Bring on Barcelona: Mobile World Congress is almost upon us

Well then, we’re here again.

Can you believe it?

I bet you can. If you’re working in the marketing or PR side of the mobile industry, you’ve been eating and sleeping Mobile World Congress for the past month.

In the last two weeks things will have ratcheted up a few gears.

This week has been one of the only times when I’ve been able to catch PRs in the office past 7pm — a highly convenient time for me as that’s when I tend to get a bit of time to think outside the crammed business day.

It’s a different Mobile World Congress for me this year. I’m hosting one of the opening panel debates on Monday afternoon at the main conference. It promises to be a 90-minute rollercoaster of a ride. That’s the deal with any panels that I moderate. Accept no substitutes. We should have (managed) fireworks.

That means, however, that my focus is entirely different. I’ve not had the time to agree meetings and briefings and video interviews. Instead I’ve had to divert my attention to planning this big debate. It’s quite a thing.

Monday, as a result, is completely dedicated to the GSMA, basically. I will have time to walk the show and pop into a few press conferences (Nokia, for example) but I will need to keep an eye on the clock. It all kicks off at 2pm in the conference centre. I’ll post more details shortly. If you’ve bought a conference pass, do come along and say hello.

Tuesday, then, is event more complicated. There’s a ton of UKTI stuff happening — in particular, a load of judging for the SmartUK awards. I’ll be concentrating heavily on that.

Then on Wednesday I’m hosting yet another panel on site at MWC. No rest for the wicked.

I think this is probably the first MWC I’ll attend where I don’t have a single press briefing actually arranged. That’ll change dramatically I’m sure once I know what my precise schedule is.

I am, however, looking forward to walking the show, taking in the sights and checking out what event features the GSMA have organised for us all. Bring it on.

See you in Barcelona? 🙂