Live from Future of Media Summit 2008

Am currently seated at the Future of Media Summit 2008, put on by Ross Dawson's Future Exploration Network. Once again Ross and his team have put together an excellent program with some great speakers on both sides of the Pacific.

The first panel on the future of television and video included the COO of Current Media, Mark Goldman, who spoke of the key issue as being how to package television and present it to people in a way that is compelling and retains its editorial voice, but also generates revenue. A third area that Current has focused on is innovation. While television itself has not changed much, it is now being challenged by other media forms and hence the time to innovate has come.

Bruce Meagher from SBS spoke of the huge strain on television, but says people still yearn for a common experience, good journalism and good story telling, and broadcasters will remain the only group that can provide some of those experiences. But he warns that Australian broadcasters have been complacent, and need to move more quickly.

Mark Antonitis from KRON-TV spoke in a strange series of sound bites, but said that old media can adapt to the changing environment - he used the analogy that he wears a suit as easily as he wears jeans and a TV. The unifier is the production of content, and the real key is the quality of content, not the quality of presentation. The role of the editor will remain important however as audiences will still seek a singular view.

Mark Pesce from FutureSt Consulting, also spoke of the evolution of content, to the point where the last bastion of free-to-air model - live broadcasting - is now being circumvented by user-generated content producers. For example, he spoke of more and more people in the crowd at sporting events streaming their experience.

I'll try and type in some more notes as the morning progresses.