This was year two for the digital mother-of-all digital shows and the showing was quite disappointing. Not that last year was a big spectacle, but it surely had many more attendants and many more reputable corporate partners that were affiliated with it. I attended a few of the sessions that sounded quite impressive on the agenda…much like an appetizing dish that sounds great on the menu but doesn’t quite cut it when it arrives at the table. I am used to working in the Hispanic and Latin American markets and that is no reason to accept mediocrity. In fact, we have a larger struggle with much more to prove than our general market counterparts. The presentations lacked luster and preparation for the most part. Many times, the audio-video equipment did not even work correctly throwing off the presentation and unfortunately the presenter setting the downward spiral for the sessions.
The roundtable discussions were great in concept. I would like to see general market industry trends factored into the mix as this year the show tried to hard to remain true to its Hispanic focus. The vendor fair was a poor showing as compared to last year. I believe the decision to make it free of charge was a smart move, but not one that seemed to have made much of an impact as the room seemed empty and filled with the same 25 faces of years past. Only difference is that they’ve all gone to work for the competitor. All in all, ad:tech Miami is a great opportunity for non-industry people to network and get a “cliffnotes” version of what is going on in the US Hispanic and Latin American digital fronts. What is going on you ask?? Nothing that isn’t already going on in the rest of the world….Search, Mobile and Multiplatform Intengration.
What I did learn is that both markets have a lot to learn about social networking and other not-so-new advances. At the conference, there was no real presence of myspace, Facebook or Hi5? I also see that the slow
