10 Unique Ideas For a Memorable Cancun Bachelorette Party

by NATASHA SMITH

10. And don't forget your beach bridal squad packing list!

Forget the sparkly sequin bridal sash and obnoxious X-rated novelty items, here is a round up of some packable must have items to make your beachy bachelorette bash not only fun, but stylish, elevated and most of all, affordable!Capture instant memories with a Fujifilm Instax Mini 70 camera that comes in a variety of fun colors and print packs with vibrant colors and patterns.Treat the bride to a luxe cashmere robe at a non-luxe price point by Naked Cashmere, the new line of affordable travel cashmere that can be monogrammed.Since beach bashes usually mean a ton of time in the sun, get the Bridesmaid swimsuit by Shop Private Party for the ultimate bridal squad shot on the beach.The new jewelry line Covet by Stella and Dot, brings diamond and gold affordably without compromising style for the ultimate bridal party gift in black diamond initial stacking necklaces.Headed to the beach or pool? Of course you are, and what better way to show off your bridal party status than fully customizable beach totes and hats by Born + Made.With your last hurrah underway, make sure to have your adorable six-foot lip floatie by Fun Boy to sink into all day. Baby kissy drink holders for your gal pals will have you all kissing (your cocktails!) without telling.

Agencies Court Project Stakeholders With 3D Visualization Tool

By Aileen ChoThe Connecticut Dept. of Transportation has a $5-billion plan to de-elevate a two-mile stretch of Interstate 84 that runs right through downtown Hartford. Naturally, residents are concerned.As with every DOT, ConnDOT has been hosting public outreach meetings to explain design alternatives and potential impacts. One resident was particularly concerned about the visual impacts of removing a wall from a historic park, fearing it would expose parkgoers to the sight of the interstate highway, says Richard Armstrong, ConnDOT's transportation principal engineer.So, an engineer "walked" her through a virtual image of the park with the wall removed, showing her that, "if you stand here, you will not see the highway ramps," says Armstrong. "We spent 45 minutes using the 3D model to show her what it would look like. There is no way we could have convinced her with a typical plan view or cross-section."By clicking on various design alternatives, stakeholders can see what the visual impacts would be from, for example, a street corner or a building overlooking an altered street. They can "drive" along a reconstructed highway and interchange."One of the biggest problems in communicating with the community is helping them to understand it visually. They can get disoriented. It's hard to understand a bird's-eye plan view," says Armstrong. "With the 3D model, you can go to street level, bird's eye and everything in between. Navigating in the 3D realm, people can see what we're talking about."The 3D modeling is provided by RDV Systems, which last fall released 123BIM Publisher to make the conversion of CAD platform data into 3D scenarios easier for engineering staff. Users of AutoCAD Civil 3D and Bentley MicroStation can import external data, such as aerial photographs, GIS data and SketchUp models, then publish their models in a browser-based environment, says Dolio Kafri, vice president of North America sales with RDV Systems. "This is not trivial, since the 3D digital documents created by the engineers are huge and require dedicated software to be viewed."Once the 3D model is created using 123BIM Publisher, the costs of which start at $400 a month per seat, it is hosted on 123BIM. Hosting starts at $400 a month for three collaborators, says Kafri. Then, users can have a 360-degree view from any point on the 3D model using any web browser.Lizette Martinez, a project engineer with Dewberry, says a 3D model of what will be Florida’s first-ever continuous-flow intersection helped Lee County residents to understand how it would work. "We wanted to teach the community how to drive through it." In two weeks, RDV provided the model. "We received great responses from the community," she says.The 123BIM Publisher will be useful because designers still will have access to the data files in the cloud during construction, which will start this spring, Martinez adds.The tool also has helped to inform the massive design efforts required on the I-84 project, says Armstrong. "The project will include reconstructing overpasses and lowering the Interstate. Local streets will pass over the freeway. We're using the tool to envision the bike and pedestrian experience on these overpasses—the width of sidewalks, visual screens, noise walls, landscaping."ConnDOT has been using the RDV 3D modeling for about three years as a beta-tester, along with consultant TranSystems, and has posted many of the I-84 scenarios on its website."One feature we really like is that it's pretty easy on a mobile device. We haven't exploited this quite yet, but … if you have a tablet, you can go out to the project site and pull up the 3D model and literally turn [around]—and as you turn, the model will turn with you. We will exploit this ability for public [outreach]," says Armstrong.

THE EDITOR'S GUIDE TO HOSTING A CHIC OSCARS PARTY

A fête plan for this Sunday's Academy Awards viewing–no matter your hostess style.By Natasha Huang SmithThe Oscars is undoubtedly one of the most glamorous nights of the year, from show-stopping gowns to dapper tuxes, and of course the anticipation of all the winning films you will scramble to see (if you haven't already) post-show. But lets be honest, judging the red carpet is the best part of the evening–and doing it in style is a must. Follow our guide to hosting a chic Oscar viewing party minimal effort and maximum style.

Make it clear that your guests should arrive in something comfortable without forgoing style.Tibi top, $375, and trousers, $395, net-a-porter.com; Guccifur-lined slides, $734, mytheresa.com; Isabel Marantearrings, $80, matchesfashion.com.

Invitations set the tone–their presence and the effort in sending them separates the casual get togethers from full out parties–so invite your guests to your viewing party with something that has a classic feel and a touch of whimsy. For the fashion centric crowd, consider Connor hand stamped note cards. For something more grand and traditional, try something by Mrs. John L Strong. Or, go classic with a touch of whimsy, with an option from Dempsey and Carroll (pictured).

The Décor

Set the mood with accents that remind guests of Hollywood's heyday and a scent that adds to the vibe. If you don't have a bar cart or sleek coupes for champagne, now would be the excuse to invest.Society Social "Worth" bar cart, $625, shopsocietysocial.com; LSA champagne saucer, $65/set of 2, us.amara.com; Diptyque "Baies Limited Edition Deluxe Indoor Outdoor" candle, $350, diptyqueparis.com.

Festive Attire

Fun, festive sparkles are always welcome–but don't let them get in the way of comfort, especially if you'll be doing double duty as hostess.3.1 Phillip Lim dress, $1,195, net-a-porter.com; Common Projects sneakers, $410, net-a-porter.com.

Food & Drink

When in doubt–go luxe. Set up a caviar station with your favorite varieties, creme fraiche and ample amounts of blinis that allows guests to nibble on delicious little bites in between winner announcements. Vodka may be a customary pairing and having it on ice is encouraged, but champagne pairs perfectly and will feel apropos for the evening–so stock up on plenty of bubbly.Olma classic caviar gift box, $159, olmafood.com; Cedes Milano caviar stand and bowl set, $950, barneysny.com; Veuve Cliquot champagne, $49.95, sherry-lehmann.com.

