The Insider Archive
Global Creative Economy Convergence Summit ends, now the real work begins
Innovation Matters, Volume 2, Issue 24 - November 5, 2009
On Monday and Tuesday, October 5th & 6th, 2009, the 2nd Global Creative Economy Convergence Summit took place at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia. There were approximately 900 participants at the Summit, including the people who registered and those who attended the free and open to the public events. 161 speakers took part in 30 panel discussions and10 workshops. The Summit also hosted 4 keynote speakers: Elizabeth Gilbert, best-selling author of Eat, Pray, Love, Peter Shankman, Founder, Help A Reporter Out and Founder and CEO, the Geek Factory, Inc., Jane McGonigal, Director of Game Research and Development, Institute for the Future, and Randall Kempner, Executive Director, Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs. Now that the Summit has ended, the real work begins and Innovation Philadelphia is busy compiling and synthesizing the content, participant reactions, and opinions on how to implement some of these ideas in the Philadelphia Region.
"Many people have expressed interest in future Summit participation," says Kelly Lee, President & CEO of Innovation Philadelphia. "We are already discussing how we can improve the Summit, such as holding it in a smaller venue. Small hands-on workshops, planned for 30 people took place in rooms for 200. On the one hand, this was not the ideal atmosphere for the intimate interaction we wanted to create. Yet, an advantage of holding the Summit at the Convention Center was when Jane McGonigal could not travel due to illness, the technological capabilities of the Convention Center and the production team allowed her to Skype in and give her keynote in the ballroom on larger-than-life screens," added Lee.
Innovation Philadelphia also received feedback on the plethora of sessions to choose from, covering a wide range of topics. Future Summits will limit the amount of presentations held at the same time in order to provide participants the opportunity to attend every session. Additional feedback can be found under Summit testimonials. Thoughts, comments and suggestions on the Summit are welcomed on Innovation Philadelphia's blog. Overall, the two-day Summit was a success in attendance, impact and quality content.
To read more about Summit sessions on the GCECS blog, click here.
Some of the Summit presentation slides are available for download. Go to the Summit program page and click on the titles of the presentations to view the PDFs of the slides.
Read all the Summit tweets by visiting GCECS2009 on Twitter.
To see more photos of GCECS and to share yours, visit Flickr and tag your photos GCECS2009.
Continue the conversation with the Summit's Facebook fans. Look through the photos and tag yourself or the people you know! Take the opportunity to connect or re-connect with speakers, attendees and volunteers. Most importantly, tell us what you thought about the Summit and how we may improve future Summits.
Summit highlights from attendees and speakers:
Bob Barancik , from The Creative Ledge blog discusses his experience here
Jill Ivey, from ELISE Communications details the Summit highlights here.
Deni Kasrel of The Communications Strategist blog, discusses Peter Shankman's presentation here and features Summit highlights here.
Heather Weisse Walsh of the K20 Inter@ctions blog summarizes Summit highlights here.
Keynote Speakers
Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love opened the Global Creative Economy Convergence Summit on Monday, October 5th, with her keynote breakfast presentation, Creativity Without Drama, sponsored by Drexel University. Dr. William Lynch, Dean of the Goodwin College of Professional Studies at Drexel University gave the introductory remarks. Her presentation, characterized by some as "wonderfully engaging and entertaining," discussed the importance of learning how to teach and practice creativity without embracing distracting and destructive dramas along the way. She stated, "The stereotype that a creative person must live a life of angst is dangerous ... do the work from a place of devotional passion and love and it will help you manage your expectations."
Elizabeth Gilbert
Randall Kempner, Executive Director of the Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE) presented his keynote, The Global Promise of Entrepreneurship, during lunch on Monday, October 5th. Randall's keynote was sponsored by Klehr Harrison Harvey Branzburg & Ellers and he was introduced by Michael P. Rittinger, a partner at the firm. Guest blogger Tsveta Dimitrova summarized his presentation. "Randall spoke about how the entrepreneurial spirit can be born and nourished in any circumstances, including in times of poverty or economic recession, and that stimulating global entrepreneurship means stimulating global prosperity." Guest blogger Gloria Bell added, "[Randall discussed the fact that] an environment that encourages trying, failing, and starting again has to be developed to allow potential entrepreneurs to be willing to take the risk. A regional entrepreneur environment requires the right mix of assets, networks and culture. It requires a culture which is willing to support and encourage the end results of this equation."
