Tuesday 26th June 2018

On this last full day of workshop, the focus was on technology, audience, managerial style and partnerships. And in a way, it was clearly about human beings, passion, respect and gut feeling again.

Here are some Bálint Rádóczy’s amazing pictures which captured the studious, attentive and warm atmosphere of the day.

 Loyalty schemes and projects were first discussed. Michael Friedrich introduced Cinuru app and denied being the template for the boy on the ad but we knew better. Then came the Yorck Karte and its very advanced customer data analysis system, MOVIO. With this system, one can really target and monitor subscription and be playful, surfing on occasions like birthdays or World Cups to get on to customers. The conclusion of this session was that often the apps or technological tools are still on their testing phase, but at least they help reflect on one’s organization about data and information in general.

As far as staff managing and its improvement are concerned, the group really had to rely on the trust which was created over the past few days to share positive and less pleasant experience. The belief that binds everybody is that the workers are the soul of the place and in particular the ones who are in the front line: box-office staffers for instance. Madeleine Probst underscored the necessity to share purposeful bonding time with one’s staff, to really care, to be a tight group in order to venture into creativity and new ideas which are always fragile. The way we communicate is at the core of everything, so managing the workflow, through comment lists etc. is crucial. It is a slow work but totally worth achieving.

Hrvoje Laurenta shared that in Croatia there is no actual education for job in the cultural industry so he must find ways to train his staff: trust and a few tricks ( do not answer your phone right away) are the keys for him. Sometimes you have to go on a retreat as well, that’s what Daniel did to intensively work out some issues and at the same time seeing each other’s positions, choices and emotions under different light. Sometimes, you simply have to admit to yourself you’re “on a same boat”, that’s what Jakob Beubler  (KIZ Royal Kino, Austria – Delegation revision of workflows and employees’ tasks) does.

The prospect of collaborations that add values both to cinemas and the partners (digital platform..) wrapped up the day with Jon Barrenechea (VP Marketing at MUBI in French “un service de streaming ? Un programmateur ? Une compagnie de production ? Un distributeur ? Un passionné de cinéma ? Oui“). and Tara Judah (Programme Producer at Watershed) speaking about MUBI‘s partnerships with film theatres, film schools, the modern critiques and Cinema Rediscovered festival in Watershed. According to Tara, there are multiple ways to watch a film and the catalogue and practice of MUBI allows a sens of discovery and  the creation of a cinephile culture with the equivalent of someone guiding you, online.

 

What should be preciously kept of this day, beyond the still undeniable lovely substantial meal at Da Bertino of course is that one should always see the bigger picture, beyond money issue, beyond punctual crisis. You also need to stay clear and have things easy and direct. Accepting that most tools or approaches should not be permanent is also a good tip, as Gian Luca Farinelli stated at the very beginning of this workshop : we keep learning.

And, apparently some participants learnt some deep philosophical lessons during the time spent together :

while other learnt about burritos:

or did I mix it up ?

C.W.