Data Centre Marketing Club: Strategy, Storytelling and Changing the Industry Narrative | Live at Datacloud Global Congress 2026

In the seventh and final episode of our special series recorded live at Datacloud Global Congress 2026 in Cannes, Inside Data Centre brings you a special recording of a Data Centre Marketing Club panel. 

Hosted by Rory Flashman, Managing Director of Spa Communications and co-founder of the Data Centre Marketing Club, the discussion brings together marketing and communications leaders from across the data centre industry to explore how the sector can tell its story more clearly, engage communities more effectively and build stronger brands. 

Joining the conversation: 

Anne Katrine Vestergaard Jensen, VP of Marketing, Vern 

Andy Davis, Co-Founder, Data Centre Marketing Club 

Nicola Allen, Marketing Director, Techoraco 

Agnese Barazza, Senior Marketing and Communications Manager, GARBE Data Centers 

Together, the panel discusses why community engagement has become one of the most important topics in the data centre industry, and why operators, developers, suppliers and communications teams need to work together to improve public understanding of the sector. 

The conversation explores how the industry can move beyond talking to itself, listen more closely to local communities and explain the value of data centres in a clearer, more human way. The panel also looks at the importance of brand differentiation, employer branding, talent attraction and the role of events such as Datacloud in bringing the right people together to share best practice. 

From tackling misinformation and improving media engagement to moving away from defensive messaging and telling more honest, accessible stories, this episode highlights the important role marketers and communicators will play in shaping the future reputation of the data centre industry. 

Recorded live at Datacloud Global Congress 2026 in Cannes. 

Key Topics: 

Why community engagement has become a critical issue for data centre development 

How the industry can work together to tell a more joined-up story 

Why data centres need to stop talking only to themselves 

The role of listening in building trust with local communities 

How events can bring marketers, operators, investors, policymakers and suppliers together 

Why brand differentiation matters in a fast-growing and increasingly crowded market 

How Vern approached its rebrand around natural intelligence and renewable power 

How GARBE Data Centers is evolving its story for AI inference and urban data centre development 

Why employer branding needs to be treated as its own strategic priority 

How personal branding can help attract talent and build trust 

Why Datacloud’s talent programme is helping bring new people into the industry 

How the sector can improve its reputation by being more open, honest and less defensive 

Why marketers should be curious, collaborate more and take the industry story outside the data centre community 

Tune in for a thoughtful final conversation from Cannes on how the data centre industry can improve its storytelling, build stronger trust with communities and help more people understand the critical role digital infrastructure plays in modern life. 

Transcript

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SPEAKER_03 0:00

The data centre industry is moving faster than ever, and behind the scenes, some seriously smart people are making it all happen. Welcome to the Inside Data Center podcast, where we dive into the stories, insights, and innovations driving real change across the industry. From hyperscale campuses to game-changing technologies, we're talking to the people shaping the future of digital infrastructure. Whether you live and breathe data centers or just want to understand what's powering our connected world, you're in the right place.

SPEAKER_05 0:26

So we are here today really just to have a short panel. And I should thank Vern as well for bringing this together. Thank you to Anne for having us. A short panel really just covering strategy, storytelling, community. All of us in this room are involved in PR marketing of some way, shape, or form. So the whole point of this initiative is really about bringing people together and sharing best practice, and hopefully you get something valuable out of it today. For those of you who don't know me, I'll stop waffling. I'm Rory Flashman. I'm the managing director of Spar Communications. I think I know most of you here. I'm not going to tell you about the agency, but we're a bit off for the crux of it. Anne, I'm going to throw the mic to you. Please give us an intro.

SPEAKER_02 1:08

Thank you. Don't throw your mic though. That bite hurt me. Don't throw the mic.

SPEAKER_05 1:12

No, sorry.

SPEAKER_02 1:13

My name is Anne Jensen or Anne Katrina Jensen. I am VP of Marketing at Vern, and we're a data center company. We design, build, and develop data centers and operate them as well. And um yeah, I was quite keen on having this conversation. And Roy Roy myself and everybody here on the panel, we've had several conversations this week about these topics. And I don't feel like I've seen any panels or had a conversation that wasn't about how do we engage the community, how do we tell a better story of this industry, and maybe also a little bit of how do we stop naval gazing and actually start and talk to the communities out there. So thank you so much for coming as well.

