Last Friday, I went Youthwatching. A conference on European Youth Trends organized by the great people of Trendwolves. Great location and a great effort to keep the focus on the youth and their trends. Met some great people, learned a lot and listened to some interesting speakers. There are overviews of the conference all over the web, but there was one thing in particular that I enjoyed a lot.
Instead of having a moderator who announced the speakers, all speakers were announced by young creative people who got a minute or so to introduce their own project to the audience before announcing the next speaker. These youngsters gave the conference a great vibe and a with the limited time they had, they showed what youngsters are up to. After the conference I received a mail that asked the attendees what they thought could improve the youthwatching conference in the future. My suggestion would be to have more of these young creatives on stage. I think marketeers can learn an awful lot from these young entrepeneurs.
Youthwatching ‘09 from youthwatching on Vimeo.
Trendwolves maps European Youth trends. The presentation of their 2009 report was the most interesting part of the whole event. Some of the figures they announced left me baffled.
36% of the European youth population has published video online. 36%! That is like … so much video. Another remarkable number I managed to remember was that on the question what their preferred medium was 66% (or was it 67%) answered the internet, while only 22% answered tv. Bye bye tv.
The full report is probably essential stuff for anyone who is involved in targeting youngsters. I am 32 years old and although Maarten tried to convince me that I was still young 
. I think there is a huge gap between the age of 32 and lets say 18. Age is so much more than a number.
Stefan, thank you so much for your kind words. It was great to have you over and a pity we didnt have the time to have a decent talk.
You should come over if you’re near Gent! Twunch on thursday?