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EDN Europe's Editor Graham Prophet posts a selection of comments and insights prompted by the many items of industry news and rumour that cross the editorial desk or are gathered on his frequent travels to interviews, press conferences and events around Europe - and further afield - and somehow never find their way to the magazine or the web site, recovering some of the information otherwise lost in the noise level...

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

It is what you say, [not only] the way that you say it

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A reflection on a week at the electronica trade show: Over the course of the week there was a perceptible change in mood, or, at least, in some people’s outwardly-presented mood. At the beginning of the week, if you asked a senior executive or CEO how their company was faring in these troubled economic times, there was a fair amount of what our US colleagues call “whistling past the graveyard.” Or in British-English, “whistling in the dark.” Namely, putting on a show of bravado so as to hide your concern.
“Well, we’re not seeing too much real downturn in our own business just yet.” “We’re in good shape to weather whatever the economy throws at us.” – That sort of thing.
By mid-week they had all sniffed the air and detected the mood among their contemporaries and peer group. And, with a shift in emphasis that was barely noticeable while it was happening, all of a sudden it became acceptable to acknowledge that things really are not good at all.
By the end of the week it had become OK for the very same executives to be heard saying, “Yes, the next few quarters are going to be very difficult indeed.” Which only confirms what we all knew, anyway.

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