Its a little after 10 am on Sunday morning.  I will shortly be boarding a train bound for Euro Disney – venue for the latest CoreNet Global Summit.  This Doc is feeling a little Sleepy.  A family party on the other side of London which went into the wee hours has done little for my demeanour – which can at best be described as Grumpy.  I have three kids back home in Pinner that are far from Happy. “How could you dad?” they cried as I sheepishly left the house.  “How could you go to Disney without us?”  The “It’s work” statement so often used alongside the word conference, fell on deaf ears – deaf essentially because of the surrounding tantrums and tears.  A Dopey oversight on my part.  This may well prove to be an expensive trip.

But despite all of this, it is a trip that I am looking forward to – and not just because I get to see Mickey, Minnie et al.  Although I am far from being a veteran, in my experience CoreNet Summit’s present a wonderful opportunity to meet up with familiar faces, meet new acquaintances with common interests and, critically for a researcher, hear first hand about the issues and challenges that corporate real estate professionals are facing up to.  Even before the conference commences it is clear the challenges are huge.  Our latest research publication – simply entitled Change – serves to summarise just some of the challenges impacting on CRE teams post financial crisis (I will leave it to you to decide whether post is appropriate in this sentence).  I would summarise this change as seeing CRE professionals transform from ‘fire fighters’ to ‘Olympians’ as they are asked to work higher (within the organisation), faster (to solve the problems) and stronger (alongside the business).

Whether many delegates will feel like Olympians after three days of Conference remains to be seen.  But one thing is for sure.  For corporate real estate leaders, this is no time to be Bashful.

Footnote – Profuse apologies to Sneezy.  My creativity at this time of hangover just couldn’t bring you into the fold!