MADFlix
Welcome to MADFlix, the video content library for all Make a Difference Events.
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MADFlix Channels
Make A Difference Digital Asia 2020
11 November 2020
In a fast-changing world, Make A Difference Asia is the conference and exhibition that equips employers with the region-specific insights, strategy and contacts they need to stay ahead - by supporting the wellbeing of their workforce.
Asia is heating up as a marketplace. The war for talent is also intensifying. Beyond the basics of pay and benefits, staff mental health and wellbeing is increasingly on the C-suite agenda. Make A Difference Asia will explore the factors that affect an individual's wellbeing and the impact this has on productivity, engagement and performance. Through concrete case studies we’ll also highlight how leaders are underpinning sustainable business by creating a culture where there is trust and respect.
Whether you’re just getting started or you’re moving to the next level of implementation, join business leaders from Asia and beyond - for collaboration, inspiration and to find the right solutions for wellbeing based on workplace culture.
Wellbeing starts from the top of an organisation - and the COVID-19 pandemic has made it more relevant than ever.

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Make A Difference Digital US Summit in Association with Mind Share Partners
15 October 2020
2020 is witnessing workplaces changing at an unprecedented pace. Make a Difference Digital Summit US in association with Mind Share Partners is North America’s premier digital conference and exhibition addressing workplace culture, mental health and wellbeing. Getting to the heart of the challenges our workplaces are facing with the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, we’ll bring together leading employers and experts to equip attendees with insights and solutions to meet fast-evolving needs of the modern organization.
One thing is sure - it has never been clearer how critical employee mental health and wellbeing are to the livelihood of businesses.
The core focus will be on supporting employee mental health through COVID-19, stigma, prevention, training managers, addressing access to mental healthcare, effective leadership through change and creating diverse, inclusive cultures that drive performance, whilst looking after human capital. Make a Difference will blend best-practice learning from the brightest minds with the most progressive solutions influencing systemic, positive change in mental, physical, financial and social wellbeing.
Whether you’re just getting started with addressing workplace wellbeing for your staff or you’re moving to the next level of implementation of your strategy, from C-suite, talent executives, managers to next-generation leadership teams, join 1000+ like-minded professionals from across the continent and beyond for collaboration, inspiration and to find the right answers for your organization – now, and for the future.

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Make a Difference US in association with Mind Share Partners – Digital Agenda
(6.30am PDT)
(1hr40 mins)
(8.00-8:05am PDT)
Opening Intro to the day & explanation of how the sessions will work
Morning Host: Sheila Hamilton, CEO, Beyond Well Solutions(8.05-8.10am PDT)

(8.10-8.15am PDT)
Keynote Introduction
Dr Nick Taylor, Co-Founder and CEO, Unmind
(8.15-8.55am PDT)
Keynote #1 - Direct From the C-Suite: How to Lead an Organization During a Time of Uncertainty
Discover how by prioritizing workforce mental health and wellbeing, organizations are laying solid foundations for supporting staff through the ongoing pandemic of COVID-19, the national conversation about racism, remote work, and unexpected challenges to come.
Panel Host: Kelly Greenwood, Founder & CEO, Mind Share Partners
Panel includes: Guru Gowrappan, CEO, Verizon Media
Mike Malloy, Chief Amazement Officer, Rocket Mortgage
(08.55-9.05am PDT)
(9.05-9.10am PDT)
Keynote Introduction
Garen Staglin, Chairman and Founder, One Mind
(9.10-9.30am PDT)
Keynote #2 - Mental Health and Wellbeing are Everybody's Business in 2020
Two of America’s most influential voices advocating for improving mental health across our country today will address the rising critical importance of companies supporting mental health of staff along with common challenges they face, the impacts of COVID-19, the important role policy plays and key ways employers can start taking action to improve mental health of their workers.
Hosted by: Marjorie Morrison, President and Chief Executive Officer, Psych Hub
In conversation:
Former U.S. Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy, Founder, The Kennedy Forum
Paul Gionfriddo, President & CEO, Mental Health America