Glam Factor

Keep your beauty look stress-free and overall minimal–you're not the one on the carpet after all. Instead, opt for statements that feel fun and low maintenance, like a red lip or bold brow.Dior "Rouge Dior" lipstick, $35, neimanmarcus.com.

Pop, Fizz, Clink.

"A specialty bar is always a great idea–and nothing feels more appropriate for the Oscars than a celebratory toast," says Darcy Miller, entertaining expert and author of Celebrate Everything. "You can personalize these topping bars any way you like and for any occasion–even down to things as playful as edible glitter," says Miller. The celebrations guru also encourages naming custom cocktails after the night's nominated films, and making it interactive and simple for guests to mix their own concoctions or add a festive garnish.

Selfie Redux

Somewhere in between the red carpet and 'Best Picture' can tend to drag on. Use that time for snapping pictures on your own red carpet (read: your living room rug). Go for something with instant gratification that's a little more special than a selfie–like an Instax Mini. For the photo shy, try out the 'Six degrees of Dating' game: Write two celeb names on a board and challenge guests to connect them through their dating pool. Or, take a cue from March Madness for a Fantasy Oscars set-up, where each guests casts their ballots for who they think will take home the biggest honors of the night.Fujifilm Instax Mini 70, $139.95, adorama.com.

Sweet Tooth

Once it's time for dessert–go mini and personalized. It avoids your having to plate cake, dole out cookies or whip up a complicated sweets bar when it's time for the night's biggest announcements. Stick with individually packaged, nostalgic offerings you know your guests will love–like small pots of edible cookie dough. Or, your guests can act like a kid in a candy shop and fill up their own goodie bag from your adult candy bar set up, featuring playful sweets like Sugarfina's candy olives or 24k gold swizzle sticks.Moet & Chandon mini bottles, $15.99, shopwinedirect.com; Sugarfina swizzle sticks, $15, and martini olive almonds, $7.50/small box, sugarfina.com;  The Cookie Dough Cafe edible cookie dough pots, $29/pack of 3, thecookiedoughcafe.com.

The Ultimate Valentine’s Day Gift Guide

by Travel + Leisure StaffWhether you're setting off on a romantic trip for Valentine's Day or planning a fun stay-at-home celebration, you're going to need to find a great gift for your travel-loving partner. If you're struggling to think of ideas, consider this gift guide a map to your favorite traveler’s heart.

Instant Film Camera

Everybody wants one of Fujifilm’s Instax cameras, which produce on-the-spot photos for you and your loved one to cherish. You can’t beat the Mini 8’s price point, portability, or fun assortment of colors (think: raspberry and grape).To buy: bestbuy.com, $70

#InstaxIceQueens Influencer Event at Sundance 2017

We invited these influencers to be Instax Ice Queens for the day at the Midway, Utah Ice Castles!

#InstaxDen Influencer Event at Sundance 2017

FUJIFILM Instax Mini 70 camera influencer event in Park City, Utah.  A scavenger hunt and night filled with Instax photo DIY projects! 

123BIM Publisher Plug-in Empowers Engineers to Create Browser-Based Visualizations

By Cyrena Respini-IrwinNew release from RDV Systems seeks to help MicroStation and AutoCAD Civil 3D users communicate more clearly with public works project stakeholders.RDV Systems, a developer of visualization and building information modeling (BIM) software, has announced a 3D modeling plug-in for AutoCAD Civil 3D and Bentley MicroStation users that extends its 123BIM platform. The plug-in, named 123BIM Publisher, is designed to help users create interactive visualizations by publishing their projects in a Google Earth–like environment. The finished visualization experiences are accessible to any project stakeholder with an Internet browser, so members of the public and others can virtually explore sites of proposed change at their leisure.Securing approval from the citizenry is crucial for Departments of Transportation (DoTs), engineering firms, and other organizations that implement civil engineering projects that impact the public. “If they don’t get the votes during a public hearing, the whole thing can go back to the drawing board, which is a disaster,” explained Dolio Kafri, vice-president of North America sales for RDV Systems. “Not everyone goes to public hearings, but the people who do go really care.”It is difficult, however, to convey with CAD drawings just how a particular project will affect traffic flows, views, storefront access, and other aspects of daily life. “[Design and engineering professionals] find it hard to communicate with others, because you basically need another CAD machine to show it,” said Kafri. In addition, “you’re showing drawings, not giving a sense of what looks like in real life.”Existing visualization tools can provide viewers with a better sense of the big picture than CAD drawings can, but they have their own drawbacks, said Kafri. For example, “a video in 3ds Max can be beautiful looking, but it’s a statement of a particular moment in time,” he noted. Renderings and still images are also limited to representing a “snapshot” of a project, and cannot be adjusted or explored by the viewer. “There’s no way to create an interaction,” Kafri observed.In contrast, visualizations created with 123BIM Publisher are “completely interactive,” according to Kafri. “It takes the level of interest and communication with stakeholders to a completely different level, because this [visualization] is not just a statement, this is how it’s going to look … it is a tool that enables DoTs to get quick project approval.”Of course, design communication needs aren’t limited to educating and persuading the public. Engineers and other professionals can also use the 123BIM platform for collaboration with remote colleagues, by having two or more people log into the same project visualization simultaneously. “A lot of collaboration is required [in the AEC space], but existing collaboration tools are not always up to speed and convenient for people to use,” said Kafri.Tripartite ToolTo create the visualizations, CAD designs are converted to 3D digital models and uploaded to the 123BIM platform on the cloud. In addition to the data from their CAD programs, professionals can use 123BIM Publisher to import aerial photographs, geographic information systems (GIS) data, laser-scanning data, SketchUp models, and other data types to provide more context for their designs, or give a better sense of how they will function. A PTV Vissim traffic model, for example, can demonstrate how cars will move along a proposed highway interchange.Viewers can access the 123BIM.com portal through any web-connected device, then explore the visualization at their own pace, zooming, changing perspectives, and clicking to jump to any point in the model. In situations where multiple approaches are being proposed, viewers can select from a menu to quickly switch between the various options and compare them.In the town of Wiscasset, for example, the Maine DoT needed buy-in from the public in order to upgrade a heavily used highway that served as the town’s Main Street and provided residents and tourists with beach access. With the 123BIM visualization, Kafri observed, local residents were able to evaluate the design options for themselves and “answer the question of, ‘How does it look from my house?’”

