Guest Post by Paul Armstrong, Head of Social at MindshareĀ (and former in-house corporate communications expert at MySpace)Ā
Itās not your typical conference that would present you with details on how computer hackers are ridding the world of malaria. I was lucky enough to join the other delegates at the inaugural two-day Wired Conference last year and this yearās conference (in a much better location) was equally (if not more) impressive. Not just because it has myriad smart people attending but also because they speak in such a personal way.
The amount of smarts and passion in the room is palpable and it often takes a few days for it all to sink in. Some speakers receive rapturous applause during their presentations for their contribution (MITās Ramesh Raskar for developing the smartphone eye test) and others receive gasps when people realise what they have just seen and the impact it will have on the world.
The delegates include people from the advertising, media and technology world as youād expect but also people from the music industry, creative agencies, manufacturers and public services.
What quickly becomes apparent is the networking that goes on ā itās far from the usual same old, same old card swapping, the conversations are in-depth and real collaborations have been born I heard from conference go-ers.
The best session for me was the ādataā section. Not only did it inspire, shock and amaze me but it also made me think about how I use data and how weāll use it in the future if, as recent research suggests, weāll be using information outside of the open (yet closed) networks we pump our information into. Look out for the video of the talk by Stephen CohenĀ -his description of the software that enabled authorities to close a drug ring was fascinating (and much tweeted!).
Two amazing sections/speakers you canāt afford to miss are below ā although the choices likely biased because of my job title ā both Troy Carter and Mona Ethalway paint very different pictures of social media, its future and its power.
Troy Carter (Lady Gagaās Manager) explained why micro-networks are so important to the future of the internet – watch it here.
Mona Eltahawy, in comparison, discussed how mass networks mean nothing if, when the time comes (as was the case in Egypt), they do not leave Twitter and meet in the real-world – watch it here.