(9.30-9.40am PDT)
12.40-1.30pm EST
(9.40-10.30am PDT)
The Think Tank runs for 1 hour 12.30-1.30pm EST / 9.30-10.30am PDT
The ROI, VOI, and Moral Imperative of Mental Wellbeing
The Think Tank is "by invitation only" for C-Suite executives, keynote speakers & senior decision makers.
It will encourage a lively discussion with leading experts on the topics of return on investment and value on investment regarding mental wellbeing support for staff. It will provide an opportunity for a high-level, honest conversation on the ways the business case has shifted in 2020 and about how we can turn the COVID-19 crisis into an opportunity to build lasting relationships with employees as a moral imperative.
Chaired by: Professor Dame Carol Black DBE, Expert Adviser on Health and Work to NHS Improvement and Public Health England and Chair, Ageing Better
Hosted by: Jim Purcell, Founder, Returns on Wellbeing Institute
Dr Ron Goetzel, Senior Scientist, John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and VP of Consulting and Applied Research, IBM Watson Health
(9.40-10.20am PDT)
Track Moderator:
Natasha Krol, Head of Client Services & Principal, Mind Share Partners
Track Moderator
Ian Shea, Founder & CEO, I M Human
Track Moderator:
Solome Tibebu, Founder & Host, Cephalo Health
(10.20-10.25am PDT)

