Return from Slovenia

Just back from Slovenia, which explains my rather lengthy absence from this space. I was at an advertising festival called the Golden Drum, the adfest of the New Europe. It's held in Portoroz, a rather cute little seaside town perched on the Adriatic, across the bay from Duino (fans of the poet Rilke will remember his Duino Elegies). I was there to talk about my book ADLAND and moderate a debate about the future of advertising. You can hear a little of what I was rambling on about here if you scroll down a bit.
One thing I liked about the Golden Drum was that, compared to the advertising industry's huge international junket in Cannes, it's a much smaller, more familial affair. The whole thing takes place at the Grand Hotel Bernardin, where all the delegates stay, so it's easy to get chatting to spiky haired Hungarian creatives or willowy art directors from Bucharest. The hotel is gratifyingly strange, too: a brutal post-Communist structure welded to the side of a cliff. You take the elevator down to your room - which has a guaranteed sea view.

Just a short stroll along the coast is another town called Piran. As well as some excellent fish restaurants, it has a pleasantly windswept, salt-corroded atmosphere and still bears traces of this region's ancient colonial power, the Venetians.

One thing I've decided I don't like is moderating debates. The speakers ramble on for ages, and get annoyed when you try to cut them off in a desperate attempt to keep to time. The last speaker is even more furious, because by then you're running hours late. Next year I think I'll just make a guest appearance, rather than taking a starring role.