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Smart Building Conference 2013 Draws Sellout London Crowd

smart-buildingMore than 140 delegates packed into London’s Dexter House last week to attend the Smart Building Conference 2013 — a joint venture of InfoComm International and CEDIA.

Attendees were treated to insights from some 20 speakers, with separate tracks dedicated to the commercial and residential building markets book-ended by plenary sessions open and relevant to all. In the morning, the residential track focused on smart energy management while the commercial track examined technology trends. These roles were reversed in the afternoon, giving delegates another level of session choice.

Bob Snyder, editor-in-chief of Channel Media Europe (including rAVe EUROPE) and the Conference’s MC for the day, began proceedings by introducing the event’s two keynote speakers: energy-industry blogger and consultant Dr. Steven Fawkes and Jeremy Towler of the Building Services Research & Information Association (BSRIA).

The conference then divided into its parallel residential and commercial tracks, hosted by CEDIA’s Matt Dodd and InfoComm’s Allen Weidman. To conclude, all delegates attended a presentation by Rick Holland of the Technology Strategy Board on how businesses can apply for a share of £4million in funding being made available by the UK government to collaborative R&D into the energy management of buildings.

With the help of an interactive voting system supplied by technology partner IML, the Conference organizers were able to obtain an immediate indication of the program’s value to delegates.

When asked to rate their overall knowledge of smart building before the sessions began, 32 percent of delegates indicated their knowledge was ‘Good’, 38 percent said it was ‘Fair’ and 12 percent admitted it was ‘Poor’. When the same vote was taken at the end of the day, the ‘Good’ figure had risen to 58 percent, while ‘Fair’ had dropped to 27 percent and the ‘Poor’ number was just 2 percent.

When asked if they knew the difference between a ‘smart building’ and a ‘green building,’ 94 percent of delegates responded that they did at the end of the day. Before the program commenced, the figure was 64 percent.

Summing up the day, Mike Blackman, managing director, Integrated Systems Events, said, “We have had a fantastic day of discussion, networking and product demonstration here in London, and fulfilled our goal of creating a landmark event in the development of the smart-building industry in the UK.

“Our focus now shifts to the next Smart Building Conference in Amsterdam on Mon., Feb. 3 2014 — the eve of the next ISE show. There we will take some of the same themes that were explored in London and give them a European dimension, with the objective of further developing the AV industry’s role in making buildings smarter.”

More information about the Amsterdam event will be available shortly here.

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