A. Day 1

Some pictures:

Monica BRÂNDUŞESCU – event moderator
(HotNews.ro, Blog, LinkedIn, Twitter – protected)

George IVAŞCU – About the fear of being yourself
(Metropolis theater, Port.ro, Cinemagia)
- What’s the risk of technology? Solitude / alienation;
- I’m a failed physicist; My failure went into being an actor;
- life is like an electrocardiogram – it has lots of pulses, and, in the end, they’re the ones that matter most;
- a theory Alfred ADLER: man is born free;
- all our lives we find out about our limits – “You are not allowed to …”, “You shouldn’t …”, “You mustn’t …”;
- (a definition from a student of his) monologue is not what you say, but what you can’t hold within you anymore;
- Our focus should be on:
a. What? Why? – the subject, rather than on:
b. How? – the method for getting to the subject;
- strength comes from being you, rather than wearing masks;
- we are the fruits of our own thoughts;
- there few major events in your life;
- What is art? To enrich the beauty in yourself;
- love is not chemistry, it is alchemy, it transforms you; sure, there is some chemistry too, but you should focus on the alchemy;
- acting with power is a different thing than acting with force;
- E = m*c² in real life is translated into: m = our bodies; 1^st c = our heart; 2^nd c = our mind;
- (citation) actors are sculptors in snow;
- for one year he has seen classes from other teachers, only after this he taught;
- there are two ways to reference to the world:
a. Egocentric – everything is done from you;
b. Institution – you are an NGO into a capitalist world;
- all our lives we are children; we need stories; Pro TV won audiences because it told stories;
- I can’t give advices, I can only tell you that I do this or I don’t do this;
- Not having enough money? That’s good!
- today we try to build capitalism with communist tools;
- we have forgotten the meaning of words; we communicate with expressions;
- equilibrium is the key to harmony;
- any kind of excess leads to problems;
- I watch these on TV:
a. News;
b. Discovery channel, History Channel; I think their ratings are increasing;
- a current trend in Romania is soap opera – Why? Because it tells you a story (no comment on the quality of this);
- an actor has the ability of being a permanent child;
- there is no such thing as “You must do …”;
- invitation to Metropolis Theater;
- there are no ugly or beautiful persons; it’s all on how you imagine things; our imagination is very active;
- try to make fun of bad things to overcome obstacles;
- a role has, at its roots, a meaning of vocation / aim – these are more important;
- a character is a mask / a form;
- a person dies when no one speaks about him;
- Romanians still tend to buy, rather than invest;
- (quote) Follow your dream!

Irina WAGNER – The story of the passion for art transformed into a success brand: Wagner – beautiful arts and fairytales
(Wagner Arte, LinkedIn, Facebook)
- it’s great to be very good into your own field;
- although there is a general image we have about our client, the people that usually buy from our store are very different;
- there is little competition in our field;
- branding helped our business a lot;

Radu TUDORACHE- Investment into spirituality
(Montero, Money Express interview)
- I went to a College of Mathematics;
- “Each day we must be able to conquer the ideal” (Arsenie PAPACIOC);
- spirituality is something practical;
- personal development is done through other people;
- it’s impossible to change the population as a whole;
- there are four levels into someone’s life (like a pyramid):
a. Spiritual;
b. Rational;
c. Psychological;
d. Physical;
- on the physical level, there are:
a. fasting;
b. some form of prayers;
c. positions during the church services;
d. pilgrimages;
- Way of St. James is the pilgrimage to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, Spain;
- on the psychological level:
a. Having a confessor:
i. as a partner in life;
ii. Giving psychological advices;
iii. Knowing the personal / family history;
b. integrating into community;
- there are some very good monasteries in the North of Oltenia: Frăsinei, Bistriţa, Dintr-un Lemn, Iezer, Pătrunsa;
- on a rational level:
a. reading the Church Fathers implies using the mind;
b. recommended reading: Mistagogia by Saint Maxim the Confessor;
c. Gregory the Dialogist has some very good writings: The Rule for Pastors;
- on the spiritual level:
a. Regular praying;
b. Praying whenever necessary;
c. The Seven Sacraments, around which life is centered;
d. Communion with the saints;

Monica TATOIU – Consistency – the enemy of failure
(Oriflame, CV , video interview on Capital)
- I always feel the need to provide examples to what I’m saying;
- when you make a choice, you also assume the responsibilities that derive from it, not only the rights;
- extra authority and rules are not a solution for a better society;
- you have to determine your competitive advantage;
- How can one do personal development?
a. Readings;
b. Being informed also about the fields that you don’t value as much;
- in life you don’t necessarily do the things that you like;
- life is hard;
- you can develop competency by working, not by studying things at school;
- the job for which you prepare in school is not really the job that you’ll end up doing;
- NGOs are launching pads for wise guys; NGOs do great in the US, not that good in Romania;
- you should first focus on your own development, only after this you should care about the persons around you;
- Five life principles:
a. Knowledge doesn’t mean information; the Internet is the biggest weapon through which the new generation is being brainwashed; knowledge is a state, while information is sequential;
b. You should be consistent in winning competencies;
c. You should have convergence – focus on one direction only;
d. Family is important; marriage is a bilateral partnership with rights and obligation and force majeure; The role of the family? To transmit to the new generations the values of the society that generated that family;
e. Belief in a spirit;
- next year, starting with January, the economy will be awful;
- Why should you work in a multinational company?
a. Very clear rules;
b. It is a very large organization;
c. There is a procedures’ manual;
d. There are financial reporting systems;
e. Flowcharts? Yes!
- if you join a certain system, you will learn very good procedures;
- there are bits & pieces you can only appreciate in a multinational company;
- in December 2009 the expenses for Christmas, the bad weather of the winter of 2009-2010 and the end of elections will cause large layoffs in the State system; Why? IMF (International Monetary Fund);
- recommended reading: “Ada or Ardor: a family chronicle” by Vladimir NABOKOV;
- recommended reading: “Clair de femme” by Romain GARY;

