When the recession prompted companies to cut costs by shedding underused real estate, Chris Kelly, 30, (an entrepreneur focused on sales and marketing businesses) and Ryan Simonetti, 31, (whose background is in real estate and finance) seized the opportunity to build meeting spaces in prime Manhattan locations. Starting with Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association, College Retirement Equities Fund’s internal meeting facility near Grand Central Terminal in 2009, their company, Convene (formerly Sentry Centers) has grown rapidly and now includes three venues with more in the works.
Central to the business model is, as Kelly describes it, building spaces that facilitate and prove the value of face-to-face interactions in an increasingly digital world. That idea is key in the duo’s latest property—a former Goldman Sachs training facility in the financial district—where Convene introduced its “human-centered design” concept, which was created to anticipate the needs of those using the space. For example, service areas are incorporated into a room’s layout in a way that allows them to be replenished from outside, preventing staff from interrupting a meeting.
“The days of treating meetings as a ‘wedding with a projector’ are over,” Kelly says. “Successful meeting places require a strategic approach to getting the most out of participants—their ideas and plans—in the most efficient and effective way.”
