Two days ago I attended the Digital Hollywood Korean Sessions – and I found them among the most challenging, exciting, fundamentally useful seminars I’ve ever attended! If Digital Hollywood has made the commitment to continue with these kinds of programs, then I have no doubt they’ve made this event a relevant, definitive force in entrepreneurial Hollywood!
In the past, panels like last winter’s “Transmedia Storytelling” struck me as dreadfully predictable. Everyone – including most of the panelists – seemed focused exclusively on getting business cards into the hands of one or two star guests, and the focus of the discussion was on impressing the audience with studio and network efforts to embrace digital technology. All I took away from those panels was how little competition the serious Hollywood 2.0 entrepreneur actually has.
I’m sorry to say, this struck me as the bread and butter of Digital Hollywood. When my friend Jeremy Ross asked me to attend his Korean Panel, I was dreading the experience – despite all his enthusiasm. Then, due exclusively to luck, I wound up catching most of the first panel and all of the other two. Thank goodness I did!
Here as a series of panels headed by the real innovators of their respective fields. Ideas were being shared that haven’t broken through to the mainstream, either because of the cultural differences involved or because big business isn’t ready. Entrepreneurs were excited and challenged by one another’s tools and perspectives, and the panelists and the audience were directly engaging one another.
Following that series of events, I’m already working to finance projects for one of the panelists – and another of the panelists is helping me with projects of my own. One of the presentations – Dr. Wi’s G-Learning show – impressed and excited me so much that I’ve been reaching out to everyone I know in education and marketing in support of his revolutionary efforts. I’ve offered my services to the moderators to help organize a similar panel centered around Russian media, where my own contacts are stronger. Just in my own life, co-mentorship relationships are evolving less than 48 hours after those panels took place.
Most importantly, my experience at the Korean Sessions was not even a little bit unique. One woman left the panel uplifted because she saw professionals creating a global media that represented her demographic as a black woman in a Vietnamese family. Financial inroads were built. Companies exchanged proprietary information freely, in the spirit of cooperation.
This is exactly what these summits are supposed to be about, and I had a fantastic time! Bravo to everyone involved!
To Jeremy in particular, thank you for opening me up to this magnificent event.
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