Delia BURNHAM – Authenticity and honesty – the secret to professional fulfillment
(CVO Recruitment, LinkedIn)
- I run CVO Recruitment Romania;
- we do specialized recruitment services;
- Why am I in Romania? I wanted to experience another culture;
- the CV (Curriculum Vitae) is not the only thing that matters;
- When you write a CV, you should take into account:
a. Relevancy to the job;
b. Write it correctly;
c. Think of it this way: “What does my CV says about me?”;
- Two types of CVs:
a. General CV;
b. A CV custom made for a job;
- the work experience itself is more important than volunteering;
- Romanian hasn’t yet seen the worst part of the crisis;
- How can you find out things about a company prior to getting hired in there:
a. Ask the recruiting company;
b. Talk to present day employers within the company;
c. Search the Net;
d. Ask some friends (with caution, due to the fact that they’ll emphasis only certain aspects);
e. Read / search the press (but filter the information well);
f. (my suggestion) DespreFirme.com;
- at the interview, top questions should include clarification on the job itself;
- a thing that matters a lot is what you want for yourself;
- unforgivable errors: orthography errors in official documents (not only CVs);
- What’s the process of hiring someone?
a. Long list of candidates;
b. CV filtering;
c. Phone interviews;
d. Face-to-face interviews;
e. Short list for clients;
f. Company interviews (from one to five);
- interviews are crucial to the selection process;
- ideally, employers wouldn’t need to pose trick questions, they are to be avoided;
- you should study things for your own pleasure, but you should pick with great care the value of the things you learn;
- about Master Degrees, think about it this way:
a. Do they bring real value?
b. Is it only a diploma?
- if you wish to get a job to McKinsey Europe, you’d better have an MBA;
- still, there are jobs with flexible approaches;
- what you mostly need in a CV: good job performance;
- rather than doing an MBA, you should consider reading books; still, if you find an MBA with good value – you should take classes at that MBA;
- more important than the knowledge is what you can prove you can do;
- the approach theory – work experience is different now in Romania, but in time this will change;
- recruiting managers may not have the time to see hundred of applications; Reason for this:
a. It’s a crisis, little time for recruiting;
b. A lot of employees randomly apply to a lot of jobs; (and there is a correlation between a. and b.)
- It’s very appropriate to have a direct approach:
a. You should contact the companies;
b. Contact employers on social networks;
c. Directly contact the recruiters – HR (human resources) managers;
d. For a small company, you could even contact the general manager;
- some major multinational companies may have rigid procedures into recruiting;
- there are also companies that don’t appreciate the direct approach;
- Regarding asking for a salary at the interview:
a. Try to be as informed as possible about the salary range for your position;
b. If there is a new field and you don’t know the salaries, you should tell the truth: “I don’t know how much to ask”;
- There are differences between:
a. Large multinational companies (they generally have salary ranges);
b. Small companies (very flexible, but you will have problems asking for salaries much higher than those of the rest of the team);
- if, at an interview, you have a physical problem (you feel sick), you should state that and maybe ask for a second interview;
- it’s important to have a relaxed attitude at an interview;
- it’s great to know yourself – what you like about life, what you do with passion, what you’re good at;
- You’re a company, a freelancer, an artist? That’s fine! Just be authentic; (very difficult to do)
- 75% of the time at work you should be happy;

Daniela FUGARU-KAMMRATH – Be your dream!
(121.ro, Radio Lynx, Green Report interview, LinkedIn)
- what motivates you in life?
- a lot of the questions that seem to have no answer, in reality they do have an answer, we’re just afraid to express it;
- These are permanent questions:
a. Who are you really?
b. What do you want to do?
- A SWOT analysis for a personal brand:
a. Helps you see yourself in the mirror;
b. Makes you see the details of yourself, to know yourself better;
- it’s important to analyze yourself, to know what you wish for;
- it’s hard being authentic – ask your best friend for feed-back (he knows he won’t jeopardize your friendship by telling the truth);
- Cinderella had a personal coach;
- we are more scared of speaking in public than we are of death;
- a brand (iPod) is more than a product (generic mp3 player);
- if you build a certain image, you attract certain persons to you;
- any construction, with time, becomes a brand;
- the people around you see you as a brand;
- it’s very important to choose what you know consolidates you as a brand;
- when you make a choice (not decision, choice has a motive) stop making that choice again and again – this is madness;
- a choice defines you as a person;
- it’s important to know you tried;
- recommended reading: “Blue Ocean strategy” by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne;
- you can defy the system when:
a. You know who you are;
b. You trust yourself;
- money stops you from making choices and makes you pick a certain road in life;
- money is one mean by which you can get where you want to get;

B. Day 2

Some pictures:

Florin GLINŢA and Anda MARIAN – Career decision: emotional choice or fulfilling your own potential
(Talentgate.ro, blog, LinkedIn, Facebook, LinkedIn, Ziarul Financiar)
- great place to find a career profile – Talentgate.ro;
- career is strongly related to motivation;

Alexandru CIOCHIA – Is your dream effective?
(Radio Lynx, LinkedIn, blog, Facebook)
- people help you, you can receive a lot of support;

Andrei POPESCU – We and the community!
(HotNews.ro)
- when you want to do something with your life, you are not alone;

Doina RUŞTI – The right decision
(website, Wikipedia, Librarie.net, Ziarul Financiar)
- most people come to conferences to speak, not only to listen;
- when you make a decision, there are a lot of factors (communication, diversity, things to be done) that influence that decision; Therefore, the society around you makes that decision;
- recommended reading: “Les chemins de la persuasion: le mode d’influence des media et de la publicite sur les comportements” – Jean-Noel KAPFERER;
- right now you have the option to place yourself right on the line between two fields, you can postpone the final decision for later on;
- good school: College of Anthropology;
- good school: College of Language (a mix between Mathematics and Letters);
- There are specializations that allow you to:
a. Get rid of society’s prejudices;
b. Take into account these prejudices;
- you should take a decision based on your talent; Any human being has this talent;
- in our genetic pool there are things that someone is gifted to do;
- there are things which you do well, even if you don’t like them that much;
- Based on your talent:
a. Decisions are being built;
b. Your future life is being built;
- if you are successful in one field, and you switch to any other field, you can apply the learned skills from the first field;
- great people in one field only do the thing at which they are professionals;
- What’s important to find out? The small thing, very pragmatic, abilities you can use in your future job; example: being an expert at chopping vegetables, both with speed ant patience; this mix can be easily be transferred into writing books; after finding those small things, you can apply those abilities in other fields;
- When do you take a good decision? When you have a problem;
- in theater you can make all the possible experiments; I recommend this education of emotions, if you have communication difficulties;
- if you look for a solution to a problem, it doesn’t even matter if you succeed right from the start; experimenting in great!
- try to experiment first of all;
- don’t wait for someone to notice you, you should take action;
- any decision you take, it’s a good one;
- a decision implies diversity;
- decisions require a major talent and they are contexts that mean you can take into account prejudices;
- Decisions take into account:
a. Knowing yourself;
b. Knowing the future;
- the most important decision is related to the future job;
- decisions are related to a plan; (make one)
- being persistent is the most dreadful enemy of someone who picks his path in life;
- persistence kills the beautiful essence of life;
- by being persistent, nothing of what you do until the end gives you satisfaction;
- you don’t have to be persistent if you’re not good enough;
- symbols are connected to the education (you can’t be connected to a symbolic area to which you have never been connected to);
- all of the symbols come from education;
- there is a basic character in you, no matter how much you try to model yourself; there are native predispositions;
- when you take a decision, each time you know you’ve either taken a good or a bad decision;
- Constantin BRÂNCUŞI said (of his master) that he was a tree in the shadow of which no grass would grow;
- you shouldn’t remain in one activity in which you are even 10% unhappy;
- the only decision/thing that matters in life – having no master; (entrepreneur)
- you should get jobs in as many workplaces as possible;
- learn as much as you can;
- the way in which a job system works within a company – same for all companies;
- you should do a lot of things, in order to learn what you can do very well;

