World’s best digital minds descend on Auckland

One of the world’s best digital minds was in Auckland last weekend, offering expertise and insights to New Zealand’s brightest technological brains.

The founder and chief executive of India Games, Vishal Gondal, was speaking at the X|Media|Lab, a creative workshop for digital media professionals across emerging media disciplines.

It is considered to be one of the world’s most influential digital media events.

Mr Gondal taught the audience that taking a successful foreign business concept home will not always work.

“Culture eats strategy for breakfast,” he said.

X|Media|Lab Australia-New Zealand project manager Adele Barlow says the event was made greater by the calibre of the speakers.

“There was a great blend of commercial experts as well as creative geniuses.

“X|Media|Lab has brought together the world’s leading digital media practitioners, power-brokers, and innovators in a unique creative environment that’s helping local companies and project teams improve their own digital media ideas, get their products to market and achieve commercial success.

“All of them have impressive biographies but more importantly, a strong personal presence,” she says.

International speakers included multi-Emmy award winning media strategist and technologist Richard Cardran, and media entrepreneur and author of 33 Million People in the Room Juliette Powell, among many other acclaimed experts.

Barlow says “knowledge is power,” and it is these types of leaders who empower the people of New Zealand.

“It’s New Zealand’s way of downloading and importing knowledge from overseas markets and injecting that insight into our own local economy.

“New Zealand is trying to boost its weightless economy and export more digital products, but without knowing what’s already out there, we can’t do this effectively.

“Events like this connect the Kiwi digital media industry with the rest of the world and inject that global overview into the industry players here.”

Plans are already in place for the 2010 event.