SIME Amsterdam – 2 days to go!

With just 2 days to go for SIME Amsterdam at Beurs van Berlage, we are very excited to announce 4 master classes / workshops for you to choose from during the day. Apart from the main stage program which is a combination of panels, keynotes, fireside chats and interviews / Q&A with the audience, we also have 4 separate workshop tracks for you to get a deeper understanding of the topics of your choice. These 4 workshops will be held from 1300-1350 and from 1700 – 1750 at the main stage and choir each. The tracks are:

At 1300:

a) MASTER CLASS 1 @MAIN STAGE: MOBILE SELLS OR DOES IT?

b) MASTER CLASS 2 @CHOIR ROOM: IS ONLINE BOOKING TURNING THE WEB INTO AN EBAY OF PEOPLE?

At 1700:

a) MASTER CLASS 3 @MAIN STAGE: THE FUTURE OF PERFORMANCE MARKETING

b) MASTER CLASS 4 @CHOIR ROOM: HOW TO WIN IN “INNOVATION AWARDS 2012

You can read the detailed agenda and speakers per session

Apart from the workshops, we also have shuffled around the timing a little bit to make sure we get sufficient coffee, food inbetween and have an opportunity to enjoy the sun. We have added some more speakers to the roster. Overall we believe its going to be a great day of inspiration, knowledge and lot of business opportunities. And just as a caveat, we take having fun seriously too!

See you on May 25th.

SIME Speaker Updates – Inspiration and Story Telling!

With the count down to SIME, here are some more speakers who are coming to SIME, going to be part of workshop discussions and available to meet you! Welcome to SIME. Welcome to 2 days of inspiration and story-telling.

Nina Wahlgren, Head of Brand Development & Coordination, SEB Nina is an experienced communications proffessional responsible for developing one of Sweden’s most trusted brands in finance with a long history being part of the fabric of Swedes society. Karin Larsson, Director Communications, Volvo Cars Sweden Karin Larsson is responsible for communication of Volvo cars, overseeing the Nordic communications efforts and bulding one of the brands that define Swedes in the global community…. Merci Olsson, Marketing and Communications, Nobel Web Merci Olsson has a 15 year background in marketing and communication mainly on the digital platform. Formerly PR Manager at Pricerunner.com and several advertising agencies, Merci is now the…. Kati Sulin, COO and Interactive Strategy Director EMEA Hill and Knowlton Finland Before joining Hill & Knowlton, Kati Sulin spent eight years at digital marketing solutions company TOIMISTO in management role where she worked with various clients integrating their marketing initiatives. Aaron Barsness, Associate Marketing Director P&G Nordic Aaron has been with P&G since 2000 and has worked with several of P&G’s leading brands including Yes, Ariel, and Pampers. Aaron’s current role is leading the Brand Operations division in the Nordics. Sohrab Ghotbi, Director Advertising, Global Online Media As Advertising Director, International Digital Media, Sohrab Ghotbi leads the global online sales effort for the New York Times Media Group. He has been based in Paris since 2007.   Martin Deinoff, VP Marketing and Business Development, Creuna Martin is the Senior manager and business consultant in Creuna, one of the Nordics’ leading digital communication agencies. Martin is vastly experienced in strategy, concept development, project management… Joakim Liljedahl, Head of Marketing, Nordic and Baltics, Sony Ericsson Joakim Liljedahl is the Head of Marketing for Sony Ericsson in the Nordics since 2009. Joakim was part of the Swedish/Japanese joint venture already in its founding year 2001, and has since then had… Katrin Ley, Global Marketing Director, Reebok Katrin Ley is Head of Brand Strategy, Business Development and Women’s Sport Business Unit for the Reebok brand. Katrin is responsible for developing the brand strategy and process that delivers… Michael Dwan, Microsoft Advertising Michael searches for harmony and surprise. He is passionate about brands and helping them take full advantage of the interactive palette to engage and entertain audiences. As the Director of Creative…. Ben Kartzman, CEO of Spongecell Ben Kartzman is the CEO and co-founder of interactive ad company Spongecell which uses cutting-edge technology to transform standard banner ads into dynamic flash ads with rich media-like functionality…. Raoul Grünthal, CEO Schibsted Raoul Grünthal is the CEO of Schibsted and a veteran in the media industry. Raoul has served as the CEO of Svenska Dagbladet since 2006. Between 2003 and 2006 he was chief editor and CEO of the… John Vincent, CEO, Eyewonder Mr. Vincent co-founded EyeWonder in August of 1999 and was part of the original team that pioneered first ever Instant Play Video Ad in 2000. Vincent is active in setting direction for the future of online rich… Jonathan Forster, Global Sales Director, Spotify Before joining Spotify, Jonathan Forster spent eight years at digital marketing solutions company Valueclick in a series of management roles where he worked across display media, price comparison…

