Agenda

09:30 Registration and coffee

10:00 Welcome

10:20 Shift+Alt+Delete

It's not quite the reboot keystrokes, but something about the system of work and business needs to save it from the "blue screen of death".

Shift - our thinking and mental models of work to post-industrial and into a Regenerative Era mindset

Alt - for the alternatives already "lying around" that signal and symbolise a more humanistic, sustainable and viable way to "do" business; and

Delete - the lines of code that are holding us back via retrograde thinking, like the office water cooler as the only hub of social connectivity and creativity.

We know there's a better way. 

Perry Timms, author of The Energized Workplace: Designing Organizations Where People Flourish

11:00 The View from an Adjacent Window

Whether your "customer" is paid to come or "pays" to go to the office, the Pandora's Box of time and convenience is nearly impossible to close. As one of the early adopters of designing and facilitating co-working spaces, Steve shares his experiences where the hospitality model has helped reset office expectations.

Steve Pette, Founder and Co-founder Think Hearts & Minds/ Ormeau Labs

11:40 Coffee

12:10 The Pendulum Swing (or a Haynes manual for experimental design)
Let’s face it: designing workspaces isn’t easy—it’s usually a minefield of buzzwords, confusion, and expensive mistakes. Kursty shares the stories of near-misses, surprising fixes, and lessons learned the hard way that contributed to her and Neil Usher’s latest book – no drama, no fluff, just the stuff that helps deliver long-term outcomes. 

Kursty Groves, co-author of Workspace Made Easy

12:50 Lunch

14:00 Welcome back

14:10 Tell me, why do you need an office?
The average home supports the average knowledge worker better than the average office. So, why should employees come back to your office? No wonder they see the commute and the Pret coffee as a tax. The old model is broken. We have to find a new one.

Tim Oldman, Co-founder + Co-CEO Aéto

14:50 Reimagining Workspaces: The Future of the Office Post-Pandemic

Explore innovative strategies for creating flexible, hybrid work environments that foster collaboration and productivity in the post-pandemic era. Chris draws upon his extensive experience to give us an insight into how the evolution of work and the workplace could look.

Chris Kane, author of Where Is My Office?: The Post-Pandemic Edition

15:30 Coffee

16:00 Making Better Sense

Making Better Sense
It's easy to forget the hard-earned premium of trust and empowerment during the lockdown, but four years on, people are still nervous about what it means to make the best use of the office. Set against an empowered and informed workforce backdrop, it seems even harder to deliver change (cultural change) when people work from home and rarely meet in person. Some have given up and given in. Some are just waking up to the power of now.
Professor Eddie Obeng, Director of Learning, Pentacle The Virtual Business School

16:40 Chair’s closing remarks

17:00 Drinks reception

18:00 Conference close