Podcasts about verticals

Skip the Queue is brought to you by Rubber Cheese, a digital agency that builds remarkable systems and websites for attractions that helps them increase their visitor numbers. Your hosts are Paul Marden and Andy Povey.If you like what you hear, you can subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, and all the usual channels by searching Skip the Queue or visit our website SkiptheQueue.fm.If you've enjoyed this podcast, please leave us a five star review, it really helps others find us. Show references:  Anna Preedy, Director M+H Showhttps://show.museumsandheritage.com/https://www.linkedin.com/in/annapreedy/Jon Horsfield, CRO at Centegra, a Cinchio Solutions Partnerhttps://cinchio.com/uk/https://www.linkedin.com/in/jon-horsfield-957b3a4/Dom Jones, CEO, Mary Rose Trust https://maryrose.org/https://www.linkedin.com/in/dominicejones/https://www.skipthequeue.fm/episodes/dominic-jonesPaul Woolf, Trustee at Mary Rose Trusthttps://maryrose.org/https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-woolf/Stephen Spencer, Ambience Director, Stephen Spencer + Associateshttps://www.stephenspencerassociates.com/https://www.linkedin.com/in/customerexperiencespecialist/https://www.skipthequeue.fm/episodes/stephen-spencerSarah Bagg, Founder, ReWork Consultinghttps://reworkconsulting.co.uk/https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahbagg/https://www.skipthequeue.fm/episodes/sarah-baggJeremy Mitchell, Chair of Petersfield Museum and Art Galleryhttps://www.petersfieldmuseum.co.uk/https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremy-mitchell-frsa-4529b95/Rachel Kuhn, Associate Director, BOP Consultinghttps://www.bop.co.uk/https://www.linkedin.com/in/kuhnrachel/  Transcriptions:Paul Marden: Welcome to Skip the Queue, the podcast for people working in and working with visitor attractions. You join me today, out and about yet again. This time I am in London at Olympia for the Museums and Heritage Show. Hotly anticipated event in everybody's diary. We all look forward to it. Two days of talks and exhibitions and workshops. Just a whole lot of networking and fun. And of course, we've got the M and H awards as well. So in this episode, I am going to be joined by a number of different people from across the sector, museum and cultural institution professionals, we've got some consultants, we've got some suppliers to the industry, all pretty much giving us their take on what they've seen, what they're doing and what their thoughts are for the year ahead. So, without further ado, let's meet our first guest. Andy Povey: Hi, Anna. Welcome to Skip the Queue. Thank you for giving us some of your time on what must be a massively busy day for you. I wonder if you could just tell the audience who you are, what you do, a little bit about what museums and heritage is, because not everyone listening to the podcast comes from the museum sector. Anna Preedy: Andy, thanks. This is a great opportunity and always really lovely to see your happy smiley face at the Museums and Heritage Show. So M and H, as we're often referred to as, stands for Museums and Heritage and we're a small business that organises the principal trade exhibition for the Museums and Heritage sector that could be broadened, I suppose, into the cultural sector. We also have the awards ceremony for the sector and an online magazine. So we are Museums and Heritage, but we're often referred to as M and H and we've been around for a very long time, 30 plus years. Andy Povey: Oh, my word. Anna Preedy: I know. Andy Povey: And what's your role within the organisation? Your badge says Event Director today. That's one of many hats. Anna Preedy: I'm sure it is one of many hats because we're a very small team. So I own and manage the events, if you like. M and H is my baby. I've been doing it for a very long time. I feel like I'm truly immersed in the world of museums and heritage and would like to think that as a result of that, I kind of understand and appreciate some of the issues and then bring everyone together to actually get in the same room and to talk them through at the show. So, yeah, that's what we're about, really. Andy Povey: In a shorthand and obviously the show. We're in the middle of West London. It's a beautifully sunny day here at Olympia. The show is the culmination, I suppose of 12 months of work. So what actually goes in? What does a normal day look like for you on any month other than May? Anna Preedy: Yeah, it was funny actually. Sometimes people, I think, well, what do you do for the rest of the year? You just turn up to London for a couple of days, just turn up delivering an event like this. And also our award scheme is literally three, six, five days of the year job. So the moment we leave Olympia in London, we're already planning the next event. So it really is all encompassing. So I get involved in a lot. As I say, we're a small team, so I'm the person that tends to do most of the programming for the show. So we have 70 free talks. Everything at the show is free to attend, is free to visit. So we have an extensive programme of talks. We have about 170 exhibitors. Anna Preedy: So I'm, although I have a sales team for that, I'm managing them and looking after that and working with some of those exhibitors and then I'm very much involved in our awards. So the Museums and Heritage Awards look to celebrate and reward the very best in our sector and shine the spotlight on that not just in the UK but around the world. So we have a judging panel and I coordinate that. So pretty much every decision, I mean you look at the colour of the carpet, that which incidentally is bright pink, you look at the colour of the carpet here, who made the decision what colour it would be in the aisles this year it was me. So I, you know, I do get heavily involved in all the nitty gritty as well as the biggest strategic decisions. Andy Povey: Fantastic. Here on the show floor today it is really busy, there are an awful lot of people there. So this is all testament to everything that you've done to make this the success that it is. I'm sure that every exhibitor is going to walk away with maybe not a full order book, but definitely a fistful of business cards. Anna Preedy: I think that's it, what we really want. And we sort of build this event as the big catch up and we do that for a reason. And that is really to kind of give two days of the year people put those in their diary. It's a space where people can come together. So you know, there'll be people here standing on stands who obviously and understandably want to promote their product or service and are looking to generate new business. And then our visitors are looking for those services and enjoying the talks and everyone comes together and it's an opportunity to learn and network and connect and to do business in the broadest possible sense. Really. Andy Povey: No, I think that the line, the big catch up really sums the show up for me. I've been. I think I worked out on the way in this morning. It's the 15th time I've been to the show. It's one of my favourite in the year because it is a fantastic mix of the curatorial, the commercial, everything that goes into running a successful museum or heritage venue. Anna Preedy: I mean, it's funny when people ask me to summarise. I mean, for a start, it's quite difficult. You know, really, it should be museums, galleries, heritage, visitor, attractions, culture. You know, it is a very diverse sector and if you think about everything that goes into making a museum or a gallery or a historic house function, operate, engage, it's as diverse as the organisational types are themselves and we try and bring all of that together. So, you know, whether you are the person that's responsible for generating income in your organisation, and perhaps that might be retail or it might be catering, it could be any. Any stream of income generation, there's going to be content for you here just as much as there's going to be content for you here. Anna Preedy: If you are head of exhibitions or if you are perhaps wearing the marketing hat and actually your job is, you know, communications or audience development, we try and represent the sector in its broadest scope. So there is something for everyone, quite. Andy Povey: Literally, and that's apparent just from looking on the show floor. So with all of your experience in the museum sector, and I suppose you get to see. See quite an awful lot of new stuff, new products. So what are you anticipating happening in the next sort of 6 to 12 months in our sector? Anna Preedy: I mean, that's a big question because, you know, going back to what were just saying, and the kind of different verticals, if you like, that sit within the sector, but I think the obvious one probably has to be AI, and the influence of that. I'm not saying that's going to change everything overnight. It won't, but it's. You can see the ripples already and you can see that reflected out here on the exhibition floor with exhibitors, and you can also see it in our programme. So this sort of AI is only, you know, one aspect of, you know, the bigger, wider digital story. But I just think it's probably more about the sector evolving than it is about, you know, grand sweeping changes in any one direction. Anna Preedy: But the other thing to say, of course, is that as funding gets more the sort of the economic landscape, you know, is tough. Undeniably so. So generating revenue and finding new ways to do that and prioritising it within your organisation, but not at the expense of everything else that's done. And it should never be at the expense of everything else that's done. And it's perfectly possible to do both. Nobody's suggesting that it's easy, nothing's easy but, you know, it's possible. Anna Preedy: And I think the show here, and also what we do online in terms of, you know, news and features, all of that, and what other organisations are doing in this sector, of course, and the partners we work with, but I think just helping kind of bridge that gap really, and to provide solutions and to provide inspiration and actually, you know, there's no need to reinvent the wheel constantly. Actually, I think it was somebody that worked in the sector. I'm reluctant to names, but there was somebody I remember once saying, well, know, stealing with glee is kind of, you know, and I think actually, you know, if you see somebody else is doing something great and actually we see that in our wards, you know, that's the whole point. Let's shine a spotlight on good work. Well, that might inspire someone else. Anna Preedy: It's not about ripping something off and it's not absolute replication. But actually, you know, scalable changes in your organisation that may have been inspired by somebody else's is only a good thing as well. Andy Povey: It's all that evolutionary process, isn't it? So, great experience. Thank you on behalf of everybody that's come to the show today. Anna Preedy: Well, thank you very much. I love doing it, I really genuinely do and there is nothing like the buzz of a busy event. Jon Horsfield: Yeah, My name is Jon Horsfield, I'm the Chief Revenue Officer of Cincio Solutions. Andy Povey: And what does Cincio do? Jon Horsfield: We provide F and B technology, so kiosks, point of sale payments, kitchen systems, inventory, self checkout to the museums, heritage zoos, aquariums and hospitality industries. Andy Povey: Oh, fantastic. So I understand this is your first time here at the Museums and Heritage Show. Jon Horsfield: It is our first time. It's been an interesting learning curve. Andy Povey: Tell me more. Jon Horsfield: Well, our background is very much within the hospitality. We've been operating for about 20 to 23 years within the sort of high street hospitality side of things. Some of our London based listeners may have heard of Leon Restaurants or Coco Di Mama, we've been working with them for over 20 years. But we're looking at ways of bringing that high street technology into other industries and other Verticals and the museums and heritage is a vertical that we've identified as somewhere that could probably do with coming into the 21st century with some of the technology solutions available. Andy Povey: I hear what you're saying. So what do you think of the show? What are your first impressions? Give me your top three tips. Learning points. Jon Horsfield: Firstly, this industry takes a long time to get to know people. It seems to be long lead times. That's the first learning that we've had. Our traditional industry in hospitality, people will buy in this industry. It's going to take some time and we're happy about that. We understand that. So for us, this is about learning about know about how the industry works. Everybody's really friendly. Andy Povey: We try. Yeah. Jon Horsfield: That's one of the first things that we found out with this. This industry is everybody is really friendly and that's quite nice. Even some of our competitors, we're having nice conversations with people. Everybody is really lovely. The third point is the fact that I didn't know that there were so many niche markets and I found out where my mother buys her scarves and Christmas presents from. So it's been really interesting seeing the different types of things that people are looking for. We've sort of noticed that it's really about preservation. That's one of the main areas. There's a lot of things about preservation. Another one is about the display, how things are being displayed, and lots of innovative ways of doing that. But also the bit that we're really interested in is the commercialization. Jon Horsfield: There's a real push within the industry to start to commercialise things and bring in more revenue from the same people. Andy Povey: Yeah, yeah. I mean, that's all about securing the destiny so that you're not reliant on funding from external parties or government and you taking that control. So what do you do at Centrio that helps? Jon Horsfield: Well, first of all. First of all, I would say the efficiencies that we can bring with back office systems integrations. We're very well aware of what we do, we're also aware of what we don't do. So, for example, we're not a ticketing provider, we're a specialist retail and F and B supplier. So it's about building those relationships and actually integrating. We've got a lot of integrations available and we're very open to that. So that's the first thing. But one of the key things that we're trying to bring to this industry is the way that you can use technology to increase revenue. So the kiosks that we've got here, it's proven that you'll get a minimum average transaction value increase of 10 to 15%. Andy Povey: And what do you put that down to? Jon Horsfield: The ability to upsell. Okay, with kiosks, as long as, if you put, for example, with a burger, if you just have a nice little button, say would you like the bacon fries with that? It's an extra few pounds. Well, actually if you've got an extra few pounds on every single transaction, that makes an incredible difference to the bottom line. From the same number of customers. Some of our clients over in the USA have seen an ATV increase above to 60% with the use of kiosks. Andy Povey: And that's just through selling additional fries. Jon Horsfield: Exactly. People will. I went to a talk many years ago when people started to adopt kiosks and the traditional thing is the fact that people will order two Big Macs and a fries to a kiosk, but when you go face to face, they will not order two Big Macs and a fries. Andy Povey: So you're saying I'm a shy fatty who's basically. Jon Horsfield: Absolutely not. Absolutely not, Andy. Absolutely not. So that's really what it's about. It's about using the sort of the high street technology and applying that to a different industry and trying to bring everybody along with us. Dominic Jones: And you need to listen to the Skip the Queue. It's the best podcast series ever. It'll give you this industry. Paul Marden: Perfect. That was a lovely little sound bite. Dom, welcome. Dominic Jones: It's the truth. It's the truth. I love Skip the Queue. Paul Marden: Welcome back to Skip the Queue. Paul, welcome. For your first time, let's just start with a quick introduction. Dom, tell everybody about yourself. Dominic Jones: So I'm Dominic Jones, I'm the chief executive of the Mary Rose Trust and I'm probably one of Skip the Queue's biggest fans. Paul Marden: I love it. And biggest stars. Dominic Jones: Well, I don't know. At one point I was number one. Paul Marden: And Paul, what about yourself? What's your world? Paul Woolf: Well, I'm Paul Woolf, I've just joined the Mary Rose as a trustee. Dom's been kind of hunting me down politely for a little bit of time. When he found out that I left the King's Theatre, he was very kind and said, right, you know, now you've got time on your hands, you know, would you come over and help? So yeah, so my role is to support Dom and to just help zhuzh things up a bit, which is kind of what I do and just bring some new insights into the business and to develop It a bit. And look at the brand, which is where my skills. Dominic Jones: Paul is underselling himself. He is incredible. And the Mary Rose Trust is amazing. You haven't visited. You should visit. We're in Portsmouth Historic Dock blog. But what's great about it is it's about attracting great people. I'm a trustee, so I'm a trustee for good whites. I'm a trustee for pomp in the community. I know you're a trustee for kids in museums. I love your posts and the fact that you come visit us, but it's about getting the right team and the right people and Paul has single handedly made such a difference to performance art in the country, but also in Portsmouth and before that had a massive career in the entertainment. So we're getting a talent. It's like getting a Premiership player. And we got Paul Woolf so I am delighted. Dominic Jones: And we brought him here to the Museum Heritage show to say this is our industry because we want him to get sucked into it because he is going to be incredible. You honestly, you'll have a whole episode on him one day. Paul Marden: And this is the place to come, isn't it? Such a buzz about the place. Paul Woolf: I've gone red. I've gone red. Embarrassed. Paul Marden: So have you seen some talks already? What's been impressive for you so far, Paul? Paul Woolf: Well, we did actually with the first talk we were listening to was all about touring and reducing your environmental impact on touring, which is quite interesting. And what I said there was that, you know, as time gone by and we had this a little bit at theatre actually. But if you want to go for grant funding today, the first question on the grant funding form, almost the first question after the company name and how much money you want is environmental impact. Paul Marden: Yeah, yeah. Paul Woolf: And so if you're going tour and we're looking now, you know, one of the things that Dom and I have been talking about is, you know, Mary Rose is brilliant. It's fantastic. You know, it's great. It's in the dockyard in Portsmouth and you know, so. And, and the Andes, New York, you know, everywhere. Dominic Jones: Take her on tour. Paul Woolf: Why isn't it on tour? Yeah. Now I know there are issues around on tour. You know, we've got the collections team going. Yeah, don't touch. But nonetheless it was interesting listening to that because obviously you've got to. Now you can't do that. You can't just put in a lorry, send it off and. And so I thought that was quite interesting. Dominic Jones: Two, it's all the industry coming together. It's not about status. You can come here as a student or as a CEO and you're all welcome. In fact, I introduced Kelly from Rubber Cheese, your company, into Andy Povey and now you guys have a business together. And I introduced them here in this spot outside the men's toilets at Museum and Heritage. Paul Woolf: Which is where we're standing, by the way. Everybody, we're outside the toilet. Dominic Jones: It's the networking, it's the talks. And we're about to see Bernard from ALVA in a minute, who'll be brilliant. Paul Marden: Yes. Dominic Jones: But all of these talks inspire you and then the conversations and just seeing you Andy today, I'm so delighted. And Skip the Queue. He's going from strength to strength. I love the new format. I love how you're taking it on tour. You need to bring it to the May Rose next. Right. Paul Marden: I think we might be coming sometimes soon for a conference near you. Dominic Jones: What? The Association of Independent Museums? Paul Marden: You might be doing an AIM conference with you. Dominic Jones: Excellent. Paul Marden: Look, guys, it's been lovely to talk to you. Enjoy the rest of your day here at M and H. Paul Marden: Stephen, welcome back to Skip the Queue. Stephen Spencer: Thank you very much. Paul Marden: For listeners, remind them what you do. Stephen Spencer: So I'm Stephen Spencer. My company, Stephen Spencer Associates, we call ourselves the Ambience Architects because we try to help every organisation gain deeper insight into the visitor experience as it's actually experienced by the visitor. I know it sounds a crazy idea, really, to achieve better impact and engagement from visitors and then ultimately better sustainability in all senses for the organisation. Paul Marden: For listeners, the Ambience Lounge here at M and H is absolutely rammed at the moment. Stephen Spencer: I'm trying to get in myself. Paul Marden: I know, it's amazing. So what are you hoping for this networking lounge? Stephen Spencer: Well, what we're aiming to do is create a space for quality conversations, for people to meet friends and contacts old and new, to discover new technologies, new ideas or just really to come and have a sounding board. So we're offering free one to one advice clinic. Paul Marden: Oh, really? Stephen Spencer: Across a whole range of aspects of the visitor journey, from core mission to revenue generation and storytelling. Because I think, you know, one of the things we see most powerfully being exploited by the successful organisations is that kind of narrative thread that runs through the whole thing. What am I about? Why is that important? Why should you support me? How do I deliver that and more of it in every interaction? Paul Marden: So you're Having those sorts of conversations here with people on a one to one basis. Stephen Spencer: Then we also are hosting the structured networking event. So all of the sector support organisations that are here, they have scheduled networking events when really people can just come and meet their peers and swap experiences and again find new people to lean on and be part of an enriched network. Paul Marden: Absolutely. So we are only half a day in, not even quite half a day into a two day programme. So it's very early to say, but exciting conversations, things are going in the direction that you hoped for. Stephen Spencer: Yes, I think, I mean, we know that the sector is really challenged at the moment, really, the fact that we're in now such a crazy world of total constant disruption and uncertainty. But equally we offer something that is reassuring, that is enriching, it's life enhancing. We just need to find better ways to, to do that and reach audiences and reach new audiences and just keep them coming back. And the conversations that I've heard so far have been very much around that. So it's very exciting. Paul Marden: Excellent. One of themes of this episode that we'll be talking to lots of people about is a little bit of crystal ball gazing. You're right, the world is a hugely, massively disrupted place at the moment. But what do you see the next six or 12 months looking like and then what does it look like for the sector in maybe a five year time horizon? Stephen Spencer: Okay, well, you don't ask easy questions. So I think there will be a bit of a kind of shaking down in what we understand to be the right uses of digital technology, AI. I think we see all the mistakes that were made with social media and what it's literally done to the world. And whilst there are always examples of, let's say, museums using social media very cleverly and intelligently, we know that's against the backdrop of a lot of negativity and harm. So why would we want to repeat that, for example, with generative AI? Paul Marden: Indeed. Stephen Spencer: So I heard a talk about two years ago at the VAT conference about using AI to help the visitor to do the stuff that is difficult for them to do. In other words, to help them build an itinerary that is right for them. And I think until everyone is doing that, then they should be very wary of stepping off the carpet to try and do other things with it. Meanwhile, whilst it's an immersive experience, it is not just sitting in, you know, with all respect to those that do this, A, you know, surround sound visual box, it is actually what it's always been, which is meeting real people in authentic spaces and places, you know, using all the senses to tell stories. So I think we will need to see. Stephen Spencer: I've just been given a great coffee because that's the other thing we're offering in the coffee. It's good coffee. Not saying you can't get anywhere else in the show, just saying it's good here. Yeah. I think just some realism and common sense creeping into what we really should be using these technologies for and not leaving our visitors behind. I mean, for example, you know, a huge amount of the natural audience for the cultural sector. You know, people might not want to hear it, but we all know it's true. It's older people. And they aren't necessarily wanting to have to become digital natives to consume culture. So we shouldn't just say, you know, basically, unless you'll download our app, unless you'll do everything online, you're just going to be left behind. That's crazy. It doesn't make good business sense and it's not right. Stephen Spencer: So I just think some common sense and some. Maybe some regulation that will happen around uses of AI that might help and also, you know, around digital harms and just getting back to some basics. I was talking to a very old colleague earlier today who had just come back from a family holiday to Disney World, and he said, you know, you can't beat it, you cannot beat it. For that is immersive. Paul Marden: Yeah, absolutely. But it's not sealed in a box. Stephen Spencer: No, no. And it really. It's a bit like Selfridges. I always took out. My favourite store is Selfridges. It still does what Harry Gordon Selfridge set out to do. He said, "Excite the mind and the hand will reach for the pocket." I always say. He didn't say excite the eye, he said, excite the mind. Paul Marden: Yeah. Stephen Spencer: The way you do that is through all the senses. Paul Marden: Amazing. Stephen Spencer: And so, you know, digital. I'm sure he'd be embracing that. He would be saying, what about the rest of it? Paul Marden: How do you add the human touch to that? Yeah. I was at Big Pit last week. Stephen Spencer: As they reopened, to see this. Yeah. Paul Marden: And it was such an amazing experience walking through that gift shop. They have so subtly brought the museum into the gift shop and blended the two really well. Stephen Spencer: Yes. And I think that raises the bar. And again, if you want to make more money as a museum, you need to be embracing that kind of approach, because if you just carry on doing what you've always done, your revenue will go down. Paul Marden: Yes. Stephen Spencer: And we all know your revenue needs to go up because other. Other sources of income will be going down. Paul Marden: Sarah, welcome back to Skip the Queue last time you were here, there was a much better looking presenter than, you were in the Kelly era. Sarah Bagg: Yes, we were. Paul Marden: It's almost as if there was a demarcation line before Kelly and after Kelly. Why don't you just introduce yourself for me? Tell the listeners what it is that you do. Sarah Bagg: So I'm Sarah Bagg. I'm the founder of Rework Consulting. The last time I spoke, it wasn't that long after our launch. I think like two and a half years ago. We've just had our third birthday. Paul Marden: Wow. Sarah Bagg: Which is completely incredible. When we first launched rework, were specifically for the visitor attractions industry and focused on ticketing. Paul Marden: Yep. Sarah Bagg: So obviously we are a tech ticketing consultancy business. In the last three and a half years we've grown and now have five verticals. So attractions are one of them. Paul Marden: And who else do you work with then? Sarah Bagg: So the art, the leisure industry. So whether it be activity centres, cinemas, bowling centres and then live entertainment. So it could be anything from sports, festivals etc and the arts, like theatres or. Paul Marden: So closely aligned to your attractions. Then things that people go and do but different kinds of things loosely. Sarah Bagg: Say they're like live entertainment. Paul Marden: I like that. That's a nice description. So this must be Mecca for you to have all of these people brought together telling amazing stories. Sarah Bagg: I think how I would sum up museum and heritage today is that I think we're kind of going through a period of like being transformed, almost like back. People are reconstructing, connecting with real experiences and with people. Paul Marden: Yeah. Sarah Bagg: And I would like to think that tech is invisible and they're just to support the experience. I think there's a lot of things that are going on at the moment around, you know, bit nostalgia and people dragging themselves back to the 90s. And there's a lot of conversations about people and customer service and experience. And although technology plays a huge part in that, I would still like to think that people come first and foremost, always slightly weird from a technology consultant. Paul Marden: Well, nobody goes to a visitor attraction to be there on their own and interact with technology. That's not the point of being there. Yeah. Interesting talks that you've been today. Sarah Bagg: I think one of my favourite was actually one of the first of the day, which was about. Of how do you enhance the visitor experience through either like music and your emotions and really tapping into how you feel through, like all your different senses. Which was one of Stephen's talks which I really enjoyed. Paul Marden: That's really interesting. Sarah Bagg: I think if people like look at the visitor industry and across the board, that's why I'm so keen to stay, like across four different sectors, we can learn so much pulling ideas from like hospitality and restaurants and bars.Paul Marden: Completely. Sarah Bagg: Even if you think about like your best, there's a new bar there, so you can not very far from my home in Brighton and the service is an amazing. And the design of the space really caters for whether you're in there with 10 people or whether you're sat at the bar on your own. It doesn't exclude people, depending on what age you are or why you gone into the bar. And I think we can learn a lot in the visitor attractions industry because there's been a lot of talk about families today. I don't have children and I think that there, you need. Sarah Bagg: We need to think more about actually that lots of other people go to visitor attractions Paul