FEDESSA Winter Workshop 2023

From Feb. 5 to 9, FEDESSA’s annual Winter Workshop was back on the program. Fellow vendor Bill Brennan of Storage Future, lead sponsor of the event, had persuaded me to come along and sponsor the workshop on behalf of USC. So on Feb. 4, I traveled by train toward St. Louis. St. Anton am Arlberg, Austria.

Relax

It is certainly not my intention to preach to you now on the train nor that I am so sustainable, but I can tell you that such a long train ride is quite relaxing. We rode through varied scenery and there was fine food and drink on board. And for me, I also had a whole pile of work to finish when I arrived.

Accommodation

Upon arrival, the added benefit was that the fine accommodation, something FEDESSA always understands well, was across the street from the train station. So I rolled from the train compartment right into the hotel room.
A nice company of about 30 people had also arrived by now. In addition to the usually English participants, representatives of Norwegian and Italian storage companies were now present. In short, very worthwhile.

Workshop

Monday morning kicked off with an engaging workshop by Laura Moxham, a now familiar presence within the UK storage market. Her story was about optimizing your website and the associated customer experience. Powerful handshakes were given and the company was enthralled.
Afterwards it was skiing time, because that’s what we came for, after all. The St. Louis area. St. Anton – Zürs – Lech forms a modern and extensive ski area. In the Netherlands, it is best known for the annual ski vacation of the Royal Family, which always resides at Hotel Gasthof Post in Lech.

Hotel Gasthof Post – Lech

State of affairs

At the beginning of the evening, everyone was updated by CBRE on the financial state of the self-storage market. There was a focus on the various mergers and acquisitions that took place in 2022. Fascinating info to talk about afterwards in the bar. There, the late hours were ticking by, so there was much to discuss afterward….

Automation

The second and already final day was kicked off by Rennie Schafer, CEO of FEDESSA. He told us how advancing automation is changing the market. Automation also involves much more than the pursuit of unmanned storage. Of course, it can also support operational management. We will return to this topic later this year.
Afterwards, we once again strapped on our skis, noticing that the Basecamp bar was already surprisingly full during the afternoon with Winter Workshop participants. English colleagues like to socialize….

High gas prices

After the necessary Jäger Bommen the company headed back to the hotel for the final workshop, this time conducted by Sara Brannan (yes, the wife of…). She talked about sustainability within the self-storage market. That’s where I scored nicely with my sustainable train trip after all….

So much for my impressions. Looking forward to the next Winter Workshop.

Jan-Hein Streppel