Free webinar | 16th September 2026 | 11:00am
Collaboration, early engagement, and education.
All familiar phrases when it comes to discussing specification. But what do they mean in practice? And, more importantly, how can manufacturers genuinely engage with the people influencing product decisions across the built environment?
This webinar, hosted by School of Specification, offers a rare opportunity to hear directly from architects, technologists and other specifiers about how they discover, assess and select products, what they value from manufacturers, and why some brands become trusted partners while others struggle to gain traction.
Chaired by Kate Perrin, Marketing Director at Barbour ABI, and featuring a panel of practicing architects, architectural technologists and other specifiers alongside John Ramshaw, Technical Editor at Architecture Today, this webinar will provide marketers with direct insight into the challenges, frustrations and opportunities that shape manufacturer-specifier relationships today.
Whether you’re responsible for marketing, communications, product management or specification strategy, you’ll come away with a clearer understanding of how specifiers make decisions, what influences their choices, and how manufacturers can better support the design process.
What we’ll discuss:
- The current specification landscape: what’s changing, what’s creating pressure for specifiers, and where manufacturers can provide genuine value.
- What “early engagement” really looks like in practice and where manufacturers have the greatest opportunity to influence decisions.
- How specifiers discover, assess and shortlist products today.
- What information specifiers need at different stages of a project and where manufacturers most commonly fall short.
- What separates trusted technical partners from manufacturers perceived as simply trying to sell.
- How content, CPDs, events, digital channels and technical expertise can help build credibility throughout the design process.
- Common frustrations that prevent productive manufacturer-specifier relationships.
- Practical ways manufacturers and suppliers can improve engagement and add value.
Meet the panel
Our panel brings together practising architects, architectural technologists and editorial experts, each offering a different perspective on how specification decisions are made, influenced and supported throughout the design process.
Our speakers include:
- Kate Perrin, Marketing Director at Barbour ABI
- John Ramshaw, Technical Editor at Architecture Today
- Mark Schumann, Regional Director, Matthews Real Estate
- Paola Boffo, Head of Specification, Wilkinson Eyre
- Scott Farrar MCIAT, Associate Technologist, Scott Brownrigg
Register your place
Register today to hear directly from the people influencing specification decisions and gain practical insight into how your brand can build stronger relationships, provide greater value and improve specification outcomes.