Why industry events matter

CRN consulting editor Sara Yirrell explains why it is so important to be seen out and about

I had the pleasure of attending and being involved with two back-to-back events last week and I’m still buzzing from the experience.

The first was Exertis’ diversity-focused event entitled Past, Present and Future: LGBTQIA+ Inclusion in Tech.

During the event, we heard from Erica Rose, founder of Unleashed International, who gave us a history of LGBTQIA+ advancements and developments dating back to the Greek and Roman Empires, to the present day. There is still a lot of work to be done.

We also saw a powerful keynote from former X-factor contestant Dylan Holloway who gave a passionate keynote about his transition, and who stressed the importance of always being your true self and accepting others for who they are.

There was also a discussion session where attendees were invited to share their own experiences, and thoughts about where the industry needs to be, and the event was rounded off with a panel discussion on how we can all help to make our industry more inclusive and supportive.

I am constantly learning at these type of events, and the networking element is invaluable, so I am proud to call myself an ally. I still have a lot to learn, but without these type of events – both in person and virtual – the opportunity is far more limited. There is still a lot of prejudice towards the LGBTQIA+ community, particularly with what is going on over in the US (enough said), and it is only by talking to, listening to and actually meeting people who are living the experience, can we truly start to understand, accept and take the necessary action.

My second event was the CRN Sustainability in Tech Summit and the Sustainability in Tech Awards at the BAFTA building in London.

We have been working on this event for many months, and my thanks go out to all the speakers, sponsors, awards judges, and the Advisory Board for their constant and unwavering support and help during that time. Without them the event would not have been the success it was.

There was a definite buzz at the event, and it was encouraging to see so many people networking and making new contacts as a result. The emphasis this year was to talk about not only the impact our industry is having on the environment and what we should be doing to reverse the damage, but also about the commercial opportunities around sustainability and how it really is something that channel firms can get behind and boost their bottom line.

I look forward to seeing the results of some of the partnerships that I’m sure were formed during the day.

Vendors and distributors are offering a range of margin-rich services and initiatives that they want their channel partners to get involved with, and during the day we heard from Lenovo, HP and Westcoast about some of those initiatives.

The day started with a powerful keynote from Nathanial Comer from Sunscreen IT about how the IT industry needs to lead the way on sustainability, and he shared some harrowing images and stats on the impact our ‘recycling’ efforts are having on African countries where a lot of e-waste has ended up over the years. In short, we need to do better.

We also heard about the PC refresh cycle during our first panel discussion featuring Steve Finnegan, managing director of Arete Zero Carbon, Thomas Mardahl, founder of Rejoose, Howard Davies, co-founder and CEO of Context, and Dominique Deklerck from GDTC. The panel discussed how sustainability data is key to riding the refresh wave and ensuring emissions targets are hit. It is an issue that will affect every single channel company in the coming years.

Jigsaw24 founder Roger Whittle gave an action-packed keynote about why we should be optimistic over sustainability, despite the obvious challenges we are facing, and our second panel, led by CRN deputy editor Kelsey Rees, featured Nigel Pask head of sustainability at Rigby Group, Sheryl Moore, director of sustainability at Converge Technology Solutions, and Sam Walby, head of sustainability and DEI at RM Plc. Their topic of conversation was all about the ‘S’ part of ESG and how social responsibility is just as important as environmental responsibility.

Clare Parry Jones, sales enablement director Europe at Computacenter then talked about ‘greenhushing’ and how organisations are downplaying their sustainability messaging.

Our final panel covered AI and the environmental cost of the technology, discussed by Lewis Richards, Sustainability Lead at Microsoft, Virginie Le Barbu, global sustainability director, International Markets, at Lenovo, and Rich Kenny, managing director at Interact. It was an encouraging discussion, with a key message being that we need to focus on using AI correctly both as individuals and as businesses.

The event also had more light-hearted moments, with a session from Jon Long, a stand up and musical comedian – very amusing!! And Softcat brought out the competitive side in attendees with their Softcat Sustainability in Tech Challenge. I came nowhere near the top three, who won some very desirable (circular) prizes. But I was proud to be in 58th place out of over 100!! I never thought I’d say that.

The Summit was rounded off with a keynote from BBC journalist Lucy Siegle who gave an interesting talk about how important corporate sustainability really is, sharing some scary slides about the scale of global warming and the impact we are having on the Earth.

See CRN’s news roundup of the event here.

Following a short break, the Sustainability in Tech Awards were presented – congratulations go to all our winners and commendeds. See the full list here.

But that brings me back to my point about face-to-face events. Not only are they packed with interesting keynotes that give food for thought, but they genuinely can help spark ideas that can generate new business and partnerships, or help create a better, safer and cleaner environment for people to work in.

The channel is a people-led industry, and while I know we all have challenges to deal with, getting out the office and attending events, or even signing onto a virtual event, is a great way to not only broaden the mind and gain new perspectives, but also to hear from your partners and peers about how they are dealing with the same challenges, and find ways of working together for a better future.

See you at the next one!