In just a few short days, many of you will be running through the streets of Cannes on the annual pilgrimage to the sun-soaked beaches to celebrate the spirit of creativity at Cannes Lions 2018. It's a fun week full of 30-minute meetings and five-minute interludes that culminates with a lot of follow-up.
If you want to be successful during the week of Cannes, you have to be prepared. I've been there the last five years and take this from me: What happens in Cannes needs to be activated so it doesn't stay in Cannes or your boss will be wondering why they dropped the money on such an expensive boondoggle in the first place.
Cannes is a business development person's dream. You get meetings with executives you otherwise would never have a chance to meet and get amazing levels of insight due to the nature of them being relaxed and willing to meet. To be prepared, I identified six essential mobile apps that you'll need to successfully and properly activate your time there.
Google Maps
You're going to be running from meeting to meeting, or jumping in a car, so you'll need directions to get from point a to point b. Google Maps is the best, most accurate global map to do just that. You can plot out your day from meeting to meeting and identify places along the way for a quick pick me up or a glass of rosé. You can even book an Uber or your ever-present Uber-copter to get to the airport from the app. Google Maps is the best way to get around Cannes.
What's App
Connecting with your team and colleagues in Cannes can be difficult. It's a fluid week with meeting locations changing all the time and the next event constantly being changed. With What's App you can build group messages and keep everyone up to date on when and where you need to be. Share updates to meetings and plans and make sure you know where you're headed next. What's even better is you can use it all on Wi-Fi and you won't get stuck with a massive text messaging bill.
Slack
By now your team is likely operating on Slack, but have you used the mobile app? It's a beautifully well-designed app that allows you to get quick insights to your team and follow the thread when you get back home. In Cannes you are schedule-challenged, likely being as much as nine hours off from that of your team, but you can easily drop them a note or share an insight and follow up on it when you get back. You can also tag the folks on your team who weren't there but who are required to make things happen.
Todoist
Sometimes when you leave a meeting or are headed to an event you simply need to remind yourself of something so you don't forget it. Check out Todoist and have your own personally running reminder app. Quickly note things that inspired you or got you thinking -- maybe it was an ad or a session you saw, or maybe it was overhearing someone else's conversation. Come up with a great creative idea and you don't want to lose it? Drop it quickly into Todoist for follow up when you get home. This way you never forget an inspiration.
Instagram
Let's not forget or overlook Instagram, which is an amazing way to capture and maintain a photographic log of what was inspiring to you. It's been around for a while, but it's a necessity in this kind of environment when sometimes you can't come up with the words and a picture could easily tell the story for you.
Voicera
As Chief Marketing Officer of this company, I have to testify for Voicera. Here's why I still objectively recommend it: Over the course of your trip to Cannes, you'll be meeting with literally hundreds of people. Your schedule is jam-packed with sessions that range from a bench on the Croisette to an air-conditioned beachfront conference room, to the patio of whatever hotel you landed at. All of these meetings are valuable, and all of these meetings require follow-up, either by you or people on your team. We designed Voicera to be an AI note-taker and meeting recorder. When you open the app and push start, Voicera enables an enterprise virtual assistant that will listen, take notes and e-mail those notes to you after the meeting, even updating your sales team with those notes to keep everyone on the same proverbial page.
Some of these apps are old and some are new, but these are all a necessity for Cannes. Before you leave, make sure you have them ready to go. I promise that they will make your Cannes trip more efficient, more effective and guarantee you the chance to attend another year. Cannes is a place where dreams come to the surface and great ideas are rewarded. Don't be late and forget yours!
Photo credit: William Hook/Unsplash
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