Press ReleasesSometimes late is better than never. Nonetheless, with a few week’s perspective under my belt (and with a recovery holiday in between) I thought it was about time for an A4U Munich wrap up.
From the start Munich promised to be an excellent venue for the event and was very convenient for CJ as this is the home of our German operations. With the turnout expected to exceed last year’s event in Amsterdam, it was with high expectations that the CJ team headed for the airport.
From the CJ UK team Florian, Sam, Ross, Tom and myself were set to attend however Eyjafjallajokull got going again, wreaking minor havoc on some travels and one traveller, Sam Richards our Sales Director, couldn’t make it.
The rest of us got there in one piece though – Ross and Tom were there to lend a hand with the Argos stand and Florian and I were going to be doing the normal networking and meeting preparation.
Munich, of course, didn’t disappoint but even better the venue was excellent. The Hilton Park was centrally-located, had all the amenities and provided excellent conferencing and breakout facilities (by breakout I mean the bar). The food and drink provided were excellent and kept the delegates fuelled for the long days of networking and presentations. Sadly the weather was not very good; so long business walks in the English Gardens were not on the agenda for most.
Volcanoes and weather aside there was a cracking agenda of 35 seminars to attend and 700 delegates to meet.
Of the sessions I attended, the session on the pending EU cookie legislation was particularly interesting. Simon Zorbas, VP of IAB Europe, was obviously very knowledgeable on the subject and made it very clear what is needed by everyone in the room to make sure it isn’t ratified by the national govenments. Some markets are in a much better position in terms of interpretation, but the net result will still be detrimental for all of us.
Another popular seminar was ‘Analysing and Increasing Organic Search’ by David Naylor. I attended David’s talk in London and once again this one was jam packed, followed by a robust question and answer session. With the way the natural search landscape changes, I have a feeling that David could do this for twice a year for years to come.
The exhibition hall was alternatively very busy or like a ghost town during sessions. For that reason the guys from CJ and Argos tag-teamed the stand to allow for session attendance.
Although our CJ stand was great as usual I have to say that neo@ogilvy had the winner with their Guitar Hero competition which was certainly a popular choice with many sore heads on day two of the Expo. Personally I found the free guitar picks worthy of note!
Instead of the Breakout Party (which from all reports sounded like a massive raucous party!) the CJ UK team and some of our clients went for a wander round Munich where we found plenty of good times. Ross Carder in particular made a new friend:
After we all had our fill of pork knuckle and beer it was time to sadly head on home. Hopefully the A4U guys will manage to top this next year as Munich was a great host city, the venue was fantastic and the sessions were excellent. Until next year……
