Hydrant @ B.Tween

Two of us attended the B.Tween event in Bradford last week, admittedly a very Geeky event, but valuable none the less as the event was a melting pot of ideas and information for digital innovators and technology companies.

Thanks to North West Vision for funding our places.

First up (after introductions etc) was  Angel Gambino VP of Music and Entertainment at Bebo. Interestingly though her talk was not about Bebo, but about being strategically open to accidental discovery -  'Strategic Serendipity' as she has termed it. Linking back to historical examples of accidental discoveries (such as the discovery of penicillin) her advice promoted the building of corporate culture that are receptive to community feedback, assessment of opportunity presented accidents, and organic development so as to benefit from the unforeseen outcomes of strategic plans.   

The second session was a panel style discussion about 'concept pitching' by Morgan Holt, Jonathan Jowitt & Matt Locke and Angel Gambino and covered something which seemed a bit alien to us as we've never worked in this way. I've always associated the idea of pitching to commissioners with Traditional media such as TV and Film, however the panel discussed what they look for in new ideas and how best to present them. This session really opened my eyes to how ideas based companies such as hydrant can seek backing for some of the ideas we have.  

The second session was followed by my opportunity to spend some time with Philip Jay From the BBC - this was an invaluable opportunity for hydrant, and has certainly helped shape the way that we take our business forward. Encouragingly  (and this was reinforced by various BBC representatives over the day) the BBC is committed to spending 25% of it's annual budget with external suppliers which is great news for rural digital companies like us, who hold the BBC in high regard but have always seen there being very little opportunity to work with them. My first lunch was with the BBC team - thanks for inviting me Holly! ;)

I caught the second half and breakout session of what was for me, the most interesting session of the day. Richard Adams & Kristina Nyzell discussing open source business using the Lego company as an example of this revolutionary approach to business. Lego is almost the perfect metaphor for open source as by literally giving lego bricks to a group of individuals it is possible to stimulate communication, revision, support and reward all of which are at the heart of the open source methodology. Lego have taken this one step further by creating Lego Factory - a digital community workspace that allows the public to engage, build and share their models digitally. Most crucially the 'community' have taken on the costly role of creative R&D and market testing that Lego previously financed and controlled themselves. The community also serves as an evangelical sales and marketing force, which has all but eliminated the need for traditional advertising. The breakout session discussed ways in which this approach could be applied to SMEs and how digital businesses could fit into the framework. The potential for these community based frameworks to support a multitude of related entrepreneurial activity is significant, and I cam away feeling that there was certainly opportunities for both Hydrant and our clients as a result of this.

After my second lunch,  I attended a presentation by Tom Hume, Giles Lane & Dimitris Papaharisis which gave a broad overview of developments in mobile technology. There are twice as many mobile internet handsets than internet computers, which begs the question why aren't we (hydrant) doing more for clients with this technology?  The session included details from Dimitris Papaharisis from the BBC detailing their increasing use and vision for mobile technology. Tom Hume gave a really clear overview of the potential and limitations for mobile technology development which addressed many of the reasons why development for mobile devices is not as common as the wider web. Giles lane gave some inspirational examples of art projects that have made creative use of mobile technology.

Takeaways from day 1-
We shouldn't be afraid of pushing harder for 'ideas' based work, and commissions.
A much better understanding of what commissioners are looking for.
Renewed enthusiasm for open source business models, and a desire to help clients make smarter use of their customers.
Renewed interest in mobile development, and cross platform creative concepts.