Randall Kempner
The final keynote on the first day was Jane McGonigal, Director of Game Research and Development at the Institute for the Future. She was unable to give her presentation in person due to illness. Fortunately, she Skyped from California into the Convention Center Ballroom and delivered her keynote after being introduced by Mitch Bowling, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Online Services for Comcast Cable. Comcast sponsored her presentation entitled, Inventing the Future with Game Design. She discussed how games optimize human ability and demonstrated how games can harness the power of collective intelligence to solve real-world problems. Jane stated that "there are half a billion people playing online games worldwide, spending 3 Billion hours per week gaming." Further, she said, "Game developers should aspire to win the Nobel Peace Prize in the next 25 years ... and using our best artists, our best storytellers and best game developers is the way forward." One attendee noted, "Although Jane was sick, she made a marvelous impression."
Jane McGonigal
Peter Shankman, Founder of Help A Reporter Out (HARO) and Founder and CEO of the Geek Factory, Inc. opened the second day of the Summit on Tuesday, October 6th with his breakfast keynote presentation Social Media: It's Simply Trust. Sue Hamilton, Vice-President of Devine + Powers introduced Peter Shankman. "Entertaining and insightful, Peter Shankman really got day two of the Creative Economy Summit off and running. I especially benefitted from his views on the future of social media," said Sue. Peter discussed the value of social media and his four principles for achieving success using social media. Guest blogger Tsveta Dimitrova summarized Peter's keynote, "One, be honest and maintain transparency. Two, have relevance to your audience, asking them what they need and providing good customer service. Three, brevity is extremely important. The fourth principle Peter described was 'top of the mind.' Employ a routine where you are constantly doing little things that mean a lot to other people." For example, Peter discussed how he sends birthday messages to the thousands of people in his network.
Peter Shankman
Sponsors
Innovation Philadelphia would like to thank the sponsors of the 2nd Global Creative Economy Convergence Summit for their support. Please visit their websites to learn more about what they do.
Volunteers
More than 100 volunteers contributed over 550 hours of their time during the conference and the days leading up to it. The volunteers represented the region's creative industries ranging from architects, to web designers, to students.
"Volunteering for GCECS was nothing short of a wonderful opportunity for me. Not only did I get to meet the great team from Innovation Philadelphia, I played a small part in putting GCECS together. I also met some great contacts that I immediately connected with and have been staying in touch for possible business ventures. And that was all before the Summit even started! Being able to mingle with the other attendees and even talk with some of the speakers in the hallways during the two days was a great bonus for me. I learned from the diversity of the participants' experiences and I now have many connections to tap into for current projects and future endeavors." - Mike Jewsbury, Freelance Creative Strategist at MVMNT Creative Strategies
Volunteers at registration
Volunteers handing out programs
Themes
Touching every industry sector within the creative economy, sustainability played a particularly important role in the Summit, culminating with the Mayors' Roundtable on Sustainability, held on Tuesday, October 6. President & CEO of Innovation Philadelphia, Kelly Lee sat down with Mayor Michael Nutter of Philadelphia, PA and Mayor James Baker of Wilmington, DE. The mayors discussed their regional green initiatives and the creation of green jobs. Both mayors stressed the importance of strategic sustainable planning when Economic Recovery Act funds run out. Mayor Michael Nutter stated that the Sustainability movement is no longer a fringe domain and 1000 U.S. mayors agree that sustainability initiatives are high priority. Emphasizing the 200+ miles of dedicated bike lanes in the city of Philadelphia, Mayor Nutter added that "it is not always the highest of the high tech activity - sometimes it is just the basics we need to do." Mayor Baker discussed Wilmington's Climate Sustainability Plan, with programs such as PhillyCarShare Wilmington, city-wide recyclables collection, and the creation of a storm water utility."
Mayors' Roundtable on Sustainability
Mayor Baker, Kelly Lee, Mayor Nutter
With the theme of sustainability permeating the topics discussed, the Global Creative Economy Convergence Summit's presentations, case studies, panels, and interactive workshops were also guided by five tracks or themes that illustrate a thriving creative ecology. These tracks were Creative Economy 201, Creative Entrepreneurship, Creative 21st Century Workforce, Creative Sustainability, and Creative Technologies.
Sessions in the Creative Economy 201 track discussed innovative local, national, and international initiatives impacting creativity on all industry sectors. Workshops included the Civic Innovation Lab and Success Practices: Why Reinvent the Wheel? Panels included Creativity Around the Globe and The View from Amber Street.
The Creative Entrepreneurship track featured panel discussions such as How to Start a Start-Up Community and workshop Get to 'Shiny Penny Hell' and Back. These sessions focused on the critical elements of a successful entrepreneurial venture including infrastructure, policies, physical space, funding, and other resources most needed by the creative entrepreneur to thrive in abundant or challenging economic times. This track was sponsored by Morgan Lewis .
