Why Construction News Summit 2017 was a success

For the last five years, the Construction News Summit has been connecting main contractors and industry leaders with major clients and governments in order to raise construction up the political agenda. It has been playing a huge part in making a better and brighter future for construction.
It provides access to various influential players in the industry and as technology has been progressing forward, it has provided a medium for many to share new ways of improving the future. And it has proven itself to be an invaluable medium once again!
This year the event was held in London with more than 350 attendees, 95+ speakers and a broad range of topics focusing on the future of construction. GenieBelt took part in this event and we were very pleased with the way everything was organized.
Our GenieBelt team for the event consisted of Ulrik Branner, Dan Gallen, Dominic Rebello, Mariana Napuri, Daniel Jacobsen and Nicholas Klokholm. We got the chance to chat with them about the event and decided to share our thoughts and impressions with you!

General impressions

Organized, Professional, Well planned – were the main buzz words around the summit. Everyone enjoyed themselves immensely and thought that everything was in order from start to finish. The setting at Hilton made the entire experience very glamorous. The location was also very convenient for people to reach.
As one of the silver sponsors of the event, GenieBelt had much more interaction with the CN Summit event management team. We were assisted throughout and every question was quickly answered by Megan Pringle. She was there for us and assisted us with everything.

“The event was much better than I expected. A very professional output.” said Dominic Rebello

Participants and speakers

The attendees and participants were a collection of very influential and knowledgeable people from the industry. People who have been in construction for decades and have seen its progress or lack of, for years now. Many others like the GenieBelt team appreciated the chance to hear thought leaders such as Mark Farmer, Mark Carne and Gregor Craig.
Our CEO, Ulrik Branner was also one of the speakers and talked about the importance of efficiency, transparency and accountability in construction. There was a lot of discussion regarding the current issues in construction and we got the chance to hear different views and solutions to optimizing the industry.

“The audience included very powerful and professional people who have been in the industry for a very long time.” said Dominic Rebello

Key topics of discussion

The main topics in the debate were around infrastructure, economy and the various challenges the industry is facing at the moment. This most amazing thing was that the CN Summit focused on the reality of construction; the actual issues that have been going on and have not been solved. The thought leaders talked about the effect of Brexit on the economy and the industry.
The event didn’t focus on the glamour of technology such as Virtual Reality and Artificial Reality as much as trying to help players and advice seekers with the current resources that the industry can utilize.

The main focus was on the construction industry of United Kingdom, so it was a good place to hear about the problems that the country is facing with regards to construction. There was also discussion regarding the use of data and its benefits to the industry.

“The main topics focused on the skills of the UK, planning for the future and what we need to do immediately. It’s about acting now – not just talking about it.” said Dominic Rebello

GenieBelt for Construction

The discussion revolved around change and how can the industry players do things better. We felt that everyone is driving for the exact same purpose – bring about change to the industry. Key issues for everyone there were:

• Need for better data management
• Need more transparency
• Need accountability for our actions
• Cannot continue to operate with the way things are now

The GenieBelt team was pleased to see that we are on the right track. We are here to make all their problems go away. This is the part that GenieBelt is playing to help the industry.

Takeaways from the summit

High quality events such as the CN Summit play a vital role in bringing change. It’s true that it’s not enough to just talk but knowledge sharing can be a powerful thing. When shared with the right people, it can lead to a revolution. It helps to see that the industry leaders share our vision and understand the imminent need for change in the building sector.
It is clear that a new digitised era is emerging. Those of us who want to bring that change, need to be at events such as CN Summit and let our voice be heard. Through the summit we were able to inform industry leaders that we are here to solve their problems.

Our feedback to the CN Summit team

During the event, CN Summit also organized a 1-2-1 meeting programme. It was for the sponsors to get a chance to meet key leaders for a 10 to 20 minute chat. The programme was organized by requesting meetings and waiting for the other party to either accept or reject it.
We thought that it was a very good way to get in touch with people and were pleased with the effort CN Summit put in for the sponsors. It was an interesting initiative and we strongly believe that it will be even better next year.
All in all, it was a great event, as we got more than 8 hours of networking done. We were very pleased with the whole experience and would love to see what Construction News does in 2018.
Featured Image source: https://summit.constructionnews.co.uk/