Education Estates Conference 2020: The Virtual Experience

The new reality of the virtual attendance did nothing to dampen the experience as delegates, speakers and exhibitors experienced the new CV19 enforced platform.

I very much enjoyed chairing the MAT Transforming Energy Management session with Jonathan Coyles, Director of EO Consulting, John Kent, CEO of Zeco Energy, Rob Tozer MD, of 1st Planner and Martin Hair of CMAT.

Excellent combination of theory, practice and measurable success for trusts engaging these sector experts.

The Zoom Social is an excellent idea as a means to encourage audience participation and open up the debate for all comers to get involved in. I hosted the session on ‘Condition’ and we explored a range of issues pertaining to the importance of understanding what the trust requires as an output from flexible condition surveys and how the data will be used.
Better to focus on the right data and optimise its use than to collect too much and lose the important information.

Finally, I gave a short presentation on ‘Why CIF Bids Fail’ and left the floor open for an extended Q&A session.

The quality of the technical support was first class and whilst I do look forward to returning to a live venue next year, this experience will stand me in good stead for future presentations in the coming months.