The Creative 21st Century Workforce track emphasized how to attract and retain creative people as well as the workforce skills need to support creative industries in the future. Sessions included workshop Silo-Busting and Crossing the White Space and panel discussions Breaking the Cube: Alternative Workspaces and Making an Impact with Your Personal Brand.
Sessions in the Creative Sustainability track included workshop The Sustainable Urban Design Center at Germantown Friends School, the Pecha Kucha mix on Day 1, and panel discussion Models of Urban Sustainability. The need to increase sustainable living and consumption permeates every industry sector from design, to green technologies to the service and high tech sectors. These sessions discussed concepts, practices and technologies that are allowing people, cities, and regions to reduce or eliminate their negative impact on the environment.
The Creative Technologies track explored emerging technologies and how they have impacted successful creative economy growth. Topics in this track included social media, mobile technology, integrated business solution platforms, animation, game design, and music technology. Sessions included Baby Pixars: The New Model for Animation Studios, ABCs of Mobile Technology, and Creativity in Music Technology
Making an Impact with Your Personal Brand
ABCs of Mobile Technology
Creativity in Music Technology
Public Events
During both days of the Summit, four free and open to the public sessions allowed those restricted by time or financial challenges to participate in the Summit, networking with speakers and attendees and contributing their ideas to Summit discussions. On Monday, October 5th, the first free and open to the public session was Bloblive, an open mic for entrepreneurs. Moderated by Ami Kassar, CIO of Advanta Corp., entrepreneurs pitched their ideas to a roomful of people and in return, received helpful advice and feedback. The second free and open to the public event was the MeetUp at National Mechanics. National Mechanics provided a relaxed atmosphere in which attendees, volunteers, and speakers could continue discussions and network over drinks.
On Tuesday, October 6th, the Unconference Gab-Fest on Creativity took place during lunch with 5 tables covering 5 topics. The 5 topics discussed were Collaboration vs. Silos, Philadelphia as a Creative Center, Nurturing Creativity, Executing Your Big Idea, and Creative Economy and the Global Marketplace. These broad discussion topics allowed participants to go in any direction they felt was relevant. For detailed insights into what was discussed, visit the Summit blog. The last free and open to the public event was the Summit's Closing Reception, held at Lucky Strike Lanes where attendees celebrated a successful two days and the last opportunity to network and make connections.
In case you missed any of the Summit sessions or were not able to attend, Innovation Philadelphia's guest bloggers, Summit speakers and participants covered nearly all of the presentations, providing summaries and insights into the keynote presentations, panels and workshops on the Summit blog and on their own blogs. If any other attendees or speakers would like to share the information presented in the sessions on the GCECS blog, please email Alina Lucila-Osmunson at aosmunson@innovationphiladelphia.com.
MeetUp at National Mechanics
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Closing Reception at Lucky Strike
Unconference Gab-Fest on Creativity
Spreading the Word
With help from Devine + Powers, a Philadelphia-based PR firm, the 2nd Global Creative Economy Convergence Summit garnered quite a bit of media attention. Overall media coverage prior to and after the event was strong and successful, generating 35 print and radio broadcast stories to date. In total, coverage reached a radio audience of more than 27,700, a total print readership of 934,444, and an online audience of 11,053,143 unique visitors or 140,708,709 pageviews. Local print coverage included the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Philadelphia Business Journal, the Philadelphia Tribune, City Paper, Metro, and Next American City, and the Delaware News Journal. Radio time included KYW-AM, Positively Philadelphia, WPHT 1210AM, The Michael Smerconish Show, and WHYY. GCECS 2009 received coverage in 21 newsletters, 45 blogs, and in countless calendars, e-blasts, and web links. During the conference, more than 400 tweets from attendees, speakers, and volunteers gave play by play Summit action. Circulation and audience numbers were not available for all of the media outlets in which coverage of the Summit was received. Therefore, the total impressions are greater than indicated here.
GCECS Testimonials
With approximately 900 attendees, below are some testimonials from speakers, attendees and volunteers who attended the 2nd Global Creative Economy Convergence Summit.
It was wonderful to have a chance to connect and re-connect with so many colleagues and share perspectives on the evolution and opportunities of the creative economy.
Having participated in untold conferences, in different capacities, I recognize quality when I see it. From planning to execution, the Innovation Philadelphia team did a remarkable job.
I thank you for the opportunity to be there and to meet so many interesting people. It was also the first time my film was screened in Philadelphia.
I heard nothing but praise for the fantastic work of the staff ... even when the AV system went screwy and the moderators cut it close.
Lots of good content, but too many options and not enough time to network
Some panelists were experienced professionals, but not the best presenters. I learned more from the presenter, speaking one-on-one with him, after the session.
Sessions could have been better if the room was smaller, providing a more intimate setting for discussion and participation.