On 24th of November, TEDx
Athens took place, dedicated to The Ones Who Do and I was there. It was the first time of attending a TEDx
(live I mean because I watch TED & TEDx videos frequently) and I could say
that it was a kind of a “master course” for me. Of course it was obvious that
networking is the number one “trend” all over the world as most of the
presenters were friends of the organizers!!! (and believe me it’s not so easy
to become a member of this network…). In the beginning this frustrated me (I
felt like an outsider having nothing in common with all these people-organizers
and presenters) but during the course of the event and by listening very
interesting presentations this feeling started to “evaporate” and its place was
taken by a willing to prove to myself that I have many things in common with
all of them and that I am one of the ones who do!!!
Two presentations put a “dent” in my “inner-universe”.
The first one was given by Lars Rasmussen,
the guy that “invented” Google Maps. He made two main points: “Never Give
Up & It doesn’t matter how many things you know but WHO you know!!!”
The second one was of David Shing, AOL’s
Digital Prophet. He spoke about the digital future and what might come up in
tomorrow’s digital era. Let me “transfer” to you some of my new “learnings”,
some of his prophecies:
7+ billion people on the planet exist and
the 50% of them are under the age of 30. There are
6+ billion mobiles and 1 + billion of them are smart phones. 2+ billion people
are connected to the internet. 70% of
them are online reading blogs and 57% of
them prefer to speak to others digitally.
He said that it’s incredible time to be
digital, to be a marketer, to be a brand ambassador.
He believes that social networking (openness,
participation, communication, conversation, connectivity) is “old” and that
portals, search, blogs and feeds accelerate fragmentation.
He stated that we have moved from information
age to social age and the future will be the INTEREST AGE. Consumers’ taste has
changed. They don’t download too many applications any more, but they pay more
for them. Consumers want to know the brand’s impact on society, they want conversations
and not campaigns and chatter.
He thinks that Mobile sites (HTML5) are the
future, bridging digital with physical in a simple, easily understandable and
beautiful manner. Usage of QR Code indicates that mobile is the new cash
register. Take a look at the youtube video of Virtual QR Code Supermarket in Korean Subway-Tesco. Check also the The World's First Digital Botlle Top.
He underlined that brands should be reactive, relevant and remarkable, that they should curate and provide better experience to people and tha niche is the mainstream.
And guess!!! He mentioned aslo Gamification!!! He referred to it as "Gamification of Your Life" and he believes that redeeming check-ins for social goods is the future!!!
So the trend: Gaming, Augmented Relationships and Cause Marketing within the framework of Technology-Content-Distribution.
Finally, I will close this small
presentation of TEDx Athens with some "sayings" of Bindi Karia, a VC/Emerging
Business lead for Microsoft UK and member of Silicon Valley Emerging Business
Team (she left Microsoft and jointed Silicon Valley Bank's UK Branch in November 2012):
“If you cannot find a job create your
dream job”, “Don’t be scared of asking and don’t be scared of failure”, “Create
an eco-system, learn from each other” and “If you keep giving you will get back”!!!
Dimitra Zervaki
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