Excerpt from the Pre-Show Script V1.0
100 new cities. The boldest vision man has ever dared. One that will trigger a competition for economic and social advantage, the likes of which the world has never seen.
Surviving much less thriving will require much more than building a wall to keep competitors out. In fact it will require building a network to let the world in.
Data is the new currency, connecting the price of entry into the global competition for information, money and resources.
New financial models are emerging to make it possible for governments and their partners in the private sector to plan and build together what neither one can build alone.
Smart connected communities are sustainable. They provide their residents with a better life… at a lower operating cost to the city… and with less impact on the environment.
Healthcare will be the best available anywhere, because it will come from everywhere. Jobs will be better paid and more secure.
And your children?
The entire world will be their classroom, and all the people in it their teachers.All this will happen because people have the foresight to build a better city… so that someday soon you will be able to live a better life.
Cisco.
Connecting the way that you work, live, play and learn.
The Shanghai 2010 World Expo was the stage for six months of exhibits and events all addressing the rapid urbanization of the planet. Cisco decided to build a Pavilion at the Expo to demonstrate how their technology could be applied to the hundreds of new cities that will be built by 2050.
WHAT I DID WAS SOLVE A BIG PROBLEM. I explained how by providing a common service platform to connect private, public and semi-public agencies, extraordinary things can be accomplished.
It was the piece that Cisco had to have to explain to the government officials, private developers, service providers and CXOs who were being personally invited to tour the Pavilion why their solution mattered.
The Smart+Connected Life Guide took two months to research and write. Principal research included hour-long interviews with 45 Cisco employees and partners, each of whom was selected for their knowledge of a specific aspect of S+CC.
In addition, I conducted extensive online research, reviewing articles in the business press as well as websites of consulting groups, government agencies, foundations and businesses.
The project has a lot of spin-off elements. I wrote invitations targeted to multiple audience segments; 10, 20 and 60 minute scripts for the Solution Center presenters, and the “Bible” for the multiple PR agencies supporting the project. Portions were used for the website, and a shorter consumer version was developed as a gift to visitors.