Travel Tech Gifts

by Melanie Lieberman

9 Fujifilm Instax Mini 8

Courtesy of Fujifilm 

Non-conformists and hipsters on your bucket list will love the Fujifilm Instax ($68)—a candy-colored throwback to the Polaroid cameras of family vacations past. Novelty pictures can be surprisingly bold when the setting is right, and the tiny snapshots print within 10 seconds. Talk about instant gratification.

OUT OF HARM’S WAY

OUT OF HARM’S WAYBy When two suicide bombers blew themselves up at the Brussels Airport on March 22, 2016, global intelligence services provider Healix International knew that its clients in the European nation could still be in danger.“We immediately became aware that there was a potential for secondary attacks on other transport hubs and locations,” says Declan Meighan, global security director at Healix Inter­national. Using a tool called Geofeedia, which provides real-time, location-based data from social media, Healix was able to corroborate information about the attacks at the airport based on individual social media accounts. Using this tool, a bomb threat was identified at the Brussels Metro station, and Healix advised its clients to stay away from any transportation hubs. A third bomb would later go off at the station.“We anticipated that there was going to be a secondary attack–that did happen–and it allowed us to quickly move people away from the threat and reduce the number of injuries and fatalities,” he says.Healix, which specializes in international medical, security, and travel assistance services, came across Geofeedia while searching the marketplace for intelligence tools that pull data from social media feeds. The company was attracted to Geofeedia because it works off of location data, in addition to keyword searches, from social media users’ posts. Healix began using the tool in the summer of 2015 after completing training from Geofeedia.“Anything that happens now, people are taking a photograph and posting it to social media. Geofeedia allows us to qualify from a number of different sources what actually is going on, and then send out requisite advice to our clients,” says Meighan. “It allows us to get a bird’s-eye view from multiple sources, not just one person.”Meighan notes that the Arab Spring in 2011 proved the legitimacy of social media as an intelligence source. “Anybody who has a smartphone that’s in the middle of a pro­test, a strike, a rally, an incident that is posted on a number of social media sites, Geofeedia puts out intelligence instantaneously, which is so valuable to us as a tool.”Healix International’s global intelli­gence analysts, who are assigned to different regions around the world, monitor Geofeedia to corroborate and qualify information on any event or in­cident that may affect its clientele. The keyword search allows analysts to drill down on a specific topic–or even a missing person.Using an Internet browser, intelligence analysts at Healix log onto the Geofeedia Web portal, which resides in the cloud, with a secure username and password. From there, they can type in any address into the location tool that displays a map view of that location on the right-hand side.After typing in a keyword or keywords, different colored “icons” that represent the social media platforms pop up indicating there has been a post that has those words in a description or caption. There is also a translate feature that turns the post into the desired language with the click of a button (more than 40 languages are available). On the right-hand side, a gallery-view of the posts shows up with small photos and captions. Users can then click on any of those previews to find out more information.Geofeedia is sold as an annual subscription, which includes support. A live chat feature is available if analysts wish to connect with customer support at Geofeedia, or they can fill out a form and send it if the matter is not pressing.  Geofeedia users can also draw out a specific perimeter if they only want to deal with posts coming out of an exact location–an airport or a specific city block, for example. They can also set alerts to be sent by email immediately, hourly, daily, or weekly.These features were useful when an American student who was traveling in Brazil had his cell phone and wallet stolen. His university in the United States, who had no knowledge of the theft, could not get in touch with him, and alerted Healix that the young man was missing.“We kind of had an idea of the last-known whereabouts of this individual,” says Meighan. “Using Geofeedia, we put in as a keyword search the university name, and drew a geofence around the place where we knew he was.”This keyword search led to a photo on Instagram in the feed. “Literally, within minutes, it just popped up–a photograph of this individual with his name and university,” notes Meighan. “He was with a group of other people, and one of them was the lady who posted the picture.”The woman who posted the photo had her other social accounts linked to Instagram, and Healix contacted her over Twitter using its company account. Healix asked her if she could get the young man to notify his university of his whereabouts. “It was very useful and allowed us to find him quickly, and pacify the university that nothing more sinister than that had happened to him,” says Meighan.Geofeedia also played a large role in helping Healix keep clientele safe during the Myanmar earthquake on April 13, 2016. A 6.9 magnitude quake struck, devastating the city and traditional communications infrastructure.Healix wanted to keep its clients away from buildings that could still be susceptible to collapse in aftershock. It executed a “discovery” search in its location-based intelligence platform and identified places where other tremors were felt. Healix then alerted people to take precautions.“You often find that in an event like an earthquake or an attack, people seek strength in numbers so they’ll naturally want to flock to an area where there are lots of other people,” he says. “Geofeedia allowed us to shepherd people away from those areas, and say ‘it might be better just to stay in rural areas for the time being, pass six or eight hours, and the buildings might become a little more stable.’”Healix tries to keep the information being pushed to travelers as concise as possible. “The advice to a business traveler during one of these incidents has to be quite apt in the format–simple bullet points,” he explains. “If it’s more than two or three paragraphs long, then it will get lost in translation.”The way the information is sent out is different for each client depending on what their needs are. Customers have the ability to receive location-specific security alerts via the company’s Travel Oracle mobile app, SMS, email, or all three platforms if required.The team at Healix did have to work through a challenge with Geofeedia, Mei­ghan says, because staff members weren’t used to the platform’s translate tool. For example, the team was moni­toring an event in Saudi Arabia, and most of the social media posts were coming through in Arabic. Meighan says that Healix International’s response time was slower simply because people were attempting to figure out the translate tool. “The tool works very well, and if we had been a little bit more savvy we wouldn’t have been as slow to respond,” he notes, “but it’s a lesson learned and everyone knows how to use it now.”Before Geofeedia, Healix relied on security partners around the world for much of the information they now receive from the platform. “In the past, we would have reached out to all our security partners, and we would be asking them to verify and corroborate what was being read on the news or if we could get it prior to being on the news,” says Meighan. With Geofeedia, much of that effort is eliminated because of the realtime updates from social media users.But while Meighan notes that the tool is a great addition to its suite of intelligence resources, the company will continue to use multiple intelligence sources to support its clients. “If Geofeedia went down for some reason, if there’s a big technical issue, we can’t stop–our business doesn’t stop.”Meighan says Healix verifies all infor­mation using a variety of sources. “From a security perspective you never rely on a single source of intelligence for information, you’ve got to have back-up sources where you can qualify and cor­roborate. We’ve got open and closed sources of other information that we still rely on heavily.”

