The day had finally arrived. After months of planning, TEDxNewSt was taking to the stage at the Deloitte New St Auditorium in Central London.
Our CEO Jim Prior, Ogilvy’s Rory Sutherland and The Sound Agency’s Julian Treasure, were realising the dream they had conceived at the TED Global conference in 2009: Could they produce a TED event dedicated to a marketing and advertising audience, and would anyone come?
Not only were people applying to attend in their masses (we ended up being 400% oversubscribed for the event), but speakers were lining up to take part.
The conference was based upon the theme of ‘Why Better Human Understanding is the Key to Future Business Success’, and was broken down into four sessions over the course of the day.
The first session, Future Thinking was ‘an examination of how the mind works – what, how, where and why do we think’. This session included talks from advertising and behavioural economics legend Rory Sutherland who looked at the way we consider and purchase and how subjective that decision really is. BBH’s mobile (and gambling) afficiando Peter Sells presented the argument that not all data and research can be a true indicator of human behaviour. The (incredibly moving and inspiring) neuro-scientist Jill Bolte Taylor discussed the disconnect between the traditional left and right brain and how she monitored her own brain pattern during a massive stroke. IPA winner Tim Jones discussed the rising emergence of gaming principles in brand communications and how it appeals to consumers emotional needs, and the King of (Quite) Interesting facts John Lloyd filled our heads with insight and knowledge of varying human behaviours, past and present.
Rory Sutherland - A Few Lessons Governments Could Learn From Marketers
Peter Sells - A Nice Soft Wife On A Sofa, And Other Stories
John Lloyd - Really rather very (quite) interesting
The second session of the day focused on Future Connections. This session explored ‘emerging thoughts and new insights into how we will connect and communicate’ . First to take the stage was the CEO of Ecademy, Thomas Power, who encouraged us to form a ‘Digital Mindset’ for the future. He was followed by Brooke Molinaroli from BT discussing how to successfully use social media channels for business. Pranav Mistry unveiled some technology so ground-breaking the room was awash with gasps of wonder. Research Fellow, Tim Ambler, who was unfortunately unable to join us live on the day had pre-recorded his talk on the mind and neuroscience, which kept the audience captivated. Then, to take us into lunch the much-anticipated Mark Lund, CEO of the COI delivered his talk on the future of our ‘Connected State’.
Thomas Power - The Future of Social Networks
Brooke Molinaroli - Social Media As A Business Tool
Tim Ambler - Ours Is Not To Reason Why: The Mind And Neuroscience
Mark Lund - The Connected State
After lunch we kicked off with the third session of the day: Future Senses. This session explored ‘the nature of experiences and the memories they formed’. We were, aptly, treated to a very special performance by musician Randolph Matthews. His music, formed of a melting-pot of wonderous sounds, really helped to liven and inspire everyone after lunch (I congratulated him later on for succeeding in getting a room full of business leaders to ‘hoot’ and ‘yelp’ with wild abandon – a truly remarkable feat). The TED video of Daniel Kahneman followed on from Randolph where he delved into ‘The Riddle of Experience Vs. Memory’. The Sound Agency’s Julian Treasure then took to the stage and treated us to an education in sound and how the mind & body reacts to different sounds. The ‘magnetic’ Simon Gosling, from Framestore, then impressed us all with demonstrations into the latest mobile technologies using high definition special effects. Finally, wrapping up the third session, Mark Davy from FutureCity discussed the connection between business and social purpose, and also introduced me to the name ‘Spitalditch Gate’ which I’ve been searching for on the tube map ever since. Sadly it’s not there…yet…
Randolph Matthews
Julian Treasure - The 8 Expressions Of A Brand In Sound
Mark Davy - The Connection Between Business And Social Purpose
After a short break we entered the fourth, and final session of the day, Future Value. This session explored ‘new definititions of business success and a more holistic interpretation of value’.
Independent consultant, and former ad-man, Paul Feldwick started the session off by challenging the very definition of creativity. CEO of Marcus Consulting, Lucy P. Marcus instructed us on how to create a revolution in the boardroom. Laurie Santos followed with her talk on how humans and monkeys are not all that dissimilar when it comes to being bad with money. Media futurist Gerd Leonhard presented a lively, and fascinating, talk on the future of Intellectual Property and how in our increasingly ‘connected world’ ownership can no longer be truly exclusive. IPA Winner Sarah Morning the delivered one of the most-revered talks of the day. In only 5 minutes she introduced the audience to the concept of brands taking the ‘long approach’ and using digital methods to reinvent the notion of rituals (Sarah, and Tim’s full essays appear in this week’s Campaign magazine supplement). Jeremy Gilley, conceiver and founder of the Peace One Day movement then inspired us all as he told the story of how he took the concept of a one-day global ceasefire from being just a dream in his mind to an actuality, managing to agree a ceasefire with the Taliban and United Nations Forces allowing him to arrange the innoculation of a staggering 1.8million children against polio in just one day. Left somewhat sideswiped and speechless from the enormity of emotion in Jeremy’s message, Rory took to the stage for a final time and reflected on the day and what the true meaning of value is.
Paul Feldwick - Aesthetics And Jugs And Rock'n'Roll
Gerd Leonhard - The Future of Intellectual Property
Sarah Morning - The 10,000 Year Clock And The Eternal Coin
Jeremy Gilley - Peace One Day
After a long, and mind-expanding day, all that was left was for host Jim Prior to thank everyone, including our sponsors Millward Brown, and partners Haymarket Brand Media, Haymarket Events, and Deloitte. As the conference came to a close we all filtered through to the drinks reception full of chatter and ideas to share with our peers over a glass of wine. Without a hint of bias, it really was an amazing day. Pick up a copy of this week’s Campaign magazine for a full-page write up from Jeremy Lee, and be sure to keep checking back on the official TEDxNewSt website as all the speakers videos will be posted up there shortly.
Here’s to TEDxNewSt 2011…
