Event Schedule

What you will learn: This course provides an introductory-level primer on planning and management of physical space. The course includes basic space planning and management vocabulary and concepts, and details the fundamental policies, processes, practices, analytical tools, and database management concepts involved in developing and implementing a space management plan for corporate, university, and government organizations.

Who should attend: This course is open to all facility planners and designers, operations management, space planners, facility managers, resource and space analysis managers, financial planners, real estate portfolio/campus managers, architects and engineers, consultants, and software, furniture and casework providers.

Space is limited and enrollment is subject to approval.

Cost:
$1,300 Fundamentals Course only
$1,100 with registration to the two-day conference immediately following
(Fees include course materials, continental breakfast, refreshment breaks, lunch)

A hosted beer and wine bar along with light snacks will be served.

Attendees may sign-in and pick up their registration materials here, or the next morning at the conference ballroom foyer.

Guests welcome.

See the full list of participating exhibitors and event hosts.

Return-to-office mandates require managing large-scale change with lean teams and tight budgets, and Intel’s RTO initiative serves as a benchmark for successful execution from concept to delivery. Carol Moore charts Intel’s transition back to a 4-day office schedule while delivering strategic workplace improvements across 2 million square feet globally. She examines key features of Intel's ADAPT initiative integrating collaboration rooms, phone booths, and targeted refreshes that support RTO adoption. She shares practical change management tactics including weekly business unit engagement, personalized onsite transition services, cost effective finish updates that maximize impact on a lean budget. She extracts valuable lessons-learned and actionable strategies for organizations planning their own return-to-office and workplace change initiatives under similar constraints.

Higher ed space planners face relentless pressure to do more with less—maximizing utilization, eliminating deficits, and accelerating decisions amid enrollment shifts and deferred maintenance. This presentation delivers a proven dual-engine solution where governance and automation work in tandem. Lissa Munoz demonstrates how Texas Tech University improved Space Utilization Efficiency scores by 6%, expanded space deficit accountability by 15%, and slashed decision cycles by 50% through equitable governance structures paired with real-time data tools. She delivers actionable strategies for implementing spatial data tracking, automated dashboards, GIS mapping, and scenario modeling that transform reactive management into proactive resource optimization. She outlines a scalable framework supporting continuous improvement, leadership alignment, and institutional agility—essential capabilities for navigating today's dynamic campus environments.

Capital budgets are shrinking, enrollment is shifting, and accreditation requirements aren't getting simpler. For many institutions, adding square footage isn't an option—but standing still isn't either. This session presents a phased space planning framework developed at ASU's Design School that uses utilization data and targeted renovation to align space, programming, and fundraising priorities without overcommitting capital too early. Where institutions often struggle most—student belonging and revenue generation—makerspaces and student hubs become strategic tools, not just amenities. Presenters deliver transferable strategies for coordinating space across on-campus and online populations while keeping near-term decisions in sync with longer-term institutional goals.

AI is poised to transform how workplaces are planned, operated, and experienced — and the organizations that prepare now will have a decisive advantage. That preparation starts with data. Melissa Marsh examines the foundational work required to move from fragmented, inconsistently defined workplace inputs toward a clean, governed data environment capable of supporting AI-driven insight and action. She identifies the most common gaps organizations must close — misaligned definitions, siloed systems, ungoverned inputs — and delivers a practical roadmap for addressing them. She maps the cross-functional roles, governance structures, and ethical guardrails that turn scattered data into a dependable foundation for AI-enabled planning and operations, equipping organizations to act with confidence as AI becomes central to workplace decision making.

Early project decisions on spatial layout will determine the long-term productivity and relevance of technically complex facilities in healthcare, research, and education sectors. New technology is now enabling project teams to test-fit, optimize, and validate “expert intuitions,” and this session illustrates how to apply it to renovation and new construction initiatives to get the best project outcomes. Presenters chart a robust process that simulates occupant behavior and generates critical performance metrics to support data-driven facility planning decisions. They illustrate the effects of digital twin technologies and space syntax algorithms to improve space efficiency, flexibility, and cost-effectiveness in real-world projects involving complex environments.

For decades, the design conversation centered on information access — how to get more, faster, to more people, on more devices — and we largely solved it; in the process, we created an attention crisis that modern workplaces have yet to reckon with. Alex O'Briant draws on cognitive load research to make the case that this is not a personal failing but an environmental design failure: every notification, ambient screen, and status indicator imposes a small tax on working memory, and the cumulative deficit is both measurable and addressable. He identifies the specific environmental factors competing for occupant attention and presents spatial configuration strategies that help people filter out noise, protect focus, and do meaningful work with the information access we've already built.