Lia PERJOVSCHI – Free talk around the vocational theme subject
(News in Gândul, 9AM, ICR)
- How do you choose two colors? Generally speaking:
a. The first option is a cultural one;
b. The second option is a personal one;
- it’s good to have two career plans – A and B; optimal would mean having them from A to Z;
- when you accumulate information, you have multiple options;
- art is a great option, if you wish to avoid having rules;
- nothing is easy in life;
- what comes easy in life has a price – you are losing yourself;
- if nothing is easy, you should at least do something you like, it will make it appear easier;
- people don’t have bad intentions, but they can be very little interested in you;
- it is important to be a fighter until the end; equally important is to change yourself constantly;
- you should have an overview of the world you live in;
- It is important:
a. Where do you live;
b. What happens;
c. To know yourself;
- learning never stops;
- each person is important;
- children live in an environment without masks, relaxed, like a pleasant game;
- In order to have a fresh mind, you need:
a. A lot of thinking;
b. Action; (and some equilibrium between the two)
- if you are calm and equilibrated, everything seems to make some sounds around you;
- a mistake in the educational system – we learn rules that are not valid;
- you can do art in lots of ways:
a. Painting / sculpting / etc. – yourself;
b. Buying and selling art;
c. Making theories (writing about art);
d. Organizing events (expositions for example);
- at a very big art exposition, a cook brought a creation – he was an artist;
- I don’t believe in:
a. Bloody revolutions;
b. Provocation of the masses; (even if it is for a good cause, it involves manipulation, and I hate this; I only appreciate the people that think);
- I want to do something? I do some searching! (and from this a career might evolve) From searching, research ma result; From this you can write a book;
- while I was a teenager, I wanted to change the world;
- if something doesn’t work, you should leave it aside;
- our mind has formed some basic patterns while we were teenagers;
- if you are curious enough, you will find answers;
- Monica BRÂNDUŞESCU: if you do your job with a clear conscience, if you give 100%, you will find allies;
- we are forced, for ourselves, to give what we can from ourselves;
- we never lose the information we learn from life;
- (quote) “In the next life I would like to be a rock, so that I will be calmer”;
- we know little not only about the Universe, but also about the small stuff;

Alexandru CIUCU – The influence of family tradition in choosing the career
(Website, Wall Street interview, Facebook)
- There have always been these two things in my life:
a. Costumes;
b. APACA (in Romanian Atelierele Publice Autonome de Confecţii ale Armatei; English – Public autonom ateliers for confections of the army);
- If you work with your relatives, you know:
a. They are very unlikely to steal from you;
b. Even if they do steal from you, you are not sorry about this;
- a downside of mixing family with business – when you come from a club at 2 AM, and the next day you are not fresh at work at 8 AM, some problems might appear;
- in any business you do, you should check if:
a. People understand what needs to be done;
b. Things work great by themselves;
- in taxis as a business, in Romania, beating is often a motivation (you will get beaten if you do some bad things);
- in one business of mine I had this problem: I couldn’t control all the taxis;
- in 1997 there was no Romanian brand regarding costumes;
- in the business world it’s great to have a brand name;
- those who buy a product and assimilate a brand gather experiences (positive, hopefully);
- Samric is one of our business with good and not-so-expensive clothing;
- as a personal observation, generally speaking the things for which you work a lot and have a good quality are cheaper;
- Why are we a good brand?
a. It’s a niche brand;
b. We are one of the few who do clothing by order;
c. Good PR (Public Relations);
- business lesson: you do best what you know to do well;
- a brand must always have the same quality; it’s a very bad business if you do things sometimes excellent, and sometimes poorly
- when your clothing is presented at a fashion presentation, you must come either with something extraordinary, or with something innovative (colors, matching accessories);
- custom made classical costumes have the great advantage of details;
- I’m very interested into people liking what I do;
- I prefer people to see me as a friend, not necessarily see me on a pedestal;

Sandra ECOBESCU – How to chose a vocation with your soul and how to do your job as good as possible with your mind?
(yes, finally a long title!) (Evenimentul Zilei and RRI interviews)
- For the major choice in life and career, you should pick with your soul, not:
a. Think too much on it;
b. Follow the family’s tradition;
c. Be guided by the financial aspects of the decision;
d. Go with career patterns;
- Why is the Faculty of Letters beautiful?
a. There are interesting and smart people as students and teachers;
b. A lot of opportunities arise;
- in Greece, half the time there were strikes;
- Why do people working in multinational companies spend money? Because they don’t have time for themselves and they wish to compensate somehow;
- if you do work for a few years into a corporation, you learn how the world functions;
- in big companies you learn mechanisms that you can apply in your own company;
- we have not been thought to discover talents (parents & schools don’t help either);
- one of the biggest qualities a man can have – common sense and politeness;
- joy is a real thing; Happiness? Not that sure it exits;
- Monica BRÂNDUŞESCU: passion is contagious;
- if you are under a lot of stress, you need new things;
- No stress? You need little things;

