Welcome back to The Measure Monthly!

It’s been a very busy couple of weeks events-wise, so we thought we’d use this month’s newsletter to share some of our team’s key takeaways.

Keep reading for:

💭 Thoughts on Smart Spaces Symposium – Charlotte Laing, our CMO (who was just listed as one of Pavilion’s top CMOs to watch in 2024!)

💚 Insights from Earthfest – Caitlin Rozario, our Head of Brand and Culture

🚀 Learnings from Tridium’s Niagara Summit – James Palmer, our Head of Energy and Building Sustainability

Discovering the biggest challenges faced by workplace leaders

Charlotte Laing

I know that a lot of people think that in-person events can be a slight waste of time. And I completely agree with that in some cases – at large events you can end up wandering around aimlessly or spending months planning a booth in return for a few tenuous ‘leads’.

However, this month we hosted the Smart Spaces Symposium along with our partners at Accenture, ServiceNow and IAdea, and I have to say that both days exceeded all my expectations. It really goes to show that if you get the right people in the room, you can have genuinely valuable conversations about working together to drive change.

There were so many interesting takeaways, but my top three would have to be:

🏙️ The office should be a magnet not a mandate

☝️ We have to start upskilling workplace teams to use the data and technology available to them

📣 Communication and change management are absolutely vital in technology implementation 

A huge thank you to everyone who attended the event and took part in the discussions. I’ve definitely come away with a renewed sense of optimism for the workplace technology market.

Exploring how we can bring culture and sustainability together

Caitlin Rozario

When I was asked to host two sessions at Earthfest, I knew they would be interesting as soon as I saw the guests I’d be chatting with.

First up was Beccy Speight, the CEO of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB). 

Beccy talked about the projects they are working on right now to reverse the damage that’s been done to nature and wildlife in the UK. She also gave her thoughts on how companies can get involved with saving our wildlife, by donating, volunteering and spreading awareness. 

One great point she made was that there’s so much nature right under our noses, so it’s easy to get started with the spaces closest to us – whether that’s your own garden or a local park.

Next up, I hosted a panel discussion on sustainable employee benefits, with the wonderful Jamie Richards, Emilie Stephenson, and Sarah Howden. 

It was really interesting to explore how we can bring culture and sustainability together, giving employees access to benefits that have a real impact. A key theme that emerged across all the guests was the importance of communication, both internal and external, to demonstrate the value of the initiatives that are going on.

A massive thank you to everyone involved in organizing the event. I loved hosting the panels and I’m looking forward to doing more of the same in the future!

Coming together to make buildings more efficient 

James Palmer

Earlier this month, I headed to California for Tridium’s Niagara Summit. 

It was an amazing few days, with informative main talks and breakout sessions. I learnt a lot and met some amazing people – many of whom will become great partners for Metrikus.

I was also invited to do a session on how we can use live occupancy data to optimise BMS control. 

My main message was that our buildings should be responding to actual usage. So much energy is wasted in spaces that are completely unoccupied right now. But once you have the right data it’s actually pretty easy to make operational changes to reduce both energy consumption and costs.

It was great to have so many questions at the end of my talk, with people genuinely interested in what I’d spoken about. I can tell we’ve got an exciting few months ahead of us so watch this space.

As many of you will have experienced, most business trips are fly-work-fly, so it was great to be able to arrive a day early and have the Sunday to myself. I managed to fulfil my lifelong dream of visiting the Joshua Tree National Park. It was everything I hoped it would be and more!