Promax BDA Asia
My speaking appointment at Promax BDA Asia was this afternoon and thought we'd take a look at what went on at the conference. Before I start, thought I'd give you a rerun of what its all about:-
Promax|BDA is the world's largest television marketing conference attracting industry leaders and executives from top television networks, cable channels, local stations, station groups, distribution, syndication, media and creative agency, design and emerging media.
Through sessions, panels, exhibits and screenings, Promax|BDA brings together the world's leading creative and strategic marketing professionals for three days of dialogue, debate and discussion about the international business of television marketing, promotion and design.
Last year we welcomed over 3,500 attendees from around the globe, including more than 700 local station executives from over 150 television markets in the United States. Our delegation is made up of television marketing professionals who are tasked with driving the value of entertainment by finding new and innovative ways of attracting audiences to their parent companies' networks, stations and brands. The aim of the organization is to lead the international conversation about the role of marketing, promotion and design in the monetization of media.
More than ever, marketers play the pivotal role in the business of television. And Promax|BDA 2008 is about putting them in the driver's seat.
Other speakers include:-
- Mike Reiss (Simpsons)
- Alan James (Head of Media Planning BBC)
- Alexis R. Brunner Alexis R. Brunner (Vice President/Creative Director Animal Planet Media )
- Andreas Uiker ( Vice President RTL II Television )
- Andy Byrant ( Director, Creative Red Bee Media )
And a load of others - full list of speakers at Promax bda.
The venue was The Old Parliament where a bunch of people used to shout at each other regarding how the country should be run.
A bunch of us turn up at the venue the night before for the speaker tech run.
A map of the Parliament building which has now been renovated.
Some of the other speakers including comedy writer Mike Reiss who does the Simpsons.
The grandness of the Chamber made me feel nervous+1.
My view from the stage.
The foot monitor which ideally should display my speaker notes but mirrored the main slides.
The podium equipped with Magsafe for macs ^^
While waiting my turn to set up the Mac, I sneak around Parliament taking pics.
Corridors being set up for the next day.
Control center charging up the Ion cannon.
A view from the upper tier.
Silence must be maintained.
Kagami takes a seat.
A peek at the Play Den where there will be another speaker presenting at the same time as me.
Notice Mac Expose in action. Most of the speakers were mac users.
Preparing Keynote on the MacBook Pro.
As I see bits of the other speakers presentations, I realize that I need to add a few more slides.
Alexis R. Brunner (Vice President/Creative Director Animal Planet Media) does tech check on her mac.
After my tech run, I'm back at the hotel tweaking slides before a final rehearsal. While most folks tidy up before taking a photo, I purposely messed up the room (yeah right ^^;)
Those mint sticks were lovely.
Its 8:30AM this morning. A shuttle comes to pick up the speakers.
The speakers check in.
Registration desk.
Pick up my speaker pass.
As with most conferences, they have goodie bags to give out.
Networking breakfast time. The room packs out 10 mins after.
The food was quite yummy.
I'm on at 1PM. The other chap is on at the same time in a different room.
Graham is the guy who does the intros.
The Chamber filled up.
First up is Gregory Ho (Animax GM) and Kennith Liu (Nokia).
Mike Reiss talks about the untold Simpson stories.
Everybody breaks for lunch and I go to set up my Mac and Kagamin to keep me company on stage.
Word of advice - hide any work related ecchi stuff that you may have on the desktop as it may unexpectedly appear on the screen ^^;
How/where do you hide your ecchi material anyway? I remember I used to hide stuff in my System 32 folder in Windows ^^
For my Mac, I use the default encrypted Sparse Images for stuff that I may want to hide.
Set up nearly done.
The company logo waiting to greet the folks when they get back from lunch.
The Chamber starts to fill up with folks back from lunch. I was nervous so could hardly eat ^^;
Graham gives the intro just after I'm wired up with a pin mic.
I'm on. Going to go through just a few things that I talked about. Eroge or "Dating Simulation Games."
Talk about online chat with 2D girls.
The 2D Girl Exception.
"Folks who own stormtrooper armor should leave it at home when you go for a maid massage as you wont feel anything - it would be a waste of money."
This time I get to play around with a remote control for the slides.
Love this section - Creative Otaku.
Explanation of Dakimakura. I was enjoying myself quite a bit ^^;
If you enjoy your own presentation, the more confident you will feel.
Talk about how Otaku like to draw stuff.
Talk about Mirai Inc and our product Mirai Gaia.
Doujinshi.
Managed to take video footage of the 40 min talk - took some screencaps from the clip. Here I talk about dannychoo.com. Will upload the clip once I get approval from Promax.
The everlasting 2D VS 3D battle - thanks for your previous feedback.
Talking about our business model.
Mirai Gaia summary.
Blogging business. The main audience of the conference were media creatives - most making promo videos who were very interested in Consumer Generated Content which is my line of business.
Alexis talks about Animal Planet rebranding.
Another thing I learned - no matter who the speaker was, there were a couple of people who looked like they were sleeping in the audience - including mine ^^;
So, if you see people sleeping in your talk, don't be distracted because its only natural to have people dozing off - even with the best of speakers.
Animal Planet rebranding continues. Alexis showed us how animal documentaries were branded in such a way that people just wanted to watch them.
Linda Button (ECD Tooth+Nail) is an entertainment language specialist who showed us how powerful words can be and how people interpret words differently.
One of my learnings from Linda was how she asked the audience to approach her with their name card at the end of her talk.
Its afternoon tea and networking time. Looks like I will be speaking at more locations around the world with different organizations. I Maybe in your neighborhood soon ^^
Jens Hertzum (Creative Director of BDA Sydney) talks directly to promo creators and gives us his learnings which will help one work better. Main takeaway is:-
"A person who asks is a fool for 5 mins, a person who does not ask is a fool for life."
He then adds:-
"A person who asks every 5 mins is a fool" ^^;
Du Da Sheng (VP Multiplatforms Solutions Unit, StarHub) ends the day by looking at previous winners of the Promax BDA Awards.
Unlike Japan, its still bright in Singapore at 6PM. I'm off to the hotel.
Have a peek at my Warner Brothers goodie bags to find a load of media type stuff.
A carry case just for Kagamin.
My profile in the conference brochure.
Had a great day today and am looking forward to the award ceremonies tomorrow. Networked with many folks in the industry including many top anime bods - will be bringing you some interesting stuff when I get back to JP.
Tomorrow will be the final day of Promax, networking dinner and then back in hotel for slide tweaking and rehearsals. Then Wednesday is packed with Singapore local newspaper, magazine and TV interviews before the Animax workshop. Fly back to JP early next morning for a day full of meetings the next day. Also need to prepare for a YouTube event which I've been invited to this Sunday. Looks like the next time I get to relax a bit will be Saturday the 29th of November ^^;
