In the last three days, the Old Tobacco Factory in Rovinj gathered a record number of visitors who had the opportunity to participate in top lectures and hear everything from leading regional and world experts about the current topics and trends of today, with an inevitable dose of great socializing and fun. Among them were topics about the coexistence of PR people and journalists, controversial entrepreneurs, the influence of artificial intelligence, the trap phenomenon, but also business failures recorded by successful entrepreneurs on their development path.
“Weekend.16 exceeded all expectations! It was fantastic to once again enjoy the incredible atmosphere, the view of the full halls and the satisfied faces of the record 6,000 visitors who enjoyed the last weekend of September. We once again proved that we are a festival – a leader in the exchange of experiences, great energy, friendship and the creation of business collaborations, but also a festival of new ideas,” said Tomo Ricov, program director of the Weekend Media Festival, which this year was also held under the general patronage of Adris Group.
Artificial intelligence is ubiquitous, younger generations will naturally develop with it, and it is up to us to get to know all its possibilities, educate ourselves, inform ourselves and accept the positive changes it will bring, was the emphasis of the Open about AI panel. The dynamic discussion of artificial intelligence expert Boris Debić, director, ZŠEM, Mislav Malenica, Croatian Association President and CEO, Mindsmiths and Joška Mrndže, director of the Adriatics region, Google moderated by Aco Momčilović, expert and advisor, Futurehr, concluded with the message that it is not so much important technology, how important is the fact that the age we are facing is a new revolution. And Boris Jokić, director of the Institute for Social Research, concluded in his lecture that the development of digital technologies and artificial intelligence have radically changed all aspects of our lives and that private space almost no longer exists.
Kishore Mahbubani, a Singaporean diplomat, former president of the UN Security Council and international relations expert, shared incredible insights about the future, geopolitical changes and the influence of Asia on the West on the panel Has the West Lost?. “The next 10 years will be the 10 most exciting years in geopolitics,” Mahbubani said, stressing that never in human history have we watched two incredible powers of equal size and power confront each other. “This is going to shake the world, fasten your seat belts!” said Mahbubani from the inspiring lecture.
A lively discussion took place on the panel – Where do PR people go wrong?. “The problem is not that too much information flows towards us, but the problem is usually that PR people want to have control over the work of journalists, sometimes through political power, sometimes through commercial power, and they think they have the power to handle information. In short, it bothers journalists because they want information that PR people don’t want to give, and PR people push information that is uninteresting to the journalist because it is of a promotional nature. It is precisely the audience that is at a loss because there is a conflict between the two currents,” were the words of Tomislav Klauški, a 24 hour journalist who participated in the panel with Ivana Galić Baksa, director of marketing and communications, United Media, and Ruža Veljović, director of corporate affairs and communications. , Wireles Media Group, and Vladimir Preselj, CEO of Millenium promotion. Zoran Turković, chief executive officer of 24 sata, Aleksandar Stanković, TV presenter, Zoran Šprajc, RTL, editor and presenter, Hrvoje Bujas, president of the Voice of Entrepreneurs Association and Tihomir Ladišić, N1, director of news and programs at panel Controversial entrepreneur powered by UGP moderated by Petar Štefanić.
“At the beginning of the 90s, the word entrepreneur was mostly associated with crime, and the whole idea of UGP was to make the word entrepreneur a term for people who create new values. The word businessman is a man who has reached a position through a political connection, and that is why we need to distance these two terms. Politics works in the media, of course, but there are entrepreneurs who would also like influence and power,” said Bujas.
Although the mass media are not the kings of media culture as before, they remain alive and strong, and technology has changed their dominance and, paradoxically, made them more powerful, the thesis of the lecture How data and artificial intelligence shape today’s DOOH and The last mass media, which are the leading names from the field of DOOH – Kai-Marcus Thäsler, member of the board of directors of the World Organization for Outdoor Advertising (WOO) and Denis Gaumondie, pioneer and world leader in the measurement of outdoor digital advertising and displays in retail, shared their stories and experiences. “It’s easiest to give up, the hardest to continue” is the message of this year’s Pushion 2.0 panel, where successful people revealed their less successful stories, while the irreconcilable differences between boomers, Gen Z and millennials, i.e. flower children and rockers and the young generation that listens to trap, explained by musicians Relja Popović and Zembo Latifa, Đorđe Trbović, co-founder and executive director of IDJ, and Milan Majerović Stilinović, ZAMP. They concluded that despite boomers often not understanding trap culture, it has become a phenomenon that has united the Balkans, indicating the power of music as a means of bringing people together and promoting togetherness.
Sports fans were treated to a one-on-one conversation between multiple Emmy winner and creative director of CBS Sports, Pete Radovich, and famous Croatian basketball player, Damjan Rudež, entitled How to sell soccer (and a destination) to Americans. “The example of the Superbowl confirms that for Americans show is more important than sport,” said Radovich, who together with Rudež announced the new edition of the Sunset Sports Media Festival, a project that brought together world stars from sports, promotion and show business in Zadar and made a step forward in the promotion of Croatia towards the American market. On the panel Everyone is talking about Rijeka – New Rijeka perspective, the mayor of Rijeka Marko Filipović and the director of the Tourist Board of the City of Rijeka Petar Škarpa pointed out that in the last few years numerous opportunities have opened up in Rijeka for the revitalization of infrastructure and numerous cultural and economic facilities – from the new cultural district, the new library, the bus station and all the way to the new nautical marina. All these investments led to a paradigm shift – Rijeka from a port and industrial city becomes a tourist one. Together with moderator Nevena Rendela Vejzović, director of Prime Time Communications, they also announced the second edition of the Women’s Weekend regional conference, which will be held in Rijeka from March 7 to 10, 2024, in the new space of Art kvart, and will surely contribute to Rijeka’s new perspective.
What is the audience laughing at on the banks of the Vardar, and what is it at the foot of Triglav? For which audience is it more important that something is funny, and for which is it enough that it’s just funny? These questions were answered by the wittiest line-up of the Weekend – stand-up comedians Tin Vodopivec, Goran Vinčić and Peđa Bajović, and journalist and host Zoran Kesić, who does not believe that his audience is troubled by nationalistic questions, even though it is still a present topic in our region, and which, instead of political satire, would export our politicians to Europe. The Weekend Media Festival was rounded off with fun until the early hours of the morning with the great Dutch-New Zealand band My Baby and at RNB Confusion, organized by DJ Medo and DJ Turk and Zembo Latifa, with great music, a lot of fun and socializing, this year’s Weekend.16.