30
Oct

TrendSlam Review

TrendSlam
Munich: TrendSlam at CScout
Review via PSFK: http://www.psfk.com/2006/10/psfk_were_kindl.html

Also check out the Pictures on Flickr.

PSFK were kindly invited to participate at the TrendSlam Munich event held by trend consultancy CScout in Munich. TrendSlam is a Pechakucha-like format, which allows speakers only five minutes of presentation time. TrendSlammers (PSFK lingo 🙂 were given five minutes.

The line-up was quite impressive, with topics ranging from sofa gaming via web2.0 applications to IPTV. The format itself really should be considered by event organisers; in practice, the audience only takes away the odd point of a presentation, be it 20 minutes or an hour long. So why not, rather than having few speakers with lenghty points, have plenty of speakers with one single “sell”?

Following are our notes from the presentations:


Monty Metzger, CScout

Monty kicked off the event by taking a view on three points:
1) Trend: a trend is a parameter (economic etc) that is developing, which will take an affect on our everyday lives. The trends that are presented at today’s TrendSlam will all matter in the near future.
2) Research.
3) International: important to be international in order to know what is happening elsewhere, Some trends are ahead of us (europe), therefore it is vital to know what is happening elsewhere before they arrive here.

Dr. Horst Stipp, NBC
This was an interesting one, “old media” on the stage. He asked: “Is it good that consumers are watching less ads?”. From the consumer perspective, it might be good. The problem is, how can content then be financed if there is little or no revenue from advertising?

An interesting trend in the US is that the TV stations in the US don’t see themselves as TV stations, but as content providers. Programmes can now be watched over various channels including iTunes. This also results in a larger, worldwide market.

Stefan Jenzowsky, Siemens
Stefan is a leading figure in innovaton at Siemens. Todays focus was on Digital TV / IP TV. Example of IP TV: streaming several versions of the same movie at the same time. One is normal with advertising, another is video on demand for later, perhaps even with a fee.

Time-shifted TV is becoming more and more important, and people are getting used to it. More efficient, advertising-free TV leads to more consumption of more other media, such as Newspaper, rather than more TV consumption.

Jürgen Habichler Atlas Ventures
One trend where Atlas has invested and which is important: Music. We are still at the beginning of a big trend. There is still a monopoly in content, the way users are using media is restricted by a few media players.

Atlas have invested in Songbird, which is an Open Source Media player solution offering plenty of features, including downloads, but free of restrictions. Songbird is currently in Beta mode.

Anina, 360 fashion
Anina stands beind a global project of trend members that use Web2.0 to produce content, presenting “each aspect” of the fashion industry. It is also possible to network via the platform.

Further, it is a platform for “small” players, that don’t have otherwise have access to classic channels, to present their offerings.

360 Fashion ran a big project “live media” during London fashion week, collecting photographs and other information and making them available through a blog.

Felix Petersen, Plazes
“Where are you?” is the one of the most freq asked question. Plazes answers this question. Felix took us through a demo: if you log on anywhere, plazes will put you on a map (“geopresence”).

It can be integrated with plenty of other services, for example geotagged flickr pictures.

Can be used to keep track friends and where they are, other conference participants etc. Social aspect: eg ranking restaurants, or showing the location of free hotspots. Interesting services coming up.

Rene Baisch, Sofatronic
DVD Games – “living room entertainment” are A new form of society games, gaming via DVD player and TV.

Will release “Wetten Dass” [most popular German entertainment show] on Game DVD this november, a release of 80,000 copies for the German market.

Philippe Souidi, CScout
Gaming has overtaken movies as a market. Currently, turnover is 300$m. there are gamers in all parts of the world, but there is potential in the German market. Here, only 2% of Players are female.

Presentation of Second Life: plenty of players, sheer size. SL is understood by marketers, because it is so similar to the real world. But it is not free of Spam.

Christoph Santner, Weimarer Visionen, The Future Kitchen
Bullet points:
“Create your own toolbox”
Quick and dirty – do what you want
“Analog nostalgia”: people want to communicate in real. Two weeks ago ran the “Weimarer Visionen” – Trend innovations.
“Be King” – everyone can be their own king.
“Basteln 2.0” – Handywork 2.0 where people work together on handicrafts

Florian Forster, Fon
Fon want to become the largest hotspot community in the world. Already now the largest in Germany, only in six months. It’s taken that short time to achieve what Telekom did in years.

Fon gives out free routers. The principle is to share wifi with anyone. Usually, most hotspots are closed. Fon are open, any WiFi device can hook up. There are various models: open and free, non “Fonistas” (Fon users) can buy a day ticket.

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