SPEAKER_05 1:58

Andy.

SPEAKER_04 1:59

Hello everyone, Andy Davis, one of the founders of DCMC. It's pretty weird, this to be honest, having an event when we met over I met Giuseppe over a coffee, I don't even know when it was, and he wanted to start a community, and here we are. So thank you, like Rory said, thanks for coming. Uh day job is data center recruitment. Um, my main job, which it feels like, is podcast, newsletter, data center club, community, etc. So passionate about changing the perception of the industry. That's why I do what I do. So hopefully we can cover some of that today.

SPEAKER_00 2:29

Hello, everybody. Um, I'm Nicola Allen. I'm the marketing director at Tacoriko. So we're the organizers of the event today, Data Cloud Global Congress. We run as a business around 15 events, either in data centers or digital infrastructure across the world every year. Um I only joined the business at the beginning of the year, actually, so I'm fairly new. Um, but before that, I've spent most of my career um either in sort of technology companies um or organizing technology events. So uh very much like thank you for coming, really appreciate it.

SPEAKER_01 3:06

Hi everyone, my name is Anisa Barazzo, and I'm the senior marketing and communication managers at Gabe Data Center. We are a data center developer, um, active in tier one, tier two markets. So we take projects from site selection, land acquisition up to uh permitting financing. And um, at the end, we do not operate, but we sell or lease our facilities. Um, I'm also very happy, like for the panel and for the data center marketing club. Uh, when I think you launched it last year around this time in London, and um I jumped at that and I was like, guys, can we do something in Germany? And they were like, why don't you do it? And that we what we've been doing, we had like two amazing events in Frankfurt, and just to see how the community of marketers that uh was a little bit neglected, maybe uh we came together and there was just uh amazing group of people, and I'm very, very excited for what's ahead of.

SPEAKER_05 4:00

Thank you. So, community is uh a hot topic the whole way through the event. On every podcast that we've been on as well, communities come up is a good place to start. Given the growth of the market, we've seen this massive influx of community engagement initiatives, some organizations doing it brilliantly, uh, others less so, with room for improvement. In from your perspective, Agnesa, why is this now so important?

SPEAKER_01 4:27

Yeah, I think, you know, when when I started like also to come to those kind of events, there was um community was always like a topic that was really close to my heart. And the conversation we were having was always more like around do we really need it? You know, at the end, as a developer, we put in our permits, we got it approved. That was it. This industry, we've always always been very secretive. We didn't want to talk about our clients. So we have been doing this, we were navigating the fact the data center was invisible, and we lean into that. But it's hard for a data center, our industry to be invisible once you start to have, you know, one, two, three, ten data centers all in a sudden in a community. So those conversations, the community started. We, I think this is my opinion, but we really didn't tackle into that part. So that wrote, we are humans. When every time we don't know something, we build our story around, we fill in the blanks. And if as an industry we're not there to really answer those questions, the stories start to split. And we are now at a point where we see it as a developer, you know, with bit of public hearings, with the permits, um, and you read it in the news, data center projects have been stopped for various reasons. And this is where we realize, okay, there's not anymore. Do we really need it? It's like, what can we do? And we started like a few years back, we had um a little piece of information, it was a mini-infographic. We handed out to cities, municipalities, to the authorities, to city planners for that those were this was the audience that for us was really important. And they were surprised. It was such an easy piece of content, and it turned out to be, you know, super good uh shared also between those people. And now what we are what I'm seeing and um with this problem also growing, uh, we wanted to refresh that as well. Uh, but it's not anymore as as developer in this case, you know, or single companies that we are active to tell our story. Um, it's all of us coming together. And um, yes, there might be some front runners into that, but we need to really come together, tell the story, explain why do we need it. We are humans. We had a conversation like uh at another event, and it was do we want to have a data center in our backyard as data center people? Some of us not. So the question that the same concerns we have, they have. So we can't tell them, you know what, it's great. Data centers are great, you need them. No, we need to explain to them why they need them, and to listen, and I'm gonna wrap up now, but to listen to their fears that and the questions they have, because we made assumption of what their fears are, what their questions are, but sometimes there is a mismatch. Water usage. People are scared about not taking a shower because of the water in the data center. We will never, I would have never thought about it. So really get into that and give them the answer to the questions they have and not to the questions we think they have.

