Feel free to comment on past events in the FORUM...
Designers Are W*%^&$S!
A look at whether universities put out the right creative graduates
7th August 2007
Speakers:
Lee McCormick - Author of Designers are Wankers www.designersarewankers.com
Roy Chilvers - lecturer and recruitment for Design Futures Cluster at Salford University
Mark Beaumont - Creative Director for Dinosaur http://www.dinosaur.co.uk/
This debate discussed the findings of the book ‘Designers are Wankers’ by Lee McCormick which looks at whether Universities are producing the design and creative graduates that the industry really needs. Turning into a battle between graduates, universities and employers, each fought their point as to what needs to be done to guarantee graduates have the right skills to go out and get a job.
We’re interested to hear your views on the evening in our FORUM
Chaired by Howard Sharrock
This talk focused on ‘Intellectual Property Rights’ gave a brief introduction to the topic and acted as an open forum in which the audience was able to probe our panel for tips and advice.
Forming our panel for the evening were the very knowledgeable John Burns, partner and IPR specialist with the law firm Halliwells http://www.halliwells.co.uk/, and Michael Douglas with trade mark agency Wilson Gunn.
Some of the areas covered:
Judging by the audience’s response many have issues and are affected by IPR and ‘Hey! That’s My Idea’ turned into the perfect opportunity to get some free advice!!
17th July 2007
A look at what we can expect to see happen to TV and broadcast over the next 5 to 10 years…
Tuesday the 17th of July saw one of Manchester Circuit Series most interactive debates yet where writer, broadcaster and TV presenter Byron Evans of Channel M reigned in the panel and audience as we discussed the future of television at yet another informative evening at The Circle Club, Manchester.
Dr Gareth Palmer, Associate Head of Enterprise - School of Media and Performance at Salford Uni is excited by the way television is changing in an interesting way. “People are learning to watch in different ways like watching on the computer. The word TV isn’t useful because people use it differently now. Under 20’s spend far more time online now and it is common to wait for a television series to come out on DVD and watch it all at once.”
Agreeing the Internet is a big part of our changing attitude towards television Adam Webster, Head of Interactive at The Gate Films, says “We’re glued to the web but I don’t think it is replacing programming as the technology isn’t there yet. You’ll find that under 20’s will have the TV on at the same time as using the computer and that is unlikely to change just yet.”
Both Adam Webster and Mark Collins from Gate Films see the internet as the way into the next generation of television. Being able to download the new series ‘Kevin and Stacey’ before and during its broadcast is an example of news ways of viewing and allowed those who are unable to get digital to watch it.
With regards to the future of public service broadcasting, the BBC is looking to change so that more downloadable material is available. Content on demand has already proven to be a popular way of viewing with the likes of YouTube. However internet and on-demand viewing does bring the BBCs licences fee into question. With niche broadcasting viewings may feel hard done by if the BBC are not up to date with consumer demand. A solution to the licence fee is possibly a pay as you go television charge. Mark Collins Head of Production at the Gate Films said “If people have the right content then viewers will pay a small amount to watch, and they will make a lot.”
This could be applied to the internet with downloadable series, as Adam Webster suggested. “If people start out free then charge a small amount it works. Just set up a paypal account, it’s really easy and not a big deal. Or create revenue through advertising. You need to develop cult status first however before you can charge.”
In the meanwhile it would appear ‘Auntie’ still knows best and the Beeb is not on its dying breaths yet. The security of it’s brand name means that people will continue to look towards the BBC for quality and impartial programming. As Mark Collins said “People do trust TV and that’s why there’s such a fuss over things. We need to tap into new generations who don’t have that respect for it and look to their music and news as a way of connecting with them. They’re the people who will decide if the BBC exists in the future.”
One guarantee for now is that we’ll always tune straight into BBC1 if we heard the Queen had died or when some other groundbreaking news is hitting the world. During and after 9/11 the BBC’s website was shut down due to the amount of people logging onto the page to get impartial news about events. As Gareth Palmer stated “Even though people watch programmes now and not channels there is still a place for scheduled programmes as there will always be an audience for sports and world events.”
As a subject of which the majority are interested in it was of little surprise that the audience had a lot to say on the matter and the discussion left the panel as the audience debated heatedly amongst themselves!
Manchester Property Debate - Part One
19th June 2007
IS THE CITY CENTRE A GOOD INVESTMENT? - THE EXPERTS ARE DIVIDED
Buying a flat in Manchester’s city centre is not the investment it used to be, was the summary at this weeks Manchester Circuit Debate Series. A panel of professionals, which included a cross section of all those in Manchester interested in buying, investing, and developing property converged in the Circle Club on Tuesday 19th June for another topical debate.
