Next Practices – How cool a phrase is that! Well the first time I heard it, it was in the context of ICCO – the International Communications Consultancy Organisation, and the theme for the ICCO Global Summit 2006.
That was early this year… the Summit is now concluded… and all the speakers and delegates have gone home.
In the mean time I not only got involved with creating communication for the Summit (full disclosure here) I also attended it as a paying Delegate.
But whatever I say here is purely from the perspective of someone who paid good money to get something in return. Here’s what I got.
Next Practices – yup! I discovered what they’re all about. And I also learnt a lot about next markets, next consumers, and next opportunities – but not necessarily from the speakers.
Well like all conferences I’ve attended, some speakers were brilliant, and some were complete boors! Some made a lot of people see sense, and some made a lot of people snore.
Allow me to elaborate:
If you are a person like me with your ear to the ground, and a finger on the pulse of consumers and media – there were few surprises at the Summit.
But then, not everyone is like me, so I saw plenty of jaws drop and heads shake in awe at the insights and perspectives that were shared.
The ones who stood out (even for me) among the lot of speakers were: Harold Burson, Louis Capozzi, Paul Taaffe, Aedhmar Hynes, Jairam Ramesh, Esther Dyson, and Christopher Graves.
The ones I wanted to hear some more were: Paul Holmes, Tarun Das, Bill Rylance, Doug Hauger and Jean-Leopold Schuybroek.
The ones who had something potent to share, but didn’t get due justice were: Yann Risz and Advait Kurlekar (I’ll explain how and why in subsequent posts).
The top prize for sheer attitude and energy would be shared between: Christopher Graves, Simon Quarendon, and TN Ninan.
Among the extra curricular sessions: I’d say the most mind opening session was the one with Jamling Norgay!
The second day was better than the first, even though every session on the first day ended bang on time… hey hang on a bit..! That’s why the second day was better – the first day so cut and dried on time, it became boring, and there was hardly any interaction! It’s on the second day when the process took a beating, and everyone asked questions, that the Summit actually became more enjoyable!!
Overall, I’d say the Summit was a success, not just in terms of attendance, but also in terms of learning.
While Simon Quarendon dished out some amazing stats in his vote of thanks to prove the attendance bit, my following posts will give you a session-by-session run down on the learning at ICCO Global Summit 2006!
Stay tuned… Next Practices & Co… Coming up… next!
