Know Before You Go | Platform Global 2026

Welcome, welcome, welcome everyone to know before you go. I am your host Jamie Scott Kataya, CEO and founder of JSA. What's No Before You Go? It is your show that covers everything attendees should have on their radar. We're talking insider talking points all the way to conference logistics, everything in between. So, you are ready for your next big event. And today we are spotlighting none other than Platform Global 2026 taking place September 8th through the 10th in MT France. Fabulous location. And talking fabulous, I am joined by my very good friend Nicola Hayes, chief marketing officer of Platform Markets Group to share some tips on how our attendees can make the most of this year's platform global. Welcome. Welcome Nola. >> And welcome to you Jamie, my friend. It's so lovely to see. is always a pleasure to be on your stage. Um, and a delight to catch up and can't wait to see you next month. >> So exciting. Platform Global celebrating its fifth anniversary this year. I remember when you were just turning one. So, congratulations. Congratulations. As someone who was involved in the development and launch of this event, the very early days, go ahead and tell us how it has evolved over these past five years and adapted to our crazy current industry landscape. Oh gosh, it is crazy, isn't it? I mean, either the stuff that we are talking about today wouldn't have even been on any of our minds five years ago. Um, and you you were involved in that very first event and you really helped us out. So, we're forever grateful to the JSA team. Um, but I mean content's our forte. That's where we've come from. We developed this with content in mind. There are a myriad of events on the calendar, all of which are fabulous. huge amount of kudos to all those those mega events with the PTCs and the data clouds with large exhibitions and hundreds of people, but we wanted to do something a little bit different. We wanted to bring it back to content and because we're so content focused and our agendas are completely developed by industry experts. It means that our program each year is up to date. We look at what's gone on, what is happening, and what the future is. And so each year our program changes slightly, but we are on the pulse of what is happening. Thank thanks to the research that we're doing all year and the people that we're talking to and our fabulous team. Um so basically I mean our event is led it's led by what's going on. That's that's the our secret source. >> Yeah. And and it's working for you. And I can I can uh I can be a voucher because I remember always you guys having your your your finger on the pulse of our industry. And again, you've built a reputation also because of content for attracting a highly senior audience. We're talking nearly 70% seale attendees. That's insane. And we're, you know, these are investors, operators, developers, real estate leaders, adviserss from across our ecosystem. So, everyone, the who's who, if you will. >> What is it about this audience mix that really makes your conversations at platform so valuable? Do >> you know, and again, it stems from the program. What we've done is we've tried to develop something that our audience wants. Um, and it seems to be working because as you've mentioned, we get all those really senior people here. But the gosh, the digital infrastructure ecosystem, I mean, we've both been knocking around it for quite some time now that it it it's always been complicated, but over the last 5 10 years, I mean, it is it's it's the most complicated and complex in terms of all the different players that need to be in the room to make sure anything happens. So no one 5 years ago when we started this was even thinking about talking to the energy providers for example. We talked about energy. We were having conversations about them behind their back but we weren't bringing them into the actual conversation. >> That's right. >> You we can't do that anymore. You know they're that key piece there. And this is being driven by the investors. It's been driven by everybody there and by having all of those senior key ecosystem people within the room. um it just means that those discussions take on a different level of complexity and they can actually turn into proper strategic outcomes as opposed to just well this is what we should be doing. It's this is what we are going to do because without the investors in the room without the operators without the energy providers as well as the energy advisers and the policy makers because obviously policy at the moment is right up there as well with with all the geopolitical side of things. Um, it's just like baking a cake. It's putting all the right ingredients into one big mixing bowl. Those ingredients being the audience. Um, and the recipes are agenda. And when you get that right, Mary, Barry, eat your heart out. So we think, you know, it's so long as we keep doing that and keep doing that well and keep staying on top of what we intended to do in the first place. Um hopefully that will continue because as an industry, if we don't have those conversations with the right people, if we don't have them there, you know, we there are so many bottlenecks. There's so many areas of contention right now that it needs all of those players in the room to actually come up with some proper sensible solutions. >> Yeah. Uh and and not only do you have those right players in the room, you also have them talking. More than 100 expert speakers are on your agenda, which is insanity. I mean, you look at your agenda, key themes, market pressures. You guys are talking about the quality content at the right time in the right room from the experts themselves. Really uh critical. So why are those conversations important for leaders making investments, developments, growth