No more MWC? Really?

It’s normally around the start of February, when most of us involved in the telecommunications industry start thinking about the Mobile World Congress. It’s that nostalgic moment, when all the memories of last year begin to come back. The weather, the beers (even though I don’t drink), the meetings and the sore feet from all the walking. You know what to expect, but don’t know exactly what to expect.

The preparation begins with the small posts on LinkedIn, and the email signatures. I reach out to old contacts to see if they are attending, and tell them how great it would be to catch up again after a year. Meanwhile, my wife is looking forward to Valentine’s day, under the impression that I am maybe for the first time ever, actually planning something romantic. No such luck dear – I’m too busy sending Inmails and emails, and trying to navigate through the exhibitors and the networking tool on the MWC official website.  My wife is thinking about a romantic dinner, whilst I am thinking about whether I want to attend MEF connect on Monday night!

The event seems so many weeks away, and before you know it, the event has crept up on you, and it’s now next week. Aah - the last dash for meetings, filling your calendar up to impress your boss and to make yourself look organised, when truthfully, you know that the meeting schedule never goes according to plan. But you have to do this to justify the expensive flight, the hotel room that has quadrupled from its normal rate per night, and to reinforce the need the company has for your presence at MWC. All those meetings – look how busy I am – look how much new revenue I could ‘potentially’ bring in. I have to go to sunny Barcelona (especially when the UK is still cold and wet).

I arrive at the Fira, excited by the hype and buzz around the event. Hundreds and thousands of people… hundreds of exhibitors, and for a moment as I approach the venue, it all becomes a little overwhelming. Wow – so many people. Who are they? Who do they work for? I feel myself looking at every persons badge as I walk past them, but as my eyes begin to hurt, I decide it’s not such a good idea to spot an opportunity in this fashion. So then I stick to the plan – get to Hall 8.1 for my first meeting. As I step in to the venue, I remember that Hall 8.1 is 10 miles away! So I have to pick up my pace and get there on time. Excited by the new year, the new advances in tech, the new exhibitors and the new opportunities there might be, I reach the hall and… my first thought… ‘Oh god… here we go again’… I’m so disappointed. Same old names. Same old booths. Same old sugar (I used the word sugar, but you can replace this with any word that describes being disappointed). I already know all these companies. I already know these people. Some of them even have the same models they used last year. And that is the first time in the trip that I ask myself… ‘Is it really worth coming to MWC anymore?’

Day one turns out to be very successful, meeting old contacts, making new contacts and basically coming up to speed with what’s going on in the industry. The feeling of the morning has gone. I don’t feel overwhelmed anymore, even though at times, it was hard to hear myself think in the halls, outside the halls, in the networking garden, or even in the train on the way to the hotel. It actually feels good to be here in Barcelona. After all, I am surrounded by people who want to do business right? I mean, where else would you be able to walk up to the founder of a $2b company and give him a hug? Where else would you be able to talk to the CEO of organisations from India, Netherlands, Switzerland, Nigeria etc in one place? Where else could you bump into a stranger, who then takes a picture of you for you in front of the Fira, and then turns out to be the CTO of Huawei!

I spend the next few days having my meetings, making new contacts, meeting old connections and asking them the questions that are to shape our industry. By our industry, I mean the messaging industry. The hype is about being a ‘Cloud communication provider’, or selling yourself as a ‘Communication Platform As A Service’. Truth is, almost every organisation doing SMS is still doing SMS. The only difference is, some have added new features like voice or numbers, and some have simply wrapped up SMS in a different type of wrapping paper to make it look different to the other SMS guys. It’s almost like watching a wildlife documentary. The large aggressive crocodile lays subdued in the sun after having its meal, whilst the small Plover bird eats the food between its teeth. The crocodile will watch the Plover bird closely, but will never eat it, because the two species help each other. (There were no real reptiles at MWC, but you get the picture).

The messaging industry is evolving, and has to evolve because of organisations that have simply said; you either keep up or get left behind. The Google’s, the Uber’s and the Facebook’s of the world are demanding, moulding and reshaping the evolution. Some big fish are simply eating the small fish to evolve, and some fish have just learnt that they can survive side by side, and fend for themselves in a different part of the ocean. Fact remains; you’re still a fish, in a very big ocean.

Mobile World Congress is pivotal to the growth of the industry. The insights of the industry, the mergers and acquisitions, and the trends of the market mean that MWC is more than just a place to meet and start new business. Its a place to learn how your business is going to change, and how you can potentially prepare for that change. It doesn’t matter how many times on this trip I thought to myself; “It’s the same old sugar, I’m not coming here next year”. I know I will be back, because if I don’t attend, I will get left behind...

DISCLAIMER: Opinions expressed in this post are solely my own and do not express the views of any company I am or was employed by in the past, present or future. Names, characters, crocodiles, birds, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of my imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons or animals, living or dead, or actual businesses is purely coincidental.