members on our social media and communications, and began our “From the Members” series – where we speak to Society1 members about what they do, and why they chose to work at our space.
Society1 staff have had an excellent year as well. I (Kally) celebrated my year anniversary as Space Coordinator in April – and I’m here to stay! Catarina featured on The Creating Cadence podcast in October, and has been working hard networking and sustaining valuable connections with the wider Preston community. Brendan has worked really hard updating and maintaining our back of house and members portal systems.
Community
As with every year, in 2023 we maintained our stance of Community being at the heart of what we do at Society1.
This year, we’ve hosted several Open Days, where members of the wider Preston community were invited to stop in and see what we do. In August, we celebrated International Coworking Day by offering a free day of coworking for guests. We then concluded the day with a party to show appreciation for our members.
On our social media channels, we started an “S1 recommends” series in 2023, where we gather our recommendations around a certain topic – so far we’ve recommended our favourite Preston-based Coffee shops, lunches, festive activities, after-work drinks, and more. We love shouting about why we love Preston, so look forward to continuing this in the new year. we curate and post a regular series called Preston People, in which we feature local people or businesses we think the community should know about. These continue to be our most successful pieces of content and outreach, and we love helping spread the word about our favourite Preston locals.
We have also spent much of this year spreading the love to local businesses – we purchase supplies locally from places like Matt Wade Banana King, Holme Farm Dairy, Relish Catering, and Holy Grounds. We also frequent local establishments like NIKO, Winckley Street Ale House and Plug & Taps as a team or with our members’ socials.
One again this Christmas, worked with our members, as well as the public, to collect donations for The Foxton Centre – a Preston based charity that works with vulnerable children and adults in the city centre.
On behalf of all of us at Society1, thank you for everything this year. We’ve really enjoyed working and cultivating a community with you in 2023.
See you in 2024 for more coworking, collaboration & community!