SPEAKER_05 7:43

Thank you. Anne, I'm gonna come to you next. Uh yeah. Again, community. What more can this industry do to make a kind of a more positive impact, more positive can contribution to local communities?

SPEAKER_02 7:57

Well, I'm gonna go off script here because things have changed while I've been here. We had this preparation call uh a week ago. Uh one of the things that I've really been pushing on for this week is that we as communicators of this industry need to get together. We need to have a joined up story. Doesn't matter what country you're in, we're all in the same industry. And even if you're a supplier, if you're an operator, if you're a communicator, um we need to come together and we need to tackle these questions together. So I'm hoping that maybe all of you want to come to London in October. I think that's when capacity is, because we're currently uh working together with Tagoriko on setting up a workshop where we can actually get to the bottom of it because we keep having uh these conversations where we're saying we need to do stuff with the community. And then we leave the panels and we go, right, who's then doing it? And we try and do stuff on ourselves. So yeah, that's one side of the community. We try and work with the communities for our own data centers. But that's not enough. A single brand, a single company is not gonna change this industry. This industry has to change together. So that's what that's what I'm thinking right now.

SPEAKER_05 9:18

Love that. Thank you, Anne. Andy, I'm gonna come to you next. Uh we talk about community, you and I have been talking about it all week, it feels like now. And uh obviously it's a great community here. But the data center industry tends to talk to itself. What, in your opinion, can we do to take the story outside of the industry?

SPEAKER_04 9:38

Feels like much longer than a week as well. Yeah, feel like I've been here a month. Um I think the industry is it was its own worst enemy. I'd say was rather than it is, where it tried to keep everything a secret. And what it did by keeping everything a secret was was give nobody the ability to learn about what it does and and why it's important. And I think since you know, say COVID, the dark days, when it turned a little bit, we had to try and change the conversation. And the industry's been on the back foot. I think that's one of the biggest, biggest challenges. But now it's trying to get on the front foot. And I think um the panelists have already covered it. You you've we've got to listen. Like we have to listen. Not it's not about putting our story front and centre, it's about listening and answering the questions. And I think that's something I think the industry needs to get better at. To take it outside the industry, you have to yourselves go outside the industry. You you do have to go to whether it's schools, colleges, universities, other industries, you know, like it's companies that have gone into the aviation industry to try and attract talent when the aviation industry was quiet, but you have to take the story to that industry as well. So I guess the short answer is it's on us to take the conversation outside the industry. We are very good at talking amongst ourselves, um, whether it's in an event, uh, an Irish bar, a beach bar. We we're very good at having our conversations with each other, but then you have to think, what am I going to do with that information? Who else can I share it with? And that's where I went down the content rabbit hole. Like you're trying to share information so that somebody out there who's not knowledgeable just starts to learn something and they tell somebody else, I think that's what we can all do better.

SPEAKER_05 11:18

Nice. Thank you, Andy. Obviously, we've seen huge progress given what you've just told us about building this next kind of phase of this initiative, uh, uh capacity. And I'm gonna come to Nicola next. Nicola, this event has grown exponentially. Like, and that's that that you know, that's an understatement. It's been incredible to see. I've been here every year for God knows how many years now. What more can events like Data Cloud do to kind of bring the industry together and kind of bring initiatives forward like this?

SPEAKER_00 11:50

Yeah, I mean, I'm supposed I could be a little bit biased, but I I generally do think that um events literally are the best channel to, you know, for any marketer to be able to reach, you know, the industry, stakeholder groups, the community that you want to engage. And they're just such an amazing place where all different, you know, people from all over the world can come together um to discuss and sort of really have those conversations that you don't necessarily get to have in other forums. And I think what's special about um, you know, our particular event here today is that you know it's been specifically designed to have those intimate conversations that you want to have with people that are in the same kind of jobs as yourselves, you know, like we're having today, but also though having those conversations at scale as well. Um but it is important, I think, that you, you know, you're meeting the right people, you know, at the event um this week, you know, we've seen a lot of growth from not just our data center operators, but our hyperscalers as well, but also finance and investment, construction, power, and sort of also the policy makers as well. So I think it's really about bringing, you know, we've kind of touched on it already a little bit about bringing the right people in the room, having open and honest conversations so we can start to make some decisions to move the industry forward.