The lively crowd argued over the state of the Manchester property market and why compromise over choice seems the order of the day.
Neal Allen-Burt an Architect at Sheppard Robson Architects who recently had to drop the price of his inner city flat in order to sell it said, “Don’t invest in the city centre unless it’s a lifestyle choice.”
However, Steve Maskill a Regional Sales Manager for M1 City Apartments believes there is still a market there, “We’re living in a changing society. People are working longer hours and the idea of being able to walk home is appealing to many. The demand and supply is high from outside the city even if the locals don’t think so.”
The debate roared on as the floor showed dismay for the lack of resources for families living in the centre and how they compromise their lifestyles by not being able to live in the city centre even though they work there. Ben Coster, Regional Operations Director at Countryside Properties, thinks we have a Chicken and Egg syndrome. “Schools and healthcare are key things missing from city centre living. But what comes first… families or schools?”
Unsurprisingly Beetham Tower was high on the list when talking about city centre living. One outspoken audience member showed his disdain for the trend in glass buildings with his profound statement “Stop building them, they’re s***!” Unfortunately for him Neal Allen-Burt thinks we’re going to see a lot more buildings like it and as John Ogden, CB Richard Ellis commercial real estate advisors, pointed out it’s purely a matter of taste.
Even though the city centre isn’t a wise investment at the moment looking slightly further a field could be very profitable.
“If you’re looking to invest, then look at sustainability and what the 7 to 10year growth pattern looks like. There’s no point holding back or you will get left behind. Manchester is a great place to invest because the level of students staying here after University to work is extremely high.
“It seems Manchester is following London trends; invest in bad areas because they will all get redeveloped eventually, especially if they are on the edge of the city centre.” Steve Maskill.
Death to Powerpoint
A cross section of Manchester’s business community took part in an interactive evening. Chair Byron Evans, Manchesters answer to a young Robert Kilroy-Silk who also doubles up as a writer and broadcaster for Channel M, sought the audience’s opinions on what they want to see from a business pitch… When asking the guests for the evening who they considered inspirational speakers a motley crew were announced ranging from politicians such as Winston Churchill, to comedians and even errr Noel Edmonds, hmmmm…
The debate roared over the importance of content over personality and vice versa with the panel at odds with members of the floor who were pushing personality as the key. Andy Egan, CEO Felix Group Plc., agreed that “People like people, confidence sells confidence” but on the whole the panel argued that content makes a presentation and if you know your stuff then that will shine through.
“We live in a data rich society. It’s very easy to get stuff off the internet and pad your presentation. Get back to basics, throwaway chunks of your presentation and get your point across. You can show personality by illustrating your point with a story.” Said Mike Perls, Managing Director of MC2 marketing agency.
Stuart Nolan, Independent media consultant, maverick presenter and magician, personally doesn’t like too much humour in presentations as it assumes you’re ‘buddies’ with the audience. “You have to be careful that your humour and personality doesn’t drown out your point. It’s no good walking away from a talk thinking ‘that guy was great, but I can’t remember a thing he said!’” Cries of Tony Blair came from the audience at this point…
“Pleasure!” Beth Allan, vocal coach, stressed how finding out what gives the audience pleasure is the way to successful presenting. “Could be in sensory language, rhythm or melody, or physical breath. Basically you want to see someone who pleases an audience.”
If you were looking at improving your presentation skill it would have been hard to walk away with one definitive piece of advice from the evening however what was reassuring was that the panel of expert professional and engaging speaker all felt the nerves, made cock ups and blah blah blah… The whole presentation skill seems to be an inherited art rather than a learned science…
The Internet Part 2.0???
Tuesday 8th May 2007
Another lively debate rose up from Manchester’s Circle Club this Tuesday as a panel of guest speakers and audience indulged in a spot of futurology and discussed what the next 5 years of Internet will bring us.
Following the burst of the ‘dot com bubble’ at the turn of the millennium, the internet has seen an enormous amount of new and successful projects spring up from out of nowhere. The likes of Ebay, You Tube and Myspace have all attracted thousand upon thousands of users every day and have generated millions in revenue. Our panel got together to debate whether or not this is another boom or bust scenario or is it in fact the real thing?
Mark Garner, owner of 2M Media and Manchester Confidential, was keen to start the debate with his opinion that ‘2.0’ was a salesman term. It refers to smart websites, which are community led and driven by user input. Up until 2002 the Internet was a good idea but wasn’t working. Now with broadband everything has changed and the term 2.0 is a buzz word to promote something we were promised from the start.
