Who went to Stars Wars Celebration Europe? (We did!) This year’s convention was an incredible one, taking place in Essen and featuring some of the top talent of the series including Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher. The ultimate Star Wars fan experience, there were panels, signings, special screenings and exhibits – everything you could need to scratch that itch before the new films emerge. Last year’s Celebration VI event in Orlando Florida had 35,000 attendees, one of the biggest crowds yet, and the previous Celebration Europe convention held in London in 2007 saw 29,000 fan boys and girls in incredible outfits to discuss and appreciate the phenomenon that is Star Wars.
If you’re after a more business-oriented event, for five days in September the IFA consumer electronics convention in Berlin will be taking place, with some of the industry leaders in tablets, smart phones and smart TVs as well as washing machines and computers. Keynote speakers, presentations and sales schemes for electronics markets will take up the majority of the time, making this event necessary for leading companies. Leading media companies will be there, including CNBC, PC Mag, Stuff Magazine and the delightfully named Übergizmo.
If you can hang on until next year, the Mobile World Congress in the Fira Gran Via in Barcelona will take place in February. Keynote speeches will come from some of the industry giants, including Dennis Crowley, the founder and CEO of Foursquare and Stephen Elop, president and CEO of Nokia. For the technically minded this place is a haven, and with regular flights to Barcelona there’s no need to miss out on next year’s talks from the chairmen of Mozilla. The GSMA Seminar details a programme of education on mobile privacy, spectrum and disaster response within companies as well as app developer conferences.
Also taking place during February in Barcelona at the Mobile World Congress are the Global Mobile Awards, taking place from the 24th to the 27th. Although virtually no information has been released about next year’s event, 2013’s was great fun, with the winners being honoured in an afternoon celebration hosted by David Walliams, the British comedian and actor. Winners included Samsung for Best Mobile Enabled Consumer Electronics, Vodafone Foundation for the best use of mobile in emergency or humanitarian situations, and maybe unsurprisingly Facebook for best mobile app for consumers. Spanning charity, consumerism, sport and advertising, the awards go to the industry giants who have helped the world become a better place through innovation. If technology is your thing, February 2014 in Barcelona is THE place to be.
Marc
Marc is a self-confessed nerd. Ever since seeing Star Wars for the first time around 1979 he’s been an unapologetic fan of the Wars and still believes, with Clone Wars and now Underworld, we are yet to see the best Star Wars. He’s a dad of two who now doesn’t have the time (or money) to collect the amount of toys, comics, movies and books he once did, much to the relief of his long-suffering wife. In the real world he’s a graphic designer. He started Following the Nerd because he was tired of searching a million sites every day for all the best news that he loves and decided to create one place where you can go to get the whole lot. Secretly he longs to be sitting in the cockpit of his YT-1300 Corellian Transport ship with his co-pilot Chewie, roaming the universe, waiting for his next big adventure, but feels just at home watching cartoons with his kids….
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