SPEAKER_05 13:09

Thank you. So let's get into brands. Uh last year, uh one of our co-founders, Giuseppe, put up a uh pretty provocative post on LinkedIn. He'd walked around another one of the events in the UK and take pictures of every single stand and then called out all of the people exhibiting, saying how much they sounded the same. And uh it, well, let's just say the response wasn't great, but it made a really important point. Building brand is one of the most important differentiators in this industry. I'm gonna come to you, Anne. What's your experience of building brand and how have you done that differently at Vern?

SPEAKER_02 13:47

So we're trying to take a different approach this time, and then Tuesday we actually launched a new brand. And if anybody is curious, uh you can see the mugs that are on here that are on your brand colours, and there is also pens in uh in one of the mugs there, and you can scan it. It's an NFC scanner, and it'll show you a new website that we also launched this week. Um, we've had a long go at this, it's been about a year, and um there's a fella sitting here looking very tired, and there's no wonder why, because he's been my right-hand man and helped me with it. It was an exploratory session, and uh we did exactly what Giuseppe did. We took a look at all the Nordic data center providers, and oh my god, we looked the same. Open up the website, take the front screen of all their websites, and you couldn't tell which one it was. Blank out the logo, we don't know. Um so we sat down and we're like, so what should we do different? Well, right now the world is artificial intelligence. Right. How how do you run artificial intelligence? Well, you do it with natural intelligence. You can't get anything artificial if you don't start in the nature. That's what we did. You're building data centers in Iceland. We use a hundred percent renewable power. And that's really what we are all about in our company. So that's how we've leaned into it. Feel free to take a look at the website. Uh, if there's something that doesn't work, I will take no brain. Please talk to Al. But yeah, that's really the focus. Um, how do we build it? Well, I'm hoping we start building it now.

SPEAKER_05 15:28

Thank you. Agnesa, how about you? And you know, uh thinking differently about your brand. How have you made that stand out?

SPEAKER_01 15:38

Yeah, I was having actually a conversation with Anne before where we we also rebred it last year and we are launching a new brand as in the folders here. Um, and for us was a very different approach because we come with like we belong to GABE, so those guidelines, they are there. They were non-negotiable, but it's uh like logistic, it's uh an established business into the the logistic real estate. So, how do we bring that to the data center? Um, so we push a little bit the boundaries as far as we could, but it was really about the story. Um, and we realize that the story that has always been there, we just didn't tell it properly. And this is a funny exercise when you rebrand because as a marketing, you know, it's your baby. Your brand is your baby, you create your communication, your communication plans, and then you counter rebrand and you need to go look everything you did, all the decision, and think, okay, what didn't work? And it can be, you know, hurtful or hurtful sometimes. Um, but there we realize, okay, the story was there, we just didn't tell it properly. We shifted it, we came here to come last year, and all in a sudden the whole conversations work different. So um it was actually, you know, and we get to the point later, but it was not, I'm telling something new, I'm telling it just differently. Um, and that was uh was a good learning process for us. And now we are like getting into the new brand, have a little bit more freedom, uh, not from the guidelines, but uh in the product. And again, it's a different product. We are going into um AI inference, so it's a design product for AI inference data center. Those are getting into the cities, communities will play a key role into that conversation. So that brand needs to be maybe a little bit more sexy to appeal to them. So it's it was funny to see, you know, those are the boundaries we are given. How can we play? And how many shades are there to to something that you thought it was so stiff, but it wasn't?

SPEAKER_05 17:43

Thank you. So, how about employer branding? Andy, I'm gonna come to you next. There's a massive skill shortage in the industry, and with your uh recruiter hat on rather than your uh book artist hat on, what about employer branding? Like how can uh how can businesses really stand out and kind of attract new talent into their companies?

