We're back with another WORKTECH Events special, this time previewing not one, but two brilliant upcoming October 2025 conferences: WORKTECH25 New York and San Francisco.

✨Workplace Geeks listeners - save 20% off tickets to both events using code GEEKS2025 at checkout! 🎟️

WORKTECH Events bring together the brightest minds in work, workplace, technology and innovation across a global calendar, and we’ve got a sneak peek at some of the most thought-provoking sessions coming your way, with three conversations with featured speakers from both events:

Co-founder of Future Forum, and Work Forward CEO Brian Elliott explores the data behind the Flex Index, the world’s most comprehensive look at how companies are actually implementing flexible work. With a clear-headed, evidence-based take, Brian reveals why the most extreme models - whether fully remote or fully office-bound - are the hardest to implement succesfully, and what well-considered hybrid can look like in practice.

Prof. Gail Brager from UC Berkeley discusses her new book Experiential Design Schemas, co-authored with architect Prof. Mark DeKay. Together, they propose a 'design-strategic approach' to help workplaces move from generic experience toward delight, positivity and sensory richness.

Geniant's CXO for Space, and returning WORKTECH favourite, architect David Dewane shares the latest evolution in his three-part series on workplace transformation. In this instalment, he explores the potential of measuring individual human flourishing — and how doing so could radically shift how we define, design and deliver workplace experience at team and organisational level.

The Workplace Geeks - always caring about your workplace education... 🧠

🎧 Dialogue editing by David Crackles

☎️ Leave us a voicemail on the Workplace Geeks hotline — we might feature you on a future episode!

📩 Subscribe to our newsletter for more Geeky goodness

📅 Join our upcoming Audiem webinars (and catch up on-demand)

🌟 Like what you hear? Leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts — and don’t forget to recommend us to your workplace pals!

💬 Got ideas, feedback, or guest suggestions?

• Connect with Chris and Ian on LinkedIn
• Share your thoughts using #WorkplaceGeeks
• Follow @WorkplaceGeeks on your platform of choice
• Or email us directly at hello@workplacegeeks.org

Workplace Geeks is sponsored by 2468 Group ☕️

Brought to you by Audiem ⚡️— powering smarter workplace decisions with AI-driven insights 👉🏼 Want to know how? Just get in touch 🫱🏻‍🫲🏼

Following a cracking chat with MillerKnoll's Ryan Anderson in the last episode, this time the Geeks sit down with Mark Catchlove, genuine workplace gentleman and Director of Insight at MillerKnoll, for a fascinating dive into the work and legacy of Robert Propst — Herman Miller’s pioneering Director of Research during the 1960s.

Design polymath Propst’s seminal 1968 book, The office: A facility based on change, was ahead of its time. Designed as a field manual for workplace change, it tackled everything from change, human-centered design, visual display, privacy and involvement, conversation and interaction, health and movement, the role of technology, and leadership culture. And all in a surprisingly slim volume.

In this educational chat Chris, Ian and Mark explore:

• How Propst became Director of Research for Herman Miller
• Mark's involvement in bringing Propst's legacy back to life
• Why The Office is still essential reading for anyone shaping workplace experience
• What today’s workplace strategists can learn from Propst’s provocations
• What a gorilla has to do with expression and personalisation
• Whether it's fair to call Propst 'the inventor of the cubicle' or not...

And to top it off, Dr Dan Wakelin from Isovist is back with Ian on reflection section duties. Yay!

Want to read it for yourself? The office isn't available digitally, and physical copies are increasingly hard to find. Good job that we have three free copies available for you lucky listeners, courtesy of MillerKnoll.

YES! What do I have to do to get one? Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts. Go to the Workplace Geeks page on the iPhone or the desktop app, then scroll down to rate AND review the show. Lemon squeezy.

Winners will be selected and announced in a future episode.

🎧 Dialogue editing by David Crackles

☎️ Leave us a voicemail on the Workplace Geeks hotline — we might feature you on a future episode!

📩 Subscribe to our newsletter for more Geeky goodness

📅 Join our upcoming Audiem webinars (and catch up on-demand)

🌟 Like what you hear? Leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts — and don’t forget to recommend us to your workplace pals!

💬 Got ideas, feedback, or guest suggestions?

• Connect with Chris and Ian on LinkedIn
• Share your thoughts using #WorkplaceGeeks
• Follow @WorkplaceGeeks on your platform of choice
• Or email us directly at hello@workplacegeeks.org

Workplace Geeks is sponsored by 2468 Group ☕️

Brought to you by Audiem ⚡️— powering smarter workplace decisions with AI-driven insights 👉🏼 Want to know how? Just get in touch 🫱🏻‍🫲🏼

Four episodes in and the Geeks are cooking on gas! For this one, we're joined by the wise and insanely amiable Ryan Anderson, VP of Global Research and Planning at workplace furniture giant MillerKnoll, home of Herman Miller, Knoll, and a host of other iconic design brands.

Ryan has lived and breathed workplace for over three decades in a wide range of roles. It's no surprise then that his thoughtful, considered perspectives on workplace design, strategy, experience and technology step beyond conventional wisdoms and overtraded ideas. We caught up with Ryan to talk furniture, industry research, post-pandemic strategies and how MillerKnoll's new concept of Relationship-Based Work developed after some recent research with Workplace Unlimited (and Audiem!) called Enticing Office. Highlights include:

• The Grand Rapids, Michigan furniture legacy and how it shaped Ryan’s career
• What the sector got wrong pre-pandemic, and how to do better now
• The problem with trying to solve complex workplace challenges with cookie-cutter solutions
• Key insights from Dr Nigel Oseland and Gary Raw’s Enticing Office research
• The importance of place-attachment for the 'return to office'
• Why 'life stage' and 'career stage' might be better thinking tools than generic generational classifiers
• Designing for meaningful human interaction, not just work activities

Also featuring a rich Reflection Section with the always-fabulous Esme Banks Marr (BVN Architecture) exploring age demographics, the sociology of workplace interaction and motivation theories, with a healthy level of constructive critique!

🎧 Dialogue editing by David Crackles

☎️ Leave us a voicemail on the Workplace Geeks hotline — we might feature you on a future episode!

📩 Subscribe to our newsletter for more Geeky goodness

📅 Join our upcoming Audiem webinars (and catch up on-demand)

🌟 Like what you hear? Leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts — and don’t forget to recommend us to your workplace pals!

💬 Got ideas, feedback, or guest suggestions?

• Connect with Chris and Ian on LinkedIn
• Share your thoughts using #WorkplaceGeeks
• Follow @WorkplaceGeeks on your platform of choice
• Or email us directly at hello@workplacegeeks.org

Workplace Geeks is sponsored by 2468 Group ☕️

Brought to you by Audiem ⚡️— powering smarter workplace decisions with AI-driven insights 👉🏼 Want to know how? Just get in touch 🫱🏻‍🫲🏼