On 7 May 2010, DEKOM AG (formerly ViDOFON AG) hosted the Conferencing & Seaport Day. The day’s agenda featured two main items, “Conferencing” and “Seaport”. The first part of the day, covering conferencing, took place in the conference centre at the Radisson Blu in Hamburg city centre. Here attendees had an opportunity to find out about all of the manufacturers at a glance.
DEKOM AG (formerly ViDOFON AG) chairman Jörg Weisflog welcomed the guests with a short opening speech in which he gave an overview of the company and its services. A special reference was made to the merger between ViDOFON AG and Hamburg-based company DEKOM Systemhaus für Medientechnik. Both companies’ portfolios have been supplemented by the merger in January 2010, and together they have become a strong partner for one-stop professional conferencing solutions.
Kay Ohse from Polycom began the series of presentations with a look at the future of video communication. She and her colleague Michael Ott focussed their presentations on unified communications and opportunities for companies to increase their efficiency.
After a short break, the Tandberg team continued. Dirk Heldner introduced the infrastructure portfolio and also made reference to Cisco, who announced their acquisition of Tandberg at the start of the year. The Mac version of Tandberg’s Movi, a desktop video application previously only available for PC, was premiered, making its first ever video connection. To conclude, a live video stream was used to showcase the well-established Movi PC client.
After a sumptuous buffet lunch in Filini’s at the Radisson Blu, Andreas Wienold from LifeSize spoke about the history of the company, the product portfolio and the benefits of video conferencing. This presentation was underscored by a live video stream to LifeSize CEO Craig Malloy and CTO Casey King in Texas, showcasing the new LifeSize Video Center. The LifeSize Video Center allows HD streaming, recording and automatic publication with extremely simple push-button operation.
The individual presentations were rounded off with a panel discussion involving all of the manufacturers and DEKOM (formerly ViDOFON) CEO Jörg Weisflog and DEKOM (formerly ViDOFON) CTO Simon Härke. They fielded questions - some of which were quite critical - from both the host and the audience on the subject of “the future of video conferencing”. It was interesting to note the open dialogue between the manufacturers themselves, and also with the customers and ViDOFON. The lack of time was felt to be an issue, as a more in-depth discussion of a few points would have been appreciated. Because of this, manufacturer presentations of this type will be given much greater significance next year.
The Seaport part of the day continued with a two hour round trip around the port in the 100-year-old historic launch MS Viktoria as part of the starting parade for the Port of Hamburg anniversary celebrations. The visitors were greeted by a port shrouded in elegant Hanseatic grey, but this did nothing to dampen the mood.
The evening was spent at a champagne reception and delicious meal in the ballroom of the Marriott Hotel. The grand finale to this unique day was a raffle in which participants could win a large Logitech package (sponsored by LifeSize) and an iPod Nano and speakers (sponsored by Polycom).
This is now the third time that all the manufacturers have been brought together around the same table, and the concept is becoming increasingly popular with both visitors and manufacturers.
Next year should be interesting - keep a note of the 6 May 2011!
Opinions on the Conferencing & Seaport Day 2010:
“On behalf of myself and my guest, I would like to say thank you very much once again for the invitation and successful event. Once again, it was a very interesting morning and afternoon, and a very enjoyable evening with pleasant company at our table and an informal atmosphere.”
Martin Herisch, SMC Pneumatik GmbH
“Thank you once again for the very informative and enjoyable day we spent with you. The ‘side attractions’ were really wonderful, and I think that we and Mr Hauser, his wife, Mr Schmidt and yourself had a very enjoyable evening during dinner and afterwards! It was a thoroughly impressive and successful event, and I am more than happy for you to pass this on to all those involved!”
Detlef Klingenberg, Kleffmann Group
“From a marketing perspective, I can only say congratulations once again on your professional event! It is lovely to attend a well organised event. The agenda, hotels, catering, bus transfer and boat trip were all perfect.
Chris Maurer, Tandberg Telecom AS
“Thank you once again for the successful event last Friday, and for your dedication in organising such an event while moving offices. It is a testament to your professionalism, and we are already looking forward to your next event!”
