Today, we attended the open discussion between one of the most visionary entrepreneurs of our time: Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, and Sigmar Gabriel, German Minister of Economic Affairs and Energy. The topic of the day was “The Economy of Tomorrow” and how it can be achieved with sustainable transport, new energy concepts and proper regulation.

However, in retrospect, the topic of the day could have also been “How to Ruin a Discussion with an Unorganized Event”. Although the talk offered many interesting insights and could have been a great basis for an interactive and interesting discussion, the terrible execution prevented that from happening.

This inspired us to give you six simple tips to make a mess of your next event:

1. Choose a host who is super nervous and makes the impression of being unprepared.
   It’s an essential way to give the whole event an unorganised touch.
2. Announce a super innovative live-stream and abort it during the event.
3. Choose interpreters who like to repeat themselves continuously.
   People might get distracted by clear and concise translations.
4. Collect all the questions and try to answer them all at once, just to make the Q&A that little bit more difficult to understand.
   No need to get into a discussion. Better focus on giving an over-organised aka confusing impression.
5. Whatever you do, DO NOT forget to implement a “StudiVZ”-social-share button on your website. Germans don’t like those new networks like Facebook. StudiVZ rules!
   
6. Leave the stage to have a reason to cut your event short. Great way to inconspicuously cut off a disruptive speaker.

 

But to be fair, not all was bad. Here are five inspiring statements from Elon Musk:

1. We have to work hard on our goals. “We will live in a sustainable society! The question is how much CO₂ we wanna blow in the air until we get there.” Musk criticised the German dilatoriness regarding electronic mobility. “We need to just do it. We need to stop effectively subsidizing fossil fuels.”
2. The best people should work on electric cars. According to Musk, sustainable mobility should be a topic of priority. “The best people have to sit on it”, he pointed out.
3. CO₂ emissions should be taxed properly. The government has to know its role and work on reducing CO₂ emissions. According to Musk, this is an important way of going in the right direction and raising awareness on the topic. “Tax CO₂ emissions properly and inevitably good things will happen.” Gabriel slowed him down by saying this is not on the European Union’s agenda.
4. There are no official incentives to buy electronic cars for customers in Germany. Musk’s engagement is based on the awareness that we create our future now. “We will become a multi-planet species.”
5. “Regulation does not stop innovation but it stops us from doing foolish things”

Find the video of the event here.