decisions today? >> It's really important that we learn from our peers that we hear from all our peers because we can solve huge complex problems when we all put a load of heads together of very very sensible, senior, and very intelligent people in the same room. Um, and the topics, the way that it's quite difficult to work out when we start doing all of this, what topics should actually be on there, because you've got to look at the recurring themes. We have things that are on there every single year. You know, our winners and losers presentations, our looking at investment themes, um, operator issues, etc. But the nuances of those conversations change, the focus yeartoyear changes. And what we've seen over the last 5 years, the content is things that we talk about one year, we actually then see conversations happening about how it's been implemented. So it was just a thought in someone's head one stage one year ago, two year ago, and then we get to hear about how it's been implemented and what the issues have been. Um, but every year it changes. You know, it it the stuff that comes up it I it is insanity. We could have a five-day program and still not cover everything that is on people's minds. So one of our big jobs is to try and pair it all back and make sure that we're focused and that we're giving the audience exactly what they want. So last year we had things like quantum edge computing GPU as a service which I don't think had been on any conference programs at that point. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Oh, she's so lovely. >> Just bombed our our thing. All right. >> Fantastic. >> Close the door. Close the door. >> Sorry. >> This is the reality of working moms. I mean, hello. So, that was my little Ava. >> It's fabulous and it's always lovely to see Ava. Um, one day she'll be on our program, Jamie. You never know. >> I think she was just, [laughter] >> but all of these areas that, you know, last year we were looking at, they're still there this year and they're still on the program, but in a different context in that where has it moved on from there? Where is it going? How are people actually implementing the things that we talked about as potentials last year and of course this year? energy. We've got the energy providers actually in the room which is great but also and this is where you know JSA is fabulous. Our industry is is at a crisis point in terms of perception. You know we spent so many years under the radar which we all complained about when we tried to explain in what our jobs were. Our parents just looked at us blankly and had no idea. Um personally I'd like to go back to that because I don't want my children telling me that I'm in an industry that is destroy destroying the planet which is now what's happening. And so I think from that PR perspective and that negative industry some marketing and PR things that have been sort of on the back burner from the board level from the investor level they're they're now board level issues they're investor level issues and so we've got sessions on community impact and how you manage to integrate into communities and of course your own JSA breakfast briefing to explain to the people that really need to know this stuff why it's important and how to do it properly and how we show a united front to show that we are not actually destroying the planet. >> Yeah, we're we're thrilled and honored to be able to to have that breakfast platform. Um and uh and it's a critical critical time in our industry right now to uh really engage our communities, learn how to be better neighbors, learn how to listen more, uh stand up as as not just uh data center operators or investors, but also of course as neighbors. um community-minded uh family members >> but also talking about it Jamie that what the thing that there's lots of lots of companies in our sector doing really fabulous things and I've talking to lots of community officers which is now a board level position within colloccation providers but nobody knows about it they don't they're not telling the story so I think >> I I really really think that senior level that sea level and that investor community need to stand up and start taking notice and realizing they need to invest in that storytelling. >> We've got several case studies that we're going to bring to the table as well. So, to share uh other leading practices and uh to hopefully inspire others to to continue to do it in their their neck of the woods. So, your global platform is a fabulous place for this. And we should also mention that one of the differentiators of platform global is your focus on this quality networking. You know, not just meeting more people, but creating access. and we're talking access to uh community-minded initiatives to the next investment to the next partnership to the next deal. So, how is your event intentionally designed to help attendees have these high value like you said strategic conversations? It's I the I've thought about this and you know since since I would was asked this question by your team I've gone over and over in my head with this because there's lots and lots of different reasons but at the end of the day it comes back to the program. We have an event where everybody at the event is in that auditorium. >> They're all listening to those same conversations. They're chatting with their neighbors sitting either side of them in front of them behind them about those conversations and it starts there. The next thing is keeping everybody on site. Instead of people going off to different bars, they're there on site and they're not scared to have the conversation with the person in the coffee line. Because as you know, we've all been to millions of the mega events. It can be really difficult to network with the people you want to speak to. It