Tech gala’s like IFA and MWC do not pique the curiosity of many individuals as of late. That is not such a nasty factor nevertheless it’s a disgrace as a result of that is one thing that would simply be averted. Why has the general public’s curiosity in these occasions waned, which has change into far too B2B-focused? Mainly, the tech and client electronics media industries are lacking a big alternative to create a gathering place and, above all, to generate content material. Precise content material that connects with folks.
I hate articles about tech reveals written by journalists for journalists. “Why is not IFA or MWC the identical because it was once?” Blah, blah, blah, they rant on. Don’t fret, I am not going to speak about that on this publish. Through the three days I spent sweating within the halls of IFA 2024 in Berlin, I used to be terribly pissed off.
“What am I doing right here?” was one query I usually requested myself, together with “What am I doing right here that provides extra worth than if I weren’t right here?” This query obsessed me all through the present. My job at IFA is to wander from stand to face, trying out attention-grabbing merchandise, and reveling about them to you in articles.
As of late, speaking is not ok. You do not want me, an unknown journalist with no status in anyway, to inform you that such and such a product exists. You may have so many sources of knowledge and information, it isn’t sufficient to only discuss one thing. It’s important to present it. Just like the adage, “Do not inform me. Present me.”
Every time I write a hands-on expertise or a overview, I at all times take into consideration what I can present you. The thought is to allow you to stay out my expertise vicariously, as should you have been there. Nobody cares about my emotions or opinions if I do not again them up with concrete examples. A video, a photograph, in brief, is much extra significant than 5 poor paragraphs of textual content I may write.
Blame the Producers!
There have been not less than three articles about my time at IFA that I did not write. That is primarily as a result of I could not see how these articles would profit you. I may have merely minimize and pasted a press launch to realize the identical end result. All too usually, I get the sensation that producers are completely glad with the present state of affairs.
Their major curiosity is promoting merchandise. To promote them to you. And to promote these merchandise, you must discuss them. Whether or not I discuss it in a 300-word information merchandise with no photos, nothing in anyway, or in a prolonged 2,000 phrase overview with graphs, tables, picture galleries, screenshots, and movies, the producer would not care.
That is the issue. Too incessantly, I’d overview a product or know-how, however I had no means of correctly transcribing my expertise. Producers and their communications groups do not give sufficient thought to how content material creators can create… content material.
If I have been to inform you in regards to the session throughout which I used to be in a position to check out Auracast know-how with wi-fi headphones, you’d shut the article after 10 seconds of studying. You would be proper in doing so. I wandered round a room for quarter-hour following a supervisor. It was very cool. My headphones may connect with a number of audio streams intuitively.
We even had little scenes within the hands-on. An airport scene the place, as I approached a ticket counter, I may hear bulletins about my flight in my headphones. It was all very intriguing, not less than, for me.
At no level did I’ve the chance to report what I used to be listening to. I attempted filming, nevertheless it did not do a lot good. I requested my press contact if he had any visible/video sources to reinforce my article. Nada. It is such a disgrace, actually. The expertise was actually attention-grabbing. Nonetheless, would a easy written report have aroused the identical curiosity in you? I doubt it.
I understand that not everybody can have a 22,000m2 area at IFA like Samsung. Nonetheless, permitting journalists to the touch the product, play with it, take good photographs and make movies would not value a lot.
It is the Journalists’ Fault
It could even be cowardly to not shoulder any of the accountability right here. I am a content material creator. If the content material is not good, it is my fault.
I believe it is an issue linked to the imaginative and prescient we now have of our career. I am a journalist, however then once more, anybody can be a journalist. Anybody can do what I do. The one actual distinction between you and me is that I haven’t got to purchase the merchandise I overview, and I’ve entry to occasions that you do not.
Even that distinction tends to get blurred as of late with the rise of influencers who’re their very own platform. We have now to cease imagining ourselves perched in our ivory tower. The mere incontrovertible fact that I had entry to the IFA two days earlier than you, the general public, and that I am speaking about what I noticed there, is now not sufficient.
That is not content material which attracts consideration. My phrases do not have sufficient added worth. I am unable to simply inform you issues. I’ve to carry them to life. To point out you what a product appears to be like like. The way it works.
I believe the media wants to alter the best way it perceives, and due to this fact treats, occasions like IFA.
In a earlier article on Gamescom, my colleague Dustin defended his ideas from a really attention-grabbing angle. In line with him, Gamescom is not about discovering new video games or getting the newest gaming information. It is a neighborhood present the place online game followers can meet up and share their ardour.
Whilst you may say IFA is a B2B occasion, a gathering place for professionals, for making contacts, and so forth, this implies you have to cease treating IFA as this large occasion for tech followers! If the IFA is only a networking occasion for tech professionals, there is no level speaking to you about it.
What’s your opinion on this? Did you comply with IFA 2024 on nextpit or elsewhere? Do you agree with my self-criticism of my content material? Do you may have any recommendations for making media protection of such occasions extra thrilling?