{"id":44145,"date":"2019-05-17T08:42:30","date_gmt":"2019-05-17T06:42:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hybridagency.be\/blog\/analysis\/tnwconference2019\/"},"modified":"2025-09-23T10:18:12","modified_gmt":"2025-09-23T08:18:12","slug":"our-ceo-johan-elias-visited-the-tnw-conference-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hybridagency.be\/en\/blog\/news\/our-ceo-johan-elias-visited-the-tnw-conference-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"Our CEO, Johan Elias, visited the TNW Conference 2019."},"content":{"rendered":"

At Hybrid, innovation and knowledge development are at the core of what we do. That\u2019s why our CEO was in Amsterdam this past weekend for TNW Conference 2019, a leading tech festival with an inspiring lineup of industry-leading speakers. It was the ideal event for gathering the latest insights from the industry. Here, he shares his experience at the festival organized by The Next Web.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

<\/div>

My day started with my first-ever Uber ride, followed by a five-star rating from driver Shenny. Interesting experience! Upon arrival, the queue wasn\u2019t too bad, and within five minutes I had my badge in hand. Once inside, I was immediately approached to join a VR game. Fun, but unfortunately, I was too late to attend Guy Kawasaki’s opening keynote.<\/p>\n

I was, however, on time for Mark Randall, VP of Creativity at Adobe. According to him and his panel, the Adobe Kickbox is the ideal tool for leading and shaping innovation workshops in a fun and engaging way.<\/p>\n

Instead of Kawasaki, it was Gillian Tans, CEO of booking.com<\/a>. She\u2019s been at the helm of this tech company for 17 years, and today she\u2019s focused on her major mission: getting more women in leadership positions in the tech sector. While she made a well-known point, she did so in a way that sticks and will resonate with the real stakeholders. Despite the progress made, she was very clear about her disappointment and the hands of her clock (5 minutes to 12).<\/p>\n

At noon, I attended the workshop by Bart van de Wiele, Senior Solution Consultant at Adobe. I\u2019m not familiar with the subject matter, but it was clear that this man is passionate about it, and he truly knows how to extract the most from the Adobe Suite. I was amazed at how quickly a great customer experience can be created!<\/p>\n

After the workshop, it was time to eat. There was no shortage of options, from fries to weed burgers, but I went for a salad. During lunch, I chatted with Ravi, an Indian entrepreneur with a cryptocurrency startup. For him, it wasn\u2019t a successful conference. The expo area itself was a bit out of the way, and his booth got lost in the crowd. For some reason, there was also less interest in startups than at events like Web Summit in Lisbon, he told me. I couldn\u2019t help but agree when, after lunch, I entered the expo myself.<\/p>\n

During my visit to the expo, I noted the following platforms, focusing on my role as CEO and Hybrid’s focus on people:<\/p>\n