can be hard to find them. It can be really intimidating. But when you're in an environment where you know everyone there is your peer and you're all there for the same reason, you don't mind having a chat in the coffee queue. you're talking about the content you've just heard in the auditorium and then that leads into bigger and deeper conversations. You're not worried someone's going to try and sell you a bus bar or a GPU. You know, it's you're you're having those strategic conversations. And to that end, we try and make sure that we've cured as many experiences within that as possible from a seated lunch. Gosh, going back 20 years ago, any conference, it was always a seated lunch. And then we moved to this awkward thing where you go to the buffet and you'd be stood there with a tray and a thing and your mouth full of food and and trying to have a conversation and it just doesn't work. And so we brought it back to that seated lunch environment which everyone loves. You don't know who it's not a seating plan. You sit with whoever's there and you chat and you you engage. And it might be that the conversation you have turns into something this month, or it might be several years down the line, but you're creating those intimate connections and relationships that are actually really good for the business. And you're not standing there with your mouth full trying to balance different things while you're trying to eat some le sandwich. We're in France for goodness sake. We've got wonderful food. >> Yes. Well, let's talk because >> it's such a distinctive setting in itself. I mean, you guys do it right all the way through. Um, and we talked about the seated lunch, but what other not to be missed networking moments, receptions, experiences do you guys uh have have in line for our >> Well, we've got this year we've got it's our fifth anniversary as you mentioned. I can't believe we're five. Um, it's gone by a blur. So, we we've got our little fifth year birthday party. There will be cake because we can't have a birthday party without cake obviously. Um, we've got on the day before the event, we always have an icebreaker reception where people can come and register, chat to people, get to know them beforehand. We've up the game slightly this year. We put the awards ceremony on that night and also our Nordic Investment Forum during the day. So, we are we go from the icebreaker reception straight into our beach party. And I'm I'm so chuffed in my strap line for this. Honestly, you know, when you're in marketing and all of a sudden you come up with something and it's like, actually, I really love this and I need to tell everybody. It's it it's it's forget black tie, get beach vibes, which sums up our whole conference because it is a load of senior people. It is people that are, you know, used to going to the black tie dudes and things, but but that's not the vibe in Ont. It's a chilled, informal, but still senior level. So, so we've got our feet in the sand and the waves and a beautiful barbecue on the beach that is open to every single attendee um on the night before the conference. So, of course, you get to know who's won our awards this year, which um if you want to see the short list is on our website at the moment. Oh, and things like the run. Gen plus one do a brilliant job. They're an organization aimed at getting younger people into the industry. They do a fabulous job. Um run all sorts of initiatives, but what we love them for is the fact they come every year and they organize a 5K run on the morning of day two. And again, one, if you're into running, which I'm I I I'm not. I wasn't built for running. Um have other other areas that I do excel at. That isn't one of them. But the people that do love it, love one, it's out in the fresh air. It's along the seafront of France. It's another opportunity to just chat to people who are doing the same thing that you enjoy doing. >> Yeah. No, I love that. And yeah, of course, also we're in France, so champagne may be fun. >> Oh, champagne interviews. That was our genius idea last year. Um there's still coffee breaks. You know, everyone loves their coffee, but we are in France, so we also have champagne interludes. >> It's It feels right. It does feel right. [laughter] >> It does. And I It's joyous. We We all love being there. We It's It's stressful in the run-up to it, obviously. But every single year when we're there, we've just got smiles on our faces the whole time because it's a lovely atmosphere. People are learning and they're going away with proper insight with things they can take into their own businesses and it's just joyful. >> It is joyful. That is the word. Uh Nola, thank you so much for joining us, especially these uh these days running up to your big event. I know your time is precious and we so so appreciate you uh helping our industry get together, network, educate, learn from one another. uh the platform is uh an incredible experience uh and to see you celebrate five years is is uh it's amazing. So thank you. Thank you for all you >> you were there at the beginning. So again thank you to JSA and your fabulous team >> and guys to get all the details to prepare for your platform global go ahead and check out platform-markets.com/global. Remember she teased up. That's where you can see uh the the folks that are in line to win some awards coming soon. So uh definitely check that out. And during the conference, go ahead and use platform global. Also guys, we have a discount code. So if you're watching this and you haven't yet registered, use the discount code JSA10 to save on your registration. That QR code is uh over my shoulder. So go ahead and and check it out. In the meantime, follow us on LinkedIn or find us out more on jsa.net. Thank you always for tuning in to know before you go and happy networking.