Marden: Completely. Sarah Bagg: And they don't necessarily take children and they might want to go on their own. Yes, but what are we doing to cater for all of those people? There's nothing. Paul Marden: How do you make them feel welcome? How do you make them feel like they're a first class guest? The same as everybody else. Yeah. So where do you see the sector going over the next few years based on what you've seen today? Sarah Bagg: I think there'll be a lot more diversification between sectors. There's definitely a trend where people have got their assets. You know, like if you're looking at things like safari parks and zoos, places that have already got accommodation, but maybe like stately houses where there used to be workers that were living in those cottages or whatever, that they're sweating their assets. I think it would be interesting to see where tech takes us with that because there has been a tradition in the past that if you've got like, if your number one priority to sell is being like your hotel, then you would have like a PMS solution. But if it's the other way around, your number one priority is the attraction or the venue and you happen to have some accommodation, then how is that connecting to your online journey? Sarah Bagg: Because the last thing you want is like somebody having to do two separate transactions. Paul Marden: Oh, completely drives me crazy. Sarah Bagg: One thing I would also love to see is attractions thinking beyond their 10 till 6 opening hours completely. Because some days, like restaurants, I've seen it, you know, maybe they now close on Mondays and Tuesdays so they can give their staff a day off and they have different opening hours. Why are attractions still fixated in like keeping these standard opening hours? Because actually you might attract a completely different audience. There used to be a bit of a trend for like doing museum late. So I was speaking to a museum not very long ago about, you know, do they do like morning tours, like behind the scenes, kind of before it even opens. And I think the museum particularly said to me, like, "Oh, we're fine as we are.". Paul Marden: I've never met a museum that feels fine where it is at the moment. Sarah Bagg: But I guess the one thing I would love to see if I could sprinkle my fairy dus. Paul Marden: Come the revolution and you're in charge. Sarah Bagg: And it's not like, it's not even like rocket science, it's more investment into training and staff because the people that work in our industry are like the gold, you know, it's not tech, it's not pretty set works, it's not like fancy display cases. Yes, the artefacts and stuff are amazing. Paul Marden: But the stories, the people stuff. Yeah. Sarah Bagg: Give them empowerment and training and make the customer feel special. Paul Marden: Yes. Sarah Bagg: When you leave, like you've had that experience, you're only ever going to get that from through the people that you interact with completely. Paul Marden: Jeremy, hello. Welcome to Skip the Queue. We are, we are being slightly distracted by a dinosaur walking behind us. Such is life at M and H show. Jeremy Mitchell: Yeah. Paul Marden: So. Jeremy Mitchell: Well, anything to do with museums and dinosaurs, always great crowd pleasers. Paul Marden: Exactly, exactly. So is this your first time at M and H or have you been before? Jeremy Mitchell: Been before, but probably not for 10 years or more. It was, yes. I remember last time I came the theatres were enclosed so they were partitioned all the way around. Paul Marden: Right. Jeremy Mitchell: But because it's so popular now that would not just not would not work. It's a long time ago. It shows how long I've been volunteering. Paul Marden: In museums, doesn't it? So for our listeners, Jeremy, just introduce yourself and tell everyone about the role that you've got at the Petersfield Museum. Jeremy Mitchell: Okay, so I'm Jeremy Mitchell. I'm a trustee at Petersfield Museum now Petersfield Museum and Art Gallery. I'm actually now chair of trustees. Paul Marden: Paint a little picture for us of Petersfield Museum then. What could someone expect if they came to you? Apart from, as I understand, a very good cup of coffee. Jeremy Mitchell: A very good cup of coffee. Best in Petersfield. And that's not bad when there are 32 competitors. You'll get a little bit of everything you'll get a bit of. You'll get the story of Petersfield, but you'll get so much more. We've got collections of costume going back to the mid 18th century. We've got work of a local artist, Flora Torte, one of those forgotten female artists from between the wars. She's a story that we will be exploring. We've got, in partnership with the Edward Thomas Fellowship, a big archive of books and other artefacts by and about Edward Thomas, who was a poet, writer, literary critic. He's one of the poets killed in the First World War. But he's not well known as a war poet because he was writing about the impact of war on life at home. Jeremy Mitchell: So he's now more well known as a nature poet. Paul Marden: So you're telling the story not just of the place, you're telling the story of the people that have produced great art or had an impact on Petersfield. Jeremy Mitchell: Yes. And their networks and how they might relate to Petersfield in turn. And we've got the costume collection I mentioned going back to the mid 18th century, which came from Bedale School. They've all got stories to them. Paul Marden: Interesting. Jeremy Mitchell: This came from Bedale School, which is a private school on the edge of Petersfield. It was actually collected by their drama teacher between the 1950s and the 1970s. Paul Marden: Wow. Jeremy Mitchell: Because she believed in authenticity. So if she was putting on a 19th century production, she would want genuine 19th century clothes. Paul Marden: Let me tell you, my drama productions in a 1980s comprehensive did not include authentic 19th century costumes. Jeremy Mitchell: If were doing something like that at school, their parents would have been, all right, go down to the jumble sale, buy some material, make something that looks something like it. Paul Marden: Yeah. Jeremy Mitchell: But no, she was, well, if you haven't got anything in your attic that's suitable, please send me some money because there's a sale at Sotheby's in three months. Time off costume from the period. Paul Marden: Excellent. Jeremy Mitchell: And we've got some lovely pieces in there. When we put on the Peggy Guggenheim exhibition, which is what were talking about earlier today here, were able to bring in costume from the 1930s, Chanel dress, other high quality, not. Not necessarily worn by Peggy Guggenheim, but her. Paul Marden: Authentic of the period. Jeremy Mitchell: Authentic of the period. But her son was at Bedale, so she could have been asked to donate. Paul Marden: So. Okay. Jeremy Mitchell: Highly unlikely, but it was similar to items that she had been photographed in or would have been. Would have been wearing. Paul Marden: So tell me about the. The presentation. How was that? Jeremy Mitchell: It went so quickly. Paul Marden: Oh, yes. You get in the zone don't you? Jeremy Mitchell: You get in the zone. But it flowed and Louise was great. Louise had done the bulk of the. The work. She prepared the presentation that visually told the story of the exhibition and its outcomes and impacts. And I filled in the boring book, I call it the BBC, the boring but crucial. How we funded it, how we organised the project, management around it, the planning and getting buy in from the rest of the trustees at the beginning, because it was potentially a big financial commitment if we hadn't been able to fund it. Paul Marden: Isn't it interesting? So coming to an event like this is always. There's always so much to learn, it's always an enriching experience to come. But it's a great opportunity, isn't it, for a small museum and art gallery such as Petersfield? It feels a little bit like you're punching above your weight, doesn't it, to be invited onto this stage to talk about it. But really you're telling this amazing story and it's of interest to everybody that's here. Jeremy Mitchell: We want to share it. If we've been able to do it, then why can't they? Why can't you? Why can't we all do it? And yes, you need the story, but if you dig deep enough, those stories are there. Paul Marden: Absolutely, Absolutely. One of the things that is a real common conversation here, M and H, is looking forward, crystal ball gazing, talking. There's challenges in the sector, isn't there? There's lots of challenges around funding and I guess as a small museum, you must feel those choppy waters quite acutely. Jeremy Mitchell: Definitely. I mean, we're an independent museum, so we're not affected by spending cuts because we don't get any funding from that area. But the biggest challenge is from the funding perspective. Yes, we have a big income gap every year that we need to bridge. And now that so much more of the sector is losing what was its original core funding, they're all fishing in the same pond as us and they've got. Invariably they've got a fundraising team probably bigger than our entire museum team, let alone the volunteer fundraiser that we've got. So, yes, it is a challenge and you are having to run faster just to stand still. The ability to put on an exhibition like Peggy Guggenheim shows that we are worth it. Paul Marden: Yes, absolutely. Jeremy Mitchell: And the Guggenheim was funded by Art Fund Western loan programme and an Arts Council project grant. And it was a large Arts Council project grant. Paul Marden: So although everyone's fishing in the same pond as you're managing to yeah. To stretch my analogy just a little bit too far, you are managing to. To get some grant funding and. Jeremy Mitchell: Yes. Paul Marden: And lift some tiddlers out the pond. Jeremy Mitchell: Yes. But it was quite clear that with Peggy it was a story that had to be told. Paul Marden: So we talked a little bit about challenging times. But one of the big opportunities at M and H is to be inspired to think about where the opportunities are going forwards. You've had a day here today. What are you thinking as inspiration as next big things for Petersfield Museum. Jeremy Mitchell: I'm finding that really difficult because we're small, we're a small site, Arkansas, I think has got to be a way forward. I miss the talk. But they're all being recorded. Paul Marden: Yes. Jeremy Mitchell: So I shall be picking that one up with interest. But AR is something. We've got police cells. Well, we've got a police cell. Paul Marden: Okay. Jeremy Mitchell: Now, wouldn't it be great to tell an augmented reality story of Victorian justice to kids? Paul Marden: Yes. Jeremy Mitchell: While they're sat in a victory in a Victorian police cell on a hard wooden bench. That is the original bench that this prisoners would have slept on. Paul Marden: I've done enough school visits to know there's enough kids that I could put in a jail just to keep them happy or to at least keep them quiet whilst the rest of us enjoy our visit. Yes. I feel like I need to come to Petersfield and talk more about Peggy because I think there might be an entire episode of Skip the Queue to talk just about putting on a big exhibition like that. Jeremy Mitchell: Yeah, no, definitely. If you drop me an email you can skip the queue and I'll take you around. Paul Marden: Oh lovely, Rachel, welcome to Skip the Queue. You join me here at M and H show. And we've taken over someone's stand, haven't we? I know, it feels a bit weird, doesn't it? Rachel Kuhn: I feel like we're squatting but I. Paul Marden: Feel a little bit like the Two Ronnies, cuz we're sat behind the desk. It's very strange. Which one are you? Anyway, just for listeners. Introduce yourself for me. Tell listeners what it is that you do at BOP Consulting. Rachel Kuhn: Yeah, so I'm Rachel Kuhn, I'm an associate director at BOP and we specialise in culture and the creative economy and kind of working across everything that is to do with culture and creative economy globally. But I lead most of our strategy and planning projects, particularly in the UK and Ireland, generally working with arts, heritage, cultural organisations, from the very earliest big picture strategy through to real nitty gritty sort of operational plans and outside of bop. I'm a trustee for Kids in Museums, where we love to hang, and also a new trustee with the Postal Museum. Paul Marden: Given what you do at bop, this must be like the highlight of the year for you to just soak up what everybody is doing. Rachel Kuhn: I love it. I mean, it's so lovely just going around, chatting to everybody, listening in on the talks and I think that spirit of generosity, you know, like, it just comes across, doesn't it? And it just reminds me why I love this sector, why I'm here. You know, everyone wants to, you know, contribute and it's that whole sort of spirit of what do they say? We know when the tide rises, so do all the boats or all the ships. And I feel like that's the spirit here and it's lovely. Paul Marden: It is such a happy place and it's such a busy, vibrant space, isn't it? What have been the standout things for you that you've seen today? Rachel Kuhn: I think probably on that spirit of generosity. Rosie Baker at the founding museum talking about the incredible work they've done with their events, hires, programmes. Obviously got to give a shout out to the Association of Cultural Enterprise. I've been doing a lot of hanging out there at their stage day. So Gurdon gave us the rundown of the benchmarking this morning. Some really good takeaways from that and Rachel Mackay, I mean, like, obviously. Paul Marden: Want to go into. Rachel Kuhn: You always want to see her. Really good fun, but lovely to hear. She's talking about her strategy, the Visitor Experience strategy. And you know what, I spend so much time going into places looking at these sub strategies, like visual experience strategies that just haven't been written in alignment with the overall strategy. So it's lovely to see that linking through, you know, and obviously I'm from a Visitor Experience background, so hugely passionate about the way that Visitor Experience teams can make visitors feel the organization's values. And that alignment was really impressive. So, yeah, really lovely and loads of great takeaways from all those talks. Paul Marden: I will just say for listeners, all of these talks have been recorded, so everyone's going to be able to download the materials. It take a couple of weeks before they were actually published. But one of the questions that I've asked everybody in these vox pops has been, let's do some crystal ball gazing. It's. It stinks at the moment, doesn't it? The, the, the economy is fluctuating, there is so much going on. What do you see 6 to 12 month view look like? And then let's really push the boat out. Can we crystal ball gaze maybe in five years? Rachel Kuhn: Yeah.  I mean, look, I think the whole problem at the moment and what's causing that sort of nervousness is there's just a complete lack of surety about loads of things. You know, in some ways, you know, many organisations have welcomed the extension for the MPO round, the current round, but for many, you know, that's just pushed back the opportunity to get in on that round that little bit further away. It's caused that sort of nervousness with organisations are having to ride on with the same funding that they asked for some years ago that just doesn't, you know, match, you know, and it's actually a real time cut for them. Paul Marden: Absolutely. Rachel Kuhn: So I think, very hard to say, I don't know that there's much I can say. I feel like as at sea as everyone else, I think about what the landscape looks like in the next six months, but I think that never has there been, you know, a better time than something like this like the M and H show. You know, this is about coming together and being generous and sharing that information and I think reaching out to each other and making sure that we're sort of cross pollinating there. There's so much good stuff going on and we've always been really good at that and I think sometimes when we're feeling a bit down, it feels like, oh, I just don't want to go to something like this and meet others and, you know, get into a bit of a misery cycle. Rachel Kuhn: But actually it's so uplifting to be at something like this. And I think, you know, what we've seen here is at the show today, I think, is organisations being really generous with their experience and their expertise. Suppliers and consultants and supporters of the sector being really generous with their time and their expertise and actually just shows just spending a bit of time with each other, asking things of each other. We've just got loads of stuff to share and we're all really up for it. And I think that generosity is so critical and I mean, obviously I'm going to plug, I've got to plug it. Rachel Kuhn: So, you know, if you are a supplier, if you are a commercial business working in this sector, it might be tough times for you, but it's certainly nowhere near as hard as it is for the arts and cultural heritage organisations in the sector. You know, reach out to them and see how you can support them and help them. I mean, you and I have both been on a bit of a drive recently to try and drum up some sponsorship and corporate support for kids in museums who, you know, an Arts council MPO who we're incredible, incredibly proud to represent and, you know, do reach out to us. If you've been thinking, oh, I just want to sponsor something and I'd love to sponsor us. Paul Marden: Exactly. I mean, there's loads of opportunities when you take kids in museums as an example, loads of opportunities for. And this is what Arts Council wants us to do. They want us to be more independent, to generate more of our own funding and we've got a great brand, we do some amazing work and there's lots of opportunities for those commercial organisations who align with our values to help to support us. Rachel Kuhn: So I think you asked me there about what's in the next year. So next year, six months, I don't know is the answer. I think it's just a difficult time. So my advice is simply get out there, connect, learn from each other, energise each other, bring each other up. Let's not get into that sort of doom cycle. That's very easy next five years. You know what, I've had some really interesting meetings and conversations over the last. Well, one particularly interesting one today, some other ones about some funds that might be opening up, which I think is really exciting. You know, we've seen this really big challenge with funding, you know, slowing funding going in much larger amounts to a smaller number of large organisations and that causes real problems. But I think there might be a small turnaround on that. Rachel Kuhn: I'm not crumbs in the earth. I think it's still tough times. But that was really exciting to hear about. I'm also seeing here at the show today. I've been speaking to a lot of suppliers whose their models seem to be shifting a lot. So a lot more opportunities here where it requires no investment from the attraction and a lot more sort of interesting and different types of profit share models, which I think is really interesting. So I think the other thing I'd say is if you're an attraction, don't discount partnering some of these organisations because actually, you know, go and talk to them. Rachel Kuhn: Don't just, don't just count them out because you think you haven't got anything to invest because many of them are visiting new models and the couple that I've spoken to who aren't, learn from your competitors and start doing some different models. And I think that's been really interesting to hear some very different models here for some of the products, which is really exciting. Paul Marden: It is really hard sitting on the other side of the fence, as a supplier, we need cash flow as well. We've got to pay bills and all of those sorts of things. But you're right, there are interesting ways in which we all want to have a conversation. As you say, don't sit back afraid to engage in the conversation because you've got nothing to invest, you've got an important brand, you've got an audience. Those are valuable assets that a supplier like us would want to partner with you to help you to bring a project to life. And that might be on a rev share model, it might be on a service model. There's lots of different ways you can slice it and dice it. Rachel Kuhn: And going back, on a closing note, I suppose, going back to that generosity thing, don't think because you haven't got any money to commission, you know, a supplier to the sector or a commercial company, that you can't reach out to them. Like, you know, we are in this because we really want to support these organisations. This is our passion. You know, many of us are from the sector. You know, I will always connect somebody or introduce somebody or find a way to get a little bit of pro bono happening, or, you know, many of my colleagues are on advisory committees, we're board members. And I think that's the same for so many of the companies that are, like, working with the sector. You know, reach out and ask for freebie, you know, don't ask, don't get. Paul Marden: Yeah, exactly. Rachel, it is delightful to talk to you as always. Thank you for joining us on Skip the Queue and I am sure, I'm sure we'll make this into a full episode one day soon. I do say that to everybody. Rachel Kuhn: Thanks so much. Lovely to speak to you. Paul Marden: Andy. Andy Povey: Paul.Paul Marden: We've just walked out of the M and H show for another year. What are your thoughts? Andy Povey: First, I'm exhausted, absolutely exhausted. I'm not sure that I can talk anymore because I've spent 48 hours having some of the most interesting conversations I've had all year. Paul Marden: No offence, Tonkin. Andy Povey: You were part of some of those conversations, obviously, Paul. Paul Marden: I was bowled over again by just the sheer number of people that were there and all those lovely conversations and everybody was just buzzing for the whole two days. Andy Povey: The energy was phenomenal. I worked out that something like the 15th show, M & H show that I've been to, and I don't know whether it's just recency because it's sitting in the far front of my mind at the moment, but it seems like this was the busiest one there's ever been. Paul Marden: Yeah, I can believe it. The one thing that didn't change, they're still working on Olympia. Andy Povey: I think that just goes on forever. It's like the fourth Bridge. Paul Marden: Talks that stood out to you. Andy Povey: I really enjoyed interpretation One led by the guy from the sign language education company whose name I can't remember right now. Paul Marden: Yeah, Nate. That was an amazing talk, listeners. We will be getting him on for a full interview. I'm going to solve the problem of how do I make a inherently audio podcast into something that's accessible for deaf people? By translating the podcast medium into some sort of BSL approach. So that was the conversation that we had yesterday after the talk. Andy Povey: I know. I really look forward to that. Then, of course, there was the George and Elise from Complete Works. Paul Marden: I know. They were amazing, weren't they? You couldn't tell at all that they were actors. Do you know, it was really strange when George. So there was a point in that talk that George gave where we all had a collective breathing exercise and it was just. It was. It was so brilliantly done and were all just captivated. There must have been. I rechon there was 100 people at theatre at that point. Absolutely. Because it was standing room only at the back. And were all just captivated by George. Just doing his click. Very, very clever. Andy Povey: But massively useful. I've seen the same thing from George before and I still use it to this day before going on to make a presentation myself. Paul Marden: Yeah, yeah. Andy Povey: Just grounding yourself, centering yourself. Well, it's fantastic. Paul Marden: Yeah. But the whole thing that they were talking about of how do we create opportunities to have meaningful conversations with guests when they arrive or throughout their entire experience at an attraction so that we don't just talk about the weather like we're typical English people. Andy Povey: That's great, isn't it? Go and tell a Brit not to talk. Talk about the weather. Paul Marden: But training your staff makes absolute sense. Training your staff to have the skills and the confidence to not talk about the weather. I thought that was really interesting. Andy Povey: It's an eye opener, isn't it? Something really simple, but could be groundbreaking. Paul Marden: Yeah. Andy Povey: Then what was your view on all of the exhibitors? What did you take away from all the stands and everybody? Paul Marden: Well, I loved having my conversation yesterday with Alan Turing. There was an AI model of Alan Turing that you could interact with and ask questions. And it was really interesting. There was a slight latency, so it didn't feel quite yet like a natural conversation because I would say something. And then there was a pause as Alan was thinking about it. But the things that he answered were absolutely spot on, the questions that I asked. So I thought that was quite interesting. Other exhibitors. Oh, there was a lovely point yesterday where I was admiring, there was a stand doing custom designed socks and I was admiring a design of a Jane Austen sock and there was just somebody stood next to me and I just said, "Oh, Jane Austen socks." Paul Marden: Very on Trend for the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen, that all of the museums in Hampshire will be buying those up. And should funnily you should say that I'm the chief executive of Chawton Park House, which is one of the museums in the last place that Jane Austen lived. So very interesting, very small world moment at that point. Andy Povey: I do, it's almost an oxymoron to talk about Jane Austen socks. I don't imagine her having worn anything with nylon or Lycra in it. Paul Marden: Very true. I hadn't tweaked that. Andy Povey: There was a lot of AI there wasn't there AI this, AI that. Paul Marden: And there were some really good examples of where that is being used in real life. Yeah, yeah. So there were some examples where there's AI being used to help with visitor counts around your attraction, to help you to optimise where you need to put people. I thought that Neil at Symantec just talking about what he called answer engine optimisation. That was interesting. There were some brilliant questions. There was one question from an audience member asking, are there any tools available for you to figure out whether how well your organisation is doing at being the source of truth for AI tools? Andy Povey: Yeah, yeah. So almost like your Google search engine ranking. Paul Marden: But exactly for ChatGPT. Andy Povey: And have you found one yet? Paul Marden: No, not yet. There's also quite a lot of people talking about ideas that have yet to find a home. Andy Povey: Yes. What a very beautiful way of putting it. Paul Marden: The people that have. That are presenting a topic that has yet to get a real life case study associated with it. So the rubber hasn't yet hit the road. I don't think on that. Andy Povey: No. I think that's true for an awful lot of AI, isn't it? Not just in our sector. Paul Marden: No. Andy Povey: It's very interesting to see where that's all going to go. And what are we going to think when we look back on this in two or three years time? Was it just another chocolate teapot or a problem looking for a solution? Or was it the revolution that we all anticipate. Paul Marden: And I think it will make fundamentals change. I think it's changing rapidly. But we need more real case studies of how you can do something interesting that is beyond just using ChatGPT to write your marketing copy for you. Andy Povey: Yeah, I mean it's all about putting the guest at the front of it, isn't it? Let's not obsess about the technology, let's look at what the technology is going to enable us to do. And back to the first part of this conversation, looking at accessibility, then are there tools within AI that are going to help with that? Paul Marden: Yeah, absolutely. So there was definitely. There was an interesting talk by Vox. The people that provide, they provide all of the radio boxes for everybody to wear at M and H that provides you with the voiceover of all of the speakers. But they use this technology across all manner of different attractions and they were talking about using AI to do real time translation of tours. So you could. Andy Povey: Very interesting. Paul Marden: Yeah. So you could have an English speaker wandering around doing your tour and it could real time translate up to. I think it was up to four languages. Andy Povey: BSL not being one of those languages. Paul Marden: Well, no, they were talking about real time in app being able to see subtitles. Now, I don't know whether they went on to say you could do BSL. And we know from the other presentation that not everybody that is deaf is able to read subtitles as fast as they can consume sign language. So it's important to have BSL. But there were some parts of that Vox product that did it address deaf people. It wasn't just multilingual content. Andy Povey: So AI people, if you're listening, you can take the idea of translating into BSL in real time and call it your own. Paul Marden: Yeah, we very much enjoyed hosting our theatre, didn't we? That was a lot. And Anna, if you are listening, and I hope you are, because lots of people have said very nice things in this episode about M and H. Andy and I would love to come back next year. Andy Povey: Absolutely. Paul Marden: And host a theatre for you. Any other thoughts? Andy Povey: Just really looking forward to the rest of the week off. Yeah, it's a sign of a good show when you walk away with all that positive feeling and that positive exhaustion and you probably need a week to reflect on all of the conversations that we've had. Paul Marden: Yeah, absolutely. Next up we is AIM Conference at Mary Rose in June. I can't wait very much. Looking forward to that. Thank you ever so much for listening. We will join you again in a few weeks. See you soon. Bye Bye. Andy Povey: Draw.Paul Marden: Thanks for listening to Skip the Queue. If you've enjoyed this podcast, please leave us a five star review. It really helps others to find us. Skip The Queue is brought to you by Rubber Cheese, a digital agency that builds remarkable systems and websites for attractions that helps them to increase their visitor numbers. You can find show notes and transcripts from this episode and more over on our website, skipthequeue fm.  The 2024 Visitor Attraction Website Survey is now LIVE! Dive into groundbreaking benchmarks for the industryGain a better understanding of how to achieve the highest conversion ratesExplore the "why" behind visitor attraction site performanceLearn the impact of website optimisation and visitor engagement on conversion ratesUncover key steps to enhance user experience for greater conversionsDownload the 2024 Rubber Cheese Visitor Attraction Website Survey Report

