Friendly competition

Recently, we had a terrific reception at our CityView facility for industry insiders.


We invited our colleagues in the events industry to take a look at the changes we've made to our facility and to talk to them a little bit about how we can support each other.
Some might call it a ballsy move. After all, some industry insiders are the ones with whom we directly compete. But the reality is, more knowledge about each other's facilities can only benefit the entire industry as a whole. Our facilities, for instance, are all wired for virtual meetings, so that if another events facility is packed and needs help handling a conference, we can do that for them, easily.
But we didn't think of this reception as being particularly ballsy. We just thought of it as the right thing to do. After all, we're all colleagues in the same industry. Why wouldn't we look for ways to help each other out?
When was the last time you did something unexpected for your industry?

Hub Friday: Looking the Part

It's Friday!
In some workplaces, it's Casual Friday, but not here at the Hub. You'll see our sales staff in suits or some other business outfit (it's not unusual to see Bill and John, our president and CEO, respectively, walking around in 3-piece suits). We all wear name tags, all day.
Our service staff, who are a big part of making sure meetings and events go smoothly, follow a pretty steady dress code: We provide them with a black Hub button-down shirt, to be worn tucked in over a black T-shirt and black slacks, and with a black belt.
The whole look is topped off with a name tag and finished with closed-toe black shoes, flat-heeled, of course, because our staff needs to be able to maneuver, and stilettos do not allow for fast maneuvering.
Why have we chosen this look, and why do we not have Casual Fridays? For us, it's a simple answer. We have business people in and out of our facilities all the time, so we want to make sure they know they're in a place that takes their business seriously.
And when businesses use our facilities, we want to ensure that they know there are people around to help them make their events successful. So we give our service assistants uniforms that make them pop: their clothing says, we hope, "Hi! I'm here to help."
The name tags are around for the exact same reason.
What are your thoughts on Casual Fridays and dress codes?

EcoMonday: Holiday Shopping

Okay. How many of you have done all your Christmas shopping? Mmhmmm, we thought so.
Never fear! We dug up some options that are lovely *and* eco-friendly, along with a few guidelines for you.

Consider consignment. We've already ranted to you about the benefits of Freecycle Philadelphia, but you don't always get what you want on the boards. However, you'll almost always find something beautiful at one of Philadephia's great consignment stores, which take gently worn items (think top-notch brands like Chanel, Prada, and Eileen Fisher), sell them to lucky consumers, and then give a portion of the sale price back to the lucky person who thought to recycle her items in the first place. Consignment stores tend to be choosy about what they take, since they have to make a buck on it, too, so you can count on good quality. You'll find everything from belts to bags and great suits at a good consignment store. All of it makes for good gifts, and in Philly, there are at least two great stores we can think of, Greene Street Consignment and Josie's Sophisticated Seconds.

If you're going to buy new, consider looking for toys and gifts made locally. Foodstuffs and other consumables, like wines and honeys, make great gifts. We found Baxter's Bee Farm, a terrific estorefront that sells not only honey but everything honey-based--and Baxter's is located in central Pennsylvania.

Soap! From bees! In Central Pennsylvania! What a lovely gift!

Toys are an obvious guess for kids, but you can go one step further. Tree Blocks, a company out of Santa Barbara, CA, makes their blocks out of discards from local paper companies. The result? Remarkably rustic-looking toys that are somehow works of art in and of themselves. They're finished with flaxseed oil and last for years. And yes, they make toy treehouses, too.


Of course, if you're one of those who's a browser and a one-stop shopper, consider a dedicated green store like Big Green Earth Store, where you'll not only have a lot to choose from, you may also learn a thing or two. On a recent trip to a similar store, we learned all about wormless composting.

While you're at it, you may want to consider a gift that truly gives. Remember when you were kids and you'd spent all your allowance money on gum, or whatever? What'd you do when you had to give a gift? You did something nice for someone else, didn't you? Scribbled on a nice piece of paper some verbiage about baby-sitting or something? Guess what? You can still do that. Consider giving someone the gift of service. Take them on a date to volunteer at a soup kitchen. Or spend a day packing boxes at your local food pantry. They'll never forget it. And they won't be forced to regift the thing.

What's the best holiday gift you've ever gotten?

Hub Day: Change Will Do You Good

So. We're in a bit of upheaval here at The Hub CityView. Things are all topsy-turvy.

This is our Rittenhouse room. We're tearing down the wall so we give it the option of being bigger, when it wants to. According to our operations director, Peter Chun, it's going to have a "garage-door"-like opening to it, so that if your needs dictate a larger space, well, we have the capability to make it bigger for you.
Don't get us wrong. We did love the Rittenhouse. But the reality is, in our house, our clients are of utmost importance, and we want to make sure that we serve their needs first and foremost.
"If you look at our Cira Center office," says Peter, referring to our LEED-certified location, and the one we built from scratch, "we're capable of hosting two to three hundred people in one of the rooms there. We wanted to be able to have all of our facilities be similar to each other, and this was a good place to start."
So what's going to change? Well, our cafe (pictured below) is now up against our big picture window, so you can get a little sun with your coffee and tea.
And our lobby, below, has changed quite a bit.
Okay, we admit it. We like the idea of making sure that our clients have the flexibility they need to make our meeting spaces fit their needs. And it makes us really happy that we can have a beautiful view of Philadelphia while we're sipping our coffee. But you know what's been really interesting about this whole procedure?
It's the fact that the changes are keeping us on our toes. There are a ton of studies out there that demonstrate the fact that physical change in the office keeps employees productive. Physical therapists have long advocated simple things, like wearing your watch on your *other* wrist every once in awhile, just to keep yourself guessing.
So yeah, we like the changes. Just, maybe not for the most obvious reasons.
What are your favorite tips for keeping yourself sharp? We like Freestyle Mind's 30 tips, for starters.