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Our first event in December saw The Future Economy Network discuss “Business Reimagined: Sustainability Insights from Covid19”, a part two session from an initial discussion back in May. The event was attended by a wide range of attentive early-risers, and attendees enjoyed some pre-seminar networking in small break out groups before the event began.
Katherine Piper, Director of The Future Economy Network, welcomed attendees, highlighting the benefits of joining the Network and also sharing updates about The Future Economy Network’s Carbon Neutral Hub in Bristol, Future Leap. Katherine also briefly ran through the plans for The Festival of Sustainable Business.
Marta Villar, Finance Controller at Digital Detox, spoke about how the 'new normality' we're faced with has forced us to change our needs and the way we interact with our team, client and suppliers. This directly and indirectly affects the planet, and the technology we develop for our clients. Digital Detox, a humanity-led digital agency, operates under the three pillars of people, the planet and technology, and aim to have those balanced. In this session Marta explored the new ideas based on those pillars, including the good, the great, and the not so good, and what they have learnt so far.
Caroline Macdonald, CEO at OggaDoon, spoke on Crisis PR. It’s easy to understand that this year has brought a crisis for many businesses. However, businesses could suffer a crisis at any time irrespective of a global issue. You can have a disgruntled customer taking to social to denounce your brand, you can be accused of greenwash, you may have a significant health and safety issue, you may need to do a product recall, you may not be able to deliver. Whatever the root cause, Caroline emphasized that your brand and business does not have to suffer. She ran through some simple actions businesses can do to preserve and grow off the back of it.
Paul Jones and Hellen Hettinga at Orchard House spoke on learning systemic sustainability through turbulence. The world is increasingly complex and uncertain. Learning as fast as events around us – ideally faster – is a competitive advantage and a condition to thrive mutually. It is impossible to do this alone and experts do not exist to provide all the answers. The challenges are too interconnected and shifting too quickly for one leader’s brain to solve it alone. In this session Paul and Hellen shared five perspectives on how you can develop and expand your ecosystem awareness. With metaphors from the Orchard House venue, farm and ecosystems they guided participants to zoom into their own ecosystems and zoom out to notice the bigger picture and connections.
During all discussions, the audience were invited to ask questions and take part in the conversation throughout. Multiple attendees made use of the 60 second pitch opportunity, and everyone was then able to network in different groups using facilitated break out rooms, before the event finished. A huge thank you to the speakers and attendees of this event, without which our events calendar would not be possible.
