Another year ... another NAB ... It took me a while to write down my reflections; one of the reasons was the unexpected delay of eight days to return due to the volcanic ash in the air that disturbed the airline schedules.
This year the organizers changed the layout of the floor, resulting in the move of several companies to new places, including IBM. As usual, I used my time in between lectures and customer meetings to rush around and get updated on new stuff around. The conference lectures were a bit disappointing, to many US speakers, neither burning new topics, nor provoking point of views. All in all a bunch of smooth pitches about what will and might come, but very cautious in terms of timing. Most things ‘might’ start this and next year ….
I had a long day at a colloquium at the University of Tilburg. Several young PhD students reported on the status of their research, must admit that several topics where advanced and interesting. On my way back home I had that evening a second event, the 15th anniversary of MediaNet Vlaanderen, the association of the media industry in Flanders.
The promising agenda:
- a reception: I was impressed by the number of participants, including several people from non-member organisation. It has been a while ago that I've seen such a successful event. The organisers must have done a great job to get all these people into a single place.
- a speech of honour for Herman Smedts, the president of MediaNet Vlaanderen who passed away recently, by Jozef Mertens (VMMa). A moment to look back at the 15 years and how the organisation has grown over time.
I thought that writing a book would be easy, until now! I started 18 months ago and creeping forward. For those who don't know, I am writing a book on cloud computing in the media industry in collaboration with the Tilburg centre for Creative Computing at the University of Tilburg.
Initially I created a rough outline by defining on a very high level the content of each chapter. With my analytical mind I made a nice planning for each chapter, quarter by quarter. With that planning in mind it would go smooth and straight forward. Now 18 months later I must admit it's not an easy road to ride, roadblocks everywhere. Research of information takes far more time then estimated, reviewing content and doing corrections is painful. Especially as I have the remaining chapters in my head, but still struggling in perfecting the previous chapters. I managed to write till chapter 5, this means I am 2 chapters behind to the initial planning. It's getting painful to move forward, to find the energy to pencil section by section.
Ook de brochure ontvangen van Dela uitvaarverzerkeringen moet de foto van Koen Wouters? Toch wel straf hoe men met angst probeert iemand een verzekering te verkopen. Onder het moto van 'later is het allemaal onbetaalbaar' kan je beter nu een verzekering afsluiten. Je kan dan je eigen uitvaart 'regelen'.
Sorry, als een uitvaart later veel te duur is dan kan je maar beter direct dood vallen. En hoe zit het eigenlijk met de garantie op de kwaliteit van de dienstverlening? Je kan enerzijds zelf je ongenoegen niet uiten als lijdend voorwerp, en anderzijds hebben de nabestaanden geen verhaal gezien alles op voorhand is voorzien.
Eens beniewd hoe de volgende campagne er zal uitzien. Iemand een idee?
Last week a event organised by Medianet Vlaanderen hosted by Outside Broadcast. After the introduction by Timo Koch, several association members presented their company and the offerings. We also had the opportunity to visit the facilities of Outside Broadcast.
I had my part of the agenda, although it was not my day. The event was concluded by an informal BBQ.
I was invited to join the bi-annual Le Bourget airshow. The show is an excellent occasion for networking with the Flemish business community.
We stayed with the delegation at a small hotel in Hostellerie Du Royal Lieu in Compiègne, near Le Bourget. The place has been renovated by the new owners, and the dinner served was excellent! The show itself was exhausting, running around from left to right for meetings and in between take glimpse of the show.
Was worth spending the time, and I got an update on the innovation in the aviation industry.
Some pictures: On the right hand side the impressive tail wing of the Airbus A380
Another year ... another NAB ... another outstanding event for IBM. last year was already quite different from the years before, but this year the changes are drastic. Seems that the economic environment has put the media companies in a rollercoaster. Tradition media companies are seriously challenged.
In between the lectures and customer meetings I rushed around to get updated on the new stuff. I though that HD-TV would be the hype this year, but no .... interesting trends around where:
As I am working in the media it was time to get involved, thus I decided to join Facebook (het grote smoelenboek) and had my first experiences. A lot of junk, but interesting how fast the community of friends is growing. Curious where this will end.
Someday I decided to change my mailfooter, you know the ugly think that appears in every mail and to fill up your mailbox. This time a graphical footer, as embedding in a mail works fine between different mail clients. The mail footer of Dominique Cerutti (for those who don't know him just google his name) is a fresh and attractive design. I requested a similar one ... here the result
