Speaking Topics

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Gerd offers keynote talks, think-tank sessions and presentations on many different subjects, within these industries:

• Recorded Music & Music Publishing
• Radio, TV & Broadcasting
• Telecoms & Wireless
• Social Media, Social Networking & Web2.0
• Online Gaming & Virtual Worlds
• Film / TV / Video
• Print / News / Journalism
• Advertising, Marketing & Branding
• Education & Training
• Public Relations & Communications
• Cultural Policy

Download my LinkedIn recommendations: March 2009 Recommendations (PDF)

Here is a visualization of Gerd's topics and methods (generated by Wordle)

If you are interested in booking me for a speaking gig, and would like to know which current topics I am prepared to talk about, here are some of my favorite 2009 and early 2010 subjects.  Please scroll down for everything else (it's a long page!)

1) Transforming your business for the digital age: What can be learned from the music industry?
Until just recently, the music industry spectacularly failed to adapt to the drastic lifestyle and media consumption changes ushered in by the Internet. The result is endless friction where there should be new revenues, market confusion and - on a global scale - a severely dysfunctional content ecosystem. The economic consequences are catastrophic, with most the 'people formerly known as the consumers' rejecting the established music industry and their legitimate digital music offerings, and turning their attention to anything else but the authorized music providers. What can be learned from the music industry's (non)-actions, what traps can be avoided, and how can other industries learn from what happened to the music industry during the conversion process to a fully digital business?  (*this is a good topic for the publishing, travel, luxury, financial and marketing industries)

21st century content economics - getting ready for the new content economy
Because of the Internet, all content industries (music, film/video, TV, news and print, games, publishing, software etc) are in different stages of total disruption; many of them urgently need to develop a new, web-native business logic in order to survive, or better yet, prosper in the future. Technological content protection measures (DRM, TPM) have by and large not been successful. Instead, any future 'protection' will need to come from the business model, and topics such as free / freemium / feels-like-free are going to be crucially important. How will content be monetized, in the near future, and what new revenue streams or generatives should be investigated? How will this new ecosystem of interdependence function, and how do we transition from old to new?

Telecom 2.0: New opportunities in the new developing telemedia ecosystem
Telecoms, operators and ISPs around the world are facing the increasing threat of declining ARPU's in both the voice as well the data sectors; and real-time mobile apps like Twitter may end up eating into the cash-cow SMS business soon, as well. It has been suggested that the next big opportunity is to move up the food-chain, go 'Telco2.0' and become a content, service and experience platform. If that is true, why, when and how is digital (i.e mobile...!) content the next big opportunity for telecoms, where exactly are the key opportunities (and in what region), and what needs to be done to start exploiting them, now?

The Future of media: 10 predictions and fore-sights
15 years after the Netscape IPO and the beginning of the Internet era, severe disruption and confusion is effecting the media sectors, everywhere. Many tried-and-true assumptions have proven useless on the web, core value systems are questioned and dismantled, and many trusted old business traditions are no longer suitable. What will the media landscape look like, in 3-5 years; who will lose and who will gain? Where are the biggest opportunities (and in what location), and how will the big incumbents need to adapt to stay in the game? An overview of the key trends, immediate future scenarios and select predictions.

The Future of Business: From egosystem to ecosystem
Further amplified by the current economic crisis, the Internet has forever changed the way we do business. Everything is seemingly connected, transparency rules, control is much harder to maintain - and as a consequence, it can no longer be all just about maximizing profits. The "I win - you lose" mindset is toast. How will firms and brands talk to and interact with their business partners, clients and those pesky people formerly known as consumers, in the near future? How will companies build new revenue streams when they can't control all pieces of the puzzle, and how will strong profits be possible in an open network? Scenarios and wild-cards are used to explain a new, interdependent business ecosystem.

Music 2.0: re-setting the music business
The music industry (both recorded music and publishing) is experiencing a tidal wave of disruption, and a total reset is in the making: Music 2.0 is around the corner. Selling copies is over, and selling access is next. Preventing the illegitimate use of music is turning out to be impossible, while allowing i.e. licensing any and all types of new platforms is the future. The old, comfortable and lucrative monopoly of attention (and distribution as well as production!) is quickly becoming utterly unfeasible; now, engagement, conversation, community and selling-by-attraction is the future. What will the music industry look like in 3-5 years, where are the big opportunities, and where is that 'new money'? How to move forward and take advantage of the global trends in how people use (fka consume) music?

The mobility revolution: Content, context, communications and...culture
The computer is no longer the most popular way that people around the globe access the web. Mobile devices are taking over at blinding pace, and the implications are vast. Once 1, 2 or or even 4 Billion people are actually connected to the Internet - and therefore, also to each other - which emerging cultural and business trends will be most crucial? How will the global shift to mobile impact specific industries, such as News, Publishing, Education or Travel? And how long will it be until this happens?

