Yahoo! Intern David Rabee says IDEO Design Director, Tom Hulme's session at Internet Week Europe was best in class
Today I went to The Hospital Club in London to listen to a presentation by Tom Hulme, Design Director of IDEO. He introduced a framework for thinking about business models, described why each part is a creative opportunity and explored some of the major trends of our time.
Walking into a room named 'Classroom' can be a scary experience (regardless of a person's age) and I couldn't help but question whether a presentation about business models was going to end with me begging to be saved by the bell. But this was far from the case after Hulme opened the presentation with an easily digestible business framework, applicable to any business.
Hulme used Amazon as a case study to further drive home his key points. His passion and admiration for the 'technology company' as opposed to 'a cheaper version of Borders' (he was very defensive about this) was very apparent. He explained how incredible Amazon was because of its state-of-the-art personalisation — I mean 300 engineers working on the homepage alone to make it more user-based is pretty personal.
Hulme's enthusiasm remained high as he moved from business framework theory to major trends of our time. He presented us with breathtaking facts about how quickly technology is evolving — we are talking about more processing power in the iPhone 4S than early spacecraft and that for only $600, a device that can store all of today's music. Hulme further discussed the value of today's consumer data and how general human needs have ultimately remained unchanged.
Incredibly, the hour he spoke for flew by and I can sense that the audience left the room feeling inspired and excited by the new prospects he had introduced. Beats school any day!
---David Rabee
David Rabee recently graduated from the University of Birmingham with a degree in Business Management and Communications.