Introduction to the Afternoon Track sessions by the Track Moderator
(10.30-11.10am PDT)
Dismantling Stigma
Mental health benefits are available when employees seek support, but where does that leave the 8 in 10 employees that don’t get treatment because of fear and shame? Learn how companies are successfully creating a company culture that proactively eliminates stigma. And why having authentic senior-level support is critical in creating sustained impact.
Panel Host: Morra Aarons-Mele, Harvard Business Review Podcast Host, The Anxious Achiever
Panel includes: Deborah Olson, Principal Benefits Manager & Mental Health Champion, Genentech/Roche
Danielle R. Shanes, Head of Benefits and Wellbeing, National Basketball Association (NBA)
Clare Miller, Life@ Mental Health Program Manager, Facebook
Shanna B. Tiayon, PhD, Founder and 'The Wellbeing Dr.', Wellbeing Works, LLC
Responding to the Impact of COVID-19
From increasing support for financial wellbeing and agile working to minimizing health and safety risk through workplace design, learn why preparing now for long-term impacts on employee mental health and wellbeing is critical. Explore the strategies of leading employers, the impact of their proactive efforts, and navigating employer/employee responsibility for wellbeing in these evolving times.
Panel Host: Dr Mike O'Neill, CEO and Founder, HumanSpace
Panel includes: Jessica DiVento, PsyD, YouTube Chief Mental Health Advisor, Google
Dr Charles Lattarulo, Director of Behavioral Health, Healthy Minds, American Express
Charles Bacon III, Chairman and CEO, Limbach Holdings, Inc.
Nancy Chahwan, Chief Human Resources Officer, Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat
Employee-Led Initiatives: From ERGs to Peer Listening
Learn about the unique benefits of employee-driven initiatives--such as employee resource groups, mental health ambassadors, and peer listening programs. Understand the essential ingredients to ensuring their success, and why these grassroots efforts are well-poised to tackle stigma and create sustainable cultures of support for employee mental health and wellbeing.
Panel host: Jen Porter, COO and Principal, Mind Share Partners
Panel includes: Meredith Arthur, Content Lead, Pinterest
Hyung-Do (HD) Kim, PhD, Strategist and Mental Health Champion, Genentech, A Member of the Roche Group
Kate Busby, Senior Marketing Manager, Best Buy Corporation
(11.10-11.20am PDT)
(11.20am-11.40am PDT)
(11.40am – 12:20pm PDT)
The Culture Change That Needs to Happen
Workplace culture underpins so much: health, happiness, productivity, customer service, innovation, turnover. We’re shifting to a ‘new normal’ in workplace culture, including a significantly higher number of remote workers for the foreseeable future. These case studies highlight step by step how major employers have transformed their workplace cultures to support employee mental health and wellbeing, including measurement and lessons learned along the way.
Panel Host: Adam Bryant, Managing Director, Merryck & Co.
Panel includes: Stacey Sprenkel, Partner, Morrison & Foerster LLP
Travis D. Hahler, Global Change and Transformation Lead, Google
Craig Kramer, Mental Health Ambassador, Johnson & Johnson
DeAnne Aussem, Leadership Development & Wellbeing Leader, PwC US & MX
The Case for Training People Managers & the Most Effective Approaches
Learn why properly training people managers, supporting them in modelling best practices and setting up onboarding processes which support mental health will be one of your best wellbeing investments through the COVID-19 crisis and beyond. Understand the essential components of what makes for an impactful manager training.
Panel Host: Darcy Gruttadaro,J.D., Director, Center for Workplace Mental Health, APAF
Panel includes:
Ollie Malone, Ph.D., VP Human Resources, DFW International Airport
Kathy Clemons, Global Head of Leadership & Manager Development, BlackRock
Anna Binder, Head of People, Asana
Adrienne Sanders, Head of Learning & Development, Mind
How Millennial & Gen Z Leaders Are Disrupting & Evolving How Mental Health & DEI Are Addressed in Workplaces
Millennials make up 50% of the current workforce and Gen Z is starting to enter the workforce. Both generations of workers are changing the way that people and organizations think about mental health. Learn how millennial and Gen Z leaders are disrupting and evolving the way mental health and wellbeing is approached in workplaces and across society and learn how they’re promoting and building inclusive cultures for diverse workforces.
Panel Host: Louis Gagnon, CEO, Total Brain
Panel includes:
Bhavik Shah, UK Mental Health Lead / Sr. Consultant, Capco
Ananya Jain, Founder, FullCircle LLC
Pedro Anderson, Founder and COO, Winding Tree
(12.20-12.30 PDT)
EST (12.30-1.00pm PDT)
(1.00-1.40pm PDT)
Keynote #3 The Intersection of Mental Health and DEI in Today’s Workplace
Mental health is the next frontier of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Explore how mental health experiences differ across demographic groups--from BIPOC to LGBTQ communities and beyond--and how mental health is a new DEI category in and of itself. Hear personal stories and learn how to support the intersections of mental health and DEI as part of your people strategy, creating a truly inclusive experience for all employees.
Panel Host: Solome Tibebu, Founder & Host, Cephalo Health
Panel Includes: Kevin Dedner, CEO & Founder, Hurdle
Robert Gill, HR Business Partner, Square
Pauline Miller, Head of Talent Development and Inclusion, Lloyd's
Rachel Parott, Diversity and Inclusion Manager, New Relic, Inc.
(1.40-1.50pm PDT)
(1.50 - 2.00pm PDT)
Kelly Greenwood, Founder & CEO, Mind Share Partners
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MAD World DIGITAL Summit
Thursday 8 October 2020
The first half of 2020 will go down in history as one of the most tumultuous times in living memory. As we navigate our way to a new normal, in a world turned upside down by the global coronavirus pandemic, one thing is certain: the need to address workplace culture, mental health and wellbeing has never been clearer.
"Putting pandemic recovery plans in place, business leaders are in a unique position to drive systemic change, redefine workplace culture and proactively adopt preventative approaches that support mental health and wellbeing. Some are ahead and have seen the benefits throughout the pandemic. However, many others are struggling to develop and implement inclusive programmes that will have a sustainable impact across their organisation".
Claire Farrow, Partner & Global Director of Content, Mad World & Make A Difference
MAD World stands for Make A Difference. Now in its third year the MAD World Summit is the flagship of our global series of go-to solutions-focused events dedicated to accelerating the shift from stigma to solutions, turning talk into action and moving workplace mental health and wellbeing mainstream.