Cătălin MITULESCU – creativity and involvement in cinema production
(Wikipedia, Mediafax interview, CV, IMDb)
- I had a lot of jobs until now;
- it’s important to have various experiences, to try new things, but you also need the relaxation to be able to give up;
- you can have the adventure to try all sort of new things;
- What is a film-maker? It is a person who likes:
a. To tell a story;
b. To see the reaction of the people around him to his stories;
c. Listening stories is also fine;
- What is a producer? Someone who:
a. Listens to a story / reads a story / sees someone telling a story / reads a book / sees a story on the street and …
b. Wants to share the story with others;
- there are many roles in a filming team, you can do a lot of things;
- What is being superficial? To think about this;
- I dislike culture of a certain level, seeing things from above;
- no one from the new wave of directors would have existed without the Cannes Festival, even if it can be a bit superficial;
- I had great satisfactions from:
a. Going from script writer to director;
b. Events as a director;
- in the fashion industry you can enter a sort of prison as a model;
- maneaua is a phenomenon strictly related to creating things (and then selling them);
- sometimes manele singers are authentic;
- listening to a few songs doesn’t transform you into a listener of that kind of music; (doesn’t give you a label)
- my job can get you closer to the things that interest you;
- I like knowing, seeing challenges and problems;
- filming is often mixed with life – you don’t really know the exact boundaries;
- I don’t have a TV and don’t like TVs;
- the first movies you make (no matter if you make them as a director or as a producer), stick to your head;
- in the past it was very easy to meet with someone and see a movie; nowadays, problems arise – “I don’t like that movie, let’s not watch it”;
- I liked best producing the Ryna (2005) movie;
- Romanian audience is very demanding:
a. They feel when you are not natural;
b. They feel when you are exaggerating things;
- in the end, a movie is a show;
- you have to like movies in order to make them;
- with time, people tend to think in patterns, a sort of sclerosis, a lot of clichés;
- there are some people who wish for lesser pessimistic movies about Romania;
- There are two things when doing a movie:
a. What I say? (the story is important)
b. How I say it? (the method of saying this) – nowadays, this approach is more important;
- you can have many stories, but you have to have the ability to transmit them;
- It can happen to you:
a. Have no inspiration at all (blank mind);
b. Have contradictory ideas (think of the two opposite scenarios; which one to choose?);
- in order to create something, you have to help your mind with a concrete thing around you;
- there were some film makers in Romania who had problems with the sound and image in some Romanian movies;

Mihai IORDACHE – Life as a journey
(Punctulzero, Pathzero, Facebook)
- in some Asian countries, you can talk from man to man, or from man to a family; talking from one man to one woman is tricky;
- generally speaking, there are cases in which a woman can’t talk with a man who is not a 1^st degree relative;
- we should have no hobbies, in everything that we do we should have the same passion as a hobby;
- There should be a congruency, as a whole, between:
a. Myself, as a human being;
b. Thoughts;
c. Words;
d. Actions;
(going from c. to d. is mostly shaped by education; The rest? More complicated)

C. Thoughts

What have other written about the event?
See messages by: Mihail MUŞAT, Cătălina MURARIU, AEGEE Bucureşti, Florin GLINŢA.

What speakers I liked best?
1. George IVAŞCU – great use of case studies, examples; and, my oh my, so entertaining;
2. Doina RUŞTI – the way in which she played with ideas, the way in which she thought about the world – oh, so great;
3. Alexandru CIUCU – I like him; he’s funny;
(honorable mention): Mihai IORDACHE – for perfect use of you-re-not-here-only-to-listen-you-re-here-to-get-involved techniques;
If you look at the list above, you see that George IVAŞCU did a lot of theater, Doina RUŞTI and Mihai IORDACHE only for some time, while Alexandru CIUCU once dreamed about being an actor; oh, that’s too much for me to bear, I must see what’s so cool about being an actor; Theatrical (amateur) companies of Romania, here I come!

What I took home?
(besides a nice diploma and a hard-anchored into reality symbolic gift)
i. George IVAŞCU said this
“the focus should be on:
a. What? Why? – the subject, rather than on:
b. How? – the method for getting to the subject;”
What I understood from this – focus also on How?, not only on What?; I think the “how?” idea is not as developed on me; yes, you’re right, he said exactly the opposite;
ii. Monica TATOIU said: “in life you don’t necessarily do the things that you like”, and this translates into “avoid eating sweets”;
iii. Doina RUŞTI said: “in theater you can make all the possible experiments; I recommend this education of emotions, if you have communication difficulties;”
I intend to follow her advice;

Some final thoughts on the conference
1. Some speakers were wonderful, some speakers were great; No speaker was bad;
2. I learned a lot both from the content (the ideas that were flying in the air) and from the atmosphere (the way in which things were said);
3. Networking? I had the pleasure of meeting very nice, interesting and kind people;
4. Speakers went home with a small gift; I’ve only seen such a behavior at a HR Club conference;
5. The usual stuff (promoting the conference, catering, schedule keeping, having a good location, asking for feedback afterward, providing a follow-up, creating an online community with the participants) went also fine.

____________
Bottom line: one of the best two-days conference I’ve ever seen.

A few notes:
- Contemporary gnosis is the synthesis of knowing the past;
- Samael Aun WEOR studied the past thoroughly.

Some pictures:

Some pictures at the event:

A. The first part of the conference

1. “New strategies of development in the context of crisis” (PPT) – Daniel ENESCU, General Director for Daedalus Group
How does the behavior when buying changes?
1. Before vs. After:
a. experimenting (try new things) vs. making a sure choice (certainty);
b. more is better (never ask if you really need it) vs. lesser and better;
c. I spoil myself (an attitude) vs. I take care of others (family, responsibilities);
d. luxury (not necessarily luxury products, but premium brands) is a trend vs. “eco” is the new luxury (recycling);
e. I replace (with new items) vs. I fix;
f. my resources are infinite (continuous growth) vs. my resources are finite (these are extremes);
g. I do shopping vs. choosing is stressful;
h. I am on my own vs. I decide with my family.

I gave up to some products, or stopped experimenting (see carbonated water, coffee), or look for cheaper alternatives (sunflower oil). There is a tendency to stop consuming juice.

A person out of four frequently buys products that are on sales / promotions.

A vast majority read the advertisements in magazines.

Discounts, promotions, prices – they all matter more in the buying process. There is an equilibrium point, which represents the value of the brand (”how much I pay is how much the product is really worth”).

A lot of the decisions are taken at the shelves.

2. “Revitalization of electronics and home appliances” (PPT) – Dragos SIMION, President of Flamingo International
The sales costs had to be adjusted.
We had to optimize the working capital, postpone expanding plans and some investments, reduce the number of suppliers and prioritize among them, close non-performing stores, close small size stores, focus on large size stores.

