From Robert A. Lau

08:30 am – Breakfast together
In the garden of the hotel, with short briefing and arrangement of the daily routine. Immediately afterwards we went to the Palais des Festivals. We picked up our badges on Sunday afternoon.
I am amazed and have to think of an anthill.

10 am – Creativity Matters
The headline of Myriam Coupard Vortag is “Creativity Matters”. That is clear to me, but it sounds interesting. There are considerably more visitors than chairs. Sitting on the floor, I learn more about the connection between award-winning creative campaigns and the effects on the turnover and share price of the clients. I don’t learn enough about creativity for my taste. What I take with me comes at the very end, based on the pedigree “Selfie Stick” campaign: It’s always about brilliant ideas and what we creative people develop and ultimately implement for our clients.

11:45 am – Inspiration is Undefeated
This lecture will take place in the Debussy Theatre, one of the two large (cinema) halls in the Palais. Moderator David Sable leads through the Sesssion, but the author Kwane Alexander, who is supported by his buddy, the musician Randy Preston, on the guitar (!), makes his life very easy. I got into this more or less by accident, the performance and the good mood that Kwane Alexander creates is contagious from the beginning and Randy Preston takes care of the rest with his guitar. I find his theme of getting children and teenagers more interested in reading again, and his stories about teenage children (daughters) – not only as the father of two daughters – entertaining and exciting. After the event I can even get hold of two books by Kwane Alexander, which makes me very happy.

12:30 pm – Lunch break at Facebook Beach
Facebook doesn’t let you down and offers its guests a delicious buffet, cold drinks and a shady place to lunch and relax at Facebook Beach. Many thanks to Facebook!

13:30 pm – Coffee break at Pinterest at Long Beach

14:05 pm – Secret Speaker – This Session Might Just Change Your Life
The curiosity of creative people is simply very great, this is the only way to explain the rush.
Joshua Coombes, who is no longer a secret speaker, talks about his “Do Something For Nothing” idea and inspires the audience with how a simple hairdresser with “Haircuts for Homeless” can change the lives of many for the better. Might just change your life.

14:30 pm – The Power of “What the fuck”
Richard Brim explains how a “what-the-fuck” attitude can be part of a creative strategy and is obviously becoming more common. I like that.
This time at the Lumiére Theatre – the second big, not to say huge cinema at Palais I.
He talks out of the box about how award-winning campaigns were created for very different clients and how adam&eve DDB won the Cannes Lions Award “Agency of the year’. This is to my taste and not only highly amusing, but pure inspiration. My highlights in brief: Marmite DNA Testing, Harvey Nicols “Shoplifting” and John Lewis’ Christmas campaign with Elton John – “Some gifts are more, than just a gift”.

15:15 pm – The Paralympics Impact on Our Creativity and Humanity

I just sit there and watch the next event at the Lumiére Theatre. It’s about the fact that the target group of people with disabilities
is not yet on the screen of us creative people as the sheer dimension of this would actually absolutely require: every sixth person on the planet has a physical disability or limitation.

19:00 pm – dinner together

21:00 pm – The Drum – Party

23:00 pm – Hotel