It’s the Monday after and I’m wondering to what extent the digital code has been cracked during last week’s Cracking the Digital Code conference. The idea was to “demystify the internet” especially for corporate marketeers and media and communication agencies.

One way for myself to determine what I learned is to remember at least one point from each of the speakers without having to refer back to my notes. So here goes:

1. Stafford Masie, Google: great presentation, great case studies, great motivation to use Google. What did I learn: nothing new. I was of course not the target market for this conference, and the brief to all the presenters was quite clear: keep it simple ( we have ad agencies in the room….)
2. Vincent Maher, Vodacom: as much as we’re on the so-called Web2.0 point on the internet curve, Web3.0 and Web4.0 have already been defined.
3. Ingrid Rubin, longtail: take charge of your personal reputation online.
4. Russel Hanley, 24.com: “one size does not fit all”. Here Russel referred to the way companies perceive all online advertising to be just a banner. Often all rich media and gadget ads, expanding banners and interactive on-site campaign and sponsorships are all categorised as banners and this is just NOT the case.
5. Chris Rolfe, Mobilitrix: great success can be had when combining mobile with radio campaigns.
6. Arthur Goldstuck, Worldwide Worx: although a lot is being said about mobile and although its potential is clear and in no way being doubted, right now, no digital medium is as relevant and important as the internet when it comes to sales, marketing and branding.
7. Rob Stokes, Quirk: I learned about “Google bowling”: At it’s simplest it’s using anchor text to bowl over, or sabotage another website. Google Bowling is using any off site tactics to bring down your competitors rankings.
8. Tyle Reed, Younique: Tyler went on about how advertising is dead. I can see his thinking from a youth market point of view. I cannot however agree with the statement in its entirety or in such an absolute definition.

Sure, I also presented! It was on digital strategies.

What did I learn from my own presentation? It is possible to do a 45 minute presentation and keep to 10 slides!