Organizations sign leases, select systems, and commit to workplace designs under pressure while uncertainty looms. This session identifies five traps that force organizations to spend 30-40% of their investment undoing recent decisions. Magaret Serrato reveals real-world examples where smart institutions fell into these traps and demonstrates scenario planning frameworks that protect against multiple futures. She delivers specific warning signs that signal each trap before resources are committed, provides data-driven language for advocating with leadership when decisions drive toward these pitfalls, and equips space planners with immediately applicable decision frameworks. Rather than predicting an unpredictable future, she shows how to design workplace strategies that remain viable across multiple outcomes, reducing risk while maintaining flexibility for RTO, hybrid work, and evolving space utilization goals.

This end-of-day session is where the details, questions, and findings on key and challenging issues from the first day’s proceedings get clarified, expanded on, affirmed, and debated by industry leaders and the entire audience.

(Guests welcome)

Courtesy of Tradeline

Knowledge workers often view open office spaces as noisy, distracting, and incompatible with focused work.  This session explores why that perception exists—and why one-size-fits-all office models consistently fail knowledge-intensive roles. David George examines how Activity-Based Working can be utilized to create workplace configurations to support deep concentration and cognitive performance. Drawing on real-world research and workplace data, he outlines practical design strategies tailored to introverted, analytical, and research-driven teams. Attendees will leave with clear, evidence-based principles for creating flexible workplaces that genuinely support heads-down work, as well as collaborative spaces, avoid the pitfalls of generic layouts, and deliver measurable benefits for both employees and the organization.

Organizations managing complex manufacturing and process environments face mounting pressures: evolving production requirements, multimodal operations, limited staffing, and competitive timelines. Presenters demonstrate the application of Design Research modeling to reveal operational bottlenecks, workflow conflicts, and misaligned assumptions before equipment arrives or construction begins. This cross-disciplinary panel demonstrates how process mapping translates into smarter space planning—improving adjacencies, identifying layout inefficiencies, and supporting scalable facility design. They guide attendees through interactive polling on simplified modeling scenarios, comparing audience assessments with real-world outcomes. They share challenges they have navigated around assumptions, strategies they have used to convert insights into design decisions, and using modeling to support long-term flexibility. They illustrate how structured analysis informs decisions across planning, design, and operations—transforming abstract data into actionable facility improvements.

For decades, the design conversation centered on information access — how to get more, faster, to more people, on more devices — and we largely solved it; in the process, we created an attention crisis that modern workplaces have yet to reckon with. Alex O'Briant draws on cognitive load research to make the case that this is not a personal failing but an environmental design failure: every notification, ambient screen, and status indicator imposes a small tax on working memory, and the cumulative deficit is both measurable and addressable. He identifies the specific environmental factors competing for occupant attention and presents spatial configuration strategies that help people filter out noise, protect focus, and do meaningful work with the information access we've already built.

Most organizations leave significant long-term value on the table when design personas get filed away at project completion. Built during programming and visioning to capture how distinct worker types use space, collaborate, and move through their days, personas represent a sophisticated understanding of human behavior—one that rarely survives into operations. Melissa Marsh shows how emerging tools for understanding employees as customers can keep that asset alive, enabling persona-based approaches that deliver customized environments and policies across the full workplace lifecycle—guiding decisions on service delivery, technology investment, and change strategy. The result: every major workplace decision—from space mix to RTO policy—traceable back to real human behavior.

As AI reshapes every dimension of work—from autonomous delivery to ambient intelligence—the pressure on workplace planners to respond and adapt is relentless. Omar Ramirez challenges planners to resist the reflex: the competitive edge in an AI-saturated workplace won't come from more technology—it will come from spaces designed for human connection. Research consistently links connected employees to higher retention, stronger collaboration, and greater innovation—outcomes no algorithm delivers on its own. He examines how the technology adoption curve is migrating from digital systems into physical space, presents analog space strategies that prioritize human interaction, and explores how friction—applied deliberately—becomes a powerful design lever. He also offers metrics for measuring success beyond utilization rates. In this interactive session, he equips participants to build the case—and the blueprint—for workplaces where human connection becomes a measurable performance driver.

As workplace expectations shift toward personalization, organizations struggle to deliver individualized experiences at scale without overwhelming their facility and IT teams. This presentation examines the convergence of AI, smart buildings, and workplace software platforms that enable mass customization. Sanjiv Singh demonstrates how for employees, AI adapts the workplace to individual roles, behaviors, and preferences by optimizing space utilization, environmental comfort, workflows, learning paths, and well-being support. He also illustrates how for visitors, algorithmic systems streamline access, navigation, and engagement through intelligent visitor management, predictive analytics, and real-time personalization. He charts what is available today and what the future could hold using relevant use cases.

This end-of-day session is where key ideas, new developments, and findings that have been revealed over the course of the entire two-day conference (including sessions you may have missed) get clarified, expanded upon, and affirmed or debated. This is also the opportunity to get answers from industry leaders and the entire audience to specific questions on key and challenging issues.