Yesterday, I moderated a panel on ‘From Blueprint To Bottom Line: Unlocking Roi In Smart Buildings’ at WORKTECH‘s Smarter Technologies 25 Conference at WeWork Waterloo offices with the following participants:
As part of my new role at the Digital Buildings Council (DBC), I help organize panels for our members at events across the UK and Europe. I also share summaries written by our members and generated by AI tools. Additionally, I assist members in gaining visibility for their thought leadership related to the DBC’s key focus areas
A great example of connecting the dots like this can be found in the feature article by John Clar from One Sight Solutions, published in Smart Buildings Magazine. This article builds upon the insights shared during the “DBC Redefining Master Systems Integration” panel at the ISE Smart Buildings Summit 2025 in Barcelona, which I facilitated and where John participated. In the article, he discusses the key challenges, emerging trends, and actionable strategies that are shaping the future of Master Systems Integrations (MSIs). It offers a deeper exploration of the topics that resonated most with both the audience and the panelists.
Last year, I facilitated a roundtable discussion primarily with owners and operators, which I summarized for Smart Buildings Magazine (see here). This discussion and the outreach surrounding it significantly influenced the five other gatherings I curated throughout the year, as well as much of my writing on LinkedIn.
To kick off this year, I facilitated a roundtable on Smart Enablement with Aleksandra Dasala, the former head of SmartScore Research at WiredScore. We engaged with industry professionals who are directly involved in the design and deployment of digital buildings. During our discussion, we explored upcoming trends and the challenges faced in the smart enablement of these buildings. Aleksandra and I reported on the findings of the day for Smart Buildings Magazine in our article, “What’s Smarter Now in Design and Deployment for Digital Buildings?” In this piece, you can read about how participants perceive value in smaller, focused, yet more representative agile groups collaborating effectively to fill gaps in existing frameworks.
As mentioned earlier this week on LinkedIn, we are probably too far into January now to be saying Happy New Year and sorry for silence over last few weeks, but I have been busy behind the scenes looking at what is worth exploring this year. Last year, I was mostly focused on Smart Building Retrofit and you can see write-ups from 3 of the 6 events I curated last year over on Smart Buildings Mag (including one at their Smart Buildings Show). This post explains some of what as been going on behind the scenes and what’s coming next.
As mentioned in an earlier post, the Arcadis team gave a presentation on the increasing number of physical and digital accreditation schemes for buildings at the Smart Buildings Show in 2021. I was hoping to run another panel at a smart building conference early next year possibly connected to this, but sadly that is not going to happen now. And, so, instead I decided to share it on LinkedIn instead (see here). Maybe, this could be the basis for an article without having to put on a panel.
Really enjoyed this article by author and workplace strategy consultant Corinne Murray. I was reminded by something Sandra Gritti at employee engagement specialists Leesman said about their ongoing research showing that 60% of employees rate the work experience of their homes higher than their offices. If I heard that correctly, it could in effect point to a 60% glut of office space. That sounds like ‘ahelluvalotta’ square meterage/footage.
Another post that is not really about PoE, but a reflection on how prompting a conversation about it might have provided a moment of clarity about role I could play having done so.
I recently prompted a conversation about smart building technology deployment strategies that at times appeared to prompt a “Oh No It Isn’t – Oh Yes It Is” pantomime like back and forth, or at least on LinkedIn. That totally missed the point of my original post (see here and here) and ended up with me playing both agony aunt and punchbag to different stakeholders involved during facilitating the exchange (I hope among playing other more productive roles). This one is really a reflection on one way I go about looking at what is going on in the smart buildings technology space with this business model environment lens from the folks at lean startup specialists Strategyzer (see more in it here). As well as what I am seeing by using it, and how that has all the makings of an interesting panel discussion.
This is another bookmark post, this time for my round-up in Smart Building Magazine (SBM) of the Why is Retrofit Not Taken More Seriously in the Climate Change Conversation? panel I curated and moderated at their Smart Buildings Show last month. It is third round-up in what could be seen as series on SBM about events I curated this year (see here). Rather than repeat the talking points from the previous ones I have tried to highlight those I think worth exploring further. Hopefully more news on that soon, probably in the New Year now, but in the meantime you can read the article on SBM here and the announcement on LinkedIn here that links to the participants.
This blog is a record of my ongoing engagement activities that now form part of my role as the Executive Officer of the Digital Buildings Council (DBC), a not-for-profit industry group that was launched in 2024 to enhance best practice and drive the adoption of digital buildings. Find out more about me below.
I’m an author and market engagement specialist who helps joins the dots between research, innovation, go-to-market activation and business transformation around 3 core activities: content, connections and conversations.
I have been conceiving and running large-scale stakeholder engagement programmes in various sectors for over 2 decades. The latest forms part of my new role as the Executive Officer of the Digital Buildings Council (DBC), a not-for-profit industry group that was launched in 2024 to enhance best practice and drive the adoption of digital buildings. Connect with me on LinkedIn or get in touch there.