Graphic Arts Magazine July / August 2019 | Page 36

Column
Top highlights from Collision 2019
It's known as the “fastest growing tech
conference in North America”. After
three sunny years in New Orleans,
Collision moved to Toronto this spring.
Follow all social media updates at
#CollisionConf, which will return to
Ontario's capital again in 2020. Top takeaway: “The reason media
sucks is because of advertising. When
the business model changes, the content
changes.” - Ev Williams
Opening night Climate change and the environmental
crisis are dominating the conversation
worldwide and took pride of place at
Collision. We heard from one of the
world’s most important environmentalists,
and an incredible speaker to boot -
Christiana Figueres. Like many others,
she hails tech as the solution to our
climate crisis and never fails to leave us
inspired to do more. Rather than ducking
responsibility by placing the blame on
past generations, she's calling us out.
We have the knowledge, the resources,
Opening night set the tone for the
conference in the best way possible.
Attendees crowded Centre Stage to
catch an impressively eclectic lineup of
speakers including Justin Trudeau,
Jessie Reyez, and Seth Rogen. Tech has
infiltrated every industry, and nothing
could have demonstrated this better
than the cross-sector perspectives
offered on opening night. There was
hard-hitting wisdom about diversity,
passion, and the road to success. But
always though, the stars of the night
were Justin Trudeau’s socks.
Top takeaway: "If we don't succeed
together, we're going to fail separately."
- Justin Trudeau
The social media mogul
- Ev Williams
Society hasn’t yet moved into the post-
Twitter era. Ironically, Twitter’s creator
has. Ev Williams sat down with Kara
Swisher, the straight-talking titan of tech
journalism, to discuss Medium’s next
steps and the future of free media. Can
we expect high-quality reporting for
nothing or will the future be subscription-
based? Some fascinating insights into
where things went wrong from the man
behind one of the largest social media
platforms in the world.
36 | July / August 2019 | GRAPHIC ARTS MAGAZINE
The eco-evangelist
- Christiana Figueres
Akon spoke of renewable energy and
cryptocurrency at Collision's
planet:tech stage
getting into law”. His success record tells
a different story though. His renewable
energy project “Akon Lighting Africa”
is already serving more than 250,000
residents with plans to expand, and
Akoin will open doors for young entre-
preneurs across Africa, a talent pool
bursting with potential. Sure, it’s a lot of
ambition for one man, but Akon's proved
himself to be the ultimate all-rounder,
and we wouldn’t bet against him.
Top takeaway: "Africa has built every
country in every continent. Every
stable society that has an economy
was built from African resources. The
problem is that African people have
never been in a position to be able to
utilise those resources for their benefit."
- Akon
and the technology - let’s make the
change. In an era of doom and gloom,
Christiana’s pedalling optimistic action,
and we’re big fans.
Top takeaway: "Put a price on what you
don't want. Put a price on pollution, on
carbon. Don't put a price what you do
want. " - Christiana Figueres, Convenor
of Mission 2020 & climate activist
The fintech first-timer - Akon
Akon’s had an eventful few years. At
Collision this year he talked about his
foray into renewable energy in Africa,
his plans for a presidential run, and his
vision of building a city run entirely on
his signature cryptocurrency, Akoin
(we’re also awarding him cryptocurrency
name of the year). He’s not taking himself
too seriously, and likened his move into
energy and fintech to “Kim Kardashian
We were so proud to announce that 11,750
out of 25,711 of our Collision attendees
identified as female – our most positive
gender ratio ever. Every element of the
conference benefited from it. On opening
night, Justin Trudeau told us that “making
sure there are opportunities for women
at all levels is essential if you want to
succeed. Diversity and resilience go
together.” He was proven right again
and again over the course of Collision.
We’re committed to continuing to strive
for better, but for now, we want to thank
every single woman who helped to
make Collision 2019 such a success.
Niamh O’Connor, Digital Copywriter,
WebSummit
graphicartsmag.com