Tech gala’s like IFA and MWC do not pique the curiosity of many individuals nowadays. That is not such a foul factor however it’s a disgrace as a result of that is one thing that might simply be prevented. Why has the general public’s curiosity in these occasions waned, which has turn out to be far too B2B-focused? Principally, the tech and shopper electronics media industries are lacking a huge alternative to create a gathering place and, above all, to generate content material. Precise content material that connects with folks.
I hate articles about tech reveals written by journalists for journalists. “Why isn’t IFA or MWC the same as it used to be?” Blah, blah, blah, they rant on. Don’t be concerned, I am not going to speak about that on this put up. In the course of the three days I spent sweating within the halls of IFA 2024 in Berlin, I used to be terribly pissed off.
“What am I doing here?” was one query I usually requested myself, together with “What am I doing here that adds more value than if I weren’t here?” This query obsessed me all through the present. My job at IFA is to wander from stand to face, trying out attention-grabbing merchandise, and reveling about them to you in articles.
Nowadays, speaking is not adequate. You do not want me, an unknown journalist with no status in any way, to let you know that such and such a product exists. You’ve so many sources of data and information, it isn’t sufficient to simply discuss one thing. It’s important to present it. Just like the adage, “Don’t tell me. Show me.”
Every time I write a hands-on expertise or a evaluate, I all the time take into consideration what I can present you. The concept is to allow you to stay out my expertise vicariously, as for those who have been there. Nobody cares about my emotions or opinions if I do not again them up with concrete examples. A video, a photograph, briefly, is much extra significant than 5 poor paragraphs of textual content I might write.
Blame the Producers!
There have been a minimum of three articles about my time at IFA that I did not write. That is primarily as a result of I could not see how these articles would profit you. I might have merely reduce and pasted a press launch to attain the identical end result. All too usually, I get the sensation that producers are completely happy with the prevailing state of affairs.
Their major curiosity is promoting merchandise. To promote them to you. And to promote these merchandise, it’s important to discuss them. Whether or not I discuss it in a 300-word information merchandise with no photos, nothing in any way, or in a prolonged 2,000 phrase evaluate with graphs, tables, picture galleries, screenshots, and movies, the producer would not care.
That is the issue. Too ceaselessly, I might evaluate a product or expertise, however I had no approach of correctly transcribing my expertise. Producers and their communications groups do not give sufficient thought to how content material creators can create… content material.
If I have been to let you know concerning the session throughout which I used to be in a position to check out Auracast expertise with wi-fi headphones, you’d shut the article after 10 seconds of studying. You would be proper in doing so. I wandered round a room for quarter-hour following a supervisor. It was very cool. My headphones might connect with a number of audio streams intuitively.
We even had little scenes within the hands-on. An airport scene the place, as I approached a ticket counter, I might hear bulletins about my flight in my headphones. It was all very intriguing, a minimum of, for me.
At no level did I’ve the chance to document what I used to be listening to. I attempted filming, however it did not do a lot good. I requested my press contact if he had any visible/video sources to reinforce my article. Nada. It is such a disgrace, actually. The expertise was actually attention-grabbing. Nonetheless, would a easy written report have aroused the identical curiosity in you? I doubt it.
I understand that not everybody can have a 22,000m2 area at IFA like Samsung. Nonetheless, permitting journalists to the touch the product, play with it, take good images and make movies would not value a lot.
It is the Journalists’ Fault
It will even be cowardly to not shoulder any of the accountability right here. I am a content material creator. If the content material is not good, it is my fault.
I believe it is an issue linked to the imaginative and prescient we’ve got of our occupation. I am a journalist, however then once more, anybody will also be a journalist. Anybody can do what I do. The one actual distinction between you and me is that I haven’t got to purchase the merchandise I evaluate, and I’ve entry to occasions that you do not.
Even that distinction tends to get blurred nowadays with the rise of influencers who’re their very own platform. We’ve to cease imagining ourselves perched in our ivory tower. The mere incontrovertible fact that I had entry to the IFA two days earlier than you, the general public, and that I am speaking about what I noticed there, is now not sufficient.
That is not content material which attracts consideration. My phrases do not have sufficient added worth. I am unable to simply let you know issues. I’ve to carry them to life. To indicate you what a product appears to be like like. The way it works.
I believe the media wants to alter the best way it perceives, and subsequently treats, occasions like IFA.
In a earlier article on Gamescom, my colleague Dustin defended his ideas from a really attention-grabbing angle. Based on him, Gamescom is not about discovering new video games or getting the most recent gaming information. It is a neighborhood present the place online game followers can meet up and share their ardour.
When you would possibly say IFA is a B2B occasion, a gathering place for professionals, for making contacts, and so forth, this implies you have to cease treating IFA as this large occasion for tech followers! If the IFA is only a networking occasion for tech professionals, there is no level speaking to you about it.
What’s your opinion on this? Did you observe IFA 2024 on nextpit or elsewhere? Do you agree with my self-criticism of my content material? Do you might have any options for making media protection of such occasions extra thrilling?