The NCAA Goes Full-Court Press On Its Social Strategy

by Allison Schiff

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The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has no trouble getting people interested in March Madness, when the fans are rabid. It’s the rest of the year that poses a challenge.“The hardest thing is that we have a brand everyone wants to be a part of – but only at the end,” said Chris Dion, the NCAA’s assistant director of digital and social media for championships and alliances.The championships and alliances department puts on 90 national championships in 24 sports across three divisions. Dion and his group manage 57 social accounts.But when March rolls around, it’s all about basketball. “Things go to a whole other level during the Final Four,” Dion said.In addition to the championship games, the NCAA also hosts a three-day music festival, dribble clinic for kids, autograph signings and giveaways, all of which people can attend without buying tickets to a game.The social chatter ramps up exponentially, making it hard to pinpoint signals in the noise, especially when fans don’t use the NCAA’s official handle or hashtags.That’s why the NCAA started working with Geofeedia, a location-based social insights company that tracks geotagged social posts on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.For the 2015 men’s Final Four event in Indianapolis, the NCAA used Geofeedia to draw geofences around the perimeter of the main stadium, the convention center, two airports, a number of area hotels and other event-related locations.“That let us serve up-to-date information to people who were actually at the Final Four, not just talking about the Final Four,” said Dion.AdExchanger caught up with Dion to talk about the NCAA’s growing focus on social.AdExchanger: What is the NCAA trying to achieve with its social strategy?CHRIS DION: The NCAA made a commitment about four or five years ago to enter the social space, not necessarily to control or moderate the conversation, but to advocate for our student-athletes and tell stories about what our brand means to the world. We focus on the games and athlete stories while weaving in some brand communications.Why did you guys gets interested in location-based tech?It’s not something that interests us so much as something that’s required.Three years ago we were trying to listen to the firehouse that is the conversation around the Final Four. But figuring out if a customer is at your event, in your arena or even in the US is actually really difficult. You can sift through it manually, but when the conversation is trending for three full days, it’s pretty much impossible to manage.We use Geofeedia to try and solve for that by letting us literally draw a fence around the event spaces and monitor what’s going on socially with fans, whether that’s a ticketing problem, a customer service issue or security concerns.The other benefit is that the marketing side is starting to capture these people so we can alert them to other events going on or use it as an opportunity to get them to download our app. We’re creating a hard audience of people we know attended our event, rather than just targeting off the fact they they used the Final Four hashtag.Do you use social data for targeting in other channels?For us, it’s mainly a brand play, but a portion of our social and digital strategy does revolve around ticketing for the championship events. Ticketing is a major part of our marketing strategy.Starting last year, our marketing team really started to see the value in leveraging digital assets to assist them in selling tickets. We did quite a bit of retargeting, especially using Facebook Ads and Google AdWords. In other words, taking a warm lead – someone who visited our website – and trying to convert them to a ticket buy.But our fan profiles aren’t what I would call super-complete. If someone visited the site but didn’t attend a game, we don’t know why. We try to glean as much as we can but, quite frankly, we don’t have very rich fan profiles at this time.How is the NCAA evolving its customer database?It’s mainly held in our marketing department, and the social and digital teams sit outside of that. We’re collecting a lot of data onsite, like name, address, phone number and email, but we would love to get to the point where we can start attaching things like fandom information, social profiles and team assignments.We’re also trying to create a singular data repository. Last year a big project of ours was merging a few databases together. This year we’re going to look into how we can make our profiles more robust.How do you home in on the right social conversations?We have 335 member schools just in Division I, so it’s hard to tell a complete story. We use a tool called CrowdTangle to locate hot conversations and social buzz. Geofeedia is another layer of social isolation that we can use to pull out the right people in certain locations.Will you be feeding that into into your customer profiles?That is clearly the next step. We’re admittedly behind the ball on this, but we are thinking about how to match those people and use social as a way to connect the dots. But what’s the most useful is that it allows us to take a national conversation down to a one-on-one level.A few years ago we had what I would call a blast strategy. We might post something like, “Here’s how to handle the problems we’re having with security” – but it’s not necessary for people who aren’t at the event to see that message. Clearly, some things need to be broadcast to the larger group, but we don’t need to air our dirty laundry to everyone via social.Most of your teams have Twitter and/or Facebook accounts. What about other platforms?We use Instagram and we’re also dabbling in Snapchat. We know Snapchat is the future as far as youth goes. But the biggest problem is resources because we’re not in the physical locations where the sports are happening. We’ve done a pilot with our women’s basketball program where we gave them shared access to our Snapchat account to let our membership help tell the story.What sort of content do you produce?It would be great if we were ESPN and had access to all of the live TV and highlights our athletes produce, but we don’t have regular season rights to any of the TV broadcasts until the championship.I work with my team to create a sports conversation out of nothing mainly using social graphics in order to move traffic from social onto our dot-com website. And then when the championship rolls around, it’s our job is to become the authority in the space. 

CREATING A FOOD JOURNAL WITH THE INSTAX SHARE PRINTER + THE LAUNCH OF THE SP-2!

CREATING A FOOD JOURNAL WITH THE INSTAX SHARE PRINTER + THE LAUNCH OF THE SP-2!By Kelly PurkeyLast week I had the awesome opportunity to work with Fujfilm on the launch party of their new Instax SHARE SP-2 Printer. I've been an Instax fan for years + years now and you've seen them included in lots of projects and posts here on the blog. So it was really exciting to get to work together in New York City at the party for the upcoming version of their SHARE SP-2 printer. If you're not familiar with the SHARE, it's a great little printer that uses the Instax instant film and prints photos right from your smartphone.The SP-2 printer is even better than ever with filters you can add to the photos, prints even faster, and my favorite update is that you adjust the brightness + contrast before you print out your photo. Plus it comes in gold or silver in this sleek new style. You can find more info and preorder the Instax SHARE SP-2 here.The hostess of the launch party was celeb chef Alex Guarnaschelli who is so talented and hilarious. To go along with her food, I put together a food journal using the SHARE photos. If you know me at all, you know my passion for good food so this job was right up my alley.My food journal is a little binder that you can easily put together to document all your own food memories. Everything you need you already have on hand - scraps of paper, envelopes, sticky notes, and a hole punch. I trimmed the paper and envelopes to different sizes so the pages peek through as you flip through the journal. Lots and lots of Instax photos scattered throughout along with notes, recipes, and little bits about the food.The journal took me under two hours to put together and it's fun to flip through. One of my favorite things about the SHARE printer is that you can print multiple copies of the photos (verses only having one copy when you use the camera) so you can add your photos to many different projects. I hope this gives you inspiration to create your own food journal using your favorite Instax photos and don't forget to check out the new SHARE SP-2 printer!

