NEWS & ANALYSIS FMJ.CO.UK
ASSOCIATION NEWS
JOIN THE DEBATE AND HELP
RICS DEFINE ITS FUTURE
IWFM CONFERENCE 2021: A HYBRID EVENT FOR UNCERTAIN TIMES
8 APRIL 2021
Since RICS last
reviewed
its strategy and
business plan
three years
ago, COVID-19
has accelerated
many ongoing
structural shi¢ s
already shaping
our profession
and society. This
change has resulted in altered market, member,
and public expectations of RICS.
Having listened to views recently expressed
by a wide range of members and stakeholders,
RICS Governing Council has launched “Defining
our Future”, a strategic review which builds
on existing work covering governance and
engagement, which will inform how our elected
Governing Council sets the future strategic
direction for RICS.
The elected Governing Council members want
to ensure that RICS’ long-term strategy and
resilience is built on a foundation of evidence
and insight. This needs to be developed with
transparency, through collaboration with you
and the many stakeholders who enable RICS to
support your work to the public advantage.
The formal consultation which ends on April 8th
is the main route for sharing feedback, but there
are a number of ways you can contribute that are
quick and easy to complete. Here is a reminder
of the many ways you can get involved with
whatever time you have to spare.
Join a virtual roundtable
There are many virtual roundtable sessions
due to take place in the coming weeks. Where
possible, a member of Governing Council will
join these 1.5 hour sessions, giving you the
opportunity to ask questions and share your
views directly in an open environment. They are
being held on a regional basis to help ensure we
capture and reflect the diversity of experience
across the profession and in the many diŠ erent
areas you deliver.
www.rics.org/uk/about-rics/corporategovernance/
defining-our-future/#webinars
Complete our Survey of the Profession
Our annual Survey of the Profession is running
from 17 March for one month, gathering research
that helps RICS to understand thoughts on
membership of the profession. Crucially, this
year, the information gathered will also inform
the outcomes of this strategic review, so do
please take 10 minutes to complete the survey.
Look out for an email containing the relevant link
from Savanta, a third-party research agency that
RICS has appointed to conduct the survey.
However you choose to respond, and however
detailed the level of feedback you wish to
give, I can’t stress enough how important your
contribution will be. We will analyse every written
response received - together with all the feedback
from the survey, virtual events and meetings -
and report the findings to the Governing Council
in May.
This will provide the basis for the Governing
Council to review its strategy and RICS’ priorities
for the future, so I hope you will take the time
to contribute, to help shape the future of RICS’
support for you.
We can only build the sustainable future we
want to see if we shape it together. Once again,
thank you to everyone who has contributed to
‘Defining our Future’ so far, and if you are yet to
take part, please take this opportunity to ensure
your voice is heard.
I am incredibly excited that I can now talk about our
third national Conference as IWFM, which takes place
Monday 13 September 2021.
As you’d expect a‡ er the year everybody’s had, this
one is going to be a little bit diŠ erent; in fact, it’s going to
be an Institute first, combining a physical and a digital
experience in a serious nod to the post-pandemic future.
There’s been a lot of talk lately about hybrid working; well,
this is going to be a hybrid event unlike anything IWFM has done before.
Whether you’re ready for the city or your comfort zone’s the screen, we’re
poised to immerse you in a brilliantly curated programme of razor-sharp insight,
sideways humour and practical know-how.
2020 was a watershed year. Turbulence and uncertainty remain, but there is
a clear consensus to build back better. The pandemic experience has fastforwarded
trends and disrupted established norms in a whole ra‡ of areas that
touch our profession and our professionalism. It’s time to assess, learn and
channel that experience to shape our new stronger future.
Our headliners this year - Comedian and Writer Deborah Frances-White, aka
The Guilty Feminist, and Historian, Filmmaker and Polymath David Olusoga
OBE - are true tone-setters for our times, boldly and brilliantly bookending our
exciting agenda.
The full programme of cutting-edge headliners will be announced in the
coming weeks, but what excites me almost as much as the amazing speakers
we’ve secured is the format of the event itself. Tickets for IWFM Conference 2021
are available right now in two types: physical and online.
If you come along for the physical event, you will enjoy the full conference
experience. You’ll see all of the keynotes live in the room, you’ll be able to roam
the venue to one of our topic-based breakout sessions, and you’ll even have the
opportunity to be selected for an intimate Q&A with our topic-based speakers.
The physical experience also includes access to the digital platform, giving you
the opportunity to interact with the whole audience, network, and access ondemand
recordings of our topic-based speakers to return to at a later date.
If you opt for the digital experience instead, you can join us from anywhere in
the world. Whether you’re on the move, sat on the sofa or in the oŠ ice, it’ll be as
good as the real thing because we’ve done our best to weave the physical and
digital worlds throughout the programme.
You’ll be able to tune in live for talks from our megatrend keynotes and
supporting practical sessions, put your questions to our speakers, and network
with other delegates in the virtual Conference platform. As with delegates opting
for the physical event, all of the sessions will also be recorded and available for
you on catch-up.
If you join us in person, I’ll see you at etc.
venues St Paul’s, London, EC1A 4HD; otherwise,
I’ll see you online in the virtual Conference
chats. Book your ticket today at:
www.iwfm.org.uk/iwfmconference
Kathleen Fontana FRICS, RICS
President, and MD, Mitie Projects
Chris Moriarty, Director of Insight and
Engagement, IWFM
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