As I was sitting in my lounge chair on New Year’s Day reading the newspaper, I tried to get my head around 2025. I don’t know about you, but I haven’t felt this much excitement for a New Year in a long time. It feels as if change is in the air. Yes, there is a lot of turbulence too, but it is during those periods when creativity seems to flourish.

It’s going to be a pretty unique year all the way around. 2025 is the rare perfect square year, meaning it’s the square of an integer: 45. Soak it in, because this will be the last perfect square year you experience: The last time it happened was 1936 (the square of 44) and the next time will be in 2116 (46 squared).

More importantly for our industry, 2025 is going to be a busy year. The idea of work is on the agenda for just about everyone — where people work, how people work and the best places for people to work. And to figure all that out, the industry is going to do a lot of gathering at some amazing events this year.

Attending industry events is a critical way of staying abreast of this fast-changing industry. You simply cannot do your job to its fullest without participating in the industry and that means attending important industry events.

The beginning of the year starts out with a bang with the BIFMA 360° conference. If you’ve never attended this event, designed to empower industry executives with new thinking and new trends, you should make plans to be at the Park Hyatt Aviara Resort and Golf Club in Carlsbad, Calif. from January 27-29. It is a fantastic event filled with first-rate speakers.

Of course, spring brings Salone in Milan followed by Clerkenwell Design Week in London. But I also want to direct your attention to Connect & Thrive, the INDEAL Champion Conference. This immersive 3-day event is designed to equip INDEAL Champions (the key point of contact within their dealership) with meaningful opportunities to engage with INDEAL Brand Partners, develop knowledge of key program benefits, and walk away with an actionable plan to initiate growth and success within their organization. For the first time ever, the conference is taking place April 7-10 in and around THE MART in Chicago, which will allow INDEAL Brand Partners to roll out the red carpet for the Champions who are attending.

Speaking of Chicago, it is impossible to ignore NeoCon and Design Days, scheduled for June 9-11 at THE MART and in Fulton Market. INDEAL will have a strong presence at NeoCon again this year with its Connection Hub.

There are a host of sector-specific events on tap, including HD Expo+Conference in Las Vegas May 6-8 serving the hospitality market, Healthcare Design Conference+Expo in Kansas City Oct. 25-28 and EDspaces in Columbus Nov. 5-7. Configura’s CET Experience, a key event for dealer designers, also takes place in the fall.

This is just a small sampling of what the industry has in store for 2025. There are countless other smaller events and happenings that are worth attending as well. The bottom line is this: To stay current on the industry, its research and the latest thinking about the workplace, you must attend industry events.

If you simply cannot attend these events, we’ve got you covered with officeinsight and viewpoint magazines. Watch for the latest issue of viewpoint magazine in your email this week. And if you are not subscribed to officeinsight magazine, take a moment to sign up for a subscription.

I can’t wait to take the journey with you this year.