November 19-21 2009, 21 excellent speakers in front of a thousand people highligthed passages of their lives, trying to convey the essence of their research towards excellence.
The event, called 21 minutes, is an open project that will continue and develop during the years.

I have been asked to produce an interactive sketching experience using multitouch technology, that would help the speakers and the chairman Patrizio Paoletti to draw knowledge structures during the seminar. We brought an EDiT unit there, right side of the stage, and Pierpaolo Vittoria (a trained mind mapper) used my sketching application.

We had no precise plot, most of the speakers improvised or changed their mind just before the presentations, we had video output sent to the main screen.. a real live experience.
I am very satisfied with the whole event, since the contents were so high and inspiring, the audience became involved very soon with questions and a lot of social interaction during the breaks.

A lot of people came to see the technology, the “multitouch” was not much mentioned or noticed, instead the “creative, brainstorming, dynamic, shareable” modality was considered something new and unseen, and generated many ideas and connections.
Also Gilead Sher, an important Israeli negotiator and one of the first guests, appreciated the philosophy behind the application and played a lot with it.

Will playful and natural technology/design help people towards a better communication in order to understand each other?
I do hope so, and the research continues.