Get ready for return of little TED

Jan 22 2009 by Herb Kim, The Journal

AROUND this time last year, Codeworks rolled the dice on the biggest single risk we’d taken in our short life and launched the Thinking Digital conference.

We’d been putting on events for a while. Since 2004 we’d been running bigger and bigger ones as the digital industry in the North East grew. But most of these were pretty small scale, and usually free or for not very much money to attend.

Then, with Microsoft committing to sponsorship to our 2008 conference, we decided we’d undertake our first multi-day event, market it internationally, attract more than 30 speakers, book 400 paying places and raise £75,000 in sponsorship.

It would be by far our biggest, most complex and most expensive event. We were also charging upwards of £599 for the most expensive tickets.

It was a huge gamble for our little company. Failure could have destroyed our great reputation. Failure could have also led to severe financial hardship. And in May we’re doing it all again… So why bother? And what’s it all about?

If you want the movie version of “what is Thinking Digital?” you can go to tinyurl.com/9nvffb, but put simply, Thinking Digital is most often compared to the far bigger and more famous TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design) conference, which occurs annually in California.

It’s kind of a little TED, if you will, and features a large number of speakers. We have people speaking on IT hardware, software, the internet, bioscience, leadership, management, environmental issues, creativity, toy-making, graphics, games development, entrepreneurship, happiness and sex.

The secret sauce is in pairing topics and speakers in a way that generates new insights and inspirations.

As for why we bothered, the answer is pretty simple, too. The digital industries are very much knowledge-based, and whilst there’s clearly a lot of creativity already in the North East, it’s always important to bring in new perspectives, fresh ideas and insights.

In the current financial climate, many companies are recoiling at the thought of taking any sort of risk. Yet it’s precisely the companies that do – if, of course, it’s a calculated one – that will prosper.

So whilst it was “a roll of the dice” to put on Thinking Digital, we hope the fresh ideas it spreads when it returns on May 14-15 will give added impetus to the success of digital businesses in our region.

Herb Kim is CEO of Codeworks and director of Thinking Digital (www.thinkingdigital.co.uk)