Stream08: WPP's "UnConference"

I was fortunate to be attend Stream '08, the "UnConference" put on by WPP.  I thought it was a good experience last year and so I was looking forward to it.  The sessions were more substantive this year (good job, David!), which was echoed by others that had attended in the past.  The highlight for me was hearing Sir Martin Sorrell give his thoughts on the future media through the lens of what things will be like in 2012.  Among some of his thoughts and predictions: Havas & Aegis will merge; News Corp & Disney will continue to thrive; Time Warner's situation is more complicated; Google's fate lies within itself - he can see no external factors that threaten it.  His grasp and understanding of various media and geopolitical topics was really impressive.  So much so that I wonder why he isn't in some sort of public office.  Apparently it's much rarer in the UK for people in business to jump into politics.

Some other observations and highlights:

• Jason Calcanis, provocative as ever, talking about trends in startups based on his vetting of applications to the TechCrunch 50.  USA continues to dominate but Israel & South Korea were over-represented and he's amazed by the innovation from these two countries.  OTOH, he doesn't see much innovation from Western Europe, and challenged German startups to truly innovate instead of copying.  
• The elephant in the room was the financial crisis and looming recession.  It didn't come up in many conversations although it did during Martin's talk and also by Jason who thinks it will be much worse than the dot-bomb meltdown.  
• Online video and its monetization is top-of-mind for a lot of people: there were 6 or 7 sessions dedicated to the topic!  
• Lior Manor, the Israeli Infotainer, showing off some of his tricks.  Amazing stuff, and I learned a couple of tricks myself!   

Thanks again to WPP and the Stream team for putting on such a worthy event.