Wie Finanzfluss finanzielle Bildung in Deutschland neu erfunden hat: DeepDive mit Finanzluss Gründer Thomas Kehl Mit über 250 Millionen Aufrufen auf YouTube und einer Community von 1,5 Millionen Abonnenten hat Finanzfluss die Art und Weise revolutioniert, wie Menschen über Finanzen lernen – von ETFs und Aktien bis hin zu Sparstrategien und Portfolio-Management. Thomas erklärt, wie Finanzfluss vom Nebenprojekt während des Studiums zu einem profitablen Unternehmen mit über 30 Mitarbeitenden gewachsen ist.  Wir sprechen über die Herausforderungen beim Aufbau einer nachhaltigen Medienmarke, den Umgang mit neuen Plattformen wie TikTok und LinkedIn, den Einfluss von Affiliate-Modellen und die strategischen Entscheidungen, die Finanzfluss zu einem der größten Akteure im Bereich der Finanzbildung gemacht haben. Was du lernst: Wie Finanzfluss gestartet ist: Die Anfänge als YouTube-Kanal und warum Content über Finanzbildung damals kaum existierte Wie Thomas und sein Mitgründer Arno den ersten Erfolg mit Affiliate-Links erzielten und daraus ein Geschäft aufbauten Community-Driven Content: Warum Finanzfluss gezielt auf Community-Feedback setzt und wie sie daraus neue Inhalte und Produkte entwickeln Die Balance zwischen Hero-Content (z. B. „Wie wird man Millionär?“) und tiefem Community-Content (z. B. Finanzproduktvergleiche) Die Monetarisierungsstrategie: Wie Finanzfluss über Affiliate-Modelle, Vergleichsplattformen und SaaS-Produkte Umsätze generiert Warum Unabhängigkeit von einzelnen Partnern ein zentraler Bestandteil der Strategie ist Skalierung und Leadership: Wie das Team von zwei auf über 30 Mitarbeitende gewachsen ist und welche Learnings Thomas dabei gemacht hat – von Hiring, über das Vermeiden von Fehlbesetzungen bis hin zum Aufbau einer starken Unternehmenskultur Warum Eigenverantwortung und klare Werte wie Community First die Basis für den Erfolg sind Die Zukunft von Finanzfluss: Der Einstieg in Software-Produkte wie den „Co-Pilot“, ein Tool für Finanzmanagement und Portfolio-Übersicht Pläne für neue Verticals wie ein tägliches News-Format und die Herausforderungen bei der Expansion in neue Märkte ALLES ZU UNICORN BAKERY: https://zez.am/unicornbakery  Mehr zu Thomas: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-a-kehl/  Website: https://www.finanzfluss.de/  Join our Founder Tactics Newsletter: 2x die Woche bekommst du die Taktiken der besten Gründer der Welt direkt ins Postfach: https://www.tactics.unicornbakery.de/  Kapitel: (00:00:00) Der Start von Finanzfluss (00:05:30) Wann hatten Thomas und Arno zum ersten Mal das Gefühl, dass Finanzflussfunktionieren kann? (00:08:22) Die Contentstrategie von Finanzfluss (00:14:51) Arbeitsteilung & Team: Wer macht was? (00:19:12) Monetarisierung: Welcher Weg zuerst? (00:25:10) Unabhängigkeit & eigene Produkte: Auf Vertrauen optimieren (00:34:14) Balance zwischen Clickbait und Seriosität (00:38:04) Bindung und Community (00:45:23) Warum haben Arno und Thomas einen neuen Gesellschafter geholt? (00:50:22) Welche Fragen sollte man sich stellen, bevor man weitere Gesellschafter reinholt? (00:56:06) Finanzsoftware von Finanzfluss (01:05:05) How to: Informatives und ansprechendes Youtube-Video & Contentverteilung (01:13:44) Kriterien für jahrelangen guten Content & Plattformtrends (01:24:55) Thomas' Learnings: Management, Team und Hiring (01:32:25) Entscheidungsframework "Pro-Investment" (egal, ob Person oder Projekt) (01:39:42) Was macht Teamkultur aus und wie kümmert sich Finanzfluss um Teamkultur? (01:42:56) KPIs zur Contentbewertung

