9:30 AM - 10:45 AM
Session C:
E-Commerce and V-Commerce in Streaming Media Environment
With every major information and entertainment site adding streaming media to its content format, adding E-commerce or, as it’s called now, V-commerce features to the site is the next order of business. Just as developing the content for streaming media has its own set of rules, so does the addition of the monetizing experience. As companies introduce and test various V-commerce plans, case histories with invaluable information is building up that can help the rest of us. In this session, we bring together companies active in the process of V-commerce in the streaming environment.
Krishna Pendyala, Co-Founder & Vice-Chairman, MediaSite
Steve Chester, President, Digital Planet
Howard Lefkowitz, Vice President of Business Development & Internet Marketing, EarthLink
Joanna Shields, CEO, Veon
Allan Haims, VP E-Commerce, Interactive Video Technologies (IVT)
Randy Levine, Director of Business Development, Navisite
Chaz Austin, President, Austin Digital Media Consulting, Moderator
Steve Chester, President, Digital Planet: Steven Chester brings over 12 years of Internet experience to his role as President of Digital Planet, the leading broadband services company providing B2B web services and innovative content for companies doing business on the web. Digital Planet (as Revolution Media) worked with America Online to introduce the world to online expert and celebrity chats. Digital Planet continues to be a leader in the industry. Chester has been instrumental in building a prestigious client list including WebMD, Wherehouse.com/Checkout.com, MXGonline, Doritos/SonicNet.com, and the Internet’s top three portals—Yahoo!, Excite and Lycos. He oversees the daily operation of the company and is a key force in guiding its growth. The company recently produced the webcast for the spectacular KIIS-FMi Wango Tango concert, a nine-camera, nine-hour live interactive event hosted by *NSYNC with Lenny Kravitz, Sugar Ray, Marc Anthony, Enrique Iglesias, Sisqo and more. In 1998, Chester joined iXL (NASDAQ: IXL), as Vice President of Enhanced Television and Broadband in charge of developing and producing strategies and applications for media, cable and satellite companies. As Vice President of Media and Entertainment, he served as a liaison between iXL and various media and entertainment companies to develop their online strategies and presence. Previously, Chester owned and operated World Wide Workshop, where he created cutting-edge on and off-line advertising and marketing campaigns for Generation "Y" brands such as Smashbox Cosmetics and Mossimo, and for corporate clients such as Procter & Gamble. With Gap, Inc., he successfully expanded the company’s product line by developing and managing five new business sectors. He was the Marketing Manager for CBS, Inc., in charge of developing marketing strategies for the network’s owned-and-operated television stations. Chester began his career in the entertainment industry as a production assistant for legendary film directors Woody Allen and Brian DePalma, before joining the marketing department at Hemdale Film Corporation. He is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley and holds an MBA from The Stern School of Business at New York University. He received a film certificate from New York University and studied marketing at the prestigious E.S.A.D.E. in Barcelona, Spain.
Joanna Shields, CEO, Veon: Joanna Shields joined Veon as Chief Executive Officer in 1998 and has guided the company's ascent from technology leader to its present position as the leader in end-to-end broadband programming solutions for commercial and entertainment applications. Shields came to Veon from graphics server leader Electronics for Imaging (EFI), where she worked seven years in key management positions including Vice President of Production Systems and Vice President of Worldwide Sales. Prior to that, she held positions as Product Marketing Manager and Senior Sales Manager for the Graphics Systems Division of Canon USA, as well as Marketing Manager for National Digital Corporation. She began her career as a Research Analyst for Deloitte, Haskins and Sells. Ms. Shields holds a B.Sc. from Pennsylvania State University and an MBA from George Washington University.
Krishna Pendyala is the Co-Founder and Vice Chairman of MediaSite, Inc. (formerly ISLIP Media, Inc.) with over 15 years of experience in new media and digital video. Prior to starting ISLIP Media, he was Assistant Director of the Informedia Digital Video Library Project at Carnegie Mellon University. The research focused on how users would interact with video content in an online world. Accomplishments in summarization, personalization and navigation of time-based media were the highlights of the research project. Mr. Pendyala was also the founder of Visual Symphony, Inc. which developed networked interactive multimedia applications. He serves as an UNESCO consultant to India on multimedia infrastructure and was the vice president of the International Interactive Communications Society (IICS).
Chaz Austin (http://chazaustin.com) has worked in the digital media industry since 1992 as an advisor on eCommerce strategies, university instructor, columnist, journalist and lecturer. He was Vice President of the Los Angeles Chapter of the International Interactive Communications Society (IICS), the leading professional association in the field, until the end of 1993. In 1994, he was elected the IICS' International Vice President and during that year he produced and Co-Chaired the First International IICS Convention. He was also a member of the Board of Governors of the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences from 1993-1996. Chaz was one of the very first New Media Agents in the industry. At the Agency For The Performing Arts in 1995, he negotiated both Web and CD-ROM projects with major publishers including Simon & Schuster Interactive, Broderbund, Compton's New Media, Electronic Arts, GTE Interactive Media, Dreamworks Interactive and Mindscape. Clients he worked with included Hal Holbrook, Greg Roach/Hyperbole Studios, Brilliant Media, and "Voyeur" director Robbie Weaver. He was president of his own consultancy, Austin Digital Media Consulting, from 1996-1999. It specialized in online marketing, and building traffic and increasing revenues for companies involved in the Internet and New Media. His extensive list of clients included peakcare.com, Visible Productions, Wedding411.com, Avery Dennison Worldwide Office Products Software Development Group, homedelivery.com, DataMining.com, United Internet Technologies, Hypertouch Corporation, Intershop.com, Woodstock.com, Digitrends, The New Media Invision Awards,The Interactive Agency, The Internet Development Group, Cinovation, Inc. (makers of Scriptware), AudioUniverse.com, ASR Recording Services, and IHadSexWithClinton.com, among others. Chaz was recently Senior Vice President of Business Development at SusanLoveMD.com. A best-selling author and member of President Clinton's National Cancer Advisory Board, Dr. Love is the "best known figure in the field of women's health," according to The New York Times. Chaz is also an Instructor in the Entertainment Studies Department at UCLA Extension, where he teaches one semester every year. His new eight-week course, which begins in October 2000, is "Making The Transition: Interactive Media and the Internet for Entertainment Professionals." Chaz holds a B.A. in Sociology from the City College of New York, and an M.A. in Broadcast Communication Arts from San Francisco State University.