Collaboration vs. Success.
Now that’s a funny thought. These two words can be seen as worst enemies or the best of friends, but it depends on how you balance the see-saw.
The 2nd annual [highlight] Durban Digital Day [/highlight] was the perfect example of a balancing act between the two. This one day digital-focused conference boasted diverse speakers, active listeners and a comfortable setting in which to express all of our uniqueness. The WildWeb Digital Marketing team attended and inquisitively took it all in. We talked and learned all things digital and walked away with a wealth of digi-knowledge.
We learnt that the younger generation isn’t afraid of collaborating in the creative sphere and we digital marketers should learn from that characteristic. Don’t see every other marketer, agency or player as competition or a threat. Collaborate to benefit everybody and draw on each other’s strengths.
As diverse as the Durban Digital Day topics were, from online marketing to social media and blogging to discussing a human settlement on Mars, there was a common theme under the ICC Exhibition roof and it was to bring emotion cleverly back into the Internet. To hone in on human behavior as the digital-age driver.
When I think of technological advances and snazzy new products, I now ask myself “Why was this created?” I re-trace my thinking to simple, innate human traits and realize it’s because of an unmet behavioral need.
As one speaker, Justin McCarthy said, “Digital isn’t about technology, it’s about behavior.” Justin had a way with words adding a huge element of anthropology to his presentation. He left us with more than enough food for thought:
We have 2 Selves:
1. The experiencing self
2. The remember self (storyteller)
“Machine learning meets behavioural economics.”
“We don’t choose between experiences, we choose between memories of experiences. We don’t think of our future as experiences, we think of it as anticipated memories.”
The blogging panel lead by Kirsty Bisett was another WildWeb favourite. After all, we are diligent Friday bloggers!
The panel of 5 chatted about their personal blogging experiences, as well as an agent-based angle to contrast both sides of the coin. Blogging is a platform here to stay, as people are trusting bloggers even more so than editors. The collective theme from the diverse bunch? Bloggers are publishers who have a responsibility to create professional content, while allowing personalities to shine past the computer screen.
Durban Digital Day was a trending Twitter event (#DBNDDAY) and the enthusiastic participation was refreshing and empowering for KZN’s digital community. Following the Twitter interaction throughout the day was a job in itself. I guess we can furthermore conclude that the digital attendees, enthusiasts, and event speakers are also very good multi-taskers:
Durban Digital Day, through several speakers with different digi-thinking caps, shared successes, failures, ah-ha moments, and work force knowledge to create a relaxed event that bettered the South African digital sphere all in a 9 hour time frame. Thank you, Jonathan Darker, for putting together a Durban success. #DBNDDAY