Diana Perkins shares how you can master your emotions through discipline for trading success. Her journey has taken her from a childhood fascination with finance to building a career in trading and eventually launching her own trading education business. She mentors aspiring traders and emphasizes that long-term success is overwhelmingly about emotional discipline and risk management.  We discuss...  Diana Perkins shares that she knew finance was her calling from a young age, charging her sister interest on loans at age nine. She fell in love with trading stock options and derivatives, and mentors hundreds of aspiring traders. Today, Diana runs her own trading education business focused on teaching new traders with an emphasis on risk management. Most traders, particularly currency traders, tend to blow up at least one account as a "rite of passage." Fear, greed, and mindset are much bigger factors in trading success than simply knowing technical skills. Diana works extensively with options traders, helping them overcome the initial intimidation of options complexity. She emphasized the importance of discipline and emotional control in trading over just understanding strategies. Her favorite strategy when trading professionally is vertical spreads because of their limited risk and “set it and forget it” nature. She shared that she still trades today, both in her own account and through a virtual portfolio for her stock-picking service. Most people's natural instincts — fear, greed, impatience — are what make trading so challenging. Even random stock picks can perform well if trade management and discipline are handled properly. Diana emphasizes that discipline, probability, and risk management are at the core of successful trading, not just stock picking. It's important to focus on the amount of premium at risk rather than the number of contracts or shares controlled. Verticals require holding to expiration to capture full profit potential since gains are capped. Implied volatility (IV) can often cause seemingly "off" prices, particularly around earnings and major events. Consistency over time is critical to profiting from strategies like IV trading, much like "sell in May" seasonality trades. While AI tools can assist, she double-checks everything manually due to her auditing background and mistrust of "black box" systems. Although past performance isn't predictive, understanding human psychology — fear and greed — can offer powerful trading insights. Today's Panelists: Kirk Chisholm | Innovative Wealth Barbara Friedberg | Barbara Friedberg Personal Finance Douglas Heagren | Pro College Planners Follow on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/moneytreepodcast Follow LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/money-tree-investing-podcast Follow on Twitter/X: https://x.com/MTIPodcast   For more information, visit the show notes at https://moneytreepodcast.com/discipline-for-trading-success-diana-perkins-708 

Episode Summary:Having a clear investment thesis helps you make better decisions, improve your deal flow, and maximise your returns. Cheryl and Maxine break down exactly what an investment thesis is, why it matters, and how to structure one that fits your risk appetite, interests, and long-term goals.They explore the core elements of an investment thesis, including industry focus, stage, business model, and geography. Plus, they highlight key company criteria investors should consider, from strong founding teams and large market opportunities to traction and defensibility.Beyond just what to invest in, this episode also covers how to stand out as an investor, build a strong value proposition, and get access to the best deals. They wrap up with an essential discussion on portfolio construction, time horizons, and risk management, so you don't run out of money before your portfolio has a chance to deliver returns.If you're looking to sharpen your investing strategy and back better startups with confidence, this episode is a must-listen.Key Takeaways:00:00 – Introduction: Why your investment thesis matters01:49 – Defining an investment thesis: What it is & why it's essential04:49 – How to break down your thesis into clear categories05:16 – Industry focus: Verticals, horizontals, and emerging trends07:05 – Stage focus: Pre-seed, seed, growth—how to pick your sweet spot08:24 – Business model focus: B2B SaaS, marketplaces, and beyond10:01 – Geography: The pros and cons of investing locally vs globally14:29 – Key questions every investor should ask themselves17:24 – Company-specific criteria: How to create your investment checklist22:33 – Evaluating market size and growth potential25:39 – Pain vs pleasure: Investing in painful problems vs unmet desires29:54 – Unique or niche theses: Second-time founders, alumni networks, and more33:46 – Access and deal flow: How to attract great opportunities38:35 – Understanding your personal risk profile & timeline expectationsResourcesAngel Academy – Comprehensive angel investing course for Australia & NZ: www.venture.academyAussie Angels – Cheryl's platform for angel investing https://www.aussieangels.com/Co-Ventures – Maxine's venture capital firm https://www.coventures.vc/Sponsors:First Cheque is supported by our wonderful sponsors:Vanta: Join 7,000 global companies like Atlassian and Dovetail that use Vanta to build trust and prove security in real time. Get 10% off https://dayone.fm/vantaRocking Horse: Rocking Horse helps startups access their R&D tax rebate early. Get up to $3M in non-dilutive finance, solve cash flow challenges, and accelerate growth. Easy application, fast approval. Smart investment for innovative startups. https://dayone.fm/rockinghorseGalah Cyber: Galah Cyber are perfect for founder-lead and SAAS businesses. Galah provides advice, education, and training. Get in touch with Galah Cyber for a complimentary call to make sure you're secured.https://dayone.fm/galah The Day One NetworkFirst Cheque is part of Day One, the podcast network dedicated to founders, operators & investors.To learn more, join our newsletter to be notified of new and upcoming shows. The only content we create is content that will help Australian founders.If you want to learn about upcoming guests and when a new First Cheque episode is available, join the

90 Millionen Euro im Private-Equity-Dachfonds der Erste Asset Management, etwa 30 Millionen Euro für Revenue-based Financing mit Tauros Capital: Zum Start ins neue Jahr kommen aus dem Umfeld der Erste Group große und frische Impulse für Investments in Start-ups, Scale-ups und entsprechende Funds.Im großen Podcast-Interview spricht Thomas Bobek, Head of Private Markets bei der Erste Asset Management, über die Strategien dieser beiden Investment-Vehikel und wie diese auf die Innovations-Ökosysteme in Österreich und darüber hinaus einzahlen. Die Themen:- Der Private-Equity-Dachfonds- In welche Fonds der Dach-Fonds investiert- Fokus auf Verticals wie Healthcare und AI- Investoren des Dach-Fonds- Tauros Capital- Wie Revenue-based Financing funktioniert- Die gemeinsame StrategieWenn dir diese Folge gefallen hat, lass uns doch vier, fünf Sterne als Bewertung da und folge dem Podcast auf Spotify, Apple Music und Co. Für Anregungen, Kritik, Feedback oder Wünsche zu künftigen Gästen schick uns jederzeit gerne eine Mail an ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠feedback@trendingtopics.at⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

The Academy Awards are tomorrow, so we're joined by special guest correspondent and movie buff Matt Goldenberg (formerly Axl Rosenberg of MetalSucks) to preview the show and talk about things that were snubbed. Maybe there's a movie in here you learn of to check out!Watch the episode on Youtube for free. Check out Matt's blog, appetitefordeconstruction.comJoin our Patreon and get two bonus episodes each month, and other behind-the-scenes goodies. More info here.Follow us on: Twitch, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and our Discord Chat. Also don't forget about our Spotify playlist. We also have merch if you're into that kind of sharing. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Text us your wine questions, craziest wine experiences, or if you just have a comment for us. . We're back! Jess joins me from her flex space (aka the Podcast Closet) for this quick chat about the possibility of adding video to the Sipster's Podcast. What do you think? Is it worth it? Are we really that awesome looking? Send us an email or a comment somewhere and let us know. We also dive into our wine word of the week - Vertical. What is a wine vertical? Welcome to the Sipsters Podcast! Thank you for listening to the Sipster's Podcast. Find us online at sipsters.ca. Support the showThank you so much for listening! Purchase copies of “The Sipsters Pocket Guides” here! Support Sipsters by subscribing! Contact me at sipsterswinepodcast@gmail.com!Read Sipster's ICONS (Because sometimes more IS more.)Find me online at sipsters.ca or lukewhittall.comThanks again for listening!