Fujifilm’s instant photo printer is finally out of its awkward phase

By Sean O'KanePrint everything, have fun

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In a world full of smartphone photography and digital cameras, shooting pictures on film has become a niche endeavor. Instant film, popularized by Polaroid in the mid-to-late 20th century, is an even deeper niche. But Fujifilm’s newest product, the Instax Share SP-2 printer, is a smart little bridge between the digital and analog worlds.

Fujifilm’s first Instax Share printer — which, like this new version, prints on Fujifilm’s 2-inch-by-3-inch Instax "Mini" film — was a clever idea and pretty fun to use. But it felt like a beta version of the idea. The hardware was forgettable and it was slow. Now, two years later, we have the SP-2, and it finally feels like Fujifilm has nailed the execution.

The new Instax Share printer still has a few faults — and at $199, it’s not particularly cheap — but it’s the most fun and immediate way to turn the photos on your phone into something tangible, especially if you stick to the basics.

The most important changes with the new version of Fujifilm’s printer are that the photos print faster, the overall quality has improved, and the connection between the phone and the printer is better. I used it with a Galaxy Note 5, iPhone 6, and even an old iPhone 4S and never had trouble quickly connecting to the printer. At one point I was even in the middle of using the new "split" feature — which lets you print one photo across two different prints — and the connection timed out, but when I reconnected the printer it picked back up in the right spot.

It now only takes about 10 seconds to print photos, which is great — that’s almost twice as fast as the original printer. The photos look better this time around, too, because Fujifilm now uses OLED technology to expose the film, and the resolution has been bumped to 320 dpi. (The SP-1 used LED tech and printed at 254 dpi.) Prints actually look crisp — or as crisp as an instant photo can — and the colors are vibrant.

THE APP IS STILL THE WEAKEST PART OF THE EXPERIENCE

Fujifilm made a number of software tweaks, but the Instax Share app is still the weakest part of the experience, especially if you’re trying to do more than just print right from your camera roll. For instance, the app offers a lot of different frames and designs that you can overlay on whatever image you’re printing, but you have to toggle through them by tapping a single button. That means if you see one you like but you skip past it, you have to cycle all the way around to get back to it.

Of course, that’s assuming you want to use these frames in the first place. It’s a matter of taste and how you decide to use the printer, really — a "Happy Birthday" frame might help you in a pinch, for example — but I found them to be garish and overly simple. This applies to the Facebook and Instagram tie-ins, too — you can print photos directly from those accounts, but they show the caption, number of likes or hearts, and the logo of the service you printed them from, all in about as unsubtle a manner as possible. And if you have a lot of photos on either service, you’ll have to be patient — the app struggles under the weight of downloading all those thumbnails.

Fujifilm nailed it with the hardware, though. Instead of a looking like a shiny plastic toy, the pinter now looks pretty sleek, with a polygonal design and (a choice of) either gold or silver accents. The only downside of the new design is the power button, which is so mushy and has so little travel that it’s hard to tell if you’ve turned it on, or whether you’re pressing the right part of the printer to begin with.

FORGET THE FRILLS AND JUST HAVE FUN PRINTING

I enjoyed using the Instax Share printer the most when I just stuck to the basics. No filters, no editing — just taking something digital and turning it into a real thing. There’s just something inherently thrilling about that, even if I don’t have any idea what to do with them after they’ve printed.

And I found joy in this in ways that Fujifilm hadn’t prepared me for. Fujifilm is trying to sell people the idea of the Instax Share printer as being a way to bring your smartphone photos to life, instead of forgetting about them the moment you close the camera app. While that is mostly the case, I also got a huge kick out of digging through and printing out photos that were stored on my phones (or on Google Drive), especially the ones that I took with other cameras.

Concert photos that I took years ago — and hadn’t seen since — took on a new life. Pictures of family members and pets when they were younger now had a place to exist outside of a forgotten cache of ones and zeroes. I especially took joy in finding photos, memes, and other web detritus that I didn’t own (oops) and printing out those — something I’m guessing Fujifilm might officially frown upon. "Here come dat boi, ready to be pinned to your mood board," if you will.

This is the best part about the new Instax Share printer, especially now that it’s finally out of its awkward first phase and has become a polished product. It’s not just a way to make tangible the digital photos you take with your smartphone, it’s a conduit to the physical world for any digital image. There may not be a ton of purpose and practicality in that, but it sure as hell is a lot of fun.

Fujifilm's latest pocket printer is one of the best ways to print your phone pics

By Raymond Wong

I'm an instant film fanatic. I've tried just about every instant camera that prints on instant film, instant cameras that print digital sticker prints and pocket printers that print digital photos from recent years.But I still had no idea Fujifilm sold a pocket printer that prints your smartphone photos on mini instant film. Yep, that's on real instant film, not digital paper.I missed the boat on the SP-1 and now the company's releasing the Instax Share SP-2 for $199.99.

SEE ALSO: Fujifilm's Instax Wide 300 instant camera is way more fun than Instagram

The printer has a new sharper design that resembles a juice box. It's also slightly more compact and lighter. It comes in two colors: silver and gold to better match today's smartphone color trends. No rose gold, though.

Faster, higher resolution prints

There are a couple of internal improvements over the SP-1 that make the SP-2 a worthwhile upgrade.First, the SP-2 prints 40 percent faster. It only takes 10 seconds to print out a photo over Wi-Fi from your smartphone (or tablet) compared to the SP-1's 14 seconds.

Pictures print in 10 seconds.

IMAGE: BRITTANY HERBERT/MASHABLE

Second, printed photos have a higher resolution thanks to a new 3-color OLED printing engine: 800 x 600 resolution at 320 dots per inch (dpi). The SP-1 printed at 640 x 480 resolution at 254 dpi. And the printer now supports PNG files as well as JPEG.And third, the Instax Share app for iOS and Android has been updated with new features like a custom filter and split-picture and collage templates. These new app features are in addition to the ability to print photos with a myriad of templates (i.e. holidays, birthdays, celebrations, etc.), print photos with real-time data (i.e. date, time, location, weather, chance of rain) and include data from select social networks like Facebook and Instagram (i.e. profile photo, number of likes, caption and hashtags).

Easy to use, except...

The dots tell you how many shots you have left.

IMAGE: BRITTANY HERBERT/MASHABLE

Using the printer itself is mostly a lovely experience. When you power the printer on, an LED lights up green and a row of 10 LED dots on the top tells you how many shots of mini instant film you have left.There's a reprint button the side of the camera for instantly printing a duplicate to give to a friend.The SP-2 uses a rechargeable lithium-ion battery and charges through a Micro USB cable, which is included in the box. Not included in the box is a power adapter, but your smartphone's will work fine. Battery life is rated at up to 100 prints.