SPEAKER_04 18:01

I think you have to remember that it is a brand on its own. I think that's forgotten sometimes. We we we have a an organization has a brand and we might be to attract customers, but talent needs a separate brand. Obviously, you know, you use the same foundations, but we've worked with um various customers uh in the last 12 months around you know, hiring for new locations. A lot of people are going into new locations, and and we've worked with them around actually creating a brand for that specific location to attract people. Like, why should someone move to that area? What are the schools like? Are there hospitals? You know, are the doctors there? You have to go into that deal. And it is a branding exercise. It's not something that you know a project director should be doing. This should sit within within the marketing team. Um, we've worked with other organizations around their complete talent brand and um about telling the whole story of the business, uh how they were founded, the stories of individuals that work within them and how they've been successful, how they've developed, you know, the regions they work in. I think you have to really tell the story of the business and the people within it. Um, and then I think you have to remember personal brand as well, because um, whenever we're arranging interviews for any anything now, the first thing the candidate will ask is, are they on a link? Can I look at their LinkedIn profile? So like you need to make sure your individuals and your leaders have strong personal brands. They don't have to be active on it all the time, but you do need them, there does need to be presence now. People do look at that. So it's it's a really hard thing to do. Um, I think we all know that. People is a really, really big challenge. But if you want to stand out, you do have to look different um and you do have to invest in it. You have to make sure you have a brand specifically for people.

SPEAKER_05 19:44

I feel all I that is um something that the the the senior leaders need to hear more than uh the marketing people here give us more money to spend on or more of the important stuff. I'm happy to speak to them and ask for more money. Kids. And then uh and Anne, from your perspective, let's talk about uh employer branding as an operator. Well, how how has that been beneficial for you guys to kind of help kind of retract new time into the business?

SPEAKER_02 20:08

First I want to say I couldn't agree more. Good. When we go back to when we go back to the why we're here, it's all about storytelling. And we tell different stories to our customers and to our employees. Our employees, we are taking on a journey. Our customers, we're giving a journey. So we have to really think about how we are actually engaging with everybody. Now, the worst thing you can ever say to a person that you're hiring is we're all a big family here. We don't want to be part of your big family, we have our own family. But we are honest, we're adults, and we do the best for this industry or this business that we're in. That's really the story you need to tell for our employer branding. So I think more honesty really helps on it. Um and then my new brand that we launched really leans into it with natural intelligence because that's in the people business. So that's really why our focus is right now.

SPEAKER_05 21:09

Thank you. Okay, so I'm gonna come to you next, Nicola. Carrying on the theme of talent, what is BetaCloud doing to kind of encourage more young people into the industry? There are so many more people here this shit.

SPEAKER_00 21:24

Yeah, I think um from you know what an event can bring, um, what we've been doing is doing a talent and tech program, which has been running for the past five years. Um, and that's um a program for people that have either been in the industry for under two years or are currently sort of a university student, um, and they get a complimentary pass to the event, they get a curated program throughout the three days, but also access to mentors as well. Um, and I think again, this is where sort of events like this um really are able to support people just starting out in their careers because. For example, at this event, 75% of our audience is direct level and above. So the opportunity to meet literally thousands of professionals at that level is, you know, very difficult in other places. So I think it's a great way, you know, for people to be able to capitalize and and learn from other professionals here. But I think also events, they really help to show a purpose as well, I think, in an industry. And I think this is what people tend to want coming, you know, into the industry now. Um, they don't want to, you know, they want to know what they're doing is contributing to something. And I think again, events can really help sort of support that that story.

SPEAKER_05 22:40

Thank you. All right, so almost the last question. So we won't keep you from the drinks for for too much longer, guys. Um, but let's talk about reputation. Like one of the big themes of the conference is is what more can data center operators do to kind of change the narrative, kind of get away from the bad press, move away from the bad reputation. Um I'm gonna begin with you, Andy, and put you on the spot again. What, in your opinion, as someone who's kind of like reading the news every single day and kicking their day off that way, what can the industry do to kind of dispel some of the myths around the industry?