Im heutigen Marketing Transformation Podcast geht es um eine der etabliertesten Gattungen im Digitalmarketing, das Affiliate Marketing bzw. Partnermarketing. Erik diskutiert mit Matthias Stadelmeyer, CEO bei Tradedoubler, u.a. über die Entwicklung des Marktes über die Jahre und erfährt viele Insights aus Matthias Netzwerk. Erfahrt zum Beispiel, wie sich Advertiser erfolgreich im Partnermarketing durchsetzen können bzw. was sie besser vermeiden sollten. Im Detail geht es um folgende Fragen: - Wie ist der State of Play im Partnermarketing? - Wie hat sich die Bedeutung und Funktion des Partnermarketings aus Advertiser-Sicht im Laufe der Zeit entwickelt? - Auf welche Märkte setzt ihr euren Fokus, welches sind eure wichtigsten Verticals? - Welche Strategien setzt die Publisherseite im Partnermarketing ein, um Leads und Sales zu generieren? - Welche Faktoren spielen bei der Repositionierung eurer Marke eine besondere Rolle? - Welche konkreten 3 Tipps hast du für Advertiser, um Partnermarketing noch effizienter zu machen? - Lust auf mehr Insights zum Thema Partnermarketing? Hier geht´s zum Partnermarketing Podcast von Matthias! https://open.spotify.com/show/7xwumPWHzjNL4IpuEr8KPP?si=011c528945824e83 Über Matthias Stadelmeyer Matthias ist seit 2014 CEO bei Tradedoubler und hat das Unternehmen seitdem grundlegend umgestaltet und ausgebaut. Er ist ein erfahrener strategischer Leader mit starkem Hintergrund in Vertrieb und Technologie. Mit seiner Expertise in Digital Marketing und seiner visionären Sicht auf Marketingtrends ist er ein gefragter Keynote-Speaker und steht regelmäßig mit anderen Branchenexperten auf der Bühne. Matthias hatte seit 2007 mehrere leitende Positionen bei Tradedoubler inne, darunter Regional Director DACH und Vice President Sales. Matthias begann seine Karriere als Teamleiter für Online Marketing bei der CANCOM IT Systeme AG. Zuvor hat er Wirtschaftsingenieurwesen an der Hochschule München studiert. Dieser Podcast wird produziert von TLDR Studios

Josh Sebo (COO of OfferVault), Adam Young (CEO of Ringba), industry legend Harrison Gevirtz and special guest Denys Gonchar (Founder & CEO of ADGENIX Media discuss:- Early Beginnings: What led Denys to start ADGENIX Media?- Solo Affiliate vs. Team- Scrubbing: What is it?- Money Hacks & Thinking Strategically- Best Verticals for 2025- Top Strategies for 2025- Deal Structuring: How to maximize payouts!- Denys's Vision & Goals for 2025Follow Us:OfferVault:WEBSITE: https://www.offervault.com/FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/offervaultINSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/offervaultmarketing/TWITTER: https://www.twitter.com/offervaultLINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/company/offer-vault/Adam Young: RINGBA: https://www.ringba.comRINGBA's INNER CIRCLE: https://try.ringba.com/inner-circle/FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/ringbaINSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/adamyoung/TWITTER: https://www.twitter.com/arbitrageLINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/capitalistHarrison Gevirtz:INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/affiliate/LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/harrisongevirtz/Denys Gonchar:ADGENIX MEDIA: https://www.adgenixmedia.com/INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/denysofficial/LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/denys-gonchar/

Keychain, the AI-powered manufacturing platform transforming the consumer packaged goods (CPG) industry, has announced an additional $5 million investment led by Bright Pixel Capital, the VC arm of the European retail conglomerate Sonae. This latest funding comes as Keychain takes its core search and discovery product out of beta and introduces new platform capabilities. Since November 2023, Keychain has raised $38 million with support from leading venture firms BoxGroup, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and SV Angel as well as other CPG giants General Mills, The Hershey Company, and Schreiber Foods. This latest investment from Bright Pixel not only reinforces Keychain's position as a key player in the CPG manufacturing ecosystem but also signals its readiness to enter the European market. Keychain's AI-powered platform, which enables brands, retailers, and manufacturers to quickly connect with manufacturing partners, is streamlining what has traditionally been a fragmented and time-intensive search and discovery process. The platform boasts a network of 30,000+ manufacturers and 20,000+ brands and retailers and, as of today, is now facilitating over $1 billion in projects each month. Now, with its search and discovery platform officially exiting the beta phase, Keychain is expanding its capabilities with the launch of two new beta products: Keychain packaging and ingredients. These products will allow brands to streamline the process of sourcing packaging materials and ingredient suppliers for their products, empowering them to quickly meet consumer demand for more sustainable and efficient production methods. "Since Keychain launched last year, we've been focused on bringing much-needed transparency to the United States' CPG manufacturing ecosystem," said Oisin Hanrahan, Co-founder and CEO of Keychain. "At the same time, we've been looking into how we can bring our capabilities to other geographies, and the support of Bright Pixel is a huge step in that direction. We're also excited to continue building our depth with new tools that will streamline the ways brands source packaging and ingredients." "We're proud to invest in Keychain at such an exciting moment in their journey," said Manuel Queiroz, Director at Bright Pixel Capital. "Our team is confident in Keychain's ability to modernize the global CPG supply chain and is exactly what the European CPG supply chain needs. We look forward to supporting Keychain as they expand their offerings and into more geographies." Bright Pixel's strategic investment marks a pivotal step in Keychain's evolution and underscores the platform's potential to bring meaningful change to the global manufacturing industry. Keychain is bringing a new era of transparency to the CPG manufacturing ecosystem by cutting out brokers who have historically profited by creating information asymmetry that drives up the costs of goods. In response, Keychain is using AI to eliminate these fees and other unnecessary costs, ultimately lowering the prices consumers see on store shelves. See more stories here.

In der heutigen Folge sprechen wir über hyperlokale Social Commerce Ansätze – also die Einbindung von lokalem Handel und Services in Social-Strategien – und fragen uns, warum das Potenzial von Location-based Features bisher kaum genutzt wird.  Dabei werfen wir einen Blick auf beeindruckende Innovationen aus China: Plattformen wie Douyin, die mit Food-Delivery-Diensten neue Maßstäbe setzen, oder Gutscheinsysteme, die lokale Händler stärken und neue Kunden in ihre Geschäfte bringen können. Außerdem diskutieren wir, wie man die Reibungspunkte zwischen Online- und Offline-Shopping reduzieren könnte.  Was wäre zum beispiel , wenn wir direkt über Social-Media-Feeds in einer App lokale Geschäfte entdecken und unsere Einkäufe noch am selben Tag geliefert bekommen könnten?  Genau das schauen wir uns an – welche Ansätze heute schon funktionieren und welche noch Potenzial für die Zukunft haben. Ein weiteres Thema sind Packstationen und ihre Rolle im lokalen E-Commerce. Wie können sie nicht nur Lieferwege optimieren, sondern auch neue Möglichkeiten für Re-Commerce oder Secondhand-Modelle schaffen?  Welche Infrastruktur wäre nötig, um solche Innovationen flächendeckend zu etablieren? Zum Abschluss philosophieren wir über die Zukunft der Innenstädte.  Kann Shopping wieder zu einer sozialen Erfahrung werden? Welche neuen Konzepte braucht es, damit stationärer Handel in einer Welt voller Plattformen wie TikTok, Instagram und Co. relevant bleibt? (00:00) Intro (05:04) Hyperlokaler eCommerce - Geschichte und Potenziale (10:17) Foursquare Hype (10:44) Gutscheine als “Eintrittskarte” in den Social Commerce (16:17) Was treibt NutzerInnen in die Läden? (18:46) Food Commerce - ein Blick nach China (20:05) Hyperlokaler Commerce für Gastro & Grocery (23:03) NeoTaste als Beispiel (38:45) NeoTaste für andere Verticals (41:17) Packstation als eCommerce Treiber Über unseren Gast Jochen Krisch > ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Exciting Commerce⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ > ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Exchanges Podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ > ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Jochen auf LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ wieCommerce? Social Links > ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ > ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Weitere Plattformen⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Credits Logo Design: Naim Solis Intro & Jingles: Kurt Woischytzky Fotos: Stefan Grau Intro-Video: Tim Solle

In this episode, Ernesto interviews Zoee Arrington, Marketing Manager at DocuSystems, a company specializing in copiers, printers, managed IT, and cybersecurity.  Zoee shares how DocuSystems provides reliable service to industries such as law firms, doctors' offices, and travel agencies. She highlights the role of SEO and LinkedIn in their client acquisition strategy and explains how their website supports both lead generation and client service requests. Zoee also dives into her marketing journey, offering insights on vertical marketing, email campaigns, and the importance of creating a positive work environment.  Tune in to learn how DocuSystems excels in serving clients with dependable and efficient business solutions.  

Machine Learning (AI) Onsite w/ Eddi Weinwurm of Obvious Future   - AZ TRT S06 EP01 (262) 1-5-2025                 What We Learned This Week Obvious Future is building Machine Learning (AI) programs to be used onsite for a business Corporate Data is too sensitive to be in the cloud / internet Business cannot use cloud AI programs like ChatGPT, Google Cloud, etc because of IP and privacy concerns Large Language Models are not necessary, have more data than needed, can have smaller AI programs tailored for business     Guest:  Eddi Weinwurm AI is top of mind for most enterprises…but most don't know the risks especially in the cloud.   https://obviousfuture.com/#    Eddi Weinwurm is a co-founder and CEO of Obvious Future an AI company with a new approach to keeping AI local and secure.   Eddi Weinwurm has many years of experience in both the development of media management software and AI.  As a visionary he formed the company to address critical enterprises in the growing AI market.     ObviousFuture Resident AI: Faster, Safer, and Transforming Enterprise AI   Eddi Weinwurm co-founder and CEO of ObviousFuture is on a mission to make AI safer and faster for enterprises.   ObviousFuture, a trailblazer in secure and private AI solutions, will be unveiling a disruptive AI solution for the enterprise on December 18—Resident AI.    This solution empowers enterprises to harness the full potential of AI while safeguarding their data locally, marking a critical evolution in the AI landscape.   ObviousFuture's Resident AI operates entirely on-premise, solving a $500 billion market problem by addressing vulnerabilities like data privacy risks, compliance challenges, and vendor lock-ins. The company is focused on key sectors such as government, defense, surveillance, medical, and media.   Early adopters, have achieved ROI within just two months of deployment of the Resident AI platform.           Key benefits for Enterprises  Local- Resident AI is an artificial system that resides directly on the enterprises infrastructure reducing risk and latency often associated with edge computing.  ObviousFuture's approach is fully private and operates with very low latency.    Offline Access- Resident AI allows for complete work productivity without a single point of failure and no third-party API reliance.     Not Edge AI-Resident AI delivers full AI capabilities similar to big cloud models and doesn't require a data center.   Reduces Cost-  Substantial lower deployment and operational costs means a higher ROI for businesses.     Learn more about the company at ObviousFuture and sign up for a demo today.         Seg 1    Obvious Future AI CEO, Eddi Weinwurm   Resident AI for companies, storage of sensitive data, not for use with 3rd parties   Predictive editing from media, has Search and use features   No open AI, search documents internally – onsite at your company   Use local servers and data center on site, nothing goes to the Internet or cloud   For business to use AI with sensitive data, it cannot be in the cloud, it must be on site Business needs verticals with AI integration   Examples of companies with sensitive data that cannot be on the Internet, are media, banking, healthcare, companies doing research and development RND   Also dealing in Research, or math, like at universities   Eddie does not want to call this AI, prefers the term machine learning, using a lot of that now and it will grow   Standard cloud AI used in conjunction online with companies like Google or Microsoft,   You can connect to an API, example is chat GPT The AI work is done in the cloud and over the Internet This involves data centers and huge computer networks Parameters of lots of neurons or brain power in computing   Obvious Future is a technology company, looking to engineer a smaller API with the same machine learning intelligence   History of technology, initially things are large and cost a lot of money Over time, it should be smaller and cheaper and faster   How do you perform the same tasks and have great efficiency?   Lots of uses for artificial intelligence, just one example is checking email for spam   Currently, most AI is a large language model, tons of info or put into the machine learning. But a lot of it is not needed, lots of waste   Compounds and routing models can be the future     Seg 2   Chat GPT, is a supermodel, knows everything, but has wasted data To Eddie, this does not make sense   For most AI tasks, you need a specialist, a form of expert knowledge Need to be routed to the right model, compound the route and info   Network of smaller models – then Which expert model to ask a question This will reduce resources and energy use, plus better use, and faster   Alan Tuning said, difficult work requires lots of engineering   Obvious Future has created a machine learning product called Cara One, used for media production and film   Runs on the premises of a business, local, not in the cloud   Not connected to the Internet, in-house, so you can protect your Intellectual Property (IP)   Air gapped setup with hardware, provide AI resources in house   Problem, how to keep data in house Run in a server room on the premises Cap X model for a business where they can own their own AI   Current AI Cloud set up as a subscription model, this a company would own     Seg 3   Set up a server or multiple servers in a closet in a business office on site, but not a super computer   AI hardware equals expensive cost   Math plus technology and you can shrink the tech   Companies cannot even use lots of AI services or ChatGPT right now, because it is open cloud, too much business risk, can't have your IP or information in the cloud   Cloud options for business are limited, and typically a no go, plus regulations with data protection   Obvious Future has their Resident AI product, called Cara One   Even if the Internet is down, you can still use their resident AI product, and it cost less   Huge paradox in technology right now, we have the best AI products and software and yet many companies cannot use it   Resident AI resides on premises. This opens up the business environment for different verticals and markets that need resident AI   Engine for AI, small sized so companies can use   Rate of return will continue to go up as companies invest in this   Hardware, software, chips are all improving and incorporating AI. Like all things in technology. There is constant improvement, and enhancing AI.   Obvious Future dealing in financing rounds for a business opportunity   Verticals of financing include industries like: banks, medical, legal, research data, customer data   All can be potential customers   Obvious Future working on developing the next level of Cara One, Resident AI for all of these potential businesses   US Patent Office would be another example, they can only partially use cloud AI, need resident AI to sift through all the data         Biotech Shows: https://brt-show.libsyn.com/category/Biotech-Life+Sciences-Science     AZ Tech Council Shows:  https://brt-show.libsyn.com/size/5/?search=az+tech+council *Includes Best of AZ Tech Council show from 2/12/2023   Tech Topic: https://brt-show.libsyn.com/category/Tech-Startup-VC-Cybersecurity-Energy-Science  Best of Tech: https://brt-show.libsyn.com/size/5/?search=best+of+tech     ‘Best Of' Topic: https://brt-show.libsyn.com/category/Best+of+BRT      Thanks for Listening. Please Subscribe to the BRT Podcast.       AZ Tech Roundtable 2.0 with Matt Battaglia The show where Entrepreneurs, Top Executives, Founders, and Investors come to share insights about the future of business.  AZ TRT 2.0 looks at the new trends in business, & how classic industries are evolving.  Common Topics Discussed: Startups, Founders, Funds & Venture Capital, Business, Entrepreneurship, Biotech, Blockchain / Crypto, Executive Comp, Investing, Stocks, Real Estate + Alternative Investments, and more…    AZ TRT Podcast Home Page: http://aztrtshow.com/ ‘Best Of' AZ TRT Podcast: Click Here Podcast on Google: Click Here Podcast on Spotify: Click Here                    More Info: https://www.economicknight.com/azpodcast/ KFNX Info: https://1100kfnx.com/weekend-featured-shows/     Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this program are those of the Hosts, Guests and Speakers, and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any entities they represent (or affiliates, members, managers, employees or partners), or any Station, Podcast Platform, Website or Social Media that this show may air on. All information provided is for educational and entertainment purposes. Nothing said on this program should be considered advice or recommendations in: business, legal, real estate, crypto, tax accounting, investment, etc. Always seek the advice of a professional in all business ventures, including but not limited to: investments, tax, loans, legal, accounting, real estate, crypto, contracts, sales, marketing, other business arrangements, etc.  

