3 December 2010

Meeting room hire in ACT?

| ace2279
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I have a slightly unusual request that I’m hoping someone can help me with.

I’ve started a small business providing consulting and coaching services and am in need of an office/room to meet with clients. As it’s just starting out I don’t have the means to hire office space – what I really need is a space that is private enough to hold meetings/consultations with clients for 1-2 hours as required. So far I’ve held consultations in coffee shops but they’re not the best place for consultation.

Ideally it would be a room/office in a building that’s not too expensive to book for 2 hours at a time and is easy for clients to find and available after hours, til about 7pm.

Does anything like this exist? All I can find are conference rooms which are far too big or office space for lease – do community centres or similar offer these types of accomodation? Are there any businesses in town that hire office space for such consultations? Do you have any suggestions of places I could check out?

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Ace,

i know that this request was from some time ago however are you still looking?
0402 013 837

I realise this questions is from a long time ago, but if you still need space, try Regus at 7 London Circuit in the city. I use their spaces and it’s worked very well for me, and it’s a lot cheaper than Servcorp and in a better location.

Someone earlier mentioned the St George building. That would be servcorp. Also try Canberra Technology Park.

Mr Lubberlubber8:02 pm 05 Dec 10

I have been to a few meetings at Hotel Realm where the organiser has hired a boardroom for a few hours.

You could approach some Braddon/Reid or inner south senior residents living alone in “reduced circumstances” in large houses – you might be able to come to an arrangement if they have a room with a separate outside entrance. Several of the houses in Dirrawan Gardens for example, have large rooms with french doors onto the verandah. A colleague who was in the counselling business did exactly that a few years ago, with access to a fantastic room in Forrest.

Thanks so much for all the advice everyone. I did check out all the virtual/serviced office places suggested and they may be a possibility but may also be a little expensive for the amount of time I’ll be using them. At the moment I’m looking for a quiet space for approx 4 hours a week (on differing days and times, which is half my problem) as I’m still building a client list. I think the clubs will be the first place I check out – a room there for an hour or two would be excellent!

Thanks again for all the suggestions I really apprecite it!

Power Protect2:11 pm 04 Dec 10

I looked at the coworking site as they were getting it up and running but I think it works out too expensive. It would probably suit a sales rep or something thats only in town 1 day a week.

My rent for a small office with free as needed use of the adjacent meeting area (common area for the six offices of which 4 are currently vacant, 5 if you count mine) and larger boardroom if you need more space. Permanent office, permanent phone line, reception /greeting service, parcel receiving and so forth and it sets me back $500 per month including all the services ($350 per month just for the room)

It doesn’t appear that the OP has been back yet, they can have first dibs but I’d be quite happy to sublet the space at a cheaper rate just to recover some costs because at the moment it is vacant and costing me money until the lease runs out next year.

canberra coworking is a great option, they have a meeting room that you can book, as well as hot desks for far less than the servcorp rates. http://www.canberracoworking.org/

There always seems to be a lot of meetings going on in Tilleys, Lyneham – laptops, people in suits, paper, the whole lot. You can get yourself in a nook and have a bit of privacy.

There is a senior citizens hall in Turner which has a small meeting room for hire.

Power Protect8:18 pm 03 Dec 10

If you’re on the northside I’ve got a small office in a business park which includes an adjacent meeting area and kitchenette as well as access to the facility meeting room complete with projector / whiteboard etc…

My lease is until about April but I’ve relocated to a shop Fyshwick because we outgrew the office. Plenty of free parking, 24 hours access and so on.

Google has my details if you’re interested, and you might be surprised about how much better you can focus when you ‘go to work’ rather than working from home.

– Jason

Atlas Business Services. On Barry drive, close to the city. May have some options. http://www.atlasbiz.com.au

JessicaNumber7:19 pm 03 Dec 10

I used to work in a virtual office environment in Melbourne. In our case we had a tiny secure office to ourselves with shared phone/fax facilities (including receptionists who could take messages while you were out or in meetings) board rooms in various sizes, a building concierge, the option of having your name on the wall downstairs, a prestigious postal address in the CBD (the building manager would send mail straight to our office)… basically everything you needed to make it look like you’d been in business longer than a week or two! Plus the building had a gym!

You pay a fair amount for the services but because you aren’t necessarily using much it can still be the most cost effective option until you are ready to have your own complete office space, reception desk and so on.

So I definitely recommend the virtual office option. If you decide to go with it, I would be interested to know how you find it.

Try a local club.
I know the Queanbeyan Kangaroos club has a couple of board rooms, more than likely available free of charge. The added bonus is you have access to food and drink as well.

the universities also probably have rooms available – give their switch a call and see what you get; the campus of anu is a great setting for a meeting and will perhaps add some gravitas to your sessions?

good luck – let us know what you find and what you find you like and don’t like…

It is ServCorp in the St George building, and they’ve also got premises in the Hotel Realm building at Barton too, which is a little easier for parking.

Or you could do what lots of small business people do in this town: use the café area at the Hyatt Hotel. It’s not totally private but spacious enough that you don’t have to be sitting on top of another meeting. And you can save on expenses and hold your meeting for the cost of a couple of cups of Irish Breakfast tea!

The realm in Barton do managed office spaces, worth checking if they do hourly meeting room rental also.

troll-sniffer12:54 pm 03 Dec 10

The church at the bottom of Farrer Street has a good room for hire, I don’t know its status for purely commercial meetings but our body corporate meetings are held there.

There is a meeting room at Office-works at Fyshwick I believe it is free to business account holders (business account holders have 30 days to pay for goods they pick up or so I understand) small private room with 8 or so chairs. Office-works is open until 7 pm at night. Worth looking into.

Pretty sure Servcorp in the St George buildng on Marcus Clarke St in civic do that kind of thing. They look nice but not sure how much they cost, maybe check their website.

Canberra Museum and Gallery in civic has a biggish mtg room with nice views. It might be a bit big but it is nice and central, altho hard to get parking.

There’s a mob up in the St.George building (Barry Drive/Marcus Clarke) that do that sort of thing.

Look up ‘Virtual Office’ or ‘Managed Office’ or ‘Serviced Office’ in Canberra – that type of thing.

Here ya go… http://tinyurl.com/35npckr

The Qantas club at the airport hires out meeting rooms, maybe try them.

You could google something like virtual offices canberra and see what turns up?
They usually offer everything on a pricelist – everything being whatever you need, from meeting room by the hour, to photocopier use, to using them as your business mailing address.
Not sure if they’re feasible in terms of cost?

Or another idea, you could ask around places like this and find someone who has a small business, with a meeting room, who doesn’t mind renting it out occasionally.

http://www.yellowedge.com.au/alic/ try this company, they are a consulting and coaching company with a function centre at their offices Barton

Call Belconnen Community Centre 62640232. Ask about meeting rooms 3 and 4. I think rm 4 is not usually hired out but if they can make it available it could be perfect – small, comfy room with couches and sink. Rm 3 is somewhat larger but still probably good for your purposes.

I live in Macgregor12:10 pm 03 Dec 10

There are small meeting rooms available for casual hire at the Griffin Centre on Genge street. I’m sure you can find the contact details online.

have you thought of using a room in a library? I’m sure you can book works rooms in public libraries to use, and it would probs be really cheap…. maybe ring around and see?

did a bit of googling and found this on the ACT libraries site:

http://www.library.act.gov.au/community/rooms

although those rooms might be a bit too big? no ideas other than that, tho….

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