All the panel agreed that Web 1.0 was about information being uploaded onto the web for viewing where as 2.0 is about developing relationships, networking and user content, not just throwing content up there.
Dr David Kreps, MD of Fourquarters I.S. Ltd believed ‘search’ will become the most important aspect to the web as more information becomes available due to technological progression. The ability to sift and sort through so much information as the access to content gets better and better will be the most valuable asset.
So the internet is getting intelligent, allowing us to interact more effectively but with it ultimately heading into real-time does it start to just be a mirror of real life? Bands on Myspace are fighting for their break just as much as those in the real world. Or are they doing both? Our lives are so entwined in the web how can we really separate them into two categories. A comment from the floor questioned why we have this separation and if we thought of them as one wouldn’t we solve more problems?
Surely the Internet is already doing this? Gary McClarnan, Sparklestreet HQ Ltd. CEO/Founder says some of the most successful companies have used the Internet to solve real life problems. File sharing, money transfers, even finding flat mates have all been made easier with Web 2.0.
Mike Ryan, CEO of Idaho & Chair of Manchester Digital warned that the public will want ultra high speeds at low costs because that’s what we’re currently being advertised but prices are likely to double in coming years in order to develop the speeds we require. This may prove a problem as early adopters have shrinking wallets and are more cautious in what they buy now as previous technology hasn’t lived up to the hype.
Dr David Kreps agreed that the main service people will expect is better quality from their movie streaming over the Internet so as well as the price of broadband increasing there will more than likely be hardware issues as well.
Not only this, but the majority agreed with Gary McClarnan that we were entering a state of recession. The economy isn’t going to be as buoyant as general retailing, regardless of it being on the high street or on the web, is down. Baby boomers are retiring and credit card debt is catching up with people.
However, the panel summed up, with the web technology now available there is a real future for small businesses across the world. This is now the real Internet and businesses with simple ideas are raking money in.
Next stage? Information scarcity instead of mass consumption? People will always rebel against something that has become too readily available or passé. Surely all we really want to do is read our emails, check our bank balance and book our holiday? But regardless of what we want, with faster more intelligent Internet it would appear there are lots of opportunities opening up. To round off the evening before a spot of supper Mark Garner offered the analogy “Before we had steam engines, now we have petrol engines.”
The BBC Move North - Good or Bad?
May 1st 2007
This week’s topical debate from the Manchester Circuit Series saw the intimate Circle Club packed with a rapt audience from media, education, and areas closest to Media City looking to find out how the BBC’s move to Salford will affect and – hopefully - benefit them.
Chairing the evening was Howard Sharrock, Independent Media Consultant.
Lynne McCadden, MD of newly merged Media Training North West & North West Vision said the BBC wouldn’t be moving if it didn’t think it would be getting viewing figures out of it. There are plans for media apprenticeships, a pioneering pilot scheme for apprentices to be based and learning in Salford, which will be open to those with no qualifications.
But what about a commitment to existing talent trying to survive in the northwest? Martin Brookes, ex-BBC, who has been instrumental in the whole deal and is now currently working as an Independent Media Consultant, explained that the BBC has chosen to move to Salford so it can tap into the rich talent available in the North.
Not everyone is 100 percent happy with the move. Steven Kingston, Editor of the Salford Star stated he was not against the move but seriously questions its motives. Unsure as to whether Media City is truly interested in the community benefits and worried about the execution of the move, he brought the discussion around to how the Salford film festival has been axed and within Media City there isn’t one affordable property within phase one.
Councillor John Merry, Leader of Salford City Council pointed out that Salford has suffered from a declining population but Media City brings a new hope and life to the city of Salford. Merry was confident that although some businesses would have inevitably closed there would actually be more jobs generated in the long run.
The Pie Factory is already transforming into workshops and studios, demonstrating how jobs are being created before the BBC even start their move. On top of this, with a proposed 1500 jobs coming up from the capital not all of those London-based employees will be willing to relocate to the North. Employment provided by the BBC is only part of the story and the hope is that more companies will be attracted to the site.
So the BBC is coming, and it seems everyone agrees that it’s a good thing. Having one of the biggest brands in the world set up shop here could be one of the greatest things ever to happen to the northwest. But what’s the next step? Lynne McCadden believes that attracting companies from all over the world would be a great achievement but the bigger ambition should be bringing the surrounding cities together to form a northern media approach.