There was no free wi-fi. Appalling!
I’m sitting at the Emerging Trends in Digital Media at the NASDAQ Digital Media Center at Times Square, listening to Roger Keating, Dennis Kneale, Andy Mitchell & Jerry Neumann talk ‘what’s next’ to a packed room.
Hearing cats from Hearst, Fox, Facebook and the startup investment community discuss the trends moving the technology and digital space forward is…how do you say…anticlimactic.
It’s not that they’re not good speakers.
Or the subject matter was stale.
Quite the opposite.
I’m here because I’m really interested in what they’ve got to say.
I’m sitting in the first portion of the program (and the only one I could stay for) entitled “Make It Matter.”
The big digital industry dog on the panel was Andy Mitchell of Facebook. At least in my opinion.
But sitting here, these guys aren’t really speaking to me.
I wait as they respond in turn to the various questions posed by the moderator, and I’m on the edge of my seat at the end of the session, as they ask that pivotal question: “So what’s next?”
And then I hear, “Buying tickets on Facebook”
Buying tickets on Facebook? That’s the future? I’m sure we can do better than that.
Another panelist offers, “Integrative active applications between companion devices.” Sounds like Apple’s formula.
The third contributed, “Sharing via the cloud.” Been there done that.
I guess my disinterest was palpable, as a fellow attendee whispered, ” they’re just pontificating.”
And I guess he was right.
If I was working for Facebook, speaking on a panel, I’d pontificate too.
But do you know what really got my goat?
It wasn’t the fact that these guys were bathing themselves in self-love on stage.
It was because I was at a session called “Emerging Trends in Digital Media” and there was no public wi-fi?
They had their Twitter handle @nyc_dmc, and hashtags aplenty #nyc_dmc #digitalmediacenter
But no public wi-fi!
How do you have a Digital Media Center, with a locked wi-fi?
I mean, you’ve got a roomful of digital professionals, and you’re encouraging them to Tweet and post, but you’re not providing them with a simple means to do so.
After asking around, I was surreptitiously passed a 33 string password to access their wi-fi network by one of the event’s organizers.
Geesh!
I was waiting for the part of the program devoted to SoLoMo (the reason I attended the session in the first place), but I had to leave right at the start of the Content was King, Distribution is Queen panel.
Needless to say, I wasn’t able to determine whether they were able to pull it out of self-love pontification land.
If anyone from NASDAQ DMC reads this article, please don’t be offended about my opinions about the panel I sat through.
And please, please, please set up a wi-fi network for your future visitors to jump on and access easily.
It would really help to demonstrate that you do, in fact, get it.
Stephen Chukumba 
Pingback: Mobile phones everywhere and no (free) public wi-fi! | Stephen Chukumba
Hi Stephen,
First, I’m really pumped for the SCENEPR event you’re moderating tonight (http://scenepr.com/solomo/). Looks great.
I was one of the principle organizers of last night’s event and wanted to make a couple points:
– First, the Digital Media Center (@NYC_DMC on Twitter) is not the “NASDAQ DMC” — it’s a co-sponsored collaboration by NASDAQOMX, Deloitte, Cooley LLP, CT Partners, and Silicon Valley Bank. The purpose of the Digital Media Center is for the 5 co-sponsors to come together to host events like last night.
– Last night’s event was hosted at NASDAQOMX, just as our previous event in December was hosted at Deloitte. Our events will rotate from co-sponsor to co-sponsor, and will sometimes occur at other locations as well (like the event Deloitte did with DigitalDumbo last March at reBar). I say this because while we are looking to create a physical space for the Digital Media Center in the future, last night’s location (the NASDAQOMX MarketSite) was just where we chose to host last night’s event. It is not the go-forward home of the Digital Media Center.
– I will pass on your feedback about the Wi-Fi to our colleagues at NASDAQOMX and we will keep this in mind for future events as well. It’s helpful feedback. I can’t speak for NASDAQOMX, but I suspect that given their location (Times Square) and their business (a stock exchange) they have exceptional security requirements, and hence the likely reason for the length and complexity of the SSID that was shared for the guest internet access.
We’re really glad you could join us. Ultimately we want the Digital Media Center – through events such as the one last night – to be a platform that creates value for both start-ups and large tech & media companies alike. Thus the price (free) and design of the night – 3 fire-side chats followed by the open bar networking event. Personally I am passionate in my belief in the power of “mash-ups” where lots of different people from different types of organizations get in one room and talk (hence, for example, why we want to make sure to include HW companies like Samsung and EMC who spoke last night, as we think that is a “voice” sometimes under-represented at other NYC forums). If you or anyone else has additional suggestions for ways in which we can make our events more valuble to you, please let us know.
If you’d like more info on the DMC also check out http://www.deloitte.com/US/digitalmediacenter which outlines our vision in a bit more detail.
See you tonight. Thank again for coming and also taking some time to give us some feedback.
Thanks.
Rob Underwood
@brooklynrob
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Rob,
All jokes aside, you guys put on an excellent function. How can I really complain when I got the password?!
Everything you said was true. To your credit, I was invited by folks who know the inherent value of mash-ups like these, where the free exchange of ideas thrives. One sidebar of the unnamed attendee and I, was the fact that panelists and thoughts being shared were the exact types of ideas we were there to hear.
I’m definitely going to keep coming to your events (so keep having them!) and continuing to exchange ideas with other progressive thinkers, like yourselves!
See you tonight!
SC
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That’s great. Check out the video – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGgEhjjOykA – of our closing ceremony. Karin McKinnell from NASDAQ does a great job of describing what the Digital Media Center is all about.
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