The Business of Digital

In the second of our Leeds Digital Festival posts we look back at The Business of Digital event presented by Marketing Leeds. The event brought together leading thinkers from various industries to debate questions put forward by the audience and through Twitter.

The event had a very different feel to the previous evening's TEDxLeeds event, but in the same way TED did, provided some excellent content and insight from the panelists. On the panel sat Dr Norman Lewis of Open-Knowledge, Amanda Brown of First Direct, Kieron Matthews of The Internet Advertising Bureau, Daniel Pollick of DLA Piper and Buddy Ye of Shune River Media, who we had talked to the previous day here. The discussion was chaired by David Parkin - Editor of The Business Desk.

The panel discussed a range of issues from the typical 'What is the next big trend' stuff to perhaps the more interesting subject of what digital means to young people, or indeed if the term "digital" even exists in conversations between young people. Some comments that really caught my attention were 

"If you call a digital camera a digital camera and not just a camera, you are probably not a digital native"

"Young people used MySpace as a way to connect with their friends without their parents supervision, it was the meeting place where young people could talk and build their own personality in the same way we used to dress like the Beatles or the Rolling Stones to show ours"

"I have a 27 year old employee who has never read a printed newspaper, only online content"

These types of statements really illustrate the point well that things have changed with the next generation of consumer. They do not think about online or digital as being different to traditional media because websites, blogs, apps are their traditional media! 

'Mobile' was a subject discussed at length and as Buddy and I had discussed the previous day: is the area that every major brand is thinking about. The stats are even more startling in China, but a global trend is emerging that people are consuming more and more 'media on the move' and devices such as the iPhone, iPad have really helped to speed up this trend in the west. The panel agreed that mobile technology is changing communications and the way consumers interact with media content.

There were certain points the panel disagreed on such as Facebook. Dr Norman Lewis said adults were behaving like children trying to 'win a popularity contest' on the social network. Kieron Matthews disagreed saying that the older generation are using the network to stay in touch with friends and share family photos. I think there is some truth in both of these points of view: Some people think it is a popularity contest but also lots of people use Facebook instead of email and the photo-sharing is a massive reason for being on the network. Of course the fact that a Facebook App is much easy to access then a lot of email systems for mobile has helped this trend also. 

I really enjoyed the evening and speaking with a couple of people after the event it seemed that this discussion could of really opened up some eyes in the city to the potential of using digital and social media to help their companies / brands internally and externally. Sometimes it takes an organisation like Marketing Leeds to create this type of event in order to attract some of the more 'traditional' business leaders who may not attend some of the other more technical or creative events that take place in the city.

A job well done to everyone.

TEDxLeeds

Leeds Digital Festival was a series of events aimed at showcasing some of the most interesting digital talents and projects in the city. There were 'pillar' events like TEDxLeeds, The Business of Digital and The DADI Awards, and many more events such as Leeds Hack, The Musicians Social Media Surgery and The Web Changes Everything. 

The first event I attended was TEDxLeeds. This is an independently organised TED event. One of the main organisers of this is a good friend of mine: Imran Ali (more to come on Imran next week!) The event was well attended (almost 200 people I think) and featured a range of speakers. The aim of a TED event is to share interesting ideas and this event certainly delivered on that front. 

We heard about a number of different 'mapping' projects and ideas. Megan Smith spoke about her journey from Canada to Leeds and the things she mapped along the way. The points of relevance during her youth on a map of Ottawa was really interesting to see and made me think about how my own personal map may look. Megan also spoke about her project in Leeds: Our City, Our Music, which started as a way for her to get to know the city better. 

Following on from this Julian Tait from Future Everything spoke about 'emotional mapping' technology. This could be something really interesting for the future. It reminded me of the Wayne Hemingway speech in which he spoke about the journey from Leeds train station and the sights and sounds that greet someone for the first time in the city. Where would our high emotional points be?