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How to Lead, Motivate & Energize Your Team: A Practical Guide with Innerfit & Discovery Communications
How do you lead, motivate and energise your team through constant change? This is a marathon, not a sprint. To motivate and energise a team, you must first energise and motivate yourself. In this interactive session, you will reflect on the pressures that can come with leading a team and the importance of ‘putting your own oxygen mask on first’. Learn about how to create a culture of wellbeing and trust, and address the main motivation challenges’ you and your colleagues may face through times of change.
Chris Pinner, Founder, Innerfit, Soraia Cerqueira, L&D Manager, Discovery Inc and Astrid Maurin, Manager – Lifeworks & Inclusion, Discovery Inc


Best Practice in Financial Wellbeing: Supporting Employees' Financial Resilience
The global Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for employees to have financial resilience. But how should employers approach educating their workforce on such a deeply personal topic?
By promoting positive money conversations and assisting employees to take a more informed approach with financial decisions, we can make a real impact on employees’ lives.
Alongside this, by delivering a bespoke, relevant support structure underpinned with education, employers can also have a positive effect on their bottom line and people statistics.
Challenging the status quo and drawing on personal experience, this workshop will help organisations think differently about their current financial wellbeing offering.
Hannah-Rebecca Findlay, Operations Manager, Morrinson Wealth Wellbeing
How to Lead, Motivate & Energize Your Team: A Practical Guide with Innerfit & Discovery Communications
Covid-19 has impacted every aspect of our lives - both personally and professionally. Whilst an immediate risk to our physical health the impact on our mental health cannot be underestimated. As we emerge from the pandemic and employers look at how to set up or step up their workplace wellbeing programmes, we can learn from a new appreciation that there are so many diverse factors that influence our mental wellbeing, and a strategy for the future needs to be conscious of them all. Find out how a range of progressive employers are applying a whole-person, whole-organisation approach to proactively support colleagues thrive in a post-Covid-19 world.
Dr Nick Taylor, Co-Founder and CEO, Unmind
Dr Kate Daley, Clinical Psychologist, Unmind
Dr Heather Bolton, Head of Psychology, Unmind

Stronger together: collaborating to make a real difference to workplace mental health and wellbeing
Employers are doing great work to raise awareness of mental health and create cultures of care. But there's an elephant in the room. What if the ways we are working, and our relationships with clients, are causing unnecessary stress? Too often wellbeing is forgotten in pursuit of getting the work done, whatever the impact on our people and the effectiveness of their work. With concrete examples, from both the client and supplier's perspective, this workshop will outline how to create a dynamic between both parties fostering both healthier and more productive ways of working.
Richard Martin, director of workplace consultancy, byrne dean
Engaging even the hardest to reach with mental, physical, financial and social wellbeing in a COVID-19 era
As the pandemic unfolds, it's more important than ever that employers take authentic and sustainable action to help their people stay connected and motivated to take care of themselves. But traditional wellbeing initiatives linked to benefits often fail to generate engagement beyond the initial launch. Find out how to meet your responsibility to support mental health and wellbeing by building on grassroots momentum, cutting through the noise and creating workplace wellbeing programmes that are relevant to individuals.
Wolfgang Seidl, Partner, Leader of Workplace Health Consulting UK and Europe, Mercer Marsh Benefits
Nick McClelland, Partner, UK Growth Leader, Mercer Marsh Benefits


Gold Pass attendees access the Backstage Lounge to build your network and share experiences with like-minded employers from different sectors, hosted by our dynamic Advisory Board members focused on a wide-range of employers' key issues.
Discussions will focus around:
- Maximise your mental health and wellbeing budget
- Support wellbeing in the new hybrid world of work
- Select the right financial wellbeing programme for your workplace
- Burnout is about your workplace, not your people
- Building and maintaining engagement with wellbeing programmes
- What Covid-19 means for psychological safety
- The evolving role of the manager: what skills do they need to support wellbeing?
- Create an effective peer support network
- Implement inclusive mental health programmes that meet individual needs
- Assessing the impact of wellbeing programmes
- Getting and maintaining boardroom buy-in
- What next for occupational health?
- TechTalking: finding the right mental health and wellbeing solution for your organisation
- Reinventing rewards and benefits around wellbeing
- Covid-19: the impact of death, bereavement and grief
Opening – welcome, introduction, and explanation of how the sessions will work and benchmark pulse poll #1
Emma Walden, MAD World Host

