Friday, April 07, 2006

Top Technology Media Discussion Makes Listeners Think

The March 31 webcast from the Northern Virginia Technology Council by PRNewswire was a Who's Who of the technology media world. This unique 60 minute session gave listeners a sneak peak inside the minds of some of today’s larger-than-life technology journalist.

The panelist included:

  • Walt Mossberg, The Wall Street Journal, Personal Technology Columnist
  • Steven Wildstrom, BusinessWeek, Technology & You Columnist
  • Kevin Maney, USA Today, Cyberspeak Columnist
  • Rob Pegoraro, The Washington Post, Technology Fast Forward Columnist
  • Stephanie Stahl, Streaming Media (formerly of InformationWeek), Editor-in-Chief

Moderated by Mark Bisnow, publisher of Bisnow on Business, the sessions was well worth giving up lunch to hear (ok we ate lunch as we listened to it). This session lived up to its billing:

In the crowded media world of technology coverage there are a handful of journalists who the public, general media and business world look to for the industry's latest trends and new products. When these reporters write on a subject or service they validate it as needing to be explored further. Each week, hundreds of thousands of readers tune in to what they have to say.

So, how do they decide what warrants coverage? What topics do they see on the horizon? What kind of responsibility do they feel to educate businesses and the public? How did they get where they are today to have their ideas and opinions sought after in the marketplace? These questions and more will be discussed in an interactive, moderated discussion.

In the end we learned the following:

  • Walt LOVES is Trio (as did most of the others: 4 out of the 5 had a Trio, 1 had a Blackberry)
  • The panel felt that mobile technology holds the most immediate opportunities for innovation
  • All are interested in what the future holds for Apple
  • The group discussed how interesting it is that Microsoft’s Xbox division (which appears to be modeled after Apple) is the most successful business unit in the company
  • Podcasting was appealing to most of the reporters as a great way to get content while on the go

Arketi’s take? It’s worth the time to listen to the reply if you missed the initial broadcast.

You can access it at: http://www.videonewswire.com/event.asp?id=32732