Switzerland - (not) a place for big events?

The conference got off to a convincing start with a presentation by Marc Walder, CEO of Ringier, who spoke about the effects of the digital transformation at the media company Ringier, which has been very directly and strongly affected and challenged by the introduction of new technologies. He used figures to illustrate the force and speed of the transformation; for example, that today 43% of internet traffic is via smartphone or that 57 percent of advertising expenditure goes to Google and Facebook alone.Walder also made it clear that media consumers are increasingly no longer interested in the source of information, which makes it very challenging for senders of quality journalism. Another key message was that by 2020, around a third of input will shift from screen to voice - Siri and Amazon Echo can therefore see themselves as pioneers.

FC St. Gallen - more than just football   

Matthias Hüppi, the new president of FC St. Gallen, explained in a convincing manner how he and his team have approached the restructuring of Switzerland's oldest football club and what he attaches particular importance to. Hüppi emphasized how important it is for the exponents of a football club to be independent; only in this way can forward-looking and sustainable decisions be made and implemented. Another key point he mentions is that the Board of Directors should strive for unanimity when making key decisions. Only in this way can the decision taken - however unpopular it may be - be represented to the outside world with one voice. It is to be hoped that Hüppi and his team can achieve a sustainable recovery of FC St. Gallen in this way - this would set an example for many management teams of sports clubs.

 The Olympics is not the same as a major event

The panel on the topic of "No major events in Switzerland" made it clear that future bids for the Olympics in Switzerland will also have a difficult time - professional coordination of stakeholders would be a minimum requirement for a possible bid. But even without the Olympics, Switzerland remains an attractive location for major sporting events such as the World Championships or Universiades, and the Sport Forum Switzerland 2019 will take place on November 28 and 29, 2019. It will be interesting to see how the topic of digitalization continues to "eat its way" into the conference agenda.