Caltech Enterprise Forum: Content is King

This past weekend I attended the Caltech/MIT Enterprise forum in Pasadena.

Here's the release about the forum.


"Content is King"
Matching Entertainment Technologies with Artistic Content

Saturday, October 13, 2007

at the California Institute of Technology
Pasadena, California
Registration and Continental Breakfast:
8:00 a.m. Baxter Hall
Program: 9:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. at Baxter Lecture Hall
Networking: 11:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. at Baxter Lecture Hall
Cost: $40 ($10 for students with full-time student ID; free to Caltech students)

With the explosion of technological developments of the last decades, many new technologies have vied for positions in the entertainment industry. Whether the entertainment technologies are blockbusters like videotapes or DVDs or "merely" software platforms, history has taught us that the technology that wins the business competition is not always the highest performing or even least expensive technology. Rather, it is usually the technology that is coupled to the most compelling entertainment or artistic content that grabs hold and survives in the marketplace.

The October 13, 2007 session of the Caltech/MIT Enterprise Forum will explore the process by which technology entrepreneurs can match up their inventions with artistic talent in order to reach the marketplace. Doing so successfully requires a knowledge of the relevant entertainment industry, its structure, and its distribution channels, as well an understanding of how to meld the culture of the technologist with that of the artist. Our panel of speakers for this session will include individuals who have "been there, done that," including one Oscar® winner. They will bring to us their insights as to the critical elements for success and the means by which the technology entrepreneur can put those elements together.

Panelists

Keith Boesky
Principal
Boesky & Co.
Specialist in IP for the video-gaming industry
Formerly:
Head, video game department
International Creative Managemen

David Codiga
Formerly:
Executive Vice President
Universal Studios Recreation Group
Executive Vice President
Ticketron

Gary Demos
Former Technical Officer
DemoGraFx
Innovator in digital image creation for motion pictures
and three-time Academy Award winner

Alan Cole-Ford
Managing Partner
Stone Drum Capital
Formerly:
Executive Vice President
MGM,
VP Video Division,
Paramount, and
Vice President
Gulf+ Western, Paramount

Larry Gerbrandt
Media Analyst
Formerly:
General Manager
Nielsen Analytics
Chief Content Officer
Kagan World Media

John Whitney Jr.
Co-Founder
Digital Productions, Inc.

Producer/Moderator

Ira Moskatel
Partner
Arnold & Porter


Date
Saturday morning, October 13, 2007

Location
Registration and Continental Breakfast:
8:00 a.m. at Baxter Hall, Caltech
Program:
9:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. at Baxter Lecture Hall
Networking:
11:30 a.m. - 12:00 noon at Baxter Hall, Caltech

Cost
$40 ($10 for students with full-time student ID; free to Caltech students).
Registrations are taken on-line up to 12:00 noon the day prior to the event.
There are no refunds for no-shows.