Mobile marketing & advertising futures: a view from around the world
Very soon, mobile devices will become the primary way that users (fka consumers) will access the Internet. All kinds of screens and user-interfaces will be used for many different tasks, and the Web 1.0 experience (i.e. 'going online' on a big computer with many wires coming in and out) will quickly fade in the read mirrors of Billions of mobile Internet users. Marketing, advertising, and the very definition of 'selling' are changing forever. What are key trends in mobile marketing and advertising, around the world, how will this market develop and what are the most important realizations we can derive from previewing the next 2-3 years?

From getting impressions to gaining followers: The future of advertising & marketing
Advertising as interruption is over. Marketing as yelling and 'pushing stuff' is history. The web has enabled users to tune out anything that is not actually wanted, meaningful and timely. Brands and advertisers must now strive to attract and engage rather than to force their message down the consumer's throat. Now it's all about 'finding products for your customers not customers for your products' (as Clay Shirky has observed). What will Advertising & Marketing 2.0 look like, in the future, which trends can be seen and where the exact opportunities?

Where attention flows money follows: Understanding the attention and linking economy
In an always-on, hyper-networked and therefore eventually tribe-based digital economy, getting (and keeping!) attention will increasingly need come before any chance of remuneration can emerge. Now more than ever before, without an audience, without listeners, viewers, readers, followers and 'friends' there is no business. So how does one get attention these days, be it for a brand, a person, a service or product, and how (if at all) can attention actually be converted to income? This presentation will feature examples and scenarios that can be useful for individuals, organizations or companies, alike.

Thriving on the link economy: How to harness the power of social networks 
With the dawn of the real-time web, and the explosion in social networking, the practice of linking to, forwarding and sharing content is becoming even more important. Many users are starting to trust 'people like me' and the opinion of a peer (whether known in person or not) more than the message of a CEO or a paid-for ad, requiring us to integrate our marketing directly into a product or service. How do we effect links and mentions across the web, how do we efficiently participate in the link-economy, and how do we build a buzz authentically?

Social networks and ambient awareness: Understanding the power of Social Media
Social media is exploding, and the noise is deafening. How does one communicate to 1000s of friends, followers and subscribers all over the world, without risking constant overload, and where is the true power, and potential, of social media?

A new cultural economy - and what it may mean for you
Technology is constantly and irreversibly changing our culture and habits, yet with very different levels of impact in different regions around the globe, and at very different speed. Spotting and understanding emerging cultural trends can often result in recognizing latent opportunities, much sooner, as well, which can lead to a drastically increased scope of innovation - both in terms of business as well as in terms of society and culture. This talk addresses topics such as the changing definition of 'consumers' versus 'creators', the shift from sole and exclusive ownership to open licenses, the concepts of crowd-sourcing and 'proudly found elsewhere', and the Wealth of Networks (as inspired by Yochai Benkler, Joi Ito and others).

The future of creativity and the creative industries
Some recent developments may seem worrisome for content producers and creators: everyone seems to expect high quality content to be instantly available, online (and now, on the mobile, as well!), for free or for a lot less than it used to cost, and many media or content companies around the world are facing declining or stagnating income. In the age of Billions of newly empowered, networked, co-creating, remixing and sharing users, what is the outlook for 'the creators' i.e. the artists, creators, producers, writers, performers, and how will they prosper in the future? How will they market themselves, and what are challenges and opportunities?

Broadband Culture 1: Understanding the 'people formerly known as consumers'
Today's connected 'consumers' no longer fit the bill: at any given moment, they may in fact be users, followers, friends, co-creators, prosumers, co-producers or crowd-sourced collaborators, all-in-one. The digital natives and their immigrant followers no longer just sit back and take-in what's coming from the top. The 'kids' are running the show now; and they are very quickly influencing the older generations, too. Control is shifting from the providers (the 'networks', studios, publishers labels and broadcasting conglomerates) to the users, from the firm to the individual, from "The Network" to "The Networked" What does mean for you and / or your business, and what will it take to be successful in the future, whether you are a startup or an established incumbent?

Broadband Culture 2: The future of "free" 
Free or 'feels like free' is fast becoming the keyword for many online marketing activities. The closely related freemium concept (i.e. free basic servicea for everyone plus many ways to up-sell as many others as possible) has been successfully used by 100s of companies incl. Flickr, Skype, Spotify, Amazon and of course - the undisputed master of making things 'free' - Google. But where is the future of 'free' or freemium - how will cultures and economies develop based on free goods, services, products and content, and what will happen to people that create all these 'free' goods? How will pay who for what - or will the everything-anytime-for-free trend reverse in the near future?

Broadband Culture 3: The opportunities and challenges of openness
Open platforms are starting to dominate, from software to web services to mobile networks and hardware. Witness the success of open source software, or the dismantling of walled gardens in telecommunications and the exploding use of APIs. Open systems, fully compatible devices, software, networks and platforms seem to be where the future is taking us. What does this mean for your business, going forward? Where are the opportunities and successful scenarios, and what are the myths we should bust and throw away? How, why and where is openness a strategic advantage?

