Click on the Video Below and Sample a Session from a previous Digital Hollywood event. For Additional Video Sessions, Click Here Digital Hollywood, Santa Monica Monday, June 11th Track III. User Generated Media & Social Networks – Media, Communications and Entertainment Reinvented 3:45 PM – 5:00 PM Session C Personalized Media – User Generated Media, Personalized News, Blogs & PodCasts Personal media has invaded the territory of the media giants. TV networks, even cable networks and radio networks can no longer ignore the potential threat posed by the social networks, the blogosphere and the world of Podcasts. By the millions, consumers are flocking to the web and mobile experience provided by the new technologies. If you think that blogs are simply parasites of the news business that are to be slapped at and complained about, then you’re not paying attention to the business at hand. Bloggers may be individually unique and only sometimes accurate, but as a whole, as a blogosphere, they are a billion person universe of ideas and free expression that far exceeds the reach of all TV networks combined. While the world of personal media remained behind a disorganized technological barrier, it posed no threat to traditional mass media, but as new and amazingly inventive tools are created to unleash the power of personal media begin to appear so does its power as an information, entertainment and advertising force. In this session we will explore this new territory. Alex Blum, CEO, KickApps Leonard Brody, CEO, NowPublic Eric Newman, VP and General Manager, Pluck Chris Tolles, VP Marketing, Topix JD Lasica, founder, OurMedia.org/Partner, Outhink Media/President, Social Media Group Jason Oberfest, Managing Director, Product Strategy, Los Angeles Times Interactive Shelly Palmer, Managing Partner, Advanced Media Ventures Group LLC and President of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, Moderator Leonard Brody, NowPublic’s CEO, is one of Canada’s most respected young technology entrepreneurs. He has helped in raising millions of dollars for startup companies, been through one of the largest internet IPOs in history and has been involved in the building, financing and/or sale of four companies to date. Much critical acclaim has followed him in his endeavours. At Onvia Canada (where he was part of the initial executive) the company was voted Canada’s number one startup in 2000 and subsequently closed a $240 Million NASDAQ IPO. At Marqui (where he was Chief Advisor) the startup was rated as the best new internet company in the country in 2003. Jason Oberfest, Managing Director, Product Strategy, LA Times: As Managing Director of Product Strategy for Los Angeles Times Interactive, Jason Oberfest is responsible for product design and business development for the existing LA Times Interactive properties (which attract 7.9 million unique visitors and serve over 83 million page views monthly) as well as for a new suite of forthcoming products. At Los Angeles Times Interactive, Jason has been responsible for improving customer loyalty and other key audience metrics while also boosting advertising effectiveness. Jason led a 2006 Phase I redesign of LATimes.com, which resulted in a 279% increase in monthly page view rate growth and a 52% increase in monthly unique visitor growth. Jason has also played a key role in growing cost-per-click advertising revenue by 243% and online display ad revenue by 73%. In late 2005 Jason designed and developed The Envelope.com, a new entertainment industry awards website which served 23 million page views during the 2005-2006 awards season. Prior to joining the Times in May 2005, Jason served as a consultant to AOL, leading the design and development of many online products including AOL Shopping, AOL Search, and AOL Travel search. He has also worked with clients including Sony, Viacom and A&E Television Networks on the design of numerous media and commerce properties. J.D. Lasica is one of the world's leading authorities on citizens' media and the revolution in user-created media. A writer, strategist, blogger and consultant, he is the co-founder and head of Ourmedia.org, president of the Social Media Group and a partner in Outhink, a company that enables social media and distributed video production. His book about the personal media revolution is Darknet: Hollywood's War Against the Digital Generation (Wiley & Sons, May 2005). Author Lawrence Lessig said of "Darknet": "There are few who see the future clearly, and even fewer who can explain what they see. This brilliant, beautifully written book sees, and explains." Eric Newman, Vice President & General Manager, Portal Solutions, Pluck Corp.: Eric Newman is a pioneer in social media technologies and a frequently tapped expert on the new media platforms and strategies that foster successful web properties. Sharing perspectives on user-generated content, information syndication, blogging, social networking, and RSS, Eric has served as a source to major media outlets and frequently speaks at industry events on the topic. Eric has a history of delivering successful embedded solutions for leading Internet and software companies. Prior to joining Pluck, Eric ran product management for data integration provider Pervasive (PVSW). He previously served as vice president of marketing at Powered, a provider of embedded internet marketing solutions. He was also director of portal solutions at AskJeeves (ASKJ) and served in various management roles at Lotus/DataBeam and Convergys. Eric earned his MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and