Netzökonom Dr. Holger Schmidt sagt: „Künstliche Intelligenz ist Europas Jahrhundertchance“. Warum er davon überzeugt ist, obwohl der Zug bei den sogenannten Large Language Modellen für Europa abgefahren ist, erklärt er im Gespräch mit Svea Eckert. Darüber hinaus geht es in der aktuellen Folge von „Basis 108“ um die Risikobereitschaft der deutschen Wirtschaft, um dringend notwendige Investitionen – auch im Angesicht der Krise -, um Zukunftschancen, die Auswirkungen des demografischen Wandels auf unser Wirtschaften und das Aufkommen der KI-Agenten. Wie er die Produktivität in Deutschland mit KI steigern möchte und weshalb vor allem auch der deutsche Mittelstand Potenziale jetzt erkennen und Chancen ergreifen muss, erklärt der Volkswirt und Redaktionsleiter für Newsletter und Verticals bei der Frankfurter Allgemeinen Zeitung darüber hinaus im IT-Zukunftspodcast.

Rob Garmaise, VP of AI research at Info-tech Research Group, is at the forefront of Info-tech research, helping clients identify best practices across their IT operations. They conduct extensive primary and secondary research, speaking with industry experts and other clients to understand the drivers of value and proof that a given practice leads to better results. AI Vendors, Verticals, and Research Taxonomy Rob explains that the firm has a vast research taxonomy, with AI being an important part of it. They have a team in place to connect with thought-leading vendors and their leading adopter clients to gather insights on various functions, rules, verticals, and sub-segments where AI is taking root. The strength in the marketplace currently lies in the horizontal focus on functions and roles across organizations rather than the various verticals or lines of business. Most AI vendors aim to maximize their total addressable market which is difficult to do when focusing on just one vertical. The Market and Vertically-orientated Competitors Rob predicts that the mix of vertically-oriented competitors will change as the market evolves. Currently, the strength is 80% on functions and roles, 20% on verticals. This approach allows AI vendors to maximize their total addressable market and stay competitive in the market. In this discussion, Rob discusses the implementation of AI solutions in various functions and roles within companies, including IT. He highlights the strengths in CO generation, data and analytics, service management, HR, sales, and marketing. AI in HR, Sales and Marketing, and Operations In HR, AI is being used to improve employee experience by indexing content and interacting with users. Talent acquisition recruiting uses AI on both sides of the recruiting equation, with AI being  used in talent assessment, helping to cut through biases and improve diverse hiring. Sales enablement and sales automation tools are the top lead and revenue-driving categories, while customer experience is the top cost-saving category. Operations are also being explored, with AI parsing information captured from video cameras for various applications such as shop floor settings, retail environments, and restaurants. Natural language conversations with equipment can lead to predictive maintenance, allowing organizations to strategize and optimize operations. Robert goes on to explain more about the improvements made using AI in HR, IT, and sales and management. AI-based Solutions in the Retail and Insurance Industry The conversation turns to the use of AI in various industries, including retail, and insurance. In the retail industry, AI-based solutions have impressed with their ability to scan store shelves with smartphones and receive critical metrics like stock availability, pricing, promotion, and competitor positioning. Smart Digital Signage solutions can also be used to adapt to demographics and reactions of customers. In the insurance industry, AI-based solutions include smart digital signage that can adapt to demographics and react to customer reactions. In the insurance industry, AI-based solutions include smart digital signage that can adapt to different demographics and respond to customer needs. Companies are exploring AI solutions to improve employee experience, sales, and marketing, while also focusing on cost-saving and predictive maintenance strategies. Robert discusses the potential benefits of AI in retail, such as real-time reactions to client information, and automated stock out detection. AI in the Legal and Financial Sectors In the legal sector, AI is being used for various purposes, including legal research, contract review, and contract management. This is particularly important for law firms and organizations with understaffed legal teams. In manufacturing, AI is being used to offer real-time instructions to machine line operators. Rob talks about disappointments in areas like financial services, healthcare, and government. In financial services, AI is being used for fraud detection, digital trust, and remote inspections. In insurance, AI can parse frequent documents into well-constructed spreadsheets or databases, and can conduct remote inspections. Rob also points out areas of disappointment.  Advice on Adopting AI  The conversation turns to the trend of AI being bought rather than built, particularly in the context of AI models. AI should be bought unless a build is absolutely necessary. The build side involves more uncertain investment levels and lead times, as it can lead to app sprawl and uncertainty in the market. Companies are advised to be deliberate about their build decisions, especially when it comes to AI models. On the talent side, companies are hiring new types of Chief AI officers or existing employees, such as Chief Digital Officers, Chief Technology Officers, and Chief Information Officers. These individuals are often left in charge of driving AI forward, but they may not have the necessary skills for building a new and unique model. On the build side, companies may need additional data scientists and data modelers, which can be challenging to achieve. On the consulting side, there is a growing trend of companies using top strategy firms on multiple AI projects. While most clients are still trying to orient themselves, consulting firms can help direct them towards buy-side scenarios where a POC or two can be done without a large implementation. Rob also touches on the importance of understanding the market and the potential benefits of AI solutions. Timestamps: 03:40: AI Market Insights and Research Methodology  05:28: Practical AI Applications in IT and Service Management 06:53: AI in HR and Talent Management  08:11: AI in Sales and Marketing  09:43: AI in Operations and Predictive Maintenance  11:31: AI in Retail and Supply Chain  14:49: AI in Legal and Manufacturing  17:55: Trends in AI Adoption and Talent Management 22:30: Consulting and AI Marketplace Links: Website: https://www.infotech.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@InfoTechRG Unleashed is produced by Umbrex, which has a mission of connecting independent management consultants with one another, creating opportunities for members to meet, build relationships, and share lessons learned. Learn more at www.umbrex.com.      

This week, we have the wonderful, bright, talented actress Grace Swanson. Grace was one of the first actors in LA to work on vertical shows, and she's made significant strides in the world of verticals. Her work on verticals has even led to bigger and bolder opportunities for her acting career. If you're an actor interested in verticals, this episode is for you! Grace's Insta: https://www.instagram.com/gracewswanson/ follow us on insta!! ⁠https://instagram.com/actinglikeanact...⁠ tiktok: ⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@actinglikeana...⁠ youtube: ⁠https://youtube.com/@actinglikeanacto...⁠ email: actinglikeanactorpodcast@gmail.com sophie's instagram: ⁠https://instagram.com/sophiejordancol...⁠ website: sophiejordancollins.com the beat: ⁠ • FREE BEATS NO COPYRIGHT - "Unique" | ... ⁠ podcast produced by Connor McBain: https://www.instagram.com/cmcbain17?igshid=NzZhOTFlYzFmZQ%3D%3D

Digitalbox PLC (AIM:DBOX) CEO James Carter joined Proactive's Stephen Gunnion with details of the Walford News, a Facebook-based asset with 475,000 followers focused on EastEnders fans, as a step to bolster its entertainment sector presence. Carter explained, “It provides us with exactly the right opportunity to pursue the verticals strategy as we move forward.” The verticals strategy also aligns with algorithm changes from platforms like Google and Facebook, which now favour authoritative and trusted content. Digitalbox aims to capitalise on this trend by leveraging its experience with entertainment-focused brands like Entertainment Daily and Emmerdale Insider. Looking ahead, Carter announced two new launches planned for early next year, emphasising the company's focus on both launches and acquisitions to fuel growth. For more updates on Digitalbox PLC and similar interviews, visit Proactive's YouTube channel. Don't forget to like the video, subscribe to the channel, and enable notifications for future content. #Digitalbox #JamesCarter #BusinessGrowth #AcquisitionStrategy #EntertainmentDaily #EastEnders #MediaStrategy #ProactiveInvestors #DigitalMarketing #ContentStrategy#ProactiveInvestors#invest #investing #investment #investor #stockmarket #stocks #stock #stockmarketnews

It's easy to get locked into scaling your business within the confines of your industry. The problem is hitting a ceiling and not knowing what to do next. Especially in the home inspection industry, it's common for companies to find themselves doing the same things with a different name. So, how do you diversify? You look outside your industry in search of opportunities that parallel what you're already doing, which utilize the things you're already learning. That's how Kal Patel has found success in everything from home inspection franchising, to hospitality, to urgent care health... and now social media marketing! He's also a connoisseur of excellent bourbon. Listen, learn, apply, and grow! Oh and subscribe to the show ;)

Josh Sebo (COO of OfferVault), Adam Young (CEO of Ringba), industry legend Harrison Gevirtz and special guest Aleta Lyons (Co-Founder of Monarch Media) discuss: - Challenges associated with being a female business owner in this industry. - Why are some men in this industry so creepy? - Which verticals are the best to focus on right now? - Work Life Balance: Is it possible? - 2025 Marketing Predictions - How to find good Media Buyers Follow Us: OfferVault: WEBSITE: https://www.offervault.com/ FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/offervault INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/offervaultmarketing/ TWITTER: https://www.twitter.com/offervault LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/company/offer-vault/ Adam Young: RINGBA: https://www.ringba.com RINGBA's INNER CIRCLE: https://try.ringba.com/inner-circle/ FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/ringba INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/adamyoung/ TWITTER: https://www.twitter.com/arbitrage LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/capitalist Harrison Gevirtz: INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/affiliate/ LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/harrisongevirtz/ Aleta Lyons: MONARCH MEDIA: https://www.monarchmedia.us/ INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/aleta.lyons/ LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aletalyons/

Show Notes: Kellie Magnus has been working in Jamaica for over 30 years. She returned to Jamaica after completing grad school in Colombia, where she worked in consulting and nonprofits. Since returning to Jamaica, she has been working in nonprofits and with international development partners, focusing on development-related issues. She is now the executive director of the Caribbean Culture Fund, a new entity raising money for arts and culture in the Caribbean. On the Board of NGOs During Kellie's time in New York, she attended the Ed School and business school, worked in person consulting, and freelanced on various creative and entertainment projects. Since returning to Jamaica, she has focused on developing arts-related projects that can improve outcomes for a wide cross-section of people. Her first role in Jamaica was working at the University of the West Indies in the Media and Communications Department. She joined boards of government entities and industry associations, and has since become deeply rooted in Jamaica. Kellie talks about her time serving on the board of The Book Industrial Association of Jamaica. She also talks about her work for the NGO Fight for Peace, a global NGO focused on Youth Violence Prevention. It started in Brazil, and opened a branch in England, and then an Alliance Network in about 20 countries around the world, and they wanted to start a program to test out ways to catalyze collaboration between NGOs and state agencies and the private sector around reductions in youth violence, and Jamaica and South Africa. She also ran a project for the World Bank, also focused on Youth Violence Prevention Fundraising and Growing Arts and Culture in the Caribbean The conversation turns to Kellie's position with the Caribbean Culture Fund, a regional entity focused on arts and culture in the Caribbean. It raises money internationally and distributes it through calls for proposals to artists and cultural organizations based in the region. The fund was created as a focal point for Caribbean fundraising about arts and culture. The fund's approach involved inviting prospective donors to campus or meeting with them directly. The head of the program spent a lot of time with the donors, listening to their interests and connecting them with the program they thought most matched their interests. Kellie talks about seed funding, their fundraising strategy, and a new fund they are in the process of setting up. Kelly discusses her personal and social network in the arts and culture space in Jamaica.  Verticals within the Arts and Culture Space Kellie shares her experience in attending various events and festivals, including art exhibits, book festivals, film festivals, and pottery festivals. However, she acknowledges the complexity of understanding each vertical within the arts and cultural space and the diversity across different territories. She talks about common roots and challenges, and shares how the team is planning to dive deeper into each sector in each country over the next year. Filmmaking in the region is not very country-specific, with some countries like the Dominican Republic doing better than others. Jamaica is getting better, but production costs are still prohibitive. The government has launched a Jamaica screen development initiative this year, which is optimistic about its impact on catalyzing production. She also talks about working across jurisdictions in the Caribbean. Kellie spends her time attending literary, film, and dance festivals, as well as reading and running. She also tries to connect with nature and enjoys spending time at the beach. She recommends Portland, a less touristy part of Jamaica, for its lush, quiet, and beautiful environment. She also recommends going up in the mountains, as it is the most beautiful part of the island. Kingston is a fun, vibrant, and culturally rich city to live in, with live music events, good restaurants, and nightlife.  Influential Harvard Professors and Courses Kellie mentions Werner Sollors' African American literature class; she also mentions African American History. Timestamps: 02:18 Return to Jamaica and Early Roles  04:57: Fight for Peace and Youth Violence Prevention  07:09: Caribbean Culture Fund and Fundraising Strategy 14:34: Selection Process and Grant Recipients  19:32: Social Network and Professional Connections  25:40: Cultural Recommendations and Personal Interests 32:22: Harvard Experience and Influence  Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kellie-magnus-3b902869/ Caribbean Culture Fund: https://caribbeanculturefund.org/ Featured Non-profit The featured non-profit of this episode is Heart of Dinner recommended by Nelson Wang who reports:   Hi, I'm Nelson Wang, class of 92 the featured nonprofit of this episode of The 92 report is Heart of Dinner, a group that helps address loneliness, isolation and food insecurity among elderly Asian Americans in New York City. They do this by organizing volunteers to prepare hand illustrated brown bags filled with culturally specific food and other items and delivering them to those in need. I actually just started working with them, in fact, because of a mention on a group chat I'm in of the Harvard Asian American alumni Alliance, also known as h4 a, another great organization, but I had such a positive experience working with heart of dinner that I thought they would be great to highlight here, my 11 year old daughter and her mother and I made more than 20 hand decorated bags recently to help celebrate the upcoming mid autumn festival, the big holiday in the Chinese culture that's somewhat akin to Thanksgiving. And the group itself is super organized and effective, and they're planning to expand to other cities and other Asian communities. One great way to help is by organizing a corporate bag decorating event with your colleagues. Even if you're not located in New York City, you can still send in your illustrated brown bags by mail. They, of course, also welcome donations to help pay for the contents of their care packages. You can learn more about their work at WWW dot heart of dinner. All one word, heart of dinner.org, or by emailing Hello at heart of dinner.org, and they're very responsive. And now, without further ado, here's Will Bachmann with this week's scintillating episode of the 92 report.  To learn more about their work visit: https://www.heartofdinner.org/