Positivity Boost: kick-start the day with some positive psychology

Keynote 1: #BuildBackBetter
There has never been a more important time to build back better when it comes to supporting employee mental health and wellbeing. Setting the scene for the day, this keynote will explore how employers need to respond through the ongoing challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic to build inclusive teams and cultures that drive performance and human thriving in readiness for the future world of work.
John Amaechi OBE, CEO, APS and Organisational Psychologist in conversation with Dr Nick Taylor, Co-founder and CEO, Unmind
Recharge and refocus

Visit the supplier showcases to get ahead of the latest developments in workplace culture, mental health and wellbeing
Keynote 2: Embedding mental health and wellbeing as a strategic priority
Discover how to elevate health and wellbeing, taking a whole person, whole organisation approach, so that it becomes a strategic priority. What this looks like from the employer and individual’s perspective, as well as how it ties in with development planning for employees.
Leena Nair, Chief HR Officer, Unilever PLC in conversation with Geoff McDonald, Global Advocate, Campaigner & Consultant for Mental Health in the Workplace, Minds@Work



Networking and real-time knowledge-exchange in the backstage lounge for Gold Pass delegates

Visit the supplier showcases to get ahead of the latest developments in workplace culture, mental health and wellbeing
Keynote 3: Thriving at work: a call to action
What organisation would not want to be more successful after COVID-19 than it was before? This session will bring to life steps all employers can take to collectively move the dial and put employee mental health and wellbeing at the heart of the recovery discussion - taking into account the new psychological contract with the workplace, the line manager's crucial role, and potential government incentives.
Chair: Jon Slade, Chief Commercial Officer, Financial Times
Panel includes: David Oldfield, Group Director, Commercial Banking, Lloyds Banking Group
Ann Francke OBE, Chief Executive, Chartered Management Institute (CMI)
Rt Hon Sir Norman Lamb, Chair of the Advisory Board, Kooth
Dr Richard Peters, Chief Medical Officer, Network Rail





Informal networking in the backstage lounge for Gold Pass delegates

Visit the supplier showcases





















Mental health: the next frontier in diversity, inclusivity and belonging
Intersectionality and inclusivity increasingly feature as a focal point in discussions about workplace mental health. The panel will share their personal experiences as well as insight into what’s needed for employers to create wellbeing programmes that take a personalised approach to create a truly inclusive experience for all employees.
Chair: Simon Blake, CEO, Mental Health First Aid England
Panel: Daisy Reeves, Partner, BCLP
Elizabeth Mpyisi, former senior ethics & legal officer, UN
Lily Hawkins, Head of Brand & Culture, M&C Saatchi Sport & Entertainment
Damien Shieber, Head of Culture and Inclusion, Santander




Workplace mental health and wellbeing in a COVID world
ONS statistics show the population's wellbeing is at the lowest level since records began. With insights from Britain's Healthiest Workplace data, learn why it's critical that employers prepare for the long-term impacts of the pandemic, where the pinch points are now and how to make the new case so that investment in employee mental health and wellbeing are prioritised.
Chair: Dame Carol Black DBE Expert Adviser on Health and Work to the NHS Improvement and Public Health England and Chair, Ageing Better
Panel:
Dr Richard Heron MB ChB, FRCP, FFOM, Vice-President, Health and Chief Medical Officer, BP
Dr Christian van Stolk, Executive Vice President, RAND Europe




Are you ready for the new ISO 45003 Standard for Psychological Health and Safety?
Employers need to prioritise psychological safety as well as physical safety. To achieve this, ISO 45003 Standard for Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace is due to be published in early 2021. Get ahead and have your say. Find out what it means for your organisation and what you need to do to prepare.
Peter Kelly, Senior Psychologist, Health & Safety Executive &
Dr Richard Caddis, Director of Health, Safety & Wellbeing and Chief Medical Officer, BT


