Isobar Brazil’s Marina Tunes shares her experience from The Monocle Quality of Life Conference
Erase from your memory pretentious, predictable events with similar environments, structures tribes and themes. The Monocle Quality of Life — QoL — Conference is not this. When it happens, it ventilates, airs, swirls and refreshes even the driest hearts and minds — and it blows freshness, strength, simplicity and truth.
Linked to the incredible English publication Monocle, QoL has had its fourth edition in a fourth different city: Zurich. Vienna, Lisbon, Berlin (where I attended it for the first time in 2017) were the other three. The selection of the event location is based on Monocle’s understanding of the quality of life and the sustainability projects in that place, and the idea is for participants to breathe in its culture through every pore.
The audience is eclectic and somewhat chaotic — we’re in a gush of inspirational wind, remember? For the Zurich edition, we were about 200 people from different industries, including real estate, retail, consulting, finance (Zurich, right?), architecture, biotechnology, logistics, aviation, engineering, healthcare, technology and drinks! I was the only Latin American representative from Brazil and Birigui (in São Paulo), and I came across just two media and advertising professionals, both owners of their companies. I also found market familiarity with someone from Spotify UK.
With few extremely low-profile sponsors, the conference lasts three days:
- First day — opening with a cocktail party so the participants can get to know one another;
- Second day — starting with a city run or a swim (in Lake Zurich at 21 Celsius degrees at 7 AM!), warming things up for a marathon of panels followed by drinks and a party;
- Third day — breakfast and a sightseeing tour. This edition offered a trip to Saint Moritz, for those willing to travel to the mountains.
The panels, ah, the panels… Moderated by Monocle’s editors, they lasted between 15 and 45 minutes at the most. Everyone stands on stage — zero monotony. PowerPoint and keynote were rare, and when they did exist, they favoured images. Most of the moderators were residents of Zurich, and included media entrepreneurs (newspapers, a 100% digital and a traditional one), sports (pn Running running shoes) and food retail (espresso machines with a modern design by Zuriga).
The speakers were academics and experts from all around the world, such as Hiroyuki Isobe, the Japanese architect responsible for the recently inaugurated Japan House London, as well as random, surprising names such as the author of the book about Roger Federer, Zurich’s biggest celebrity. Sports, architecture, journalism, coffee…? QoL’s commitment is not to logic, but to the ventilation of inspiring and transformative ideas.
Digital and Human (the building blocks of our lives nowadays) were topics present in all panels. Below, I highlight the five I liked the most:
1. Invisible technology in security, combining architecture and design to mitigate the risks and consequences of terrorist attacks. (I said QoL was full of truth!) How could we ignore this theme, even under the blue skies of Zurich? The experts’ views went beyond listing the vulnerabilities of cities such as Paris, Barcelona and Berlin. They talked about anti-terror planning with new technologies, whether with driverless cars or solutions to track and anticipate attacks, given our high connectivity. And as much as artificial intelligence can help, people must be educated to react in these situations. Education, should always be there…
2. Urban mobility, a matter of pride and long-term thinking for Zurich. This orientation is built on basic premises: it is not just about technology, but about public policy; it requires high investment per capita and the population has to be listened to. In Zurich, the option is for the investment in public transportation (everyone loves the Tram, the urban electric train), and, essentially, it is necessary to plan 20 years ahead. Swiss obstinacy with punctuality has been a source of inspiration here — to Jeannine Pilloud from Swiss Federal Railways, “three minutes late is a disaster, because when you’re proud of something, you do not want to fail.”
3. The price of silver brought up the discussion about population ageing and focused on the absence of opportunities for those over 50, a group that has been growing and hasn’t been properly served. Currently 40% of the U.S. population is over 50 years old and is infantilized, and seen as a market made of drug addicts. A proposal for our ageing process is urgent. Or do we expect Millennials to have this dissatisfaction and drive this movement? (By then, I’ll be dead…!)
4. Media: old and new. On the stage, an editor from the NZZ am Sonntag, a traditional Swiss newspaper, spoke alongside the co-founder of the Republik, a new digital newspaper, which was created through crowdfunding and stands as a vehicle that encourages debate. “I’ll talk about the new, because new models make me think.” The Republik, which launched its funding with this manifesto, calls its subscribers publishers because, in the words of its co-founder Richard Höchner, “they are the publishers who allow us to exist.” The Republik has an interesting position, but it is not free from the difficulties that devastate other publications, such as investments migrating to the platforms. Its business model sells the commitment to journalism based on investigative reporting and digital society. Modest and cautious, they don’t have plans to expand into other languages. Höchner said: “The journalist is a lemon that has been squeezed.” Then, he shared some hope: “We have a very strong relationship with our publishers, we listen to them, we debate, we do research with them, it’s a privileged, active relationship, but we write what we want.” In times of fake news, I really enjoyed it, but I still lack the proficiency in German to get updated with the Republik.
5. And we talked about food! How to feed your team, by the couple Daniela & Emanuel Steiner, who used to be marketers, but today own a corporate catering service (Felfel), feeding 25,000 people daily in offices around Switzerland. Perishable products, different “hungers” throughout the day and seasons make the business frantic — there is essential knowledge about Logistics and Behaviour, as well as partnerships with local producers so things don’t go sour. Today Felfel is very successful — employees are pushing companies to hire it. “Good food makes people happy”, my grandmothers used to say.
The main benefit to the event is its people. It’s all about people. I met and reconnected with amazing people. The Monocle QoL Conference puts people in close contact. Moderators reinforce all the time that you can and should connect with the panelists and participants during the breaks, and that this closer, informal experience leads to a rich exchange of references and, of course, business cards.
About Zurich: it has an inexplicably good summer. I recommend including many swims in the beautiful, clear lake of the city. Or, at least one drink on a balcony, as Monocle recommended in this video, an ode to the balconies. Monocle is launching a 55-apartment building in Hong Kong — could that be a clue to the next city to host the QoL Conference in 2019? It seems far in terms of time and space, but I bet my third time at the event will be equally unforgettable.
Marina Tunes, Director of Marketing & Communications, Isobar Brazil & Dentsu Aegis Network Brazil
