June 14, 2007, 12:16 pm : Cannes Cyber Jury - Day 2

Thurs 14 June – Cannes – Tom Eslinger

Today is the first day of judging, beginning with a briefing for the judges and a some guidance from me on what to look for and where I feel we need to go: find the big, game-changing ideas and aim for a high, Cannes-worthy standard for Cyber and the rest of the Festival, too. I’m keen to get everyone working as fast as possible, so we move into the judging room, got behind our computers and got clicking. This is when reality sets in – with a record high number of entries, we have a huge amount of work ahead, each of us judging over 500 entries in four days. The first day has a slow start – some of the jury have been on planes up to 20 hours and the empty coffee pots prove this point. It’s a little hard to get to know people when you spend the whole day with headphones on looking at the screen, but the feeling in the room is warm, and not just from the lack of air conditioning. I looked around at lunch at this really interesting group of people and I feel like I’m in a cool, smart graduate school exchange programme in the south of France. Well, I guess I am. And the final exam is just around the corner.

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