Learn from the experiences of employers at different stages of their workplace wellbeing journey. Each will share insights into how they have accelerated the shift from stigma to solutions, developed a culture of care with peer networks that has supported psychological safety throughout the pandemic and implemented sustainable strategies that link purpose and CSR with wellbeing.
Chair: Jonny Jacobs, Finance Director, EMEA, Starbucks
Panel: Angela Lewis, Director of People Transformation Companies House
Simon Halle-Smith, Head of Global HR and EH&S, Givaudan in conversation with Geoff McDonald, Global Advocate, Campaigner & Consultant for Mental Health in the Workplace, Minds@Work
Candice Schaefer, PhD, ABPP, Global Head of Employee Wellness, Twitter, Inc




The future of work
The world of work has never experienced such a period of intense turbulence. As we shift to a 'new normal' in workplace culture, could this be an opportunity to reinvent work for the better? Panel members share insights into the first steps and principles of creating good work, how this can be audited and, with widespread remote working, what good work for everyone looks like in a post-pandemic world.
Chair: Louise Aston, Wellbeing Director, BITC
Panel: Vanessa Sallows, Claims' Governance Director, Group Protection, Legal & General
Rachael Davidson, Chief Counsel Ventures & Group Assurance, National Grid Ventures
Dr Arif Jiwany, Head of Employee Health & Wellbeing GBI, Glaxo Smith Kline
Dr Wolfgang Seidl, Partner, Leader of Workplace Health Consulting UK and Europe, Mercer Marsh Benefits





Future proof strategies and navigate the supplier landscape
Which solutions are right for your organisation? This is your chance to pick the panel’s brains. Learn how they are finding their way through the maze of solutions available, ensuring a fit with broader objectives and preparing for the now and next of workplace culture, mental health and wellbeing.
Chair: Niraj Shah, Co-Founder, Mind: Unlocked
Panel: Dr Stephanie Fitzgerald, Senior Business Partner – Mental Health, Rolls-Royce
Katherine Billingham-Mohamed, People & Transformation Lead, Ofcom
Juilitta Sofat Barata, Culture, Engagement and Wellbeing Manager, Nationwide Building Society
Eugene Farrell, Mental Health Lead, AXA PPP Healthcare & Chairperson, EAPA UK





















Keynote 4 and call to action: Navigating change and uncertainty
Our high-profile speakers will deep-dive into the psychology and mindset of sports champions. They'll reveal valuable insights into how they learnt to deal with pressure and setbacks - including recovering from the lowest lows. They'll also talk about why caring about mental health and wellbeing is an essential element of good leadership, motivation and a winning team. Transferrable tips for employers and individuals navigating their way through uncertainty and change.
Chair: Mark Malcomson CBE, CEO, CityLit
Including Will Carling OBE, Former England Rugby Union Player

Five free to attend workshops will run in parallel to the pay to attend sessions
Sessions sponsored by








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Workplace Wellbeing by Design DIGITAL Summit UK
14-18 September 2020
In a world of dizzying and constantly accelerating change, the idea of the ‘workplace’ is under extreme pressure. Here in 2020, the global coronavirus pandemic has delivered a seismic shock to the concept, enforcing remote working and raising a host of unfamiliar questions.
Launched by the creators of the MAD World Summit - the world's premier workplace culture, mental health and wellbeing event - the Workplace Wellbeing by Design digital conference will address these questions and explore the range of ‘soft’ and ‘hard’ issues driving innovative and humane workplace design.
Aimed at the wide community of professionals who live, breathe, eat and sleep the complexities of workplace design. The online sessions are designed for discussion, exploration and practical takeaways; with a line-up of distinguished speakers from across the spectrum - and a few surprises from left field. There are 5 sessions in bitesize chunks, each starting at 3pm BST, every day of London Design Festival week from 14-18 September.

