Take a look at just some of the highlights from three brilliant days in Rome, from opening speaker and climbing hero Kevin Jorgeson to a superb final evening at the Festival of Media Global Awards.

The first day saw the awards judges come together to discuss the quality of global work on display – and indulge in a cheeky selfie, led by Kellogg’s Jon Suarez-Davis, who was to provide one of the quotes of the event.

Delegates gathered the following morning for two days of insightful content looking into the future of media.

Opening speaker, Dawn Wall climber Kevin Jorgeson, proved a popular draw.

Jorgeson told advertisers to ensure their content is built around a compelling story.

C Squared chairman Charlie Crowe was joined on-stage by MediaCom worldwide boss Stephen Allen, PHD Worldwide CEO Mike Cooper and Initiative global CEO Jim Elms.

Some of the world’s finest technology start-ups gathered in Rome as part of our Emerge programme.

Programmatic once again proved a hot topic, with experts from UM, Cadreon, Mashable and Johnson & Johnson debating its future.

TF1 Publicite chairman Laurent-Eric Le Lay passionately defended the emotional appeal of broadcast media.

Maxus CEO Lindsay Pattison received cheers from the audience when imploring media to seek greater diversity.

Singer Wrenne performed on the Terrazza Tiepolo at the Rome Cavalieri, courtesy of Initiative, to end day one at the conference.

Day two started with Bas Lansdorp and the mind-boggling possibility of a manned mission to Mars.

Microsoft’s popular global innovation guru JC Oliver continued the interstellar theme, explaining why the company wants to save mankind from falling asteroids.