Quick reprint button

IMAGE: BRITTANY HERBERT/MASHABLE

Charges via Micro USB

IMAGE: BRITTANY HERBERT/MASHABLE

The Instax Share app is easy to use. The app is split into five core sections: print from your smartphone camera roll, reprint a photo, take a photo and print, print a photo with the real-time template, and print from SNS (social networking site).

IMAGE: SCREENSHOT: RAYMOND WONG/MASHABLE

And connecting your smartphone to the SP-2 printer is as simple as connecting to it in the Wi-Fi settings.Things get a little cumbersome when you want to print with the real-time and social media templates. You need to connect to your Internet connection first, launch those template modes, pick your photo, make your edits and/or add your text, then go back to your Wi-Fi settings and connect back to the Instax printer, and then hit print.It's the same process of jumping between the Instax Share app to Wi-Fi settings every single time you want to use one of those cool templates that need access to the Internet. It's annoying for sure, but once you get used to it, you'll be a pro at using your recent apps feature (double-tap home button on iPhone or tap recent apps button on Android).

Such good prints

A sample of the types of templates you can pick from before printing.

IMAGE: BRITTANY HERBERT/MASHABLE

I'm not exaggerating when I say the prints are unbelievably good. They're really sharp and exposure is great. There's some color fringing along the borders that remind you the prints are on instant film, but other than that, the prints are just...wow.There's not much in terms of filter selection (black & white and sepia are your only choices), but the templates are a whole lot of fun to use. The social media ones are especially cool since they retain the captions you originally wrote and the number of likes they got. It's weird to print and give someone a real-life version of an Instagram, but it is charming every time.

Split photos are perfect for pictures like this one.

IMAGE: BRITTANY HERBERT/MASHABLE

Printing photo collages is also a great way to preserve a memory without wasting film and printing them on multiple shots. Split-photo mode is really neat for sharing group photos — like a photo locket.To see just how sharp the SP-2 prints, I did a few shoots with it and my Instax Mini 90 instant camera. As you can see in the photo comparisons below, the prints out of my Mini 90 camera came out softer than those taken with my iPhone 6 and printed with the SP-2.

The color-framed photos were shot with the Instax Mini 90 instant camera and the white frames were shot with an iPhone 6 and printed with the Instax Share SP-2.

IMAGE: BRITTANY HERBERT/MASHABLE

For landscape photos, though, my Mini 90 won, the photos were sharper and had better exposure.Your mileage will vary, but for the most part, the SP-2 prints better photos than a regular mini-instant film Instax camera.In a few tests with the OnePlus 3, which has a 16-megapixel camera, the prints from the SP-2 were actually too high-resolution and led to a lot of visible anti-aliasing issues and moiré. My iPhone 6's 8-megapixel camera yielded a solid balance of resolution and image print quality.

Sharing is caring

The Instax Share SP-2 uses standard Instax Mini film.

IMAGE: BRITTANY HERBERT/MASHABLE

Trust me when I tell you I'm not simply drinking the instant film Kool-Aid. Fujifilm's Instax Share SP-2 is wonderfully fun.It's a little steep at $199.99, but for the image quality you get, it's totally worth it. Pricing for Fujifilm's Instax mini film fluctuates, but a 20-pack is $11.71, a 40-pack is $28.46 and a 60-pack is $37.89 on Amazon as of this writing. That's lower than normal.Had I known about the Fujifilm's Instax Share instant film printers for your smartphone, I probably wouldn't have splurged on the Mini 90.

Fujifilm Instax Share SP-2

The Good

Fast prints in 10 seconds • High-resolution prints • Long battery life for up to 100 prints • Handy shot-counter at a glance • Rechargeable battery

The Bad

Switching Wi-Fi networks for some templates is a pain

The Bottom Line

The Fujifilm Instax Share SP-2 is an excellent and fun way to share your smartphone photos IRL.

FujiFilm's Instax Prints Out Your Mobile Photos Polaroid-Style

By SAM RUTHERFORDSmartphones and social media have made it easier than ever before to send pictures to family and friends, but nothing can truly replace sharing a real photo. That’s where FujiFilm’s Instax Share Printer 2 comes in: the portable device connects to your smartphone over Wi-Fi and spits out instant photos like an old school Polaroid camera.In practice, the $200 SP-2 couldn’t be easier to use. All you have to do is turn the printer on and connect to it to your phone like you would for any Wi-Fi network. Then you can use FujiFilm’s Instax Share app (available for free on iOS and Android) to print out a new pic, anything from your existing gallery, or something from a social media site such as Facebook, Instagram or Weibo.  

'Well-known co-working company' eyes space in a new Bellevue tower

'Well-known co-working company' eyes space in a new Bellevue towerBy KAREN DUCEY
Among commercial real estate brokers, it's rumored that WeWork, a global company that offers co-working spaces, is looking at leasing space in a new Bellevue office tower. WeWork has three locations in Seattle, including this one in South Lake Union.

A recent report further feeds the rumor that co-working company WeWorkplans to lease a good amount of space in the 400 Lincoln Square office tower that's going up in downtown Bellevue.

The rumor has been making the rounds for months, and comes at time when co-working is becoming more popular nationally and rental rates for short-term office space in Washington state are increasing significantly.

The Instant Group, a global company that tracks the co-working industry, says it cost an average of $794 a month to rent a desk from a co-working company in Washington last year. That was ninth highest in the country, and 14 percent more than in 2014.

So it's not surprising that WeWork might be looking for space on the Eastside. The company, which is now valued at $16 billion by its investors, has three locations in the Puget Sound region, all in Seattle.

Commercial real estate company CBRE (NYSE: CBG) reports that "a well-known co-working company with offices in Seattle recently expressed interest in several floors of a building under construction in the Bellevue central business district."

Two towers are under construction in Bellevue, the 31-story Lincoln Square and the 16-story Centre 425, though talk among commercial real estate brokers is that WeWork is looking at Lincoln. Asked about that in February, a WeWork spokesperson said the company had no comment. We reached out again on Tuesday and will update this post when we hear back.

Around the world, WeWork has 66 locations. Those spaces are home to more than 9,000 businesses and more than 40,000 members, representing growth of 225 percent in 2015, according to the Instant Group. Membership is not restricted to startups, according to Instant Group, which reported that WeWork is proving "highly popular with corporate occupiers, such asMicrosoft" (Nasdaq: MSFT).

Instant Group reported that statewide last year, there were a total of 83 co-working centers in Washington, or 4 percent more than in 2014.