Winners from Gruenderszene (Germany)

We ran a small competition in Gruenderszene, one of the leading tech blogs in Germany giving away 2 SIME tickets to the readers of the popular blog based on comments and trackbacks.

And the winners are:

Sven Koerbitz from tweek.tv
Eva Abraham from gmx.de

Congrats guys, or as they say Glückwünsche! And welcome to SIME Stockholm, November 17, 18.

Announcing the bloggers press passes for SIME 10!

SIME opens its doors again for the following bloggers to enjoy 2 days of SIME on the bloggers pass. We got a bunch of applications this year, and we has chosen the following blogs / people based on subject and domain of expertise, trend coverage, uniqueness of content, reach and flow of ideas. As it has become a SIME Tradition, bloggers form an integral part of our voice to the rest of the world, and we try to provide all opportunities for you to connect with speakers (by almost compelling speakers to be around for longer periods and remain accessible) and other movers/shakers to interview and get their musings on topics of interest.

And as a blogger coming to SIME, what do we expect from you? NOTHING. Enjoy SIME, and enjoy giving your commentary on the days events. We are all listening!

Big Congrats to the following. I will mail your codes separately for you to use and register. You can also reach me at mahesh(at)sime(dot)nu for any queries.

1. Johan Ydring – http://www.kamurshol.se
2. Peter Sandberg – http://disruptive.nu
3. Anton Johansson – http://fyranyanser.se
4. Daniel Lövquist –  http://www.lovquist.com
5. Sheila Riikonen –  http://planmill.wordpress.com/
6. Paula Marttila – http://paulamarttila.com/
7. Fritjof Andersson –  http://www.SocialBusiness.se
8. Simon Vikström - http://www.SocialBusiness.se
9. Henriette weber –  http://www.henrietteweber.com/
10. Gunnar Lindberg Årneby –  http://www.natkoll.se
11. Jonas Carlsson – http://notesondigital.com
12. Sara Öhman – http://www.saraohman.se/blogg
13. Annika Lidne – http://disruptivemedia.se/blog
14. Hans Kullin – http://www.kullin.net
15. Christoffer Du Rietz –  http://webbsverige.wordpress.com/
16. Karin Nilsson Malmén-  http://www.preferenspr.se

Creativity and the Internet lived happily ever after

This amazing campaign ranks right up there as one of the best campaigns I have seen. Created by Finnish company Hasan Partners, they touched all points of the internet and marketing ecosystem and made it work including banner campaigns. I know. Truly, creativity and internet can live happily ever after.

Crossing the Technology Frontiers with Om Malik (Giga Om) at SIME Stockholm

Technology has undoubtedly become the fundamental pillar of today’s business. Advertising can be tracked to the dot, databases have gotten more meaning and so have Business Intelligence, CRM and enterprise IT, thanks to the invention of the cloud architecture. With traditional revenue models crumbling and new subscription and service models emerging, what is the next big breakthrough?

Featuring technology expert, leading blogger Om Malik from Giga Om, we go on a ride on new technologies and concepts that are helping businesses take the leap. We also feature 3 special workshops on choosing the right technology partner, the new technology frontiers and the best practices for finding and retaining developers.

Read the detailed agenda

Welcome to SIME Stockholm and your very own Technology Track.

