SAP Sustainability Events in Frankfurt

Part of SAP sustainability-branded area Peter Graf, SAP’s Chief Sustainability Officer Tobias Dosch of SAP and Pieter Schoehuijs, Chief Information Officer at AkzoNobel We are plugged The shark is hungry Karina interviewed – my turn next Formula 1 exhibit Co-CEO Bill McDermott – the word is ‘Sustainable’ Co-CEO Jim Hagemann Snabe

Took the Eurostar from London to Brussels yesterday, then an ICE train to Frankfurt, arriving late – but just in time for dinner with a number of people from SAP. Managed somehow to mislay the ticket I had printed off for the ICE train while still in London, and scrambled around Brussels to find a way of accessing and printing the ticket – trying first an internet cafe and then an Ibis Hotel, helped remotely by Sam. Luckily, we made it work – but I never came across the ticket again, suggesting some sort of Bermuda Triangle in my luggage.

Then up very early this morning to get to the Messe conference complex in time for a 07.00 start, with a breakfast-time panel discussion. Early hour meant slightly thin audience to begin with, though it filled out later, and we apparently had the biggest audience of all the sessions at that time. Extraordinary weather outside, with rain drumming on the conference centre roof, very audibly.

We did various interviews – for one showing me looking quite tired, and “jowly”, noted our erstwhile intern Zheng Jieying from Auckland, see here. In the early afternoon, there was a bigger panel session, during which I also trailed the “we’re moving from push to pull” in corporate sustainability reporting message, which will be central to our new report – The Transparent Economy – which launched next week at the GRI conference in Amsterdam.

Then I headed for the airport with co-panellist Karina Litvack of F&C.  When I opened a conference centre door to exit and collect my bag, a great heap of snow and sleet fell across me. Found out later  that my plane had been hit by lightning, so the passengers for Munich had to be transferred to another aircraft. All handled surprisingly smoothly.