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Monday 14 September
Where it begins and ends. The growing focus on wellbeing in the workplace is intimately associated with the 'new sustainability'. What are the key issues in achieving it?
An overlook of the day's proceedings, with a few minutes' practice of inner awareness.
DOES WELLBEING MATTER ANY MORE?
At the office, working from home or remotely in between, wellbeing has been the human resources watchword for half a generation. But perversely, as the public health crisis matures, new behaviours take root and work culture is thrown into confusion and disarray, the emphasis is returning to productivity. Workplace Wellbeing by Design’s editorial stance is that wellbeing is equally, if not more, important than profit or productivity, but the uncertainty of the covid era is causing employers and employees to interrogate just where their priorities lie. Stress, a sense of belonging, employers’ responsibilities in and out of the workplace; it’s a cauldron.
No modern architectural brief focuses on wellbeing so much as that from the Maggie's centres hospices, which are devoted entirely to making the occupants feel good. Maggies' chief executive and the two distinguished designers who have most recently completed projects for Maggie's identify and discuss their key design moves.
Ab Rogers, Creative Director, AB Rogers Design
Thomas Heatherwick, Founder and Principal, Heatherwick studio
Tuesday 15 September
In which we explore the state of the art in customised building management technologies, how they are harnessed for natural wellbeing, and what are the social and personal, as well as the business, implications.
An overlook of the day's proceedings, with a few minutes' practice of inner awareness.
Artificial intelligence specialist and neuroscientist Martin Dinov of Maaind explains where the technology is going, what are the notional benefits and potential downsides, and how this brave new world will support the holistic health and wellbeing of humans.
The ‘Smart building’ is not a new concept, but sensor technology is reaching the point now where an entirely personalised environment for each individual worker is not only possible but normal. What does this do for our workplace experience – and expectations?
Dr Jo Yarker, Director, Affinity Health at Work, Birkbeck, University of London
Wednesday 16 September
It’s a management issue – or is it? Today’s deliberations touch on radical ideas such as ‘people before profit’ – or even, ‘people before productivity’. Corporate responsibility takes on a whole new meaning.
An overlook of the day's proceedings, with a few minutes' practice of inner awareness.
Andy, author of the book of the same name, is one of the most coherent and passionate voices among workplace theorists arguing that genuine humanity – essentially the milk of human kindness - in the workplace is the only way forward for modern business.
Psychosocially Supportive Design, the phrase coined by Alan Dilani, is design that links space and behaviour to achieve an individual Sense of Coherence in the workplace. Three experts come at it from different standpoints to discuss the multiple implications for employers, employees and the work itself.
Nikita Mikhailov, Chief Neuroticism Officer and psychometrician, PSYPUB
Ian Duncombe, Co-founder and Board Director, chapmanbdsp
Thursday 17 September
Workplace theorists and designers are seeing the need for office design to accommodate people on the wide spectrum between hypo- and hyper-sensitivity. Do people adapt to place, or place to people?
An overlook of the day's proceedings, with a few minutes' practice of inner awareness.
ASID Designer of Distinction Kay is at the forefront of the most recent developments in workplace design, which, she and her colleagues believe, should offer comfort and ‘belonging’ to people of all varieties of sensitivity. How is the balance achieved between a touchy-feely ‘compassionatised’ management style and the persistent need for productivity and profit?
Two state of the art buildings coming on stream with very different functions, but very similar wellbeing philosophies.
Dani Salamon, Associate Director, MoreySmith
Friday 18 September
What everyone wants to know, what people have been talking about ever since the office was invented, and what has taken on a new and forceful character in the wake of Covid-19. If the robots don't get you, social distancing will... or is there a bright side?
An overlook of the day's proceedings, with a few minutes' practice of inner awareness.
Influential workplace commentator and researcher, Jeremy Myerson discusses the post-COVID-19 landscape of work as it moves into the comparatively uncharted waters of compassionate design and anti-stress environments against the background of the rise of automation and AI.
Amidst the post-covid accepted thinking that 50 per cent of the ‘knowledge’ workforce will from here on in be working remotely or in the office irregularly, huge new projects such as Lendlease’s £1bn Google headquarters in Kings Cross or Santander’s 6000-person Unity House project in Milton Keynes raise a host of questions. Are these massive developments already white elephants? What is the future of work seen through the lens of the commercial property market?
Guy Smith, founder and Chief Creative Officer, Cosu (a digital first creative agency that designs innovative workspaces for brands)
Frances G Gain, Senior Associate, Workplace Strategy and Transformation, M Moser Associates
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