Success for Smart Building Conference 2013

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Dexter House, London hosted over 140 delegates attending the Smart Building Conference 2013, an Infocomm - CEDIA joint venture tackling various topics concerning the application of automation technologies.

Smart Building ConferenceOpening proceedings and acting as MC was Channel Media Europe editor-in-chief Bob Snyder. Following were keynotes by energy industry blogger and consultant Dr Steven Fawkes and Jeremy Towler of the Building Services Research & Information Association (BSRIA), before talks from 20 speakers and plenary sessions divided between the residential (focusing on smart energy management) and commercial (technology trends) tracks.

Concluding the 12-hour day was Rick Holland of the Technology Strategy Board.

“As a distributor of home-automation and lighting-control products, the Smart Building Conference 2013 was the perfect platform for us,” AWE sales director Paul Mott says. “Energy saving was a key topic, so being able to demonstrate the capabilities of URC Total Control and Philips Dynalite lighting to key people was invaluable.”

Helping gauge conference success was an interactive voting system courtesy of technology partner IML. Before sessions kicked off, 32% of attendees rated their overall smart building knowledge as "good," 38% as "fair" and 12% as "poor." At the end of the day, the stats changed to 58% "good," 27% "fair" and 2% "poor."

When asked on whether they know the difference between "smart" and "green" buildings, 64% of attendees answered they did on the beginning of the day-- a figure that rose to 94% once the conference was over.

Asked on what's next, ISE managing director Mike Blackman tells "our focus now shifts to the next Smart Building Conference in Amsterdam on 3 February 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.”

Go Smart Building Conference 2013