I for one, love that time of year when the days get longer and we can sit around in the park with a beer after work – or at least not have to carry eight coats around to cross the street. The only problem being, that there is so much more to do, so we don’t get to spend our time sat around doing nothing like we dreamed of all winter.
The good news is that some of those other activities are actually very interesting – one of which being the show that is fast becoming the place to be in the UK for all things PropTech (and abroad) – FUTURE: PropTech. The show promises to be a hive of activity, with collaboration, discussion, learning opportunities and some great networking.
The change in the property market is not one of the market changing, it is the people that we deal with who’s mindsets are altering and modernising – come to the show, check out what’s what and see how slight changes in your operations might make a huge difference to the modern Monzo banking, Uber pooling, Twitter complaining, tenant… (Ok, fine, they aren’t all like that, but you get the idea right?).
I would love to tell you about the past shows I have been to, what there is to see and such, but, I don’t really matter – so figured you would much rather hear from the founding father of FUTURE: PropTech himself, Mr Gary Chimwa.
So I went and chatted with him to find out more:
Tell me about FUTURE PropTech – how did you come up with the idea for the show, who’s it for and what’s the vision?
My background was in Events Management and back in 2014, I was running some small events focused on the sharing economy. I noticed the growing trend in how real estate is being used by consumers, including myself.
This was largely being driven by companies such as Airbnb & We Work. As I was fascinated by this trend I looked into it further and realised there was a whole emerging sector emerging that focused on the digital transformation of real estate. Since I had the experience of running events I decided to launch a small meet-up group so I could network with all the entrepreneurs & VC’s that are focused on this area. We had around 80 people show up which was more than I expected. The feedback from all the delegates was that they really enjoyed it and they would like for me to keep it going, so we did another event a few months later. Since then each event has been doubling in size until the point where we are now expecting over 2000 delegates to attend. The vision for us, it to create the leading platform where traditional real estate companies & investors can connect with PropTech startups and technology providers, so they can improve their businesses in line with changing consumer demands.
What are you most excited about in the PropTech world right now?
There is so much happening on PropTech right now and that’s what makes it super exciting. The big trends we will be focusing on include Tenant Experience, Space optimisation for developers, artificial intelligence & big data. The great thing about our event is that we have curated over 80 brand showcases that feature all the latest tech trends. In addition delegates can learn from over 100 speakers in terms of how they are also adopting technology.
What are the biggest themes you see in PropTech – specifically for the block management side of things?
I think apps that allow tenants to report faults, communicate with their landlords, neighbours & community, arrange local events, etc are a quick win for developers & landlords. They are becoming increasingly common and now is a good time for block managers to differentiate themselves through this clever technology.
What do you believe will be the biggest disruption in the industry over the next 3-5 years?
I think the biggest disruption will be driven by consumers & tenants themselves rather than from within the industry. Very soon the expectations of tenants will mean that developers that are not prepared for this will struggle to meet their demands.
If you would like to know more about the event, buy some tickets, or simply have a chat on PropTech – do feel free to shoot me a line on LinkedIn or email.
