The Vision Conference Highlights Podcast
Bristol’s a great place to come across new thinking and fascinating people, but the Vision conference took that to a new level. The provocation of Blair Enns, the decades of experience of Michael Grade, the clarity of thought of Shan Preddy, the creativity of Nik Roope, Wayne Hemmingway and over 100 other brains all collided to enlighten, challenge and basically re-tool the way we do creative business.
Legendary broadcaster Andy Batten-Foster was one of the delegates, and he’s collected his impressions, conversations and session clips into a podcast which you can download here
The main theme across all the sessions was how we are as people. How we communicate, work together and win trust, how we rely on the knowledge of others, explore our curiosity, and need to maintain our focus. Michael Grade told tales from the great days of commercial TV, and provided a real insight into pitching from the commissioner’s point of view – basically, if you can deflect someone from their idea, it probably isn’t fully thought-through.
You might think that Nik Roope comes from a very different background, but his session reflected Michael’s key themes of encouraging people brighter than you, and developing talent.
There was a real buzz as the delegates challenged the ideas, shared their own insights, and enjoyed an Arnolfini lunch. The only criticism was that there simply wasn’t the time to talk before the next treat started. From big set-pieces to intimate small-room sessions, there were huge opportunities for some new thinking.
Wednesday ended with the first-ever Pecha Kucha session in the UK. Developed in Japan (and with an interesting pronunciation…) it provides 20 pictures, each lasting 20 seconds, as the rhythm for delivering a talk. It went down a treat, and I suspect there will be many more session to come, for those who are brave enough.
Everyone sobered up with Blair Enns on Thursday morning – challenging the very concept of free pitching, and suggesting we all focus on our strengths, develop deep expertise and turn down the peripheral things. It return, we’ll gain new relationships with the people who want our stuff, and that will make us more equal partners.
The delegates left with a sense that things were different; that they had seen an exciting way to be, and would take it forward. It may not change the world, but everyone said it was the best use of two days they’d had for a good while, and that was certainly the view of Wayne Hemmingway, which can’t be bad.
If you went to Vision, the memories will come flooding back in Andy’s Vision podcast – if you didn’t, there’s a taste of what you missed
We’ll roll out more delicious insights over the coming months, but here’s your starter.
