Review Symposium 49: Control is good, trust is better.

"Control is good, trust is better? New foundations for digital excellence " - that was the motto of our 49th Web Excellence Forum in Frankfurt. Here is the summary of two successful days with almost 40 company representatives. They gave outstandingly good feedback on a program of practice-relevant contributions, discussions and exciting outlooks on the future of content, marketing and internal organization: 88 out of 100 points!

Summer in Frankfurt M. has its advantages and disadvantages: Heat and warm winds pile up between the skyscrapers, the coolest seats in the cafés are occupied, but there's always a fresh breeze on the Main. And if you turn around, a glittering skyline rises up, fittingly reminiscent of a volatile stock market. In contrast, our conference, true to its motto, was quite controlled and familiar. This was also due to the perfect conference conditions, and a big thank you goes to Deutsche Bank for making it possible for us to host this symposium.

"Trust, but verify" - a better leadership concept for communication departments

Before we get started, a correction: No, the quote "Control is good, trust is better." did not come from Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. The only thing that can be safely attributed to him is the use of the Russian proverb "Trust, but check." Clear result of the conference: This is a much better balanced contribution to the discussion about new leadership concepts in communication.

Testing trust - measuring reputation in everyday life

Launch. Communication in turbulent times: Newsroom boss Ralf Drescher gave sovereign and transparent insights into a daily communications routine with daily reputation measurement. The concluding discussion on what this target means for management and what role the CEO and the corporate brand play in this was very valuable.

Trust numbers - for this they must be reliable but also relevant

And on it went: Numbers, please! With his usual precision, Justus Hug from .companion provided us with a confidential overview of the current rankings and benchmarks across all web and social channels of the companies in the Content Marketing Dashboard. Especially exciting was the outlook on our upcoming standard: Web Excellence will show performance per content topic or campaign. We will start with hashtags.

 

Trust - Trust fades and therefore gains in value

Ernst Primosch, Edelman GF, used the Trust Barometer to provide comprehensive and in some cases alarming insights into (dwindling) trust in social institutions. The erosion applies to politics, media, NGOs, but not to companies! His conclusion 1: There is an urgent need for societal change. His conclusion 2: No one has as much obligation to fulfill it as corporations, especially CEOs. So, communicators, take a stand in societal discussions and initiate change!

 

Practice - get going, let go and just trust yourself.

The practical presentations continued in an exciting way. With a fireworks display of grandiose social ideas ("Ella Vader"), thyssenkrupp showed us that it pays to approach unconventional ideas with courage, while Evonik presented us with a wonderfully practical look into its global social media toolbox.

 

Krones gave us a very pragmatic and convincing tour of its own "content arena", a central organization for content and marketing with a surprisingly large team. A fascinating presentation by Julia Leserer, great, that was really "Hidden Champion".

Finally, a very stimulating excursion into the subject area of digital currencies, 2 fantastic short tours of the Städel Museum and, of course, networking - just as important as the professional exchange.

 

Good routines - the only anchor for both: trust and control

Day 2 started with an impromptu visit to the DB newsroom, "What's the news in Singapore, Anna?" Efficiently and with an admirable level of professionalism we were able to follow the morning briefing. Many thanks to Jens Tangemann, Ralf Drescher and the whole team at Deutsche Bank Newsroom for this very inspiring insight!

AI - only their producers are not deprived of trust and control

Ethics, algorithms and AI - a highly topical discussion topic on which, unfortunately, there is still far too much ignorance and, unfortunately, also a lot of nonsense being told. Cars that are supposed to decide beforehand whether they should "drive child or grandma to death" - although no driver ever does that? AI algorithms that "should be disclosed" - even though Facebook alone operates 80,000 of them in parallel? Prof. Dr. Hegelich from the Technical University of Munich explained that such questions are misleading. He impressively showed, based on the programmatic basics, why the essence of "AI" is precisely NOT to be controllable anymore. Neither human intellect nor computer clouds can understand WHY artificial intelligences decide how they decide. The ethical challenges and regulations must therefore not refer to the programs of artificial intelligence, but to their programmers, to the companies and all actors who develop and use "AI".

 

Everyday dashboard - 3 simple KPIs for more control

Deutsche Post DHL provided us with access to their data practice with a cockpit experience report. How to make communication success measurable? Michael Sellen told us how he is gradually integrating the Content Marketing Dashboard into steering discussions and leadership processes at DPDHL. And attendees responded with a new Web Excellence Working Group: "Leadership Tools for Digital Excellence. "

 

The balance of this symposium

Quite simply, for digital excellence, trust is the hardest currency.