3. “Reducing operational costs by automating bill processing” (PPT) – Theodor DUMBRAVA, Business Process Services Manager, Xerox Romania and Republic of Moldova
An idea to take home: You can reduce costs by providing a bonus: if a buyer of yours pays its bill within 10 days, he gets a 2 percent bonus, which is larger than any bank interest.
If a bill is processed entirely manually, the cost per one bill can be up to 50 dollars.

4. “How to have a lot of clients in the malls yet again?” (PPT) – Razvan GHEORGHE, General Manager Cushmann & Wakefield

B. The second part focused on 10 marketing solutions for increased sales:

1. “The story of a client with fidelity or how to sell with fidelity?” (PDF) – Radu SCHMITZER, Sales Director Linea Directa Communications
I liked this quote:
“The main goal of the business is not simply making money but creating clients …” (Peter DRUCKER)

This was fine also:
“Business’ aim must be creating and retaining the clients” (Theodore LEVITT, Harvard Business School)

All that a customer wants is really related to:
a. Relevant information;
b. A pleasant experience in the store;
c. Easy methods to buy things;

68% of the clients (I’m not sure if in Romania or worldwide) are brand switchers. Only 5% are loyal to a certain brand.

73% of the clients us at least 5 different information channels prior to buying a product.

26% of the clients only buy from one retailer (universal store, web site, kiosk, gas station).

Target of the retails store: the consumers in shopping mode (set to buy something).

70% of the decisions to buy products are done at the shelves.

In-store activities:
a. selecting and positioning products;
b. environment within the store;
c. conversations between the buyer and the sellers.

Who are the clients that are appropriate to your business? Find out their name, where they live, why have they bought, what do they need

2. “Marketing solutions for increasing sales” (PPT) – Marius LUCIAN, General Manager Reveal Marketing Research
Big errors:
a. giving up premium brands;
b. altering the image of premium brands (see the solution of Vodafone, who tackles the problem of price with no cuts, but by making sure the clients know exactly how much they pay).

You should keep the premium brands intact.

Put more emphasis on the shelf presence. There is a discrepancy between what the marketer sets as guidelines within an office, and the reality at the store level.

There is an error in trying to be “The cheapest price” for a highly competitive market. On any market it can’t be the same positioning for any brand.

The smallest price is an added value which is not believed by the market.

What is tricky in trying to advertise a promotional price for only one product out of the whole range of products a supermarket has?
a. The product must be physically present in the store (there is not always on stock);
b. The promotional price must be sustained on all the products in the store, not only on that specific product (this never happens).

3. “Marketing solutions for increasing sales – Retail as brand” (PPT) – Mona OPRAN, Managing Director Saatchi & Saatchi
65% of all buyers are not conditioned by the price.

In 84% of the cases, the brand can make the difference if a product is bought in favor of another one.

Treating the store as a brand can be a solution for:
a. Loyalty of the buyers;
b. Increasing the shopping list;
c. Increasing the value of own brands (in-store brands);
d. Increasing market share.

You can have yoga classes in a sports article store.

Make:
a. Your clients;
b. Your employees;
c. Yourself;
say: “I love my store”.

4. “Blue Ocean Strategy” (PPT) – Eusediu MARGASOIU, Managing Partner The Network
You have two main options:
a. Fight within the limits of your ocean and fight the competition (blood bath = red ocean);
b. Jump from a market with fierce competition into another market.

This is The Blue Ocean Strategy:

What I’d do better had I organized the conference?
a. I’d start the conference at the scheduled time;
b. I’d make sure that the PowerPoint presentations are on the laptop one day prior to the event;
c. I’d have a quick look at the PowerPoint presentations and see if there are any small-sized fonts in them (I personally had problem with this);
d. Do a prior instruction of the speaker on the microphone and pointer;
e. I’d make sure the speakers don’t promote their own business with more than a small reference;
f. On the footer of Retail360 web page, there are a few error messages:”Antreprenor360: No Feed Key Found, Cariere360: No Feed Key Found”, etc.;
g. I would allow some presentation to take a little longer, if needed.

____________
Bottom line: All-in-all, a great conference to take part to, lots of things to learn in there.

First of all what did I learned about promoting a coaching or a training business?
1. Most of the promotion should be on:
a. Competency;
b. Human Factor;
Those are the most important factors in deciding to participate at a training or coaching session;
2. You should avoid promoting a brand or doing a commercial;
3. You have to convince the consumer that the training brings him value;
4. Lots of hard-to-define insights from entrepreneurs;
5. Bobby Voicu answered me a private question about web directories; Thanks!

What did I like best about the conference?
1. The form for entering the conference looked just great (nicely done);
2. The questions received rather long answers; It was not a fast, quick, rapid fire of answers; Instead, the questions were answered with lots of details; Lovely!
3. You could see that the speaker had a great time; It was fun, people laughed, everybody seemed to enjoy the show;
4. Both the questions put and the answers received were smart;
5. The promoting of the conference was good (and I helped a bit);
6. The sweets were delicious;
7. Speakers came from various fields of activity;
8. Great place for networking;
9. There was great emphasis on “How is it in Romania?” rather than “How is it worldwide?”; That’s just great.

What would I do better?
1. If I am presented with a form with 5 questions to enter the conference, I’d love to see those questions asked at the conference; If you want me to have just one question, that’s fine, but asking me for 5 things, from which I should pick just one – well, that’s not that good;
2. There were two speakers in the room at the last panel of speakers:
a. Speakers who spoke a lot;
b. Speakers who spoke less than a lot;
I would have preferred to see them all speaking; (this could be arranged by the organizers, by invited the speakers to – well – speak;
3. The conference should have begun at 10 and have a schedule; The conference begun later than 10, and all the day there was a rush to recover the lost time, which ended in a very short lunch break; I would have preferred the conference to start at 10 and keep the schedule;
4. A lot of small breaks? I’d much rather prefer a smaller number of larger breaks;
5. At the beginning speakers were not introduced and I had to deduce who does what (an answer from an accountant is usually from an answer by a advertiser);
6. I had the impression that the catering was done something like that:
a. Either too many waiters at the same time;
b. Either no waiter;
Anyhow, it was fine, no big deal;
7. In the morning it would have been Ok to have some snacks;
8. I was in the first row and I didn’t hear everything; I wonder how it was in the back of the room.

All-in-all, a great conference, lots of things to learn and to enjoy the show.

