Now we have to live our new way of thinking
Peter Metzinger* explains why digitalization requires not only a new way of thinking, but also concrete actions. The focus is on mutual inspiration. A year ago I at this point explained how important it will be in the future of communication to deal with the relationships between the various players. The effects of the digital revolution are too profound for them not to transform our thinking in the long term. I have therefore put forward the thesis that we need to learn a new way of thinking.One year later, I would like to go one step further. I would like to suggest that we need to start living this new way of thinking. Digitalization continues to progress and its pace is accelerating. Never before have we been confronted with new innovations at such a rapid pace. Processes are accelerating, products are changing. Moreover, the time intervals between the various innovations are becoming ever shorter. Innovation is becoming fluid.Given the gradual but nonetheless profound changes facing the communications industry, we must not be content to simply network across industries, but must also inspire each other. However, this requires a willingness to start learning from each other rather than competing with each other. This is how we will be most likely to succeed in taking the new and unconventional paths that will help us succeed today. Together, we will emerge stronger from the processes of digital transformation; alone and stuck in old ways of thinking, we will no longer be able to meet its changing requirements.The Campaigning Summit Switzerlandwhich takes place on March 11, 2016, is once again dedicated to the principle of mutual inspiration. With our event, we want to connect people from different communication disciplines and also give them the opportunity to learn from and inspire each other. At the Campaigning Summit Switzerland 2016, four speakers will provide participants with exciting and valuable input from the industry. In the "Political Campaigning" category, Paula Peters, Director Strategy at change.org will speak. Olaf Kunz, member of the editorial team at watson.chwill give us exciting insights into the development of a polarizing start-up that is hugely successful with its target group in the "Business Campaigning" category. Jan Rijkenberg, branding specialist and CEO of BSUR, will speak in the "Inspiration" category. The keynote speaker at the Campaigning Summit Switzerland 2016 will be André Schneider, Vice-President Resources and Infrastructures EPFL and former Director of the WEF. All of our speakers were confronted with and/or actively driving the changes brought about by digitalization in their respective fields. They all had to find a way to deal with this cross-industry change and find their way in an accelerating business environment. It will be interesting to see how this manifests itself in their presentations and how they succeed in inspiring us with their respective topics. Our aim for participants at the Campaigning Summit Switzerland to learn from and inspire each other is also reflected in the networking opportunities during the breaks at the event. At the request of last year's participants, we will be expanding the BarCamp concept in 2016. These are short workshops convened by the participants themselves on a topic defined by them and organized by the organizer's team. This makes it easier to get to know each other and enables participants to benefit from sharing knowledge with people from other communication disciplines.
