At this year’s Software Industry Conference, myself and Sharon Housley (NotePage, Inc.) co-presented a session on Marketing in a Recession.
The session went well, yet the feedback we received was fascinating. It turned out that most of the people who attended the talk believed that the worst of the recession was now behind us, and that we had taken our first steps on the road to recovery.
The question is to what extent this was influenced by the people who were attending the session. On one hand you might argue that the people attending such a conference were at the very least coping reasonably well with the recession. On the other hand you might believe that the presentation itself was more likely to attract people whose businesses were struggling.
A quick glance at the BBC website’s Business section shows some encouraging signs, despite the BBC’s permanent state of doom and gloom:
Sharp jump in US new home sales
Deutsche Bank sees profits rise
Updated: First 2009 rise for house prices
So are we now past the worst?
I’d love to share my personal prediction, but with only a 50% chance of being correct, I’ll hold back for now. But as pointed out during my talk, a year ago many were fearing the worst and calculating how long they could survive with no income at all. Today there seems to be more caution, less fear.