About OM Malik

Om Malik, Industry Commentator, GigaOM Network

Om Malik is the founder of GigaOM Network, where he is currently a senior writer. He has worked as a senior writer for Forbes.com, Red Herring and Business 2.0. He is the author of Broadbandits: Inside the $750 Billion Telecom Heist. Om blogs about baseball, life and music on his personal blog, OmIs.Me. Follow him on Twitter @om

Calling all Bloggers for Press Passes to SIME 10 Stockholm!

This year SIME Stockholm will again welcome a number of interesting bloggers to attend the event on a Blogger Press Pass!

If selected for a Blogger Press Pass, you get a full conference ticket to SIME10, which means you get access to the two conference days on November 17-18, but not the SIME Awards gala dinner. Unfortunately we don’t have room for everyone, so please fill out the simple application form below and we will consider your request.

What do we expect from Blogger Press Pass attendants? Basically – NOTHING.

We hope you participate and make SIME a great conference, and cover topics you find interesting and that fit your blog as you normally would. You will have the opportunity to talk to and interview many of the international thought leaders and get interesting food for thought for your readers.

UPDATE: Please send your application right away. If you have any questions about this initiative, please contact me at mahesh at sime dot nu

Serial Entrepreneur, Investor and SIME Hero Martin Varsavsky about FON in TechCrunch

[Martin Varsavsky, a regular SIME-ite and speaker for SIME Stockholm 10 was featured in TechCrunch about the fast growth of FON Hotspots in the world (dubbed by Martin as "grows a T-Mobile every month"). The repost of the original post below]

Fon, the company with a fairly simple but extremely bold and tough mission (to cover the entire globe withfree Wi-Fi), now boasts over 2.5 million hotspots located around the planet. In a brief blog post, entrepreneur, teacher and philanthropist Martin Varsavsky – who founded the company back in 2006 – makes it clear that this is a huge number.

He estimates that the company, which is backed by the likes of Google, Index Ventures, BT, Skypeand Sequoia, “grows a T-Mobile every month”, by which he means that as many Fon hotspots light up in various parts of the world as T-Mobile has activated to date.

Varsavsky is also surprisingly open about the fact that two years ago things were looking down for the company and its Wi-Fi community. In the midst of worldwide economic turmoil, the charismatic chief exec says laptops simply didn’t generate enough interest in Wi-Fi roaming.

But then, he adds, the iPhone and other “beautiful bandwidth hogs” such as Android smartphones and other mobile devices with Internet connectivity such as game consoles, netbooks, tablets and advanced music players came along.

From the blog post:

WiFi gadgets are everywhere. Demand for WiFi exceeds supply. And at Fon, together with our telco partners such as BT, SFR, Zon, and others we are working hard so there is WiFi everywhere as an accessible signal. As we like to say, with Fon you share a little WiFi at home and roam the world for free.

Varsavsky says the next milestone to reach is 10 million, which if I’m not as bad at math as I fear I am means 5 times as much as the company has reached in the past 4 years.

Winner of SIME Trivia III and IV

And now it’s time again to release the name of the winner from the last 2 weeks of the trivia.
**DRUM ROLLS **

Ingo Becker from Becker. Joerges. agile communication.

Congrats Ingo Becker. You enjoy 2 days of SIME Stockholm November 17, 18 on us. I will get in touch with you through the email ID you have provided very soon to give you the codes and everything you need to know to get to SIME Stockholm! You can also reach me any time at mahesh(at)sime(dot)nu for more information.

Congrats once again! And very welcome to 2 days of inspiration, knowledge and fun!

SIME: It's your party!

I accidentally stumbled upon this video of Ace of Base performing for the first time in 12 years at SIME 08 Awards and Gala with Mia Rose, and it struck me again that SIME is a party where entrepreneurs and people in the digital arena are the rock stars. Its a party like no other you have seen – fun, inspiration, business and knowledge. I still remember when I first went to Stockholm and someone said “Its a conference in a night club”. And how true it is.

SIME – It’s your party and you are welcome to a new world of knowledge, inspiration, business and fun

Register for SIME 10 here