This is The DX Mentor podcast. I hope to help those hams trying to move up the DXCC ladder as well as those that at on the DXCC Honor Roll. As fast as technology is moving, no one can keep up on it all. I am here to help. #DX #Hamradio Our guests today are Rolf, DL7VEE, Christian, DL6KAC, and Joe, W8GEX. We are going to be discussing the upcoming DXPedition to C21MM, Nauru with Rolf and Christian. The DXpedition to Nauru, C21MM, will run from October 10th, 2024 to October 29th, 2024. I normally don't do this, but from the Daily DX, I can share the following information, which is essentially what we discussed in the first 12 minutes: With less than 4 weeks to go, the team of 14 German operators are ready. We follow our main principles being light-weight and cost effective. As always, only transceivers from Elecraft will be used. All equipment including antennas will be transported by the team members using “traditional luggage” partly oversized. However, this does not mean that we compromise on the antennas. For the high bands we are going to use our 2-element full size wire beam from LZ Antennas. That provides us with some dB more gain compared to a vertical. By using the LBS Pentaplexer we can operate 3 high bands together at the same time on this antenna. As always, we follow our strategy to use resonant and full-size single band antennas on all bands (except 160 m). No grounded verticals will be used. Verticals with an elevated radial are even better for reception, also known as Up & Outer. This time we will carry two 22 m (72 feet) Spiderbeam fiberglass poles for 160 m & 80 m (compared to 18 m poles on our last DXpeditions). That is perfect for 80 m and an improvement for the top band as well. We will also bring the brand new 14-m-HD-fiberglass pole from Spiderbeam which gives us 2 m more height compared to the 12-m-HD-pole. This one is perfect for bands from 60 m and up. For low band receiving we plan BOGs. Jan, OK2ZAW (QRO.CZ), supported us with RX band filter boards for splitting one BOG to different receivers on different bands. For 40 & 30 m we try loops this time. We always use small band pass filters for each band between transceiver and amplifier and additional bigger band pass filters to the antennas. We will run our proven shift system with radio and free time slots 24/7, ensuring that our experienced operators will have full concentration in their shift. 5 stations between 160 and 6 m in CW, SSB, RTTY and FT8 are planned. Starting with a first group of 6 men from October 10th only on high bands for few days. Second part of the group will arrive October 15. Here are some of the links that we mention during the discussion: https://c21mm.mydx.de http://www.dl7vee.de https://c21mm.mydx.de/?Welcome https://c21mm.mydx.de/?Donate_here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFh_EW64gDo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1KrGZRzVGY Southwest Ohio DX Assoc. https://www.swodxa.org DX Code of Conduct : https://www.dx-code.com/ Daily DX https://www.dailydx.com/ DX Engineering https://www.dxengineering.com/ Icom https://www.icomamerica.com/ IC-905 https://www.icomamerica.com/lineup/products/IC-905/ IC-9700 https://www.icomamerica.com/lineup/products/IC-9700/ IC-7610 https://www.icomamerica.com/lineup/products/IC-7610/ IC-7300 https://www.icomamerica.com/lineup/products/IC-7300/

Tim Turner, President of Ryan Specialty and Chairman & CEO of Ryan Turner Specialty, emphasizes the importance of strong leadership, cultural alignment, and evolving partnerships in achieving profitable … Read More » The post Strategic Leadership and Partnerships Drive Growth in Practice Group Verticals appeared first on Insurance Journal TV.

Angel investors are supposed to descend and bring early grace to startups but the reality of angel investing is much more complicated and complex. From individual big-check writers to small investors to organized groups, the will, experience, and dynamics vary widely.  Katie Russel (Central Texas Angel Network), Hall Martin (Ten Capital), and James Burkett (NuFund) join us to explore angel investing evolution and the state of Austin's scene. Episode HighlightsDefining an AngelAngel Investing Intersections with the EcosystemDynamics of Individual Investors, Small Syndicates, and Angel NetworksWhere is Expertise in Verticals, Investing, and StartupsContrarian vs Consensus Decision Making in Angel InvestingSAFE vs Convertible Note Debate Austin's Angel Scene, its Evolution, and ChallengesWhat's Next, Austin?Katie Russel: "Making sure that Texas based startups have access to angel level capital and that investors, if they want to get involved in early stage investing, they know how to get involved and where to go"Hall Martin: "Life science and deep tech...Austin's right there with the Bits and Atoms"James Burkett: "Continue to do what defines Austin as a city. It's been really good at blazing its own trail in a number of unique industries and just because it's not something that someone in Sand Hill Road wants to fund doesn't mean it's the wrong thing to be building. And have conviction in that."Katie Russel: LinkedIn, Central Texas Angel Network (CTAN)Hall Martin: Ten Capital Group, Startup Funding Espresso, Investor Connect James Burkett: LinkedIn, NuFund, Florin Digital -------------------Austin Next Links: Website, X/Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn

Welcome to 'On a Tangent' episode 2 , a special segment of Blockcrunch! Jason and Darryl, prop investors at Tangent, sit down to discuss: H1 2024 review How to develop edge as an investor Bull/bear inflection analysis  How to conduct conviction reviews ETH ETF post-launch Verticals Jason & Darryl's early days in crypto And much, much more Host: Jason Choi @mrjasonchoi . Not financial advice. -- Tangent is a private holdings company managing personal assets and is not a licensed investment advisor nor does it manage or accept any external capital. Nothing discussed is a solicitation for investment and is for entertainment purposes only. -- Timestamps: (01:14) Introduction (03:04) Tangent: H1 2024 review (05:24) Developing edge as an investor (14:42) Bull/Bear inflections (31:37) Reassessing convictions (34:27) ETH ETF review (37:42) Cycle patterns (43:05) Verticals (46:00) Crypto x AI (53:51) Jason & Darryl's start in crypto (56:30) Diversification vs concentration (59:43) Outro -- Twitter accounts: Jason Choi's Twitter: https://twitter.com/mrjasonchoi   Darryl Wang's Twitter: https://x.com/0xWangarian   Blockcrunch Twitter: https://twitter.com/theBlockcrunch -- Blockcrunch VIP:  https://blockcrunch.substack.com/ -- Disclaimer: The Blockcrunch Podcast (“Blockcrunch”) is an educational resource intended for informational purposes only. Blockcrunch produces a weekly podcast and newsletter that routinely covers projects in Web 3 and may discuss assets that the host or its guests have financial exposure to. Views held by Blockcrunch's guests are their own. None of Blockcrunch, its registered entity or any of its affiliated personnel are licensed to provide any type of financial advice, and nothing on Blockcrunch's podcast, newsletter, website and social media should be construed as financial advice. Blockcrunch also receives compensation from its sponsor; sponsorship messages do not constitute financial advice or endorsement. Full disclaimer:  https://blockcrunch.substack.com/about

Josh Sebo (COO of OfferVault), Adam Young (CEO of Ringba), industry legend Harrison Gevirtz and special guest Nataly Ptitsyna (Head of PR at ClickDealer) discuss: - How Nataly became the Head of PR at ClickDealer - How to gauge success when it comes to PR - The importance of attending industry events and conferences - Top verticals that are performing the best right now - ClickDealer and their role in the Pay Per Call space - ClickDealer and their amazing Smartlink technology Official Sponsor: PIN-UP Partners - (https://shorturl.at/R75QY) Get your Free Copy of "The Pay Per Call Revolution" now! Just pay shipping and handling: - (https://www.paypercallrevolution.com) Follow Us: OfferVault: WEBSITE: https://www.offervault.com/ FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/offervault INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/offervaultmarketing/ TWITTER: https://www.twitter.com/offervault LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/company/offer-vault/ Adam Young: RINGBA: https://www.ringba.com RINGBA's INNER CIRCLE: https://try.ringba.com/inner-circle/ FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/ringba INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/adamyoung/ TWITTER: https://www.twitter.com/arbitrage LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/capitalist Harrison Gevirtz: INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/affiliate/ LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/harrisongevirtz/ Nataly Ptitsyna: CLICKDEALER: https://clickdealer.com/ FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/ClickDealer INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/clickdealer/ LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/company/clickdealer/

Mosaicx utilizes 30 years of learning, across a spectrum of verticals, to deliver on the promise of AI improved CX, Podcast “Mosaicx 360 is an evolution of more than 30 years of innovation and is an ecosystem that includes integrations with over 4,000 businesses and customer experience applications,” says Mosaicx president Rebecca Jones. Mosaicx360 is a comprehensive ecosystem that combines state-of-the-art conversational AI, IVR, data analytics, large language model, and other AI powered technology applications to transform customer experiences and really improve those outcomes for organizations. Leveraging personalized proactive and predictive customer engagements, Mosaicx360 allows organizations to address customer needs efficiently and really boost customer satisfaction. We feel like enhanced customer experiences really drive that great brand loyalty that companies need over time.” Mosaicx is a cloud-based solution that uses conversational AI, machine learning and natural language processing technologies to automate interactions with customers and employees. Its intelligent virtual agent (IVA) technology delivers fast, easy, personalized service through industry-leading voice recognition and digital messaging capabilities, creating positive interactions that drive improved customer and employee satisfaction. Mosaicx is driving CX trends by offering modern conversational AI solutions that help companies achieve long-term success. Rebecca tells us that Mosaicx has launched a No Hold Time podcast series, where you can hear discussions on the AI, automation, brand interactions, self-service and other ways to improve customer experience (CX). We learn how Mosaicx is using AI to deliver measurable improvements in CX. The company views CX as something that occurs one interaction at a time: every interaction matters. Visit https://www.mosaicx.com    

Listen in as Drew Lydecker, President and Co-founder of AVANT, hosts Frank Fawzi, CEO of IntelePeer and a prominent figure in the communication landscape. Together, they explore the journey towards becoming the next pioneer utilizing AI superpower. Their discussion spans diverse verticals, including healthcare, retail, logistics, and manufacturing, and they highlight how AI and automation are revolutionizing organizational efficiency. Tune in to discover how these technologies streamline contact center operations and elevate customer satisfaction and gain insights on the transformative potential of AI across industries!

Lawyers and doctors owe a very special duty of confidentiality to their patients and clients, and that makes them hesitant to hire MSPs. Want to know how to leverage that hesitancy to convince medical and legal verticals to work with your MSP? Listen up. The latest Technology Bradcast is here!

All links and images for this episode can be found on CISO Series. Check out this post for the discussion that is the basis of our conversation on this week's episode co-hosted by me, David Spark (@dspark), the producer of CISO Series, and Yaron Levi, CISO, Dolby. Joining us is our guest, Neil Watkins, svp technology and cybersecurity services, i3 Verticals. In this episode: Visibility doesn't matter without context Not all visibility is created equal Don't forget to bring people into the loop Remediation doesn't scale with more visibility Thanks to our podcast sponsor, GitGuardian GitGuardian is a Code Security Platform that caters to the needs of the DevOps generation. It provides a wide range of code security solutions, including Secrets Detection, Infra as Code Security, and Honeytoken, all in one place. A leader in the market of secrets detection and remediation, its solutions are already used by hundreds of thousands of developers in all industries. Try now gitguardian.com

Liran is one of the founding partners at Team8, one of the most preeminent investors in Israel with over one billion dollars under management. Team8 started in 2014 with a focus on cybersecurity and enterprise technology, and it has since evolved to include investments in fintech and healthcare as well. Before starting Team8, Liran was in Unit 8200 and then worked in product-focused roles at two high-growth tech companies. In the episode we discuss his story of starting such a successful fund at a young age, the opportunity they saw in a foundry model in Israel, and the areas of cybersecurity that can support standalone public companies as opposed to just acquisition targets. Team8 website: team8.vc Sponsor: vulncheck.com

Chris stops by to chat about counterculture and sexsomnia 

John Yedinak, co-founder and president of Aging Media, joins Erik Torenberg to talk about his journey from the mortgage industry to building a powerful media company focused on the senior care sector. They explore the strategies for building a profitable media company in the B2B sector, the creator economy, and how traditional trade shows are being reimagined to engage audiences more effectively. — SPONSORS: BEEHIIV Media Empires is brought to you by Beehiiv. Head to Beehiiv, the newsletter platform built for growth, to power your own. Connect with premium brands, scale your audience, and deliver a beautiful UX that stands out in an inbox.

Sam Altman is the CEO @ OpenAI, the company on a mission is to ensure that artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity. OpenAI is one of the fastest-scaling companies in history with a valuation of $90BN and $2BN+ in revenue. Prior to OpenAI, Sam was the President and CEO @ Y Combinator and made angel investments in the likes of Airbnb, Stripe, Reddit, Pinterest, Asana and more. Brad Lightcap is the COO @ OpenAI and the man responsible for the incredible scaling of sales, GTM, partnerships and business to today being over $2BN in revenue. Before OpenAI, Brad was an investor at Y Combinator, where he met Sam and before that led finance and operations initiatives at Dropbox. In Today's Episode with Sam Altman and Brad Lightcap We Discuss: 1. The Partnership: The Most Powerful Double Act in Tech: How did 25 people rejecting OpenAI's CFO positions 6 years ago, lead to Brad joining OpenAI before Sam even did? What did he see that the world did not? What does Brad think is Sam's biggest superpower that the world does not know? What does Sam think it Brad's biggest superpower that the world does not now? How do decisions get made between Brad and Sam? How do they decide what to delegate vs what not to? What is the most recent disagreement they had? How did they resolve it? 2. The Next 12 Months for OpenAI: Bottlenecks, Compute and Commoditisation: What are the core bottlenecks facing OpenAI in the next 12 months? How does Sam believe we solve the fundamental problem of compute? What is the single biggest barrier to the quality of models improving? What is the end state for the model landscape? Will models become commoditised? 3. OpenAI: The Fastest Scaling Company in History: What has been the secret to how OpenAI has scaled to $2BN in revenue in 24 months? Why does Sam believe that he is "not a great operator"? What drives this thinking? What have been the first things to break in the scaling of OpenAI? What do Brad and Sam know now about the scaling that they wish they had known at the start? Why does OpenAI lean towards hiring more experienced people in the team? 4. How to Invest and Operate in a World of OpenAI: What single question can founders ask that will reveal if they will be steamrolled by OpenAI? Does Sam believe huge numbers of companies will be steamrolled by OpenAI? For investors, is there money to be made investing in the application layer of AI today? What question should all businesses be asking about how to adopt and use AI in their business? 5. Sam Altman: AMA: What have been the single biggest lessons Sam has learned from the founders he has invested in? Which founders has he learned the most from? What did he learn from each? What is Sam most concerned about in the world today? Why what? What unexpected traits or characteristics does Sam most look for in the founders he invests in? Why does Sam say that he is not happy but he is grateful?    