I’ll give in this blog post some tips on event organizing (mostly for conferences and such):
1. The very first tip I’d give is picking speakers the audience doesn’t know that well; Pick some strangers to speak for your conference; I know, that’s a tricky part (how can you trust them? why would the audience pay to see some strangers), but I personally would much rather see a surprising new face, rather than see the same circle of people, again and again, at all the conferences I go; You can only do something wrong if you don’t try;
2. The next tip is making sure the participants at the conference speak about a subject that’s a matter of interest to the audience; This is part of your task; Hard to do, but do make sure that the speaker’s presentation will focus little on what is kindly called “case study” and what it is in most cases self-advertising; You can approach the subject up front, you can set a rigid presentation theme, you can ask for the PowerPoint to be sent prior to the conference for a check-up; Rarely have I seen a self-advertising presentation that is even remotely interesting; Make sure that this doesn’t happen to your event, or you might have some unhappy clients;
3. A nice presentation tip would be involving the audience; A simple raise of hands would wake a lot of people; Go for some resource-giving questions (What would you say are the best ideas for doing X?) and you get some more people to be attentive; Finally, provoke them do a hard-talk dialogue and you might conquer the world of presentations; You can have the audience put a lot of questions to the speakers (have a rather long time of time allowed to questions); You can also have moderators of panel discussions put questions to the speakers; But all-in-all, you should make sure that the trainers at a conference really do involve the audience;
4. How to pick a speaker? I think a good speaker has some qualities like:
a. Good structure of information (he should know things for himself);
b. Provides you with insights (not only does he say stuff, this stuff make my mind go right);
c. Makes you feel good (even laugh; great way to learn things; beautiful state of mind);
d. Involves you (I’m not here to sleep, I’m here to dance!);
e. Provokes you (makes you blush);
f. Say new things (I want to hear something I don’t already know; give me new stuff, I can read old stuff in books);
g. Take you out of the comfort zone (by first going there himself; you shouldn’t feel all that comforting at a conference);
It’s not an easy-to-find kind of speaker, but these are some basic criteria; Find a trainer with as many qualities out of these as you can;
5. Prior to getting a speaker to a conference, I think it’s best to:
a. See him doing another presentation, live or via electronic means;
b. See him live, have a friendly chat with him (while you observe his personal skills);
c. Hearing him doing a presentation on the phone (on the Internet, via a web cam, would be better);
d. Get outside review (ask others, search the Internet, get peer review);
Some of the things above are harder to implement, some of these are easier; But I’d really avoid having a speaker at a conference and knowing little to nothing on him;
6. Be there for the participants; Rarely this thing doesn’t happen, but you have to make sure that at any moment at a conference there is a person from the organizers watching things over; Just a tip to make sure you remember this rule;
7. Regarding food: Solve frustrations with fast-consuming foods by replacing food as soon as it gets hard to find (so rather than having a long lists of foods, and some get eaten very fast, I think it’s better to have a smaller list of foods, that are easy to replace with new foods of the same type; this is not an universal law, but it might be frustrating to talk to someone only to find that there are only some not-that-great-looking sandwiches left);
8. Regarding promoting of the event:
a. Have a web site of the event; Do Search Engine Optimization to that web site;
b. Promote your event via press releases; Press loves this kind of thing!
c. Have a promotion in the social networks of your participants (these are highly dependable on the types of audience you have; but all-in-all, YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Xing – Germany mostly, Cirip – Romania mostly, might be good ideas for your promotion; You can see a list of social networks on Wikipedia)
d. Promote your conference into relevant mailing lists; Visit Google Groups and Yahoo! Groups homepages and search for keywords related to your event target group; Promote your conference in there, with care with the general atmosphere in the group (if it’s discussion-only, you might be unwelcomed with a purely informative message; Adjust your speech to the specific audience of a group; Read 10-20 recent messages on the group to have a glimpse on what’s it about);
e. Ask for help; Bloggers, business partners, press – all can provide you with help on promoting the event; Ask for help! They can do anything from writing about you, placing a banner to your web site, send information to friends to participating themselves;
f. Have a fresh thinking! A lot of people would like to see a YouTube video with your event, see a virtual map of the address of the conference, see videos with the speakers, see a list with people that participate to the event, receive a participation diploma from the event, receive a gift at the event; Learn to attract people, to motivate them;
9. Do Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) – This might involve giving some invitations to the event or donating part of the money obtained on the event; You can offer scholarships to participate to your event; You can sponsor some persons to accommodate at a hotel; Think creative! And you can promote your ability to do CSR; It’s the right thing to do;
10. Thank the speakers for holding speeches at your event; You might even offer them gifts, flowers or at least offer transportation; Also thank the participants to the conference by sending them a postcard or two with a great picture at the event; This should be memorable;
11. If your conference is an all-day event, it might be a good idea to offer your participants information on other events that take part in the same day, prior to leaving your event; So, let’s say your conference ends at 18:30 and there’s another event at 19, an event on 20, another one at 21; Be a kind host and give alternatives to your guests for the evening; You can also give information on where to accommodate for the night prior and after the event;
12. Pick the right day for the conference: Monday is great, Friday is less-than-great; Think of a day and period of time in which it would be easy to get a day off (if there’s a day celebrating women in March, it might be a good idea to organize a conference in a period of time that is close to that event); Friday may be bad due to the closeness to week-end (and at the end of the week there’s always something to do); On the other hand, very few people plan for the next Monday to do something;
13. In order to keep a tight schedule, you can set a time for registration: so registration to begin at 9:30 AM, while the conference to start at 10 AM; And keep the schedule; Rarely does a conference announced to start at 10 AM really starts at 10 AM sharp;
14. How to get great speakers? Ask for recommendations; Ask the participants to give you hints on who should participate at the next event;
15. I think it would be alright if the speakers had a training themselves: how to operate the microphone, how to get to the next slide, how to use the pointer to show something on the screen; Even some soft skills training might be good (involve the audience); Talk to your speakers and give them a few hints;
16. The most important thing at a training are the trainers themselves: the hotel, location, food, materials, organizers – I personally can live with lesser quality of any of these; A great speaker, who should give me both emotions (make me laugh, annoy me, make me happy) and also provide me with insights (not just learn things, discover them myself) would be great; And at the end of the day, I should take some good memories with me (on emotional and practical part);
17. Try to pick a location that is accessible via more than one way (not only by car, but also by Metro or bus or tram; Think of multiple audience of your conference); Prior to the event, when sending an invitation, also send a map with the great locations near your event; It might impress people in a good way;
18. Make sure that there’s not another great event in that very day with yours; I would hate to have to pick between two great conferences;
19. Ask for volunteers to come and help organize the event in a great way; There are a lot of people who want to get involved and you only need a lot help in the days prior to the event itself and in that very day;
20. What happens when all things are set? I think an evaluation should exist on the following levels:
a. Training contents and structure;
b. Level of “I was touched” (laughed, annoyed, intrigued);
c. Level of “I got an insight” (I learned this and that, I discovered new things);
d. Level of “I applied what I learned” afterwards;
e. Level of “I could keep my attention focused on the things the trainer said and I understood his message right”;
f. How well did the trainer go as a body language?
g. How much did I trust the trainer came in the room to help me?
h. How much did the trainer involve me?
i. How was the event organized;
j. Was it worth coming to the event? (both on time, money and things applied)
Evaluation should be done, in my opinion, after a longer period of time: 6 months, 9 months; Do this and you’ll get some participants the next year.