Susan Williamson from Temple Works spoke next and was very entertaining. Some of her anecdotes were excellent. I had met Susan before when planning the 'Leeds in Barcelona' project and she definitely knows how to make the right connections to animate spaces. When she spoke about not using typical 'ABC' measurements, I was nodding in agreement. Far too many measurement and targeting tools employed by brands and governments are completely out of date. Susan spoke about a number of projects where the owner / developer thought they understood what the people wanted only to find out they were wrong. Malls in the Middle East, James Bond gadgets and shopping centres in the UK were cited as examples of the market wanting something very different in their city. I feel there is a lot of this in Leeds at the moment: too many new buildings and too many old ones left to ruin when they are actually way more interesting.

Usman Haque spoke about his company Pachube (Patch-Bay) and although technically some of this went over my head I could see the ideas and principles behind his presentation. His ideas about responsible energy were brilliant. I can imagine someone like Usman as a leader of the future when cities begin to think about their long term sustainability planning. 

Stuart Childs spoke about the 60 seconds project. He spoke very highly of AudioBoo. This is an app that allows you to record audio and instantly upload and geo-tag the file. This is an excellent example of the good work done by 4ip and it is a real shame to see that scheme come to an end. I think mapping audio is a great way to look back through history. Stuart spoke asked how Leeds might have sounded 50 years ago, would it be different? I would imagine it would be very different and wouldn't it be great to 'listen back' as well as look back at our history?

Matt Edgar spoke on 'The Makers of Leeds' His presentation was fantastic as usual and I always learn something new about my home city when listening to Matt. There is some amazing history in Leeds and it is perhaps something we should shout about a little louder. I will not attempt to cover all the info he provided, but click here to see more of his presentation.

Finally we heard from Rashik Parmar from IBM. Rashik spoke about 'Smarter Cities'. He used a number of examples to illustrate the un-sustainability of the current systems we have in place such as the example of how 76% of every apple in our supermarkets has travelled 3700 miles to be there... that is crazy! As Rashik spoke I could not help but think of the 'What if Leeds' project and how this talk could apply to that. It would be amazing if Leeds as a city could think more long term and plan now for a different, more sustainable future. His talk also reminded me of the 'Creative Cities' presentation I heard at the Leeds City Centre Vision Conference: The world is not about countries any more, it is about cities and Leeds needs to be thinking along those lines and listening to people with knowledge of the wider world rather then some of the current insular (verging on arrogant) thinking that is currently going on.

Overall I really enjoyed the event and a massive 'well done' goes to Imran and Emma from Screen Yorkshire on what was a successful event. I imagine most people at the event, like me, left the building with lots of questions about how these ideas can relate to Leeds. There was a nice mixture of people in the room and I can imagine some people enjoyed some of the presentations more then others but that is exactly the sort of event we need to bring different people of different backgrounds together to share thoughts and ideas. As Rashik said it is not up to Tom Riordan or some other 'knight in shining armour' to make our city great, it is up to all of us and I think TEDxLeeds could have planted some very interesting seeds for the future.

Hebe Media Talks To: Buddy Ye

This week as part of Leeds Digital Festival, Marketing Leeds are presenting the fourth event in their ‘The business of’ series: The Business of Digital. This will be a question and answer style event on the impact of digital technology on businesses. One of the panelists will be Buddy Ye, and I spoke with Buddy yesterday about his thoughts on the digital landscape and his trip to Leeds.

Buddy Ye is the Founder, CEO and Producer of Shune River Media, a Shanghai-based independent production house that is quickly emerging as a bridge between the rapidly growing Chinese media market and the rest of the world.