SPEAKER_04 23:15

It's a question for you, really, from OP. I think I I think answered it. Be honest, like tell the truth. You know, if you're you're announcing a one gigawatt project, but actually it's only 50 megawatts, and the the the next you know 950 megawatts may or may not happen over the next 25 years, you don't need to say it's a one gigawatt project. And that's where a lot of the community kickback comes from because they they read the headlines. And um, I always tell a story. I I once shared a um, well, I was contacted by a hyperscaler about an article that had been shared publicly about a project that was in the Nordics. I'm trying to be really elusive with this, in the Nordics, and it was, I think the power access was up to 550 megawatts, but they were only going to build 60 megawatts. But the local newspaper had printed 550 megawatt data centers about to be built in your garden, basically. And um Seb Hyperscaler phoned me up and said, Andy, can you please post the truth? Like, and I was like, but they what is the truth? You know, like why can't you post the truth? And the actual customer couldn't really converse what the truth was because they were trying to make it look like a really attractive site as well. So it was a difficult balance, but I think being honest is probably the most important aspect. Like we've all said, I think listen as well. Like the industry has to listen and answer the questions. I think sometimes um we avoid the difficult questions. Um, we create reports that don't have the context for the data in them. Um, so we answer a question but won't tell them how we answered the question and where we got the data from. So I think, yeah, being honest will help massively in changing the the perception because then it will be the true perception rather than what people think the industry's like.

SPEAKER_05 25:02

Agnesa, how about you? What do you think that the uh the industry can do is kind of change this negative perception that it seems to have in the press?

SPEAKER_01 25:10

I think um when you look externally, I mean, and was touched also in other panels, um, it's really like bringing journalists also, you know, early on, educate also that outer part of the um of the ecosystem. But to me, and this is very controversial, maybe building your personal brand around, you know, controversial topics, that could be one thing. Um, but to me, it's really as marketers, we are often going with metrics. We need to post, we need to have press clippings, we need to, and and we kind of let those metrics dictate our activities, and then we start to do more. Others are doing, you know, we compare ourselves to other developer, other operator, other suppliers. They do, we need to do, but this rush into we need to do it it comes with lack of quality. You can't put data, you can't put credible stories if you're rushing through that, if you're producing a lot of content. So there was somebody smarter than me that said less is more. So I think this is something that we should um also keep in mind sometimes.

SPEAKER_04 26:20

Quality over quantity, yeah. And I think doing things differently as well. Yeah, like we had JSA in the audience, Red Wes on, and the the docuseries that applied digital have released. Um, if you haven't seen it, go and check it out because it's awards and all this is what happens in the industry, this is how we build data centers. There's nothing hidden, and that is really what the industry needs to do more of. So it's not about um doing like you've just said, it's not about doing the same as every everybody else, but different are the brands that stand out, I think, especially from a talent perspective. We all remember what's different, so but a lot of that being different, sadly, in this industry comes from telling the truth, which kind of tells you everything, doesn't it?

SPEAKER_02 26:59

I think just to add to that, another thing we also have to do is collaborate. All of us, we need to collaborate and we need to tell the same story, maybe in slightly different ways. But in marketing, I've always said this is I hated putting out white papers back in the day, ten years ago. Uh maybe a little bit more. I won't admit to that. But I hated doing it, and I was like, oh, everybody must be so sick of this white paper. And yeah, if anybody went and downloaded twice, yeah, they must be sick of it. But actually, we kept getting downloads and people keep reading it. So you put something out once, put it out ten more times. When you're sick of it, ten more times, then you're there. Then do something new because your message hasn't gotten out there. It never has. One article is not enough, one blog is not enough, one white paper is not enough. So we have to keep putting it out.

SPEAKER_05 27:53

It's the older the PR rule of thumb. Say it, say it, and say it again.

SPEAKER_04 27:57

I was gonna say, I think you need to answer this question as well.