his undergraduate degree in Marketing and Management Information Systems from the University of Cincinnati. Alex Blum, Chief Executive Officer, KickApps: As the CEO of KickApps, Alex is responsible for building a world class technology, marketing, business development, finance, and operations team with the goal of providing web publishers the tools to easily enable their sites with User Generated Content, Social Networking, Premium Video, and Content Syndication capabilities. Before joining KickApps, Alex was President and COO of JumpTV, a leading Multi-Cultural Internet Protocol Television Network. Prior to JumpTV Alex spent 8 years at AOL most recently as the Vice President of Product Marketing for AOL's Audience business where Alex and his team were responsible for re-launching the AOL Portal and delivering an entire suite of web-based applications including: AOL's Video Player, Video Portal, Streaming Video advertising platform, AIM and AIMpages social networking service. Prior to that, Alex was General Manager of AOLTV, where he established strategic relationships with DirecTV, TiVo, OpenTV and Philips Electronics. Prior to joining AOL, Alex spent ten years in the software industry participating in three successful startup opportunities. Alex has an MBA from the Albers School of Business at Seattle University and a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Colorado. Chris Tolles, VP Marketing, Topix: Chris came to Topix from Spoke Software, a business social networking company, where he was a co-founder and VP of marketing. Before Spoke, Chris was a Director of Marketing at AOL/Netscape for AOL Music, Netscape Search and Directory Products. Chris was a co-founder and VP of Marketing at NewHoo, and led the sale of the company to Netscape. After the acquisition, NewHoo was relaunched as the Open Directory Project at Netscape and became the world's largest human edited directory of the web, and is still used by companies like Google, Alexa and AOL. Previous to NewHoo, Chris held a variety of sales, marketing and management positions at Sun Microsystems. Chris graduated from the University of California at San Diego with degrees in Computer Science and Economics, where he was awarded the Michael J. Addison award for his senior thesis about the online information industry. Shelly Palmer, Managing Partner, Advanced Media Ventures Group LLC: Palmer is the President of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, NY (the organization that bestows the coveted Emmy® Awards). He is the Vice-Chairman of the National Academy of Media Arts & Sciences an organization dedicated to education and leadership in the areas of technology, media and entertainment. Palmer also oversees the Advanced Media Technology Emmy® Awards which he created in 2003 to honor outstanding achievements in the science and technology of advanced media. Along with his contributions to the advancement of television, Palmer is a pioneer in the field of Internet technologies. He is the inventor of Enhanced Television used by programs such as ABC’s Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and Monday Night Football. In 2004, ABC's Celebrity Mole Yucatan received an Emmy® Award in the category of Enhancement of Original Television Content. It was Palmer who led ABC’s team of advanced media professionals and spearheaded the award-winning project. Palmer is a popular speaker and moderator at technology and media conferences hosted by industry organizations and top tier colleges and universities, like: The Consumer Electronics Show (CES), The National Association of Broadcasters Convention (NAB), The National Show presented by the National Cable Television Association (NCTA), Telecom presented by the United States Telecom Association, Digital Hollywood, iHollywood, DV Expo and ITV Europe. He is a guest lecturer at the MIT Media Lab, Stern Graduate Business School at NYU, The Columbia Institute for Tele-Information (CITI) at Columbia University, The Graziadio School of Business Management at Pepperdine University, The Digital Content Lab at the American Film Institute and other top tier colleges and universities. Over the last two decades, Palmer has enjoyed a highly distinguished career as a composer and producer. His professional vitae includes years of experience in television production and musical composition. He created and produced HotPop, a teen lifestyle and music show airing on Starz/Encore’s WAM! As a prolific composer, Palmer was the recipient of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP's) 12th Annual Film and Television Music Award for ABC’s hit series Spin City. He was also recognized the following season in the category of “Most Performed Television Themes.” Palmer's music credits include the theme songs for Live with Regis & Kelly, Rivera Live and MSNBC as well as the digital debut of the "real" cat singing the classic “Meow, Meow, Meow, Meow.” Palmer is the host of Media 3.0 with Shelly Palmer a weekly business news series. A graduate of New York University’s School of the Arts, he is the author of one of the most popular television business news blogs, www.Media30.com, a weekly columnist for the Jack Myers Report, The Huffington Post and a technology commentator for CNN.com. His book Television Disrupted: The Transition from Network to Networked TV(www.televisiondisrupted.com) about the technological, economic, and sociological forces that impact the future of television, media and entertainment is is available on www.amazon.com. For more information, visit www.shellypalmer.com.