Buddy studied for his MBA in the UK at the Said Business School in Oxford and explained some of the differences between the different education styles at the time “For my generation the learning environment in the UK was much more open. Students would be encouraged to ask questions and try new things. This was different to China at the time, although things are gradually changing now”

After returning to China, Buddy set up WangYou, one of China’s first major social media platforms. The site focuses mainly on music and a massive percentage of the user generated content is Karaoke. “Karaoke is very popular with young people all across Asia. We provide the technologies for people to upload, rate and interact on their own user-generated content” Behind the scenes work is taking place on the next steps for WangYou as Buddy explains “We are currently working on the transition from web to mobile based versions of WangYou”

As we talk further, Buddy and I begin talking about the future more generally and how things may move forward in the coming years “Over the coming 10-12 years there will be a high-speed development of digital technologies and I think over the next 3-5 years content will play a more important role” says Buddy.

Which leads us on to discussing some of the reasons why he is visiting Leeds: “There is a high demand in China for international content. I am talking about animations, documentaries, films, what I would call professional digital content. I am here in Leeds to speak with digital professionals about some of the opportunities in the Chinese market and how we might work together in the future”

I look forward to meeting Buddy on Thursday at the Business of Digital event. It seems there are some potentially very interesting relationships and collaborations that could take place. The more international relationships we can build for the already exciting Leeds digital scene the better.

For more information about Leeds Digital Festival and to register for the event click here.

Leeds City Centre Vision Conference 2010

Last Friday I attended the City Centre Vision Conference at Clarence Dock, Leeds. I had immediate thoughts and ideas in my mind on Friday, but wanted to wait and think about what I wanted to post. Usually I will either post my immediate reaction or not post at all on these kind of events, so as to avoid debates about things I can not effect, but here goes...

The day featured key speakers from various sectors and backgrounds. Some of the speakers I found passionate and interesting but others seemed nervous with the upcoming spending review always in their thoughts. I personally think that although the current financial situation is going to hurt in the short term, it provides the perfect chance to 'rip up and start again' in certain areas. It also means that in my specialist area: international projects and collaborations, there will be smaller, more targeted campaigns and this is how we love to work anyway.

The Speakers

We heard interesting comments from the two most influential figures at the council: Tom Riordan and Keith Wakefield, the two seemed genuinely interested in improving the city and protecting frontline services under threat from the spending review. Sir Richard Needham spoke a lot about his time in Northern Ireland and Italy, and although sailing close to the edge with a couple of comments, seemed to entertain the crowd. I did not personally take much from the talk, perhaps because many of the stories were from before my time :s 

Gerald Jennings from Land Securities spoke about the new Trinity scheme currently under construction on Briggate (he also gave me a 'shout out' in his speech, which was nice!) I have spoken with Land Securities about Trinity on a number of occasions and retain my belief that the project has a long-term, strategic plan that is routed in deep research of Leeds and it's people.

Sally Anne Greenfield spoke about some of the work the Leeds Community Foundation undertakes and spoke with true passion.

Creative Cities

After lunch we heard from Evert Verhagen. I felt very much on the same wavelength as Evert. So much of what he said, I have been saying behind closed doors and during meetings in the past 12 months. It was interesting that, in my opinion, the most 'real' comments came from someone who has travelled and has an international perspective on things. 

Sometimes it takes some time away from a city to truly appreciate it. It allows you to get a real feel for it's international standing and reputation. By being away you miss things and remember things you did not appreciate while living there. Also you can see the comparison between your city and the others you live in. I certainly found this when living in Barcelona. Some things in Leeds are fantastic, others need work, but this is the same in any city, let us not kid ourselves that everywhere else is great and Leeds is bad. 

The thing that most interested me about the talk from Evert was when he spoke about the talent within a city and how that becomes your most valuable commodity. It must have hurt a few people in the room, when he suggested that the best creative people in Leeds may be thinking about the quickest way to get to London for the best opportunities. Of course there are exceptions, but this statement is certainly true for a lot of my peers.

Evert spoke a lot about how the world is now all about cities. We looked at various charts of the ‘best’ cities in the world, the obvious candidates were at the top: London, New York and Tokyo, but there were others on the list that really intrigued me. Copenhagen, Taipei and obviously Barcelona are cities that I know well and I think show what is possible by putting the talent at the forefront of a strategy and creating a culture and structure that facilitates innovation rather then stifles or modifies through outdated measurement tools and processes. 

