Attention, professionally anxious media people.
BANFF Needs Your Worst Thought
BANFF has made the extremely smart and possibly legally interesting decision to let me open the conference by answering anonymous questions the industry usually saves for corridor whispers, panicked dinners, and the third drink no one is brave enough to expense properly.
The premise is simple.
Before everyone spends a week saying things like “challenging but exciting” and “creator economy” while privately wondering whether the entire business model has been replaced by vibes, debt, and a group chat called “quick question”, I am going to host a session built around the questions people are actually carrying.
Essentially, my job is to read everyone’s diaries, say the worst bits into a microphone, pull off the plaster early, and make the rest of the conference more honest, more useful, and marginally less possessed.
A conference opener, but make it a professional exorcism.
This is where you come in (whether or not you’ll be attending in person).
BANFF has created an anonymous survey where you can submit the question you think the industry should be brave enough to answer in public.
No names. No companies. No attribution.
Just you, your darkest little strategic truth, and a Google Form that did not ask to become evidence.
Please use it to commit a small act of industry treason.
Send the question that would make Legal briefly look up from their phone, HR blink twice, and three executives suddenly remember they have a “hard stop”.
AI. Advertising. Audience fragmentation. Cultural relevance. Streaming economics. The uncomfortable feeling that “market evolution” might just be what we are calling the furniture being on fire.
All welcome.
The best, worst, sharpest, rudest, truest questions will help shape the opening session at BANFF on Sunday 14 June at 11:30am MT in the Cascade Ballroom.
It should be smart. It should be useful. It should be fun. It may also briefly ruin brunch.
Submit by Friday 29 May.
Commit a small act of industry treason here
The survey is anonymous.
Your cowardice, however, is between you and God.