Broadband Culture 4: The future of storytelling
Anyone can now publish anything on the web - but are the stories compelling? The river of content runs faster and gets deeper every second, with more and more new creeks of user-generated content swelling the waters. Do faster and cheaper means of production, publishing and distribution also result in more good stories? How will storytelling develop in a future where nobody seems to have enough attention span left for anything that's not short and sweet? Will the micro-chunking and content-snacking trends lead to a poor and unsatisfying storytelling environment, and how, if at all, will new forms develop? How will good yet more demanding stories be heard in a world of ubiquitous noise and mental fast-food?

Paying with Attention - is there real money in 'Free'?
'Free' is becoming a key component of any marketing effort, these days. More often that not, free things are supported with 'buying and selling attention' aka advertising. If this remains one of the main ways of paying for content and creativity online, how exactly will the users' attention turn into money, going forward, and what are some of those new ways this is already happening, around the world?

Personal branding on the Internet: thoughts, experiences, possibilities and examples
Pull not Push: sharing his own experiences during the past 5 years, Gerd Leonhard talks about what it takes to build your own, personal brand on the Internet. Shedding light on often confusing topics such as what to share, when, why, with whom and how, and how to use 'sharing' as the key driver of reputation, Gerd will show how he uses Twitter, Facebook, Google, Youtube and many other tools in order to show up on the right people's radar screens. There are no recipes (sorry) but there can be insightful shared experiences!

The rise of the API Culture, Sharism and Open Platforms
Open Application Program Interfaces (APIs) are driving many of today's most successful companies, incl. Google, Amazon, Twitter and Facebook. 'Use our stuff to build your' is not only the mantra of BBC Backstage, but has become the operating paradigm for 100s of the hottest WebX.0 companies. When everything is open and freely available, how are recurring revenues being generated? Where is this business model taking us, and where are the opportunities?

[Picture: courtesy of Markus Nigl / Siemens, taken at the 2009 Siemens Media SummIT in Rome]

Here are some examples of the topics Gerd has covered in the past:

The Future of Telecom

Open is King - The Future of Media beyond Control

Social Media - Engage or be Tivo'ed?

Mobility and Mobile Content

The Future of Travel and Tourism (Impact of Social Media)

Media Mega-Trends - 1, 2, 5, and 10 years out: what will these trends mean for business, culture, media and society, and where will the big opportunities be?

The Future of Advertising and Branding (redefining advertising)

PR2.0 and the Future of Public Relations

The Future of Telecoms & Communications (EU, US, ASIA)

The Future of Copyright and Intellectual Property on the Internet - pay per copy, or pay for access? (related: the future of content creation)and : Copyright versus Technology - if merely seeing or hearing 'content' becomes 'getting', how will content be monetized?

Media X.0: Friction is Fiction

The Net-Generation and the "Digital Natives" and how they are changing media, culture, law, and business

Social networking: the future of Radio and TV?

Innovation and Change Management

Future Scenarios and Predictions: Media, Advertising and Branding in 2010, 2013, 2018 (can be narrowed down to one particular industry)

Where is the new money in the Future of Media & Entertainment: unit sales, access-controlled / ppv, Ad-supported, Feels Like Free - or just plain Free?

Music2.0 and the Future of the Music Industry (defining the music company of tomorrow)

The Web & TV convergence and the Future of Television

The Future of Radio and Broadcasting (public and / or commercial) - is the Internet the New Radio?

The Future of Publishing, Books, and Journalism

The Future of Marketing: The big switch from Push to Pull, what it really means, and how to take advantage of it

Media and the concept of the Longtail: ideas, visions and realities for the content industries

The Future of User-Generated Content, and the radical transformation of "The
People formerly known as Consumers"

The Future of Retail: 0s and 1s versus hard goods

The Future of creation, talent and ideas - a good look at 'distributed selection', UGC and the 'wisdom of masses' (where and how will talent emerge in the Future)

Web2.0 / Webwhatever.0: what it really means, and where it's going

Local and global media trends, and how they overlap (or not)

Mobility and the Future of Media - why mobile media will dwarf anything we have seen so far

The Future of Telecom: networked content, new roles, new revenue streams, new challenges

The next generation media company: from The Network to 'Networked'

The Blogosphere & understanding the world of blogging: how it works and what it can('t) do for you

Commercial versus Shared Culture: what's business, and what's culture?

Music Like Water / Media Like Water (the flat rate debate)

The Attention Economy in Media: why attention is the new distribution

A Change of Control: how technology is transforming media, and how losing control creates new revenues

The impact of Technology on Culture

The Future of Creators: new models for the monetization of content creation (is technology empowering the creators or simply making them a commodity?). Generating income in a world of ubiquitous (and often, free) content

Benefits and challenges of the so-called democratization of production

Fueling the fire: Investment opportunities in next-generation media

The future of education in a world of ubiquitous media and endless resources

Some of Gerd's past presentations can be downloaded here, Gerd's FutureTalk videos can be viewed and downloaded here (also featuring fellow futurist Glen Hiemstra).