From a personal point of view, I did notice the trend when graduating from the European Institute of Design only last year. Here was a class of around 150 fresh new creative talents who were looking to hit the world’s most interesting cities and begin/continue their careers. Some ended up in London and New York, but others chose other interesting cities: Copenhagen, Stockholm, Berlin, Sydney, Milan and others stayed in Barcelona. I would of loved to have suggested to some of these people that Leeds was a place to consider as a first stop after Barca, but unfortunately we do not have the right things in place to position ourselves on this list.

I made improving the city in this area and attracting the top talent and building that creative, innovative community my main priority after graduating. I graduated top of the class so could of gone to another city and easily done some of the projects I have had to fight tooth and nail to get off the ground in Leeds. I do it though, because I love this city and always find more reward in creating something new rather then joining something that is already underway and doing well. 

Workshops

Back to the conference and next up during the afternoon session was a series of ‘workshops’ where you could speak with fellow delegates about a certain subject. I had chosen ‘innovation’ before the event and found myself on a table with some interesting people. It seems innovation can mean different things to different people but overall I had the sense that we were all ‘kind of’ agreeing on what innovation was. We spoke about how in order to encourage or facilitate innovation the right conditions must be in place. I explained my ideas for creating a central hub or group where perhaps the seeds of a creative, trends-driven community could grow, but sitting in a room consisting mainly of council members and property developers my advice of ‘prepare to fail’ and ‘take risks’ did not seem to sit too easy. 

Final Thoughts

Overall I enjoyed the conference, it is always good to gain an insight into what other people in the city are thinking. Wether I agree or not with what was being said is not the most important thing, everyone in city has an ‘angle’ or area they are coming from so of course there are going to be disagreements. I know the area I am interested improving/creating in Leeds and have a really clear idea of how we can begin to do it, maybe by attending events like the one on Friday, I can get an even clearer understanding of what everyone else in the city wants and see if my vision fits into that or not.

Cultural Conversations: Tales Of Our Cities

Last Friday I attended Cultutal Conversations: Tales of our cities at the Round Foundry, Leeds. The event was the latest in a series organised by The Culture Vulture. During the event different conversation topics are proposed and you take yourself along to which ever one takes your fancy.

The subjects range from 'Blogging without fear' to 'What to do about the council' and the forumla works very well. I often found myself wanting to attend more then one of the conversations which is a great sign. The conversations I attended were 'What to do about the council', 'Better to ask for forgiveness then permission' and a subject which I proposed: 'Retaining Leeds talent'. In each group there are people of different levels of experience, different motives, varied interests and this difference in people often creates a lively dynamic and sometimes heated exchange of views. 

One thing I found myself saying over and over in all three conversations was "Just do it". I really believe that if people are passionate about a project or idea they will find a way to at least get it off the ground and after that anything can happen. There seems to be a lot of people in the city who are feeling the same way. Projects, some at idea stage, some at 'about to go mainstream' are happening all over Leeds. I hear a lot of talk about 'lets take action' and 'so what will be the result' etc and I think people who think of things purely in that way are missing a lot of the magic happening at the moment. There is a big shift taking place right now: people are talking, collaborating, making things happen and this is happening regardless of the support of government or funding bodies. 

The conversations taking place at the moment are building relationships, trust and creating spaces to share knowledge and skills. What I also like about these events is what they allow you to learn in a negative yet still constructive way also. There are people or projects that you will not immediately love or agree with, but this is all part of the process of people connecting. Like-minded people will connect and work together and the 'results' are already there to be seen.

After the afternoons events and conversations we moved onto the 'secret social' where we enjoyed drinks, music and delicious food thanks to Fish&. All in all it was an excellent day and evening, a big "thank you" goes to Emma, Phil, Mike and everyone else who helped to make the event a success.