The IAB Roadshow

An enjoyable day was had today as the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) rolled into town. The venue was Bournemouth University and the name of the event, "IAB Digital Talent Roadshow". Key speakers included Kieron Matthews from the IAB, Sam Michel from Chinwag, May Race from the COI, Natasha Spencer Warren from Mindshare and Nick Turner from AKQA. Andy Oakes from New Media Age also spoke and was decent enough to fork out for drinks after.

There were a number of highlights, and Nick's account of the lengths wannabe creatives will go to gain the attention of potential employers was certainly illuminating (if not a little frightening for Nick!). This involved stalking across various social media channels and the obtaining of quite personal information so as to direct Nick to a video message most creatively and amusingly delivered. Discussion of social media and reputation management proved a key theme for the day. As Mark Zuckerberg relatively recently mentioned, privacy as a social norm is undergoing a significant rethink. Potentially a somewhat disturbing trend when seen through the guise of peer surveillance, it isn't without its funny side as Nick highlighted with a video from The Onion in his presentation:




Kieron also reinforced the social media message urging students, in true Web 2.0 fashion, to be part of the conversation and to "be digital". Andy, Sam and Kieron also had tales to tell of why students and agency employees should be mindful that what is posted and said on Facebook and Twitter pages can come back to haunt both sooner and later. The primacy of search was underlined as a hot area for potential graduates, not without significant rewards for students interested in learning the arts of optimisation. Whilst none of this is revelatory, the need from industry for digital specialists is there and jobs do exist for graduates with savvy who are willing to go that extra distance.