In Seattle, there were 41 centers in 2015, the same as the year before, but it looks as though that will change. CBRE reported that two unnamed co-working companies are looking downtown for additional locations.

The rise of "the contingent workforce" along with demand by corporate occupiers drove the co-working industry nationally in 2015. Co-working grew more than 10 percent across the United States and centers that offer both executive suites and co-working spaces expanded by nearly 13 percent last year, according to the Instant Group.

New study shows that co-working, flexible office space is on the rise

By Dan Rafter

An example, in New York City, of co-working space. (Image provided by The Instant Group.)

U.S. office buildings are more frequently offering tenants co-working space today, office space that employees from several different companies share as a way to save on the cost of space and equipment.According to the 2016 Flexible Workspace Review released in May by The Instant Group, co-working grew more than 10 percent across the United States last year. Office buildings offering co-working space and executive suites — offices that independent contractors or other workers can rent for a limited time — grew by 12.9 percent.The Instant Group said that the total flexible workspace market grew by an average of 4.3 percent last year, with 3,596 combination centers now offering co-working spaces and executive suites. The United States leads the world in this kind of workspace, with the United Kingdom in second place with 3,290 combination centers.The increase in buildings offering some form of co-working is four times higher than that of the growth of conventional executive suites, which increased by only 3.4 percent during the same time period.“Co-working has proven to be a powerful driver of the market in the United States,” said Tim Rodber, chief executive officer of the The Instant Group, in a statement. “Co-working benefitted from early adoption by tech and media firms that have, in turn, done a marvelous job of promoting shared workspace and collaboration between start-ups and established firms.”Rodber says that the growth of co-working and shared office spaces is showing no signs of slowing.“What we are seeing is a broad expansion of flexible workspace solutions as companies of all sizes seek out collaborative workspaces that challenge the conventional office market,” Rodber said.Tenants in all markets don’t have equal access to co-working spaces, though. According to the study, the U.S. flexible workspace market is still relatively concentrated, with 50 percent of the total market for this kind of office space located in just five states. The same 50 percent of the market is also concentrated in just 50 cities across the country.Not surprisingly, given its reputation for tech start-ups, California leads the way as the state with the most flexible office space and the largest number of dedicated co-working spaces. According to The Instant Group, there are now 103 “pure” co-working spaces in California, a number that more than doubles that of any other state in the United States. These centers are devoted solely to co-working.New York City continues to have the most expensive flexible work space in the country, with desks costing $1,047 to rent on average each month. Washington D.C. offers pricey flexible work space, too, with an average workstation rate of $1,022 a month. That’s an increase of 17.2 percent when compared to one year earlier.In the Midwest, Illinois has the largest number of co-working centers, 145 according to The Instant Group. That’s a year-over-year increase of 5.4 percent. The average desk rate for co-working space in the state is $709 a month, according to The Instant Group.Chicago, not surprisingly, led the way in the state, with 116 co-working centers with an average monthly desk rate of $839.Ohio boasted the second-highest number of co-working spaces in the Midwest, according to The Instant Group’s report. The state had 70 co-working centers with an average desk rate of $588 a month. Michigan had 61 co-working centers with an average monthly desk rate of $643. Minnesota had 45 co-working centers, according to the report, a jump of 7.1 percent. The average desk rate here was $701 a month, while Tennessee had 56 centers with an average monthly desk rate of $652.

Coworking: No Longer Synonymous with Open Space

The Instant Group’s latest flexible workspace research brings forth the case of coworking, how it’s boomed in the last several years, and where it appears to be going. Coworking is typically associated with open and shared workspace and, up until recent years, this is exactly what coworking had been: an open-plan layout space with shared desks available for use. However, the last couple of years have brought about some changes to the concept of coworking.What we are starting to observe today in coworking spaces is that they are no longer purely open and shared workspaces; they’re turning into hybrid models that incorporate individual offices as well as shared desks in their design.Deskmag’s latest survey results shows that there has been an increase in demand of dedicated desks and private offices. Deskmag’s data shows that in the US 23% of a coworking space is private offices, while globally speaking the percentage is a bit lower, at 18%. Furthermore, only 13% of coworking centers participating in the survey claim to be fully shared workspace.The Instant Group’s research draws attention to this and mentions WeWork’s situation as an example. WeWork is now present as a coworking operator in various major cities around the world. Yet, WeWork isn’t purely a coworking space.“Despite its synonymy with coworking, WeWork’s provision of space varies to include the provision of private desk space, which appeals to growing SMEs and corporate occupiers alike.”According to Instant, WeWork’s layout design is a response to market needs:“WeWork has responded quickly to the varied demands of occupiers, many of which fall outside the traditional coworking model of shared space but which retain the desire for flexible, collaborative places to work.”A claim that can be backed up by Deskmag’s findings and a topic that we’ve covered a couple of times here in OfficingToday.WeWork is by no means the only operator adapting to market needs and changes. Instant’s report also states that “many spaces that were previously dedicated exclusively to executive suites now offer collaborative, open-plan space with breakout areas that facilitate occupier dialogue and collaboration.” This type of flexible workspaces, also known as hybrid models, currently make up 10% of the flexible workspace industry in the US.So, is this to say that coworking is moving towards a more private and dedicated space approach? Maybe.Coworking has been around long enough by now for operators to realize that the fully open-space layout might not be the answer afterall. Like Jerome Chang mentioned recently during a presentation: “the ‘work’ part of coworking should be as attractive as the ‘co’ part.”“The focus given to collaboration in flexible workspace is already having one repercussion and that is the growing provision of spaces for concentration. This is already being seen by workspace designers who are viewing the latest corporate briefs, the need to move to a more focused space and work in isolation is now being introduced by flexible workspace operators.”As for profitability, there isn’t any data reported yet that clarifies which type of space brings more profit. However, we do have Coco Coworking co-founders’ say on the matter. During their ALLGCUC Conference presentation they commented how: “dedicated spaces are the most stable, while flex members are less stable and more cost sensitive.”Regardless of whether coworking is open-spaced or not, fact remains that it’s a trend that will continue to grow and evolve as it adapts to market demands and needs. Though hybrid models are starting to grow and become more popular, data suggests that these spaces will continue to brand themselves as ‘coworking spaces’.Image via Industrious, a coworking operator with hybrid design. 

D.C. trails only New York City in flexible workspace costs

Daniel J. Sernovitz, Staff Reporter 

The D.C. region has emerged as one of the most expensive cities in the nation for co-working spaces, behind only New York City, as the popularity of those kinds of flexible workspace options continues to rise in the District and cities across the U.S.