What do you think about my message?

This blog post’s content:
1. How many Romanian trainers did I see? (with whom do I compare?)
2. History of events (when have I seen Bruno MEDICINA?)
3. What do I like most about him? (What makes Bruno MEDICINA a great trainer?)
4. How to see Bruno MEDICINA for yourself?
5. What decision to take?

Note: you may wonder why in this blog post I say little to nothing on what Bruno MEDICINA actually says. The reason is very simple: the thing I like most about this speaker is not the way in which he speaks or the things that he says. It has mostly to do with what I feel when he speaks. And this is largely unwritable. I will describe some general feelings on Bruno MEDICINA, but I can’t give you too many examples.

First of all, who is Bruno Medicina? You may wish to see his profile on Business Edu web site or his own web site.

1. How many Romanian trainers did I see? (with whom do I compare?)
In the autumn of 2001 I joined the Faculty of International Business and Economics (the Academy of Economic Studies Bucharest). I would stay in there for four years. After college, I’ve worked full-time, and then for almost an year I’ve been a freelancer. Now I work for another full-time job.

Most of those four college years, and the year working as a freelancer, I’ve taken part to a large number of activities involving public speaking (other than formal education). Even when working full-time I went to a lot of public speaking events. I have even created a mailing list dedicated to such events, where I informed my readers about conferences. I’ve been a member of some NGOs specialized in event organization, and basically I have been always interested in hearing someone speaking. You might want to note the fact that the “trainers” category of professionals I recommend is currently the largest one. Most of the speakers I’ve seen were Romanians, but some International speakers also. I can say I compare Bruno MEDICINA with quite a few other trainers or speakers.

2. History of events (when have I seen Bruno MEDICINA?)
The very first time I’ve seen Bruno MEDICINA was actually at a fair, rather than a conference event. I was living in a hostel of the Academy of Economic Studies Bucharest, somewhere near RomExpo exhibition centre (the area is know in Romanian as “Agronomie” – Agronomy – due to the closeness to the main office and University campus of University of Agronomical Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Bucharest). I think it was in a winter or spring, perhaps in 2001-2002 or 2002-2003. Anyhow, sometimes between autumn of 2001 and spring of 2003.

I came to the fair with two thoughts: to see the fair itself as quick as possible and to attend to at least one workshop. By the time I finished seeing the fair, the Bruno MEDICINA workshop already begun. It was in a room with multiple entries, there weren’t that many people present (it’s natural for this to happened at an under-promoted fair), and I sat in there. I didn’t understand everything Bruno MEDICINA was saying (he was speaking in Romanian, but with an Italian accent), and this lead me into not paying attention. Writing down wouldn’t help either – I was writing down words, but wasn’t paying all that much attention. I left disappointed. Time passed and I forgot his name, but the attitude remained with me. Back then I was only focusing on what can I learn from a speaker, not on the things that happen within me.

In the second (or third maybe?) year of faculty, I found out about a fire walking experience, first time in Bucharest, for free. Just the thought of it provoked me badly. “Me on fire? Wow, now that’s something!” But I managed to cut down on enthusiasm and self-convince that it isn’t all that great (not that I was, by any chance, afraid). I thought “What a waste of time”. I didn’t know back then who Bruno MEDICINA was, even if I’ve seen him before, so I didn’t associate the two events.

I think I’ve seen him after that at some other conferences, one-time-only events (my memory doesn’t help me all that much). While working as a freelancer (2007-2008), I had a lot more time to go to conferences. I went to see him a lot of times in the middle of the day at a tea-shop in the Bucharest center. I was enjoying this a lot, mostly due to the sense of emergency (Some announcements went like this: “Come to see Bruno MEDICINA today, in two hours time, at a Tea-shop”; Quite funny to be always vigilant). I’ve seen him quite a few times like this. The event was filmed and broadcasted on the Internet.

In the autumn of 2007 I went for the very first time at a firewalking. Lots of preparation prior to the event, excitement and fear, enjoyment and stress, all in one. Great day, great memories.

I’ve also seen him a few times in the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Studies, at events organized by ASPSE students’ organization.

I’ve seen him two times at Palace Hall, in the spring of 2008 and 2009 (I have made a video at the last event in here: Bruno Medicina on the things that really matter).

And in the autumn of 2008 I went for the second time at a firewalking event (and this time I had quite a physical experience). You can see me in this YouTube clip: Bruno Medicina – Firewalking at Studentiada (I’m the second one to pass, after Bruno; I’m the white-collar guy).

3. What do I like most about him? (What makes Bruno MEDICINA a great trainer?)
I told you that the very first time I’ve seen him, sometime in 2001-2003, I had a bad impression after meeting him. The two faults I saw were:
A. He said blunt things;
B. I had problems understanding what he said (he didn’t do a lot of question and involvement of the room).

If I were to look at the current behavior, I would say that the biggest two problems are:
A. He says blunt things;
B. He doesn’t involve the audience by communicating directly (even though now I can follow what he says much better).

So, where’s the evolution? Why since 2007 until this day I constantly went to see him again and again? Why is it that I went through fire (literally) two times at events where he lead the action? Why is it that I consider him such a good trainer that he is on my blog? The answer is simple: it’s not the things that he says, it’s the things he provokes in my mind via the things that he says. I evolved during those years, and now I interpret his actions differently.

He has a way of putting my mind to work, that I leave most of the presentations thinking “What was that!?” He says simple things, some things that are really boring. But the way those things make me feel is out-of-ordinary. I’m touched, I have insights, I get new perspectives, I find new paths of thinking, I develop my creativity. He’s that good.

