DILK: German IT Leaders Congress 2020

Due to the pandemic, the German IT Leaders' Congress took place mainly online this year. That's why I didn't give my talk in front of 2,000 participants, but only 15. Nevertheless, I prefer a small audience on site than a purely online conference.

Conference

"DILK meets solutions" at Kampnagel in Hamburg

The German IT Leaders' Congress (DILK) took place in a new and special form in 2020. Under the motto "DILK meets solutions", Germany's largest trade congress for IT decision-makers met Germany's largest digitalisation congress, solutions. The aim was to highlight the opportunities of digitalisation and IT and offer concrete solutions and perspectives - also to overcome the negative effects of the global Corona pandemic as quickly as possible.

Better hybrid than online-only

The German IT Leaders' Congress is a wonderful opportunity to speak in front of a few thousand colleagues - except in times of pandemic. Then there are only 15 in the whole hall. Just as many as in technology, moderation and organisation. Still, as a speaker, I prefer to have at least a small audience. For me, it represents the many online viewers and enables me to have a dialogue with the audience.

To avoid the focus of the transmission camera constantly changing from my face to the slides, I decided without further ado to give my lecture without slides. Because in the wide-angle view of the slides, you as the presenter become a little man on the edge of the screen and lose the connection to the audience for good.

After the participants had to keep a minimum distance of 1.5 metres, it was a special challenge to create a good atmosphere. After all, the participants do not feel each other in the same way as when they are sitting close together. In order for my punchlines to still work, I have to address every single member of the audience. That is also an important challenge that I don't want to miss.

Conference