Networked Entertainment World Conference Agenda

Natasha V. More (natasha@extropic-art.com)
Tue, 10 Feb 1998 08:04:30 -0600


N:E:W Conference
February 11th to 13th , 1998
The Beverly Hilton Hotel
Los Angeles, California

February 11th
7:00 PM - 10:00 PM

Evening Reception:
MIT Media Lab in ASSOCIATION WITH THE CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF ARTS
presents: "THE BODY ELECTRIC: THREADS OF TECHNOLOGY, A FASHION
PRESENTATION" Moderated by Alex Pentland, Academic Head MIT Media Labs

Mayor of Los Angeles Richard Riordan will welcome conference attendees

February 12th
8:45 - 9:05
Moderator: Ken Locker, Conference Chairman
Welcoming Remarks: Ms. Michela O'Connor Abrams, Chief Operating Officer,
Ziff Davis Comdex + Forums and Ms. Jean Picker Firstenberg - Director and CEO,
American Film Institute

9:00 - 10:30 AM
Opening Keynote Session: A World View

The Industrial Revolution brought machines to make work faster and easier.
The Information Revolution brought computers to make work smarter and
faster. The Communications Revolution speeded the flow of information over
great distances, and brought people and countries closer together. The
Broadcast Revolution enabled the delivery of mass entertainment and
information to the world. As the nexus of the convergence of the
computer, communications and broadcast revolutions, what will the Internet
bring? Will it bring people closer together in virtual communities or will
it isolate neighbors even further? Will it enable a democratic society or
a big-brother government and the elimination of privacy? Will it deliver
mass entertainment to more people or will it enable self-publishing and
narrowcasting of information and entertainment to niche audiences? Will it
enhance our children's education and play or will it simply expose them to
more sex and violence? The answer is probably all of the above, depending
on the choices we make. We have invited big thinkers and noted futurists
to share their looks into the digital crystal ball.

Moderator: Paul Saffo (The Institute for the Future)

Panelists:
Alan Kay, (Disney)
Neal Stephenson (Author)
Douglas Rushkoff (Author)

11:00 - 12:30 PM
Show Me The Money: Business Models That Work

For entertainment on the Internet to flourish, a viable financial model
needs to be developed. Today, advertising support for Web content, via
banner ads, is growing rapidly. An alternative model relies on users to
underwrite content through subscriptions or microtransaction fees. Others
dream of an era where, like the golden age of television, advertisers
sponsor entire shows. Alternatively, Web developers are looking to license
content to content aggregators such as Microsoft Network, AOL or Sony
Station and letting them worry about making money. This session will
examine the small beachheads of economic success that have been achieved
and how a sustainable economic infrastructure can be created.

Moderator: Jeffrey Rayport (Harvard Business School)

Panel:
Wenda Millard (Double Click)
David Bohnet (Geo Cities)
Steven Kane (NineCo)
Mark Mariani (CBS Sportsline)

1:45 - 2:15
Afternoon: Keynote: Ron Whittier, Intel

2:15 - 3:30
What Do The Buyers Want?

As the Internet moves from an early adopter phenomena to an early majority
reality there has been a noticeable impact on the media habits of web users
as they spend more time online and increasingly less time watching
television, reading newspapers and watching videos. What are the near and
long-term strategies of the buyers of content on the web to capture this
audience? How easily can existing brands be repurposed on the web and what
does it take to create a successful new web based brand?

Moderator: Robert Tercek (Sony)

Panel:
Charlie Fink (AOL)
Rick Markovitz (BBD&O)
Sriram Viswanathan (Intel)
Hala Makowska, Time New Media
Lara Stein (MSN)

3:45 - 5:15 PM
The Living Room War: PC/TV or TV/PC

Will we soon be watching TV and surfing the Internet from a single
appliance? Will hybrid programming emerge that will use both media? What
are the new creative and business models that this convergence could
support? Does the TV ?couch culture? audience even care about
interactivity?. Will a ubiquitous broadband environment be the ultimate
technologic advance that will inextricably bind the TV and the PC into a
single medium? These are a few of the issues that will be explored as we
hear from leaders on all sides of this equation.

Moderator: Gary Arlen (Arlen Communications)

Panel:
Charles Moldow (@Home)
Jim Durkin (Microsoft)
Shawn Hardin (NBC Interactive)
Hal Krisbergh (Worldgate)

Speakers Reception: 5:30 - 6:30

7:00 - 10 PM
Evening: Party at Luna Park

February 13th
8:45 - 9:15 AM
Keynote: Robert W. Stearns, Senior Vice President, COMPAQ COMPUTER CORP.

9:30 - 12:30
Where Is the Mass Audience: Reports From the Front.

The focus of this two-part session is to learn the techniques of the most
innovative and popular sites in the online entertainment arena. What has
worked and what doesn't, from a marketing, branding and technical point of
view, all with an eye toward identifying the elements that make up a
breakout Web site. Barry Golson the Editor of Yahoo! Internet Life and
Michael Nash currently from the American Film Institute will present an
overview of what the landscape looks like.

Session 1- 9:30 - 11:00
Moderator: Barry Golson (Yahoo Internet Life)

Women - Angela Gunn
Sci-Fi - Craig Engler
Community - Katie Hafner
Narrative Experiments - Karen Heyman

Session 2 11:15 AM - 12:30 PM
Moderator: Michael Nash (AFI)

Kids - Robin Raskin
Gaming - Johnnie Wilson
Music - Ted Cohen
Sports -Steve Gelsi

2:00 - 5:00 PM
Face to Face

In the 1940's, when the television industry was in its infancy, most
programming was financed by television-set manufacturers, and it showed.
The early 1950's saw the emergence of a unique new medium, with programming
that transcended its roots in radio and theater to become a medium in its
own right. Almost overnight, television attracted a mass consumer audience
and became a multi-billion dollar industry. Both the entertainment and
television industries were forever transformed by this convergence.

Today, entertainment on the Internet is going through its own
metamorphosis, clearly at an accelerated pace befitting the high-speed
technology that underlies the medium. What will the new medium look like as
it emerges from its infancy? The answer may depend upon whom one asks: on
the one hand, Silicon Valley and the technology community which has given
birth to the Internet; or from Hollywood and the entertainment industries,
whose ability to capture mass audiences with stories and characters are key
to the medium's growth.

This two part session will look at the intersection of entertainment and
the Internet from the often divergent perspectives of the technology and
entertainment industries. Part 1 will be comprised of technology leaders
who will offer their insights into the evolution of the Internet from a
telecommunications and computing platform into a mass medium. Part 2 will
be comprised of both the creative and business leaders of the entertainment
industry who will look at the present and future impact of the Internet on
the business of entertaining audiences.

Part 1: Technology

Moderator: Bob Dowling (Hollywood Reporter)

Panel:
Mark Pesce, Blitcom
Denise Caruso
Tom Galvin (Intel)
Guy Langvardt (Compaq)
Don Norman (Hewlett-Packard)

Part 2: Entertainment

Moderator: Jeff Greenfield (CNN)

Panel:
Jeff Berg, ICM
Rich Frank C3
Steve Oedekerk, Writer, Director
Edmond DeSanctis, Senior Vice President, NBC Interactive

Natasha Vita More [fka Nancie Clark] - natasha@extropic-art.com
Transhumanist Art - Extropic Art at www.extropic-art.com
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