Adtech Sydney – early impressions: nothing to start a riot; nothing to stop a riot

We’re half way through day one of AdTech Sydney, my netbook is recharged and it’s back to the grindstone.

So what to make of it so far?

If you follow Twitter (hashtag: #atsyd) you’d think the main topic of debate has been coffee – the quality or otherwise, educating the staff that strong coffee doesn’t mean less milk, queues and best places to get a caffeine fix nearby. And I thought that was what Foursquare was for. Mind you, there’s been a lot of Adtech check-ins on Foursquare too.

Less mundanely, it’s been a relatively sedate start, at least in the streams I’ve followed. One or two tweeters in other sessions have objected to sales pitches from the podium, although I’ve not seen much of that myself just yet.

Based on previous experience, I got to the keynote early. In previous years the organisers have used the showman’s technique of having not enough chairs to ensure the hall looks full.

No need for that this time. My guess it was three quarters full for the keynote from Unilever’s Babs Rangaiah. He presented well enough what was basically a common sense set of rules for how to market to digitally-savvy consumers. Perhaps the fact that a behemoth like Unilever sees it that way is the true achievement.

There was a slightly odd set-up in the room, with a cordoned off (and virtually empty) section at the front for VIPs and iMedia (Adtech’s sister brand) bigwigs.

It didn’t add to the atmosphere, and positively detracted from the first debate session, chaired by Iain McDonald from Amnesia. The panel’s topic was an interesting one – is there still a place for the big idea? (Answer: well executed, medium sized channel specific ideas may be the future). But the echoing room didn’t set the conversation on fire.

The organisers say that numbers are up slightly this year. So far, that’s not my impression. The exhibition area feels quieter than previous events. But, lunchtime is the test, and here I am hiding in the speakers’ room, writing this rather than checking that out.

It’s early days, but so far, if you missed it, then you don’t have much to regret.

Tim Burrowes