Several of the team from AluK attended the industry Glazing Summit yesterday held at the Edgbaston Cricket Ground in Birmingham.
Organised by Purplex and Insight Data, it was another chance for the industry to get together and discuss the issues affecting us all in the lead up to Brexit, and to get some clarity from experts on the market and the economy.
There was a sell out audience of 300, and the consensus from our team and from many of the people we spoke to was that it was a step up from the first event last year, with more interesting debates and more relevant presentations.
What I think most of us took away from yesterday was the amount of change which is already happening in the industry – in relation to regulation, new technology and the green agenda and how we can prepare for even more change which lies ahead.
Everything from sustainability to smart tech was debated by representatives from across the industry, with live questions being posted from the audience via the interactive Slido app. This added a whole new dimension to the event – even though some of the more contentious questions and comments clearly didn’t make it past the moderators!
The real highlights for us though were the keynote presentations from Neil Parker of NatWest markets on Navigating the Brexit crisis and from motivational speaker and author of ‘Polar Bear Pirates’ Adrian Webster on Building a World Class business. These were arguably worth the ticket price alone.
They announced yesterday that the Glazing Summit is going to be an annual fixture in the glazing industry calendar from now on, and from what we saw this year, it’s a very welcome addition.
