REBOOT CAMP – A One of my clients, clearly future CEO potential and in a. major corporate organisation, asked her line manager if. STREAM ODYSSEY she could go from my invitation. She described the. agenda, the set-up, the melting pot of 350+ entrepreneurs, Bart Michels, CEO, Kantar Consulting. agency leaders, thought leaders, creative artists and clients. An inspired boss, he let her go and take part in what he. BOOM. described as ‘Crayola Davos.’. Actually that was really very good, and funny. A job in the Within 1 hour of arriving, and about 30mins into the official copywriting department awaits… welcome of Stream it was evident this was something other- High Octane, Low Ego. worldly. I’d seen our impossibly, brilliantly energetic host of Stream inadvertently let off a large confetti cannon she was We were bussed in from Athens airport. Let’s not beat about holding, and not skip a beat. Another singer-turned-host the bush — Stream is set in a very straightforward mass had dropped the C-bomb and very clearly got away with it. catered holiday resort in a place called Marathon. In 490 B.C., And the incredibly engaging and smart A-grade lawyer- the Athenian army defeated the invading Persian army in turned-entrepreneur sitting next to me had just informed Marathon, located roughly 26 miles north of Athens. According me that although we both went to the same university, I had to legend, the Athenians then ordered the messenger graduated before she was born. As a not-so-old, not-so- Pheidippides to run ahead to Athens and announce the victory young 49 year old this felt destabilising in a very good way. to the city. Pheidippides raced back to Athens in the summer It was clear this was now a social powder keg. A place heat. Upon reaching the Athenian agora, he exclaimed "Nike!" chock-full of sparkling precocious talent, uncommon ("Victory!") or "Rejoice! We Conquer" and then collapsed dead thinking and deep business and life experience. A pretty from exhaustion. This was to be an intellectual and social powerful and intellectually combustible combination. Marathon, and I hoped I would not drop dead at the end. This was not going to be a usual corporate gathering. On arrival, two days were carved into about 50 potential It was billed as an ‘unconference.’ I’d heard of Stream. discussion sessions — proposed by the attendees and hosted when it was first born. As a ‘senior leader’ in brand. by one of those present. Topics were freely suggested, consulting in Kantar — currently part of WPP — it was. given time slots — and so in front of my very eyes a two day conference agenda was born. What’s great about this is that exciting and different. I’d nominated many a young,. topics are born of passion and expertise. They are by definition free thinker from my team to go and represent us, and. ‘on trend and current.’ They are also eclectic. From ‘how will themselves, and bring to the event, (and bring back to the. we save the planet from the plastic crisis?’, to workshops on how to build your own app, through to a debate on whether team), ideas and a fresh look at the world. . AI will kill EQ and creativity. Each day topped and tailed with People who went, couldn’t describe what it was like. Health and Wellness activity, and a huge ‘family dinner’ and They came back elated, exhausted, mentally refreshed punctuated with luminary presentations including Mark Read, and slightly physically ruined. the WPP CEO, the makers of Love Island, a prodigy tech- I invited a few clients, and described to them what we would puppeteer, and the ex-Greek Prime Minister. be doing, who would be there, who would be speaking. I played up the brilliant brains and free format, and played down the accommodation. Stream has now clearly got a brand of its own — clients and agencies alike have heard of it and respect it from afar. 124