Traditionally, at least for the last couple of years, Chinwag Live has finished the year be peering ahead five years into the future of the digital world in a session entitled Xmas Futures, Crystal Balls.
The panel was chaired by Richard Titus (Head of User Experience, BBC Future Media and Technology) and featured Jonathan Mitchener (Futurologist, BT), Simon Collister (Head of Digital, Consumer Practice, Weber Shandwick), Jamie Coomber (Head of Digital Strategy, Profero), Neville Hobson, Ewan Macleod (Founder & Editor, Mobile Industry Review).
Each month, the slightly gloomy chore of publishing the Digital Pulse result hits the top of my to do list. Or more accurately, I finally get hassled to the point where I actually manage to get the results on the website.
Since we began compiling this data from a monthly user survey (why not take it now - for each completed survey a donation gets made to WWF) the trend has been a fall in confidence which seemed to accelerate with all the bad financial news.
Despite rosy predictions from the blogosphere and beyond of the digital sector's immunity from the economic traumas, the scale of recession looks like the whole economy is in for quite a kicking.
The Webby Awards, think of the Oscars for all things digital hit London last Monday Tuesday (thanks Jonathan for pointing that out, must've been more inebriated than I thought) with an event to highlight the imminent deadline for submissions for 2009. N.B. The deadline is this Fri, 19th December.
An eclectic mix of speakers were invited to participate in a format called, "Figures of Speech", a strictly timed 5-minute spiel on one thing that they found great about the Internet.
Following the shortlist announced a couple weeks back, congrats are due to the winners of e-consultancy's first Innovation Awards, that were announced last week.
The tougher climate of 2009 will really test the mettle of the industry's innovation. Sink or innovate?
Innovation in Affiliate Marketing
A quick plea for help and a 20 second diversion on a Friday afternoon.
There's a veritable flurry of printing, stapling, hole punching and other filing related activity at Chinwag Towers. The application deadline for the Digital Mission to South by South West interactive (SXSWi) has come and gone.
Over 100 companies applied for one of the 40 slots on the Digital Mission which is a great response before you factor in the wave of dire economic news that's been crashing against the industry for the last two months. The number of entries also shows the healthy attitude of the UK's digital sector in looking beyond the local market.
September was a pretty painful month for the Digital Pulse, Chinwag's confidence index for the digital sector. Industry confidence took an almighty whack, so with baited breath and more than a little trepidation, the numbers were crunched for October’s Digital Pulse.
In these difficult times Companies must avoid doing business while technically insolvent.
What does this mean?
Unhelpfully the law itself does not define "insolvency". Broadly speaking it means either your company cannot pay its debts as they fall due or its liabilities are greater than its assets. Trading while insolvent triggers various liabilities for those involved and has serious consequences for Directors. In some cases, Directors can become personally liable for the debts of the company and even be disqualified from acting as a Director in the future.
Want to go to SXSWi but don't have the cash? Want to join the Digital Mission to SXSWi with 40 of the UK's hottest digital SMEs but a bit strapped? Located in the South-West?
This could be your lucky day.