I’m pretty sure that if Bruno MEDICINA would pick a subject he knows nothing about and he would speak about this subject for the first time in his life, I would have some things to learn. Because it’s not the things that he says, it’s not the way in which he says it (he mostly puts rhetorical questions, not involving the audience), but it’s all on how he makes my thoughts wander.

I could go see Bruno MEDICINA for countless times, speaking on no-matter-what. I’ve heard him speaking on firewalking for a quite a few hours, and one year after I repeated the experience. My feelings on that? I want to go again this year. I’ve heard some of his ideas for three to four times. And yet I go again and again to hear him talking.

Unfortunately, it’s not him the one that talks. It’s me. The things that he says wake up thoughts in me. And that’s plain wonderful. Yet I can’t really describe this in detail.

Sure, he has other qualities that make him a great trainer: he’s sincere (to the point that you may wonder if he wouldn’t be losing money if he says some things like that), he’s funny (and laughs at his own jokes, which is cool – I know when to laugh), he’s supportive (I’ve always felt support from him), he does CSR, although he wouldn’t call it like that (how many free events have I seen from him?), he does engage the audience when he wants to (at the firewalking sessions he’s a totally different person than when he speaks in public at a conference), he’s good with technical part (better than a lot of other trainers at least).

There are other persons from which I got more insights on a given period of time. There were people who made my mind wander in a better way. But for a training / public speaking / workshop / conference / seminar of 30 minutes to 5 hours to constantly give me fresh ideas, to constantly provoke me, to fully break barriers in my mind, I’d definitely pick Bruno MEDICINA. Because it’s not on what he says. It’s on what you think about what he says. This is all about coaching.

4. How to see Bruno MEDICINA for yourself?
Bruno MEDICINA is an international man of business, but you can mostly see him in Romania. You can sure provoke him for another country, see what happens. He has a web site, an Yahoo Group, a Facebook profile, a Facebook group, a Facebook page (these three are different one to another), a LinkedIn profile and he works on all of them thoroughly. You can find him on YouTube, you can search for him on Google and see a great article on him on Business Edu. But I do suggest you see him in person to have a clear glimpse on what he can do.

5. What decision to take?
Bottom line: I read articles by Bruno MEDICINA from time to time (I actually read them all). I see him on videos. They’re not that bad, but they’re not that good. But being in the same room with him, letting him play with your mind, is one of the best experiences one can have. Bruno MEDICINA is all about real experience, is all about the things he puts in me. And that’s why I deeply admire him for: for making me think in a really creative way.

Tendencies for 2009:
1. The online medium will make the difference in 2009; Currently active media agencies should try going digital;
2. The percentage of Interet usage for advertising will rise in 2009, because, in a time of crisis, the online medium has the highest profit-per-investment ratio;
3. The advertising company of 2009 is radically different than the same company of 1994;
4. We can expect an increase of the current penetration of mobile phone penetration in Romania (it is 123% right now);

Tendencies for the years to come, in 2009 and afterwards:
1. Using a technology called Radio-frequency identification (RFID), in the future it might be possible to interact with the objects around us; The television set, the fridge and my mobile phone might interact in the future to come;
2. The Internet connections will have an even higher penetration in all age groups;
3. The companies will put more and more emphasis on relations, not on selling things;
4. The mobile phones are the platform for communication of the future;
5. The future belongs to the Internet browsers that are integrated with desktop applications;
6. Dialogue with the client (as direct as possible) will bring more sales, but only if it will exist;

What strategies and tactics to use now to adapt to the future:
1. Right now the consumer is like a chicken, and the media agencies are like foxes; Foxes try to eat the chickens (it’s a win-lose situation), but it would be wiser if they coexisted, and we would get from the chicken the eggs to sell them (a win-win situation); You should be friend with your customer;
2. How can you rightly analyze the impact of an YouTube campaign:
a. Did it attract attention?
b. Was it forwarded?
c. Was it copied by others? (have spoofs been made?)
3. You can get very good profits from creating a very good game for your brand or by putting in-game advertising;
4. Monitor an online campaign closely to fully understand its impact;
5. Create experiences pre-sale, during sale, and most importantly: after sale! It’s being reported to be about 7 times more expensive to bring a new client than give up an old relation;
6. Use these five steps for a complete interaction with the client wishing to buy a car:
a. Collect data and have a good communication on sale (collecting data is great for a good communication);
b. After sale: verify the degree of satisfaction and cross-sell another thing (see if the person wants to personalize his car);
c. Cross-sell something to increase the life expectancy of a product (warranty);
d. Examine all of the clients’ objections and have a dialogue on this (at this time it might be angry);
e. Do buy-back & cross-selling on a higher level (sell him a brand new car);
f. Use this: an online clients costs less than an offline client;
g. Use browser cookies and authentification to learn more things about your clients;
h. Try to create a very personalized presence for a visitor of your web site: You know about each of your clients the time of the visit (you can provide a different web site in the night, different ads), its geographical location (provide information about its area), what browser does it use, what resolution has its screen (you can deduce from here that a person with a 22 inch monitor has more revenues); And for the logged-in clients, you have even more information; Use this for a very personal experience!
l. Try to create for the different interests of a client a personalized experience; Out of the 2.000 products on a web site, your visitor is interested in just a few and will only buy one; How to make him choose that? Try creating a wizard, a step-by-step guide, to make him choose wisely.

These were the speakers at the conference. I won’t tie the affirmations above with the speakers below, because I could have poorly understood the message, formulated it badly, or I could have came up with thoughts on my own:

• Alain Heureux, President, IAB Europe;
• Manuela Necula, CEO, Ogilvy Group;
• Mike Stapelfeld, Digital Director, Omnicom Media Group;
• Mihai Pricope, Platform Evangelist, Adobe Romania;
• Julian Smith, Director of Digital, Insight & Research, MEC Interaction;
• Adrian Stanescu, Country Manager, Eyeblaster;
• Dan Virtopeanu, Director General, Voxline;
• Catalin Emilian, Operations Manager, Gemius Research;
• Marius Deak, CEO, Green Pixel;
• Aurora Enghis, Manager, ARBOMobile;
• Gabriel Boaca, Sales Director, Intact Interactive;
• Adrian Alexandrescu, Managing Director & Partner, Interactions;
• Radu Ionut Munteanu, Account Executive, Carnation;
• Marius Pahomi, Interaction Business Development Manager, MEC:Interaction;
• Alex Visa, Managing Partner, Hyperactive.

I hope you find my blog post interesting enough for a small comment.