We're so chuffed to be an official media partner of this years *sparkling* PICNIC future-forward, creative and innovation gathering in the naughty city of Amsterdam later this month. If you don't know about it, click on the gorgeous banner above, or simply read below...and then convince your boss to pay for your trip. It's worth it.  We're really hoping to go (we're still in the convincing stage), or at least send someone else to represent (we're the boss), so watch this space. The conference program for PICNIC ’08, the annual event for creativity and innovation in media, entertainment and technology, is appealing to a fast growing international audience.  PICNIC ’08 is taking place from September 24 – 26 in Amsterdam. The event combines high class international speakers with high level seminars and workshops.

PICNIC Conference, Specials en Labs
The conference is the heart of the event. In a series of presentations the most inspiring innovators, creatives and thinkers share their ideas and experiences with the audience. The main theme this year is ‘Collaborative Creativity’. In the Specials more specific topics are being addressed. PICNIC Labs offers practical workshops, demo sessions and Master Classes, challenging participants to look at their business in a different way.

The PICNIC Green Challenge
For the second year, the PICNIC Green Challenge, fuelled by the Dutch Postcode Lottery, is calling on creative, innovative minds to come up with concrete solutions to fight climate change. Anyone with a good idea for a product or service that reduces greenhouse gas emissions in a consumer-friendly way, is invited to enter the Challenge. The winner will receive a €500,000 prize to help bring his or her product or service to market.

The speakers
Without pretending to be exhaustive or complete: the program holds appealing presenters like Charles Leadbeater, author of “We think” and Clay Shirky, professor and author of the book “Here comes everybody”. They speak at Picnic about collaboration and cooperation in the near future.
 
Wall Street Journal columnist Kara Swisher and Amazon’s CTO Werner Vogels will talk about computing clouds and web services, resources becoming available for everyone who needs them.

Conductor Itay Talgam speaks about collaborative creativity, creating the need for a new type of manager. How to manage creative minds?

What is the function and future of brands in an era of continuous collaboration? How do social and commercial networks interact and what does this mean for media, adverting and brands? What do marketeers need to know in order to build successful brands in a world of continuous interaction and collaboration? How can they combine the online and physical worlds to push brand experiences? Michael Tchao (Nike Techlab/Nike+) and Katarina Skoberne (managing director OpenAd.net) lead the discussion..

How can creative collaboration change the face of product development and design? How can businesses involve the people they want to create for in their work? Among the experts discussing this topic are Bill Moggridge (founder IDEO), Youghee Jung (senior designmanager Nokia), artist Aaron Koblin, film maker Matt Hanson, Ton Roosendaal (founder Blender foundation) and Stefano Marzano (director Philips Design).
And Philip Rosedale, founder and CEO of Second Life, is coming to PICNIC again for a discussion about people and communities.

The world is getting flat… What are the most striking technological developments in developing countries? Many vibrant and fast moving technological and creative developments are taking place in cities across Africa: from mobile banking to new communication patterns. Ethan Zuckerman (cofounder global voices), and Helen Omwando (head of market intelligence Philips Electronics) discuss about the latest developments in Africa.
Costs
A PICNIC Conference day ticket costs €595 plus VAT (lunch included) and includes access to the PICNIC Conference plus any Specials and Labs registered for. A full conference ticket costs €1245 plus VAT. A Specials day pass includes access to all Specials and Labs taking place on the day of validity and costs €95 plus VAT (lunch included). Participation in each Lab is subject to a selection process. Register for PICNIC on the website.

PICNIC is an annual international event organised by the Amsterdam Cross Media Week Foundation. The third edition, PICNIC’08, will be held at the Westergasfabriek in Amsterdam.


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About PICNIC’08
Creating the Future Together! PICNIC is Europe’s leading annual international event highlighting creativity and innovation, particularly in media, entertainment and technology. PICNIC brings together and disseminates the ideas and knowledge of the world's top creators and innovators. PICNIC’08 will be held