SPEAKER_05 28:00

Yeah, I think well, my answer is a bit of a cop-out. So um I have I was teed up a little bit before this panel having another panel on a similar subject before this uh at the show. But um, as a PR person, I think it's incumbent on the industry to stop being so defensive. I think that is absolutely critical. Um last year, I I don't know whether anybody saw, but there was a BBC article about water consumption in data centers, and the industry went mental, like literally like slagging off the journalists, tagging her on social media, like really kind of it, in my opinion, it was the wrong response. And then it got talked about on podcasts and panels for ages after. There was a small pocket of us that just went straight out and reached out to her and said, We're willing to engage, our customers are willing to engage. Like, you know, anytime you have queries, come knock on the door, we'll take you behind the scenes at some of these facilities. And her response was, I asked. I tried so many times, and no one would engage with me. Not just marketing teams, that is incumbent on them to go into communities, to provide proper education, to stop talking about PUE on the last panel. Oh my god. We got onto the subject of sustainability and water, and one of the answers was let's use closed-loop cooling systems. Like, man, you you're missing the point. If people don't understand what data centers are, you're not talking about this industry in a human way. Why the hell are they going to understand about a closed-loop cooling system? Like, this is the wrong, this is the wrong story to be telling. Anyway, I digress. So I I believe really the crux or the most important thing is to stop being defensive and for for any PR or marketer to to begin engaging. I think that's the most important thing that uh that that any company in this industry can start doing to uh to change perception. So, with that, I'm gonna stop rambling. I always find that uh the best things to come away from these panels with is advice. So I'm gonna put you all on the spot now. What uh beginning with you, Nicola, I'm sorry to do this to you as well, but beginning with you, Nicola, from a marketing perspective, uh what single piece of advice based on your own experience would you offer to the room and to anybody listening to this podcast when it goes live?

SPEAKER_00 30:14

Um, well, I'm gonna stick with my events theme because that's what I know uh the best. But I think the fact, again, that everybody is here today is um you know a fantastic step forward. And I would only encourage people to continue going to events, whether they are marketing events or industry events. I know I always find it so useful speaking to other marketers, getting to learn all their sort of experiences, exactly like what we're doing today. Um so I would just say lean in, maximize your time, get to know people, network, um, and just keep sort of getting out there in the industry.

SPEAKER_05 30:47

Thank you, Echanisa.

SPEAKER_01 30:50

You know, when we prepared this panel and you you said, Oh, I might ask this question, and I was like, I have the answer. Then I spent the last four days talking to people and I was like, this is a great piece of advice. This is a great now. I came here and I was like, what am I supposed to tell? You know, like the completely. Uh, but for me, it's really like to, I think I'm gonna go back to what I had in mind before, and I think it still applies, to be curious, to really like also lock in the time to be curious, because we need to change, like to shift our perspective on a lot of topics. Um, but we need a type to get into the headspace of doing that, um, to learn about not just new technologies, but to to really go around and ask questions and try to understand. Um, and I think that's the base of our work as marketers as well, communicators. And we are caught up often in metrics, events, a lot of other things which are all relevant, very important. Uh, but the day-to-day business takes over this creativity aspect, this thinking process, um, and we need to take and protect that kind of space.

SPEAKER_05 31:58

Be curious, make space to think. Nice. Thank you for the summary. That's what I'm here for.

SPEAKER_02 32:04

And like Agnesia, I've been having lots of conversations this week, and I've gone a little bit back and forth. I was thinking I was gonna say, like you're saying, go to events, network, connect with people, meet your neighbors, meet the people that does the same as you in the industry, and then now I'm gonna say instead, and I'll just I'm just advocating for what I want to do with capacity. Think about what we need to change for the industry. Come along, please help us change the perception of the industry and how do we talk to other people. This is not done in isolation. I don't have any of the answers, but you guys are professionals and you know exactly what happens in your industry, and we need to explain ourselves better. We need to be truthful. So I think that's my advice.

SPEAKER_05 32:55

Perfect. Andy.

SPEAKER_04 32:57

I was trying to think of something when you're talking. I think um my the advice I normally give on panels is take the story outside the industry, all right. Stop talking to each other. Yeah, go and go and tell everyone out it also it's the best industry in the world, go and tell people about it. Tell everyone what a great place it is to be, great place to work, great people, and you know, we are changing the world. But I don't think we're very good at communicating externally. So events are great for us communicating together, but get outside and go and talk to the real world and have some really dis real discussions about the industry and and what we're doing.

SPEAKER_05 33:33

Thank you.

SPEAKER_04 33:34

So that is the end of our very short panel.

SPEAKER_03 33:37

That's it for this episode of the Inside Data Center podcast. Thanks for tuning in. This show is brought to you by Data X and Data Exec, the recruitment partners powering global talent across the data centre and digital infrastructure world. If you enjoyed today's conversations, don't forget to follow, like, and subscribe. It really helps us grow the podcast community. Stay tuned for more stories, insights, and conversations with the people shaping the future of our industry.