It costs an average of $1,022 per month for a desk at one of these centers in the D.C. area, compared with the Big Apple at $1,047, according to new data by market research firm The Instant Group. That represents a 17.2 percent spike in D.C.'s per-desk costs, and that leads Instant Group to conclude there is enough demand to support much more growth without slowing down the rapid increase in pricing.

Enlarge

Co-working centers like WeWork's space at 1875 Connecticut Ave. NW near Dupont Circle… more

Washington isn't the only city seeing such explosive growth, however, as Chicago, Denver, Philadelphia and Portland, Oregon, have also seen increases of 17 percent or more in the past year.

The notion shouldn't come as much of a surprise given the sharp uptick in co-working activity. WeWork might be leading that wave: It recently opened its new combination WeWork/WeLive center in Crystal City and has also committed to several other sites including Dupont Circle and the U Street corridor. Instant Group estimates there are about 55 such flexible workspace centers in D.C., an increase of about 7.3 percent.

The rise in popularity of co-working sites is a welcome development for the D.C. region's sluggish overall office market. Big space users such as law firms have been downsizing and moving to new, more efficient buildings, so co-working operations are picking up some slack. Such was the case for Boston Properties, which signed WeWork to a 117,000-square-foot lease at Metropolitan Square to offset the loss of Miller & Chevalier Chartered.

Co-working centers, however, still comprise less than a percent of the D.C. region's 387.3 million-square-foot office market, according to CBRE.

Daniel J. Sernovitz covers commercial real estate.

Seattle named a top city for co-working spaces

Rachel Lerman

The Coterie Worklounge in downtown Seattle is a former bank that has been converted to a co-working space. Seattle is one of the top five cities in the U.S. for the growing trend of shared office space. (Steve Ringman / The Seattle Times)

The growing trend of co-working, or shared office space, is seen in Seattle, where 41 centers are established. Washington has 83 co-working centers, according to a study by The Instant Group.

Seattle is one of the top five cities in the U.S. for the growing trend of co-working, or shared office space where workers can rent desks and conference rooms and make use of Internet access and a collaborative environment.Washington has 83 co-working centers, according to a real-estate study, and that number is growing every year.Forty-one co-working centers are established in Seattle, the study from commercial real-estate-research firm The Instant Group reports. Seattle is joined by New York, San Francisco, Austin and Los Angeles on a list of the cities with the most co-working spaces.Washington is outpaced by California, which has 616 co-working spaces, driven by the flourishing tech economy in Silicon Valley.A report from the Government Accountability Office shows more than 40 percent of the U.S. workforce is made up of freelancers. That number is likely higher in tech centers, where startups and contractors often rent desks in co-working spaces.WeWork, which has three locations in Seattle, is one of the best-known spaces for tech co-working. It has been joined in Seattle in recent years by companies that similarly appeal to tech tenants, as well as spaces made for artists, lawyers and others.A desk at a co-working space in Washington costs an average of $794 per month, the Instant study says, though rates listed on popular co-working websites suggest that number is closer to $300 to $400 per month, depending on services included.

The Future of Work: Report on Changing Office Spaces Signals Shifts in the U.S. Economy

An exhaustive analysis of flexible workspaces and coworking underlines big shifts in how we work todayBY PATRICK SISSON

Coworking and flexible workspaces are more than just the latest trend, or a new driver of the office space market. According to an exhaustive report released this week by The Instant Group, the strong growth in this sector, increasing nationally at a rate of 10 percent last year to encompass nearly 4,000 locations across the United States, reflects larger shifts in how we work. With more then 40 percent of the American workforce employed on a contingency basis, according to the report, and an increasing number of larger corporations, such as Verizon and Microsoft, buying into the concept of community- and collaboration-oriented workspaces, expect the market for these spaces to continue to expand rapidly.

Not surprisingly, the flexible office and coworking market still clusters around a handful of big metropolitan areas, with half the market in just 50 cities, mostly driven by the growth of TAMI (technology, advertising, media, and information technology) firms. Both San Francisco, which saw a 11.5% increase in desk space last year, and Washington, D.C., which saw a 17.2% jump, are prime examples. 

What may be surprising is just how much of the growth in this industry comes from corporate clients, as opposed to the freelances, tech entrepreneurs, and small businesses often portrayed as the natural occupiers for these environments. Instant's report notes that 79% of the companies making deals for spaces of 40 desks or more have been large corporations, and the number of deals of this size have tripled over the last two years, driven by demand from the corporate sector. WeWork, for instance, is hugely popular with Microsoft, according to the report.

A comparison of year-over-year growth shows many secondary cities posting strong growth in flexible and coworking spaces.

The Instant Group

This increased demand has been a boon to landlords, who have now been given a new means to market, rent, and profit off their investments. New York City provides a great case study. Pent-up post-recession demand had led to a boom in office space construction—26 million square feet of new space is scheduled for completion—and with older stock unsuitable for the needs of modern tenants, many are turning to flexible or coworking-type layouts, featuring higher density, open spaces with collaborative break-out areas. 

Models differ considerably within the industry, with big players, defined as companies with more than 50 locations such as Regus and WeWork, making up on 30% of a fragmented market. The majority of new spaces have been opened by small businesses or landlords looking to activate dormant office space, creating a competitive market with extensive consumer choice. 

"The coworking model is highly nuanced and differs considerably across the US," said Michelle Bodick, Managing Director of Instant US. "The focus of the facilities we surveyed varies enormously; some are aimed at building local communities of artisans or minorities together [those aimed at particular trades or demographics], but also drop-in membership provision for people who want somewhere to work for an hour."

While WeWork continues to grab the headlines, it’s relatively small (66 locations, 2 million square foot of office space), compared to established owner Regus, which operates 3,000 centers globally in 900 cities and is pivoting towards providing more and more flexible space. The company opened its 1,000th U.S. location last year, has begun to install community managers in its office centers, and recently acquired Spaces, a Dutch coworking company, with plans to establish the brand in the United States (it’s already opened a handful of locations in California). 

As Regus’s growth suggests, the U.S. is certainly not alone in embracing a new type of workspace. The global market for flexible workspace now totals $21 billion, due to a compound growth rate of 21% over the past five years. 

Looking ahead, Instant forecasts increased U.S. growth in this agile sector, especially in secondary markets that are both near a primary city, such as Delray Beach or Encino, and have an industrial or manufacturing history (which means plenty of large factories and industrials spaces ripe for conversion).  More corporate clients are turning to this kind of space for innovation labs and in-house incubators, and the desire for a different experience with more networking opportunities means more demand for operators large and small. Looks like the old-fashioned dream of a corner office may need to be reconsidered.