Royal start of the year
The Media Institute's Three Kings' Day conference at the World Trade Center in Zurich-Nord has already become a tradition.
The Media Institute's Epiphany Conference at the World Trade Center in Zurich North has already become a tradition.by Beat Fritsch After New Year's Eve, people like to take the opportunity to get together and wish everyone a Happy New Year. In addition to seeing-and-being-seen, there are also a few presentations to be heard.
Hans Heinrich Coninx revealed a secret in his welcome address. He does not decide the title and content of his conference speech himself, but learns them from the program. Karl Lüönd is kind enough to come up with a title, and he, Coninx, then has to write the appropriate speech. This year's paper was about the challenges of the Internet for publishers.
Because this challenge has long dominated the conversation in these fast-moving times, the audience heard nothing really new. Instead of feeling challenged by the Internet, one should occasionally think about making money with it, said one commentator maliciously. Otherwise, the expensive publishing homepages would soon go the way of the dotcom companies battered by the stock market.
One guy who has done it is Rich Jaroslovsky. He actually seems to be making money with the online version of the Wall Street Journal. However, even his 500,000 paying subscribers scattered all over the world seem comparatively puny compared to the potential of users in the global village preached by Internet prophets.
To ensure that those who had devoted themselves mainly to early French in their youth understood everything, a simultaneous translation system was used for the first time. This was, of course, fraught with pitfalls. Sometimes it was a missing battery, sometimes a wrongly set channel or a switch that had not been flipped over - but also the bulky headsets caused amusement again and again.
Not everything else went like clockwork either. During Jaroslovsky's lecture, Karl Lüönd was seen pacing nervously through the foyer. The speaker Peter de Mönnink, who had been announced from Amsterdam, seemed to be late. But Lüönd elegantly got out of the affair with a castling and a bon mot: normal traffic situation was reported on the radio this morning. He suspected that this already included the traffic jam at the Baregg tunnel. And at the "unique" Zurich Airport, the traffic situation was probably also normal, which is why the program had to be changed slightly. Thus, the auditorium arrived 20 minutes earlier than expected to the refe-
advice from Schibsted CEO Birger Magnus.
The delicious and appetizing lunch buffet was also well frequented, and in contrast to last year, the rows of spectators only thinned out after the meal.
insignificant. For this, however, the organizers had to reach into their bag of tricks. Jürg Wildberger's comments on his
Experiences with the cross-media experiment "Big Brother" were listed as the last item on the program. Apparently, no one wanted to miss King Midas Wildberger's insights into how to turn the witty flat-sharing lives of ten rednecks into sounding coin.
Incidentally, if someone discreetly left the room because their cell phone was vibrating, or slipped away into a corner during the coffee or lunch break to make a call, that was also a topic of conversation. "He's up to something again," Jean Frey CEO Peter U. Naef could be heard saying to headhunter Hans Hofmann as Ringier's Thomas Trüb rushed past the two of them, talking intensively on the phone. But many others were also practicing the art of discreetly exchanging information, as befits the very secretive industry.
Beat Fritsch
Hans Heinrich Coninx revealed a secret in his welcome address. He does not decide the title and content of his conference speech himself, but learns them from the program. Karl Lüönd is kind enough to come up with a title, and he, Coninx, then has to write the appropriate speech. This year's paper was about the challenges of the Internet for publishers.
Because this challenge has long dominated the conversation in these fast-moving times, the audience heard nothing really new. Instead of feeling challenged by the Internet, one should occasionally think about making money with it, said one commentator maliciously. Otherwise, the expensive publishing homepages would soon go the way of the dotcom companies battered by the stock market.
One guy who has done it is Rich Jaroslovsky. He actually seems to be making money with the online version of the Wall Street Journal. However, even his 500,000 paying subscribers scattered all over the world seem comparatively puny compared to the potential of users in the global village preached by Internet prophets.
To ensure that those who had devoted themselves mainly to early French in their youth understood everything, a simultaneous translation system was used for the first time. This was, of course, fraught with pitfalls. Sometimes it was a missing battery, sometimes a wrongly set channel or a switch that had not been flipped over - but also the bulky headsets caused amusement again and again.
Not everything else went like clockwork either. During Jaroslovsky's lecture, Karl Lüönd was seen pacing nervously through the foyer. The speaker Peter de Mönnink, who had been announced from Amsterdam, seemed to be late. But Lüönd elegantly got out of the affair with a castling and a bon mot: normal traffic situation was reported on the radio this morning. He suspected that this already included the traffic jam at the Baregg tunnel. And at the "unique" Zurich Airport, the traffic situation was probably also normal, which is why the program had to be changed slightly. Thus, the auditorium arrived 20 minutes earlier than expected to the refe-
advice from Schibsted CEO Birger Magnus.
The delicious and appetizing lunch buffet was also well frequented, and in contrast to last year, the rows of spectators only thinned out after the meal.
insignificant. For this, however, the organizers had to reach into their bag of tricks. Jürg Wildberger's comments on his
Experiences with the cross-media experiment "Big Brother" were listed as the last item on the program. Apparently, no one wanted to miss King Midas Wildberger's insights into how to turn the witty flat-sharing lives of ten rednecks into sounding coin.
Incidentally, if someone discreetly left the room because their cell phone was vibrating, or slipped away into a corner during the coffee or lunch break to make a call, that was also a topic of conversation. "He's up to something again," Jean Frey CEO Peter U. Naef could be heard saying to headhunter Hans Hofmann as Ringier's Thomas Trüb rushed past the two of them, talking intensively on the phone. But many others were also practicing the art of discreetly exchanging information, as befits the very secretive industry.
Beat Fritsch
listened to the speeches and enjoyed the small talk during the breaks at the Epiphany Conference of the Swiss Press Association, which, as every year, is always attended by many prominent figures on the podium and on the floor. This is where all the big names in Swiss publishing do the honors.
Where else do you meet in the communications industry is at a wide variety of events on the scene. Do you already have something to report? Pick up the phone (01 296 97 98) or hit the keys (info@werbe
woche.ch). Event tips as well as further shortlist
pictures are available online at www.werbewoche.ch
