Recently, the National Club Association interviewed Ryan Wilson, CEO & Co-Founder of The Gathering Spot, an Atlanta private club that is rapidly gaining attention around the industry and country. The 28-year-old founded the club in 2015 with the goal to create a community for motivated professionals, entrepreneurs and creatives in an alternative environment to traditional private clubs and co-working spaces. Wilson will speak at the upcoming National Club Conference April 28-30 in Washington, D.C.
Wilson sees himself and the club as gamechangers. “We are disrupting the industry,” he said. This attitude comes from a healthy knowledge of today’s private club world. Before he founded The Gathering Spot, Wilson visited city clubs, but did not see the diversity in the club he desired and felt the clubs did not fit where he was in his life at the time.
“We are trying to target a different demographic that has not been in this space before.” But despite being characterized as a club for millennials, Wilson says that is not the case. The Gathering Spot members range from ages 23 to 87 and hail from a variety of industries including tech, entertainment, sports and other creative markets. As Wilson puts it, the club has “little bit of everybody,” akin to a college experience, and offers them resources to which they would not typically have access. “We’re a club that celebrates culture, and part of that is driven by the entertainment and sports community.”
The club hosts a dynamic slate of programs. Since its inception, The Gathering Spot has hosted more than 4,000 events, ranging from movie screenings and midnight brunches to conversations with U.S. senators. “We are pushing the envelope of what programming at a private membership club looks and feels like.”
The for-profit club has plans to expand to Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles. Based on membership surveys, the club sees a strong overlap in priorities and interests for its members in these cities. In its future Washington location, the club intends to focus on having a politically engaged membership and programming.
And despite the disruptor reputation, Wilson prioritizes the core club value of community building. “Club spaces change all the time, but the community is what’s special.”
Wilson will speak on Tuesday, April 30 at the National Club Conference. To learn more about him and the conference, please visit nationalclubconference.org.