Former WIRED editor Chris Anderson with Elon Musk. image source: cnn.com
Well, the Interactive folks are clearing out and the Music folks are streaming in, but here’s one final post from me before I go. I won’t try and give you a definitive summary of this year’s event, it’s way too broad for that, but I will leave you with some of the topics and trends that have dominated the panels and gotten the most social media activity. I mention each of these in the previous video blog, but hey, some people still like to read. (That’s less and less true online, so here are some photos just to break up the words:)
I don’t know about our online viewers, but that guy in the background is loving it!
Hey, I took a lot of notes. Now where is that rag?
OK, now back to the trends:
1. Space, the final frontier!
From Elon Musk’s day 2 keynote to several panelists from NASA, space is back on the radar. The privatization of the industry as a whole, as well as some serious investments from some wealthy and courageous people like Musk and Richard Branson have put the moon, and Mars, back within reach.
2. Merging the digital with the physical.
Now that digital devices and media have become a daily part of our lives, the next step for digital planners and designers is to make that technology more useful, more engaging, less intrusive and more stylish. Its everything from wearable technology to smart devices for your home to personalized (and therefore useful) advertising.
3. “Big Data”
Now that it’s available to brands and consumers alike, what are we going to do with it? Learning how to analyze the data came first, behavior change comes next.
4. “Entrepreneurship”
To be effective in this digital age is to be courageous and unafraid of failure. Dive in, whether you are an agency, a developer or a start-up. The CEO of Jawbone talked about “data-driven intuition.” Technology can take us farther than ever before, but we have to have the insight and courage to make great big leaps.
Wearable tech: useful and beautiful
