The telephone plays an increasingly central role in our daily lives. Now, for the first time, the company that is synonymous with telephones in Italy, Telecom Italia, is taking it to the streets to meet millions of Italian phone users and their families. Where? Up and down the country: PalaTelecom is a traveling multimedia roadshow, a veritable moveable city measuring over 10,000 square meters and comprising an Expo, Auditorium and a kids tent. Telecom Italia´s Wireline Services business unit is showcasing telecommunications today and tomorrow - fixed telephony and the Internet, and indeed the whole Telecom world. Young and old, families and kids, can learn about the heritage of the firm, and how it has become a driving force through Italy´s national history.
The first ever PalaTelecom tour sets off from Cagliari on 9 November, and concludes in Rome on February 2001. PalaTelecom is a traveling city, created by Telecom Italia Wireline Services in collaboration with Maurizio Costanzo.
PalaTelecom is a multimedia event that tells the story of Telephones and Telephony - increasingly central in the everyday lives of people in Italy - to a vast audience, spanning the young and old, families and children. Everybody will be able to interactively experience Telecom Italia´s latest fixed telephony technologies; find out about Italy´s domestic telephone network and its latest technological enhancements; learn about the work of thousands of people who staff the 187 service; find out about innovations that go by the names of ISDN, ADSL, VDSL and are destined to change our lives; hear about the history and current state of the Internet in Italy, a story of bits and webs, as told by Carlo Massarini; work out telephone service costs and tariffs; cast an eye over the communications campaigns run in recent years, the window through which the people of Italy have learned about the nation´s largest telephone company. And that´s just a part of what´s on offer.
This is the first time that Telecom has gone out to meet its customers "face to face". At a time when the telephone is playing such a major role in Italian homes, Telecom has taken an extremely innovative approach to setting up a dialogue with its consumers, compared to the way major corporations habitually communicate with their customers. Rather than a traditional advertising campaign, this is a major interactive event, allowing Telecom Italia to talk and listen to the people of Italy. The event is traveling to eight cities across the country, taking in the North, Center, South and the Islands. In one section of the Expo, members of the public can use touch-screen computers to "quiz" the company on costs and tariffs. During the evening shows, hosted in a 1200 seat auditorium, musicians and artists will be joined onstage by Telecom managers who will answer questions from the audience. These events will be hosted by Milly Carlucci and Federica Panicucci.
There´s also FiloMania, a transparent prefabricated structure dedicated to children and schoolchildren. FiloMania contains educational trails and events designed specially by the MuBa (the Milan Childrens´ Museum) to guide the very young on a voyage of discovery through interpersonal communication, the telephone, new technologies and select Expo highlights.
PalaTelecom will run for four days in each city, morning to night. Guests and members of the public can come and visit all nine sections of the Expo exhibition area, illustrating the world of telecommunications and Telecom Italia. During the day, seminars and roundtables are held in the two auditoriums. By night, there is an impressive program of concerts, shows and entertainment, bringing personalities from the world of theater, music, television and sport to the Grand Auditorium. DJs from Radio 105, the official PalaTelecom radio, will be on hand too.
When and where?
The PalaTelecom tour kicks off in Cagliari between 9 and 12 November, moving on to Turin (16/19 November), Palermo (30 November/3 December), Modena (7/10 December) and Naples (21/24 December). Dates for 2001 include Verona, Milan and Rome. PalaTelecom will run for four days in each city, from Thursday to Sunday.
The PalaTelecom press presentation event saw the participation of: Roberto Colaninno Telecom Italia Chairman and CEO; Rocco Sabelli, Executive Vice President, Director of Telecom Italia Wireline Services; Andrea Ragnetti, Head of Telecom Italia Wireline Services Residential Marketing; Vittorio Meloni, Executive Vice President, Director of Telecom Italia Group Communication and Image; Fulvio Zendrini, Head of Telecom Italia Wireline Services Residential Communication and Advertising.
It is possible to visit the site of Palatelecom.