2009

Director Helen Baxter gave a talk at Spark! 09 International Festival of Media, Arts and Design about 'How to  Be a New Media Mogul.' 

Follow Spark09! live tweets at twitter.com/WintecSpark

Local brains have been buzzing this weekend as the X|Media|Lab moved their festival of ideas to Auckland. Seventeen international mentors, keynote speakers, plus seventeen projects teams met at the Viaduct Harbour to share their knowledge, experiences and pathways to success. 

This is my third X|Media|Lab to date, though the record holder is Dale Herigstad with six under his belt. I had an inspiring time listening to the diverse keynote speakers from across the globe, and learning about the innovative digital media projects chosen for the Lab workshops. My brain had a full blown information hangover by the end of the weekend, but it was well worth it.

Read Helen Baxter's roundup of the X|Media|Lab, Auckland in full at the Big Idea and follow live tweets from the keynote conference day @thebigideanz.

I have a quote on my fridge that has been there for years, on a sky blue postcard with faded red letters. "Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now", Goethe. One thing successful entrepreneurs have in common is that they share their dreams with a team of experienced mentors. Access to the knowledge, and networks of a mentor you trust will make your big idea far more likely to succeed in the long run.

At Mohawk Media everything starts with a brainstorm using pens and a layout pad to capture our creative flow. At this point there is no such thing as a stupid idea, that comes later. Some ideas are great, and some of them are never going to work. Telling the difference is what stands between success and failure which is why filtering them is so important. It's a smart idea to find experienced mentors to give you feedback on your plan, before you waste time and energy going in the wrong direction. Read Commercialising Ideas in full at the Big Idea.

Listen to a podcast of Helen Baxter / MsBehaviour talking about the value of business mentors in the MsBehaviour Files on the Radio Wammo breakfast show for Kiwi FM.