Sam Altman is the CEO @ OpenAI, the company on a mission is to ensure that artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity. OpenAI is one of the fastest-scaling companies in history with a valuation of $90BN and $2BN+ in revenue. Prior to OpenAI, Sam was the President and CEO @ Y Combinator and made angel investments in the likes of Airbnb, Stripe, Reddit, Pinterest, Asana and more. Brad Lightcap is the COO @ OpenAI and the man responsible for the incredible scaling of sales, GTM, partnerships and business to today being over $2BN in revenue. Before OpenAI, Brad was an investor at Y Combinator, where he met Sam and before that led finance and operations initiatives at Dropbox. In Today's Episode with Sam Altman and Brad Lightcap We Discuss: 1. The Partnership: The Most Powerful Double Act in Tech: How did 25 people rejecting OpenAI's CFO positions 6 years ago, lead to Brad joining OpenAI before Sam even did? What did he see that the world did not? What does Brad think is Sam's biggest superpower that the world does not know? What does Sam think it Brad's biggest superpower that the world does not now? How do decisions get made between Brad and Sam? How do they decide what to delegate vs what not to? What is the most recent disagreement they had? How did they resolve it? 2. The Next 12 Months for OpenAI: Bottlenecks, Compute and Commoditisation: What are the core bottlenecks facing OpenAI in the next 12 months? How does Sam believe we solve the fundamental problem of compute? What is the single biggest barrier to the quality of models improving? What is the end state for the model landscape? Will models become commoditised? 3. OpenAI: The Fastest Scaling Company in History: What has been the secret to how OpenAI has scaled to $2BN in revenue in 24 months? Why does Sam believe that he is "not a great operator"? What drives this thinking? What have been the first things to break in the scaling of OpenAI? What do Brad and Sam know now about the scaling that they wish they had known at the start? Why does OpenAI lean towards hiring more experienced people in the team? 4. How to Invest and Operate in a World of OpenAI: What single question can founders ask that will reveal if they will be steamrolled by OpenAI? Does Sam believe huge numbers of companies will be steamrolled by OpenAI? For investors, is there money to be made investing in the application layer of AI today? What question should all businesses be asking about how to adopt and use AI in their business? 5. Sam Altman: AMA: What have been the single biggest lessons Sam has learned from the founders he has invested in? Which founders has he learned the most from? What did he learn from each? What is Sam most concerned about in the world today? Why what? What unexpected traits or characteristics does Sam most look for in the founders he invests in? Why does Sam say that he is not happy but he is grateful?

Maura Brady, Head of Verticals at 6Sense delves into her journey from finance to sales leadership, emphasizing the importance of diversity, adaptability, and innovation in the sales sector. She discusses the unique challenges women face in sales, especially in balancing work and family life, and advocates for more inclusive policies and practices. Maura highlights how her Irish heritage and upbringing in a large, vibrant family equipped her with resilience and a people-first approach, pivotal in her sales career and leadership philosophy. The conversation also touches on the potential impact of remote working on sales strategies and the significance of hiring diverse talents to drive success and innovation.

Gopi Kallayil is the Chief Business Strategist for AI at Google, which means he has a bird's eye view of the technology and its implications at one of the world's largest companies - and all the partner companies they work with. Author of The Happier Human: Being Real in an Artificially Intelligent World, Gopi had spent a good portion of his professional life focused on the relationship between human authenticity and technology. In this episode he shares the ways he sees AI changing the game at the tactical and strategic level in business. The opinions expressed are those of the guest in his personal capacity.For Further Information: https://kallayil.com/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wp2DKofnviA Listen on your favorite podcast app: https://pod.link/1715735755

Connected TV (CTV) is becoming a central marketing and advertising channel for brands as streaming networks bolster their subscription offerings. They're becoming a conduit for delivering engaging, personalized campaigns that drive brand awareness, product discovery, in-store traffic and conversions. Roku is helping drive this new era of shoppable content by providing the streaming devices consumers need to access content across apps and devices. Plus, through partnerships with companies like Walmart, it is helping shape the future of the category. During this episode of Retail Remix, Sarah Monahan, Roku's Head of Verticals, shares: How the streaming wars will continue to drive the evolution of CTV; Tips to help retailers align their CTV decisions and tactics to specific business objectives and success measures; and Details on how Roku is partnering with brands, retailers and even streaming services to support innovation in CTV advertising and creative storytelling.RELATED LINKSLearn more about Roku's Advertising servicesSee more CTV coverage on Retail TouchPointsRead the deep-dive report on CTV best practices Payment Experience ReportGet your copy of this special report, courtesy of our friends at PayPal, to learn how you can turn the payment experience into a competitive differentiator.

Cristina Betanzo of GXC tells us about new opportunities with their new tiered partner program in this short podcast from Channel Partners. Learn about the incentives. Learn about the service. In big open spaces, for industries with a big physical footprint, GXC delivers seamless wireless private networks. Partners advance through the tiers – Authorized, Silver, Gold, and Platinum – leverage escalating discounts on our turnkey solutions, mirroring your dedication and achievements. Meanwhile the partners get comprehensive marketing support, where the partners advance their own brand, and gain footing in the key mobility market.

Making Waves......with tracks by...O (The Band), Servo, The Utopians, Ellie Walker & The Folly, Fields Ohio, Eux Autres, Verticals, Slift, Munay Ki Dub, CC Temple, Miki Berenyi Trio, Tourmaline Hum, Silent Forum, Otava Yo, The Polish Ambassador O (The Band) - Slice [YouTube] Servo - Day And Night [...] The post PCP#833… Making Waves… appeared first on Pete Cogle's Podcast Factory.

Making Waves......with tracks by...O (The Band), Servo, The Utopians, Ellie Walker & The Folly, Fields Ohio, Eux Autres, Verticals, Slift, Munay Ki Dub, CC Temple, Miki Berenyi Trio, Tourmaline Hum, Silent Forum, Otava Yo, The Polish Ambassador O (The Band) - Slice [YouTube] Servo - Day And Night [...] The post PCP#833… Making Waves… appeared first on Pete Cogle's Podcast Factory.

Welcome to the forefront of digital transformation with SADA's latest podcast episode, where we delve into the intriguing world of Web3 and AI. Our experts, Michael Ames, and David Carter, guide you through the evolution from Web1's basic information access to Web3's trust-based ecosystem. Discover the pivotal role AI plays in enhancing data privacy, decentralizing blockchain networks, and revolutionizing industries like finance, healthcare, and the public sector.  This episode not only explores the ethical implications of these technologies but also highlights SADA's strategic initiatives, including cryptocurrency acceptance and partnerships at Google Cloud NEXT. Join us as we navigate the future of digital trust and innovation. Tune in to this compelling episode, and don't forget to LIKE, SHARE, & SUBSCRIBE for more insightful content! ✅  

The OB Podcast returns with another value-packed discussion! Unlock the secrets of successful negotiation for small businesses in this episode, where we delve into effective strategies to secure better deals, build valuable relationships, and drive your business forward.

The future of streaming is shaping a new horizon for customer experience. With its focus on data-driven personalization and interactive features, Roku is well-positioned to play a key role in shaping the future of the streaming world. Bridging the gap between viewers and brands, Sarah Monahan, U.S. Head of Verticals at Roku, reimagines how streaming ads can shape a whole new customer journey. Blake Morgan is a customer experience futurist, keynote speaker, and author of the bestselling book The Customer Of The Future.

Join Nallely and Mario on this week's episode of the Corporate Cafecito podcast as they welcome Delia Guiterrez McLaughlin, a remarkable Latina whose authentic personality and courage shine through her vibrant presence. Delia's inspiring story is a testament to the power of embracing oneself and fearlessly navigating challenges.  As a Principal Engagement Leader, Delia provides valuable insights into the ever-evolving tech landscape, where technology and business goals seamlessly integrate. Her personal experiences are woven into her professional narrative, offering a unique perspective on the intersection of identity and career.  Delia's journey is characterized by continuous learning and focusing on achieving specific goals. She encourages individuals to prioritize growth and acquire diverse skills to navigate the tech world adeptly. Don't miss this week's podcast to hear more about Delia's inspiring story and valuable insights!If you would like to join the members of Corporate Cafecito to enjoy a Cafecito with the team or suggest a topic for them to cover, please visit www.corpcafecito.com/contact-us.Feel free to reach out via email:admin@corpcafecito.comFor individual coaching or workshops for you and your team, visit www.elevardevelopment.com or email admin@elevardevelopment.com for more details.

Mihail Eric is an engineer, researcher, and educator who has helped start teams at innovative organizations such as Amazon Alexa and RideOS. Mihail is a cofounder of Storia AI where they build an AI-powered creative assistant for fast and delightful image and video generation. MLOps podcast #200 with Mihail Eric, Co-founder of Storia AI, Founding, Funding, and the Future of MLOps. // Abstract Demetrios and Mihail journey deep into the significance of human sentiment in an increasingly AI-driven era, the perils and promises of conversational AI, and the evolution and impact of image generation models. Delve into the world of MLOps versus LLMOps, offering clarifying perspectives on how the core concerns and technology persist, even amidst an evolving tech landscape with new buzzwords making waves. Mihail generously provides an inside look at his AI tool and its wide range of applications across various industries, offering insights on interesting niche-specific verticals and unexpected use cases. // Bio Mihail is a co-CEO of Storia AI, an early-stage startup building an AI-powered creative assistant for video production. He has over a decade of experience researching and engineering AI systems at scale. Previously he built the first deep-learning dialogue systems at the Stanford NLP group. He was also a founding member of Amazon Alexa's first special projects team where he built the organization's earliest large language models. Mihail is a serial entrepreneur who previously founded Confetti AI, a machine-learning education company that he led until its acquisition in 2022. // MLOps Jobs board https://mlops.pallet.xyz/jobs // MLOps Swag/Merch https://mlops-community.myshopify.com/ // Related Links Website: www.mihaileric.com https://www.storia.ai/ ⁠ --------------- ✌️Connect With Us ✌️ ------------- Join our slack community: https://go.mlops.community/slack Follow us on Twitter: @mlopscommunity Sign up for the next meetup: https://go.mlops.community/register Catch all episodes, blogs, newsletters, and more: https://mlops.community/ Connect with Demetrios on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dpbrinkm/ Connect with Mihail on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mihaileric/ Timestamps: [00:00] Spotify playlist [02:08] How to live a longer healthier life [03:43] Absurd sweater collection [06:03] The catch-up episode [08:10] MLOps versus LLMOps [13:27] AI apps mixing visuals and text [16:00] Founder dating [16:54] Stable diffusion and difficulties with Mid Journey [23:12] Stripe developer experience [25:04] APIs and Model Providers [27:33] Host stable diffusion on AWS [34:07] AI Creativity: Prompt Experimentation [35:45] AI Challenges and Solutions [39:51] AI Hype Frustration [44:31] AI Impact on Hollywood [48:11] AI Impact on Filmmaking [51:48] Generalizable Tool for Verticals [52:49] MLOps versus LLMOps [56:42] Wrap up

Bobby Napiltonia shares his insights and experiences in building channel partnerships. He discusses his time at Salesforce, where he was responsible for building the app exchange and the Salesforce.com practices.Bobby talks about the challenges he faced and the strategies he used to build successful channel programs.He emphasizes the importance of trust, training, and communication in building strong partner relationships. Bobby also shares his thoughts on the future of partnerships and the role of channel programs in SMB and mid-market software companies.Key Takeaways:Building channel partnerships requires trust, training, and communication.Repeatable models and packaged solutions are essential for partner success.Sharing the wealth and making partners famous are key to building strong partner relationships.The quality of leads from partners is often higher and leads to faster close rates.Channel programs are relevant for both enterprise and SMB/mid-market software companies.Quotes:"Everything in this industry is about trust." - Bobby NapiltoniaChapters:00:00 Introduction and Podcast Overview00:39 Introducing the Special Guest and Sponsor01:33 Building [Salesforce.com](http://salesforce.com/) Practices05:39 The Genesis of Global SI Ecosystem Partner07:35 The Role of Training in Partner Success13:12 The Importance of Repeatable Models in Partner Success15:34 The Impact of Verticals on Partner Relationships23:02 Understanding the Importance of Leads23:39 The Role of Trust in Business Relationships24:39 The Challenge of Partner Recruitment25:27 The Struggles of Traditional Partners28:58 The Role of Services in Business31:36 The Importance of Internal Communication32:19 The Power of Making Partners Famous36:24 Understanding the Difference Between Sourced and Influenced Deals43:06 The Future of Partnerships

Welcome to another episode of The Full Desk Experience, the original podcast brought to you by Crelate. In today's episode, we dive into the highlights from Staffing World, featuring interviews with industry professionals on the show floor. Join host Kortney Harmon as she speaks with Tawanda Huff, Dot Peterson, Marnie Byner, Christy Connard, Anna Lisa, Sheena Ronnicker, and Pat Hudson about their experiences, challenges, and takeaways from the conference. From discussions on technology and AI to the importance of work-life balance and customer engagement, this episode offers valuable insights into the staffing industry today. Tune in and discover the latest trends and themes that are shaping the future of staffing.

In this episode of the Not For Lazy Marketers podcast, I'm exploring the balance between short-term and long-term marketing strategies and emphasizing the need to recognize the value in both. I discuss how short-term strategies can ensure profitability in the initial phases and why it's crucial to comprehend the broader, more enduring impact of long-term approaches.  Recognizing that many entrepreneurs often view marketing through a short-term lens, I aim to shift this mindset by emphasizing the vital role of consistency and patience in achieving success. This episode provides actionable strategies and mindset shifts for entrepreneurs to achieve a balanced marketing approach. Don't miss it!

If you want to unlock unprecedented growth in your business—which will lead to exceptional value creation—consider taking the leap and expanding into new markets, verticals, and offerings. In this solocast, Jim Barnish dives deep into strategies to ensure that your products or services cater to the needs and preferences of your new customers. Some of what Jim gets into: Before Jumping Into A New Market, Immerse Yourself In It: You can't just assume you and your team knows your audience, that your pricing strategy will be effective, and you'll be able to handle any risks that pop up. If you don't conduct extensive market research, you'll surely miss out on valuable insights that could make or break your business. Engage Early Adopters In A Pilot Program: Validating a business concept through a pilot isn't just about testing your new product. It's also about engaging with real customers who can provide actionable insights. Bonus points if you target early adopters who are much more likely to provide constructive criticism and be invested in your new offering's success. About The Dirt Podcast The Dirt is about getting real with businesses about the true state of their companies and going clear down to the dirt in solving their core needs as a business. Dive deep with your host Jim Barnish as we uncover The Dirt with some of the world's leading brands.If you love what you are getting out of our show please subscribe.For more information on how we dig into the dirt check out our other episodes here: https://www.orchid.black/podcastAbout Our CompanyOrchid Black is a new kind of growth services firm. We partner with tech-forward companies to build smarter, better, game-changing businesses. Website: https://www.orchid.black LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/orchidblack/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@OrchidBlack All contents of this show are rights of Orchid Black©️ and are not to be used unless authorized by written consent.

FULL ARTICLE HERE: https://www.bankless.com/david-ethcc-2023  Every single year, EthCC gets a bit bigger, a bit more organized, and way more productive. The signal from EthCC this year was particularly strong! EthCC is a unique conference. It's one of the oldest and most well-run Ethereum conferences that we have. So here we are, post-EthCC 2023. The noise of the bull market is behind us. The tourists are gone and only the settlers remain. So… where are we now, halfway through 2023? With EthCC offering such a strong checkpoint in the arc of Ethereum and crypto broadly, I've taken a moment to take stock of my main reflections and takeaways from the endless supply of conversations at EthCC 2023. ------