Forgot to get back about the environmental norm. In warm weather it's sandals everywhere, from flip flops to dressy ones like I usually wear. People usually wear heels and dress up quite a lot to the networking events (used to) I go to.
The pencil/tube skirts I usually wear work best with heeled sandals, but flowy midis could be ok with lower heels since they're more casual. Not sure I want to overhaul my whole wardrobe again like that!