Our latest Coworking Week, during which we open the doors to Plexal HQ to offer innovators free workspace access, business insights and lifestyle experiences, came to a close on Friday last week and what a week it was. From practical workshops to wellbeing sessions, pop-up food stalls and an evening of pizza and games, five days at our Stratford headquarters reinforced just how much energy and possibility exists in the Plexal community and why you should be a permanent part of it.
Here are some of the highlights:
Growth Partnership workshops
The Growth Partnership workshops – part of our tailored service to help companies scale – were a consistent highlight throughout the week, drawing strong attendance and plenty of positive feedback.
The week started strong on Monday, with a session on channel partnerships led by Lisa Perkins, Director of Growth Partnerships at Plexal. This was followed by Growth Partners’ Mina Begum and Giulia Sale’s sessions on Wednesday and Thursday, taking practical deep dives into customer acquisition and value proposition, respectively.
Attendees took part in a dynamic discussion and walked away with actionable advice for their businesses. These impactful takeaways gave a great preview of what Plexal’s Growth Partnership proposition seeks to achieve and highlighted what makes these taster sessions worth showing up for.
AI in Lifecycle Marketing
Plexal member Paul Sullivan, founder of Arise GTM, brought his expertise to a session exploring where AI fits into the customer lifecycle. Paul gave an honest, grounded view covering what AI is genuinely doing well, where it still falls short and how it can be applied across a range of practical use cases. It sparked lively conversation in the room, as attendees considered which part of their go-to-market process can be improved today through an AI workflow and what barriers remain for successful implementation.
After the session, attendees had the chance to refuel the Italian way, with street food specialist Soffritto running a pop-up stall in Monument Square, making for a well-timed and very welcome addition.
Women in Business
Wednesday afternoon featured a session with Melisha John, Co-CEO of My Life My Say, as part of our Women in Business series. Melisha spoke about her career journey and the decisions which led to her juggling of a multitude of varied roles across her busy weeks.
As Co-CEO of My Life My Say, Melisha helps promote the organisation’s important mission to amplify youth voices and engage young people from underrepresented communities in decision-making processes.
The event carried an afternoon tea theme, a fitting nod to April being National Afternoon Tea Month and a celebration of a nearly 200-year-old tradition that began right here in the UK.
Wellbeing at the fore
Coworking Week wasn’t just about business. Wednesday morning kicked off with an FS8 Pilates workout, setting an energising tone for the day. On Thursday, our friends at GLO Pamper offered complimentary seated massages throughout the day, giving attendees a proper chance to pause, breathe and recharge in the middle of a packed week.
Also on Thursday morning, SEND Coffee ran a pop-up stand in Monument Square keeping everyone fuelled and caffeinated. Beyond the excellent coffee, SEND Coffee’s mission resonated with many in the room: it works to collaborate with young people with special educational needs and disabilities, guiding them towards careers in speciality coffee and hospitality.
Connecting with Loughborough University London
Thursday afternoon brought a session with the team from Loughborough University London, our neighbour here on the Here East campus. Presenting two programmes offering businesses a straightforward route to accessing skilled postgraduate talent, Loughborough covered the Micro-Internship Programme and the Collaborate Programme.
Whether you need fresh thinking, extra capacity on a project or specialist input for a specific piece of work, both programmes are designed to be flexible, low-risk and easy to set up with no heavy commitments or unnecessary admin required.
Members’ Night
Thursday evening brought the community together for members’ night in our canal-facing suntrap, Legacy Place. Pizza, drinks, good conversation and – for the competitive among us – a selection of games were all on offer to liven things up. It was genuinely great to see members and Coworking Week attendees connect in a relaxed setting, with plenty of those introductions that could well turn into future collaborations.
Friday Sweet Treats
The week closed out on Friday with sweet treats in the form of various delicious cookies to go round – a well-earned reward after five activity-packed days.
Our most popular Coworking Week yet
This edition of Coworking Week was our most popular to date, with a record number of registrants and attendees across the five days. That’s a reflection of the appetite out there among entrepreneurs, startups, scaleups, creatives and freelancers for community, support and a genuinely innovative space to work.
Collaboration is the foundation of Plexal’s mission. Alongside workspace, we form cross-industry partnerships to turn strategic technologies into real-world impact, strengthening the UK’s economic growth, security and long-term prosperity. In practice, that means helping startups navigate complex supply chains, working more closely with government and industry partners that have real problems to solve and using our locations across the country as places where this can happen faster.
A huge thank you to the individuals and teams that came together and made the week such a success including: the Plexal workspace team, community team, Growth Partnership and marketing all working in sync.
If you were able to join us and experience our dynamic community for yourself, why not join us? From place and people to programmes and prosperity, we’ve got a lot to offer – reach out to our community team ([email protected]) to get started.
