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Online Games & Virtual Worlds
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At-A-Glance
Virtual Goods Conference @ Engage! Expo Schedule
 Virtual
Goods are generating millions in revenues and have been described as the
perfect business: charging real money for digital products that may not exist in
the real world.
This 2-day conference at Engage! gives you the inside
scoop on the "real", the "hype" and how you can capitalize on virtual
goods, virtual items and microtransactions. This track goes deep
into the subject of virtual goods but also, keep in mind, that the
subject of virtual goods certainly surfacees in the
Online Games and Virtual Worlds track as well.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
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8:00 am
9:00 am
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Registration for Expo and Conference Attendees
Networking Breakfast - Conference Attendees Only |
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9:00 am
10:00 am
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 Keynote: The
Evolution of Entertainment, A Toy's Place
Will Wright, Founder and
Chief Executive, Stupid Fun Club
Creator of Spore and The Sims
Will Wright's presentation will will look at toys, play, and the product
development process from a new perspective going forward. Through his
SimCity, The Sims, and Spore game franchises created at Electronic Arts,
Will generated over $1 billion dollars of value. At Stupid Fun Club, a
design studio Will maintained throughout his career as chief designer at
Maxis Studios and Electronic Arts, advanced toy designs are among Will's
primary focus.
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10:00 am
10:15 am
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Networking
and Exhibit Hall Break |
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10:15 am
11:15 am
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Trends in Virtual Goods and Payment Solutions
What monetization strategies are working best today? What's
the impact of secondary markets on the value of virtual goods? How
are external regulations affecting business models? What are
consumers buying? Are there remaining lessons to learn from Asia?
This session will look at recent data, trends, and models that are
maximizing ROI today – and are likely to impact the virtual goods
space in the year ahead.
Renata Dionello,
Director, Consumer Business Development, PayPal
Melinda Byerley,
General Manager, Marketplaces, Linden Lab
Gene Hoffman, Jr., Chairman
and Chief Executive Officer, Vindicia
Ravi Mehta, VP of Products,
Viximo
Margaret Mackenzie,
COO, BOKU |
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11:15 am
12:00 pm
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Digital Kids and the Rise of Retail Game Cards
This 21st century marriage of online gaming & retail game
cards was a booming market segment in 2009. This panel of industry
experts covers the current trends and provides insight into what is
coming next in social gaming and retail game cards.
Kevin Dasch, Vice President of
Finance and Business Development, IMVU Inc.
Ron Williams, CEO, Zeevex
Elliot Solomon, Director of
Business Development, Disney Online Studios
David J. Etling, Vice President, Incomm
(moderator) |
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12:00 pm
1:00 pm
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Lunch and
Exhibit Hall Break |
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1:00 pm
2:00 pm
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 Keynote:
Lane Merrifield
Executive Vice President, Disney Online Studios
Co-Founder and General Manager, Club Penguin
Since Club Penguin's inception, Lane has led the
management, operations and business strategy for Club Penguin out of
the studio’s headquarters in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada. In
addition to Club Penguin, Lane also oversees the development for all
of The Walt Disney Company’s virtual worlds including
Disney's Toontown Online,
Disney Fairies Pixie Hollow,
Pirates of the Caribbean Online and the
upcoming Disney/Pixar The World of Cars Online. |
2:00 pm
2:30 pm |
Networking
and Exhibit Hall Break |
2:30 pm
3:30 pm |
Case Studies from the Digital Frontier
This session covers more ground in one hour than three normally
aspirated session. Complex topics boiled down to deliver what you
really need to know.
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Tim
Williams, VP Sales and Marketing, Engage Digital Media
Chinese market at a glance
Learn what is really going on and why you can’t believe
everything you read.
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Jouni Keranen, Founder and
President, iLemon
Virtual Law
Covers the latest legal developments effecting your avatars
and virtual goods.
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James Gatto, IP Practice
Section Leader, Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP
Online/OffLine
Learn more about the virtual components of an off-line product
launch.
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Jack Dearnbarger, Sr.
Business Development / Digital Strategist, Blockdot
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3:30 pm
4:30 pm
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Taking Your Brand to iPhone, Facebook and Other Online
Platforms
Emerging platforms including the iPhone and Facebook are
opening up new markets to intellectual property owners, but the
opportunities are vastly different from the longstanding norms that
guided earlier online strategies. It takes a new understanding of
customer expectations as well as an appreciation of the limitations
inherent in each of these new platforms. Understand concepts such as
media-as-service, viral spread, and "Casual 2.0" -- not just as
terms of art, but as substantive entry points your company can
exploit to retain your existing customer base as well use to reach
and engage new ones. Hear from stakeholders in these new platforms,
tech-forward content owners willing to share current strategy and
success stories, and industry analysts with an eye toward present
and future markets.
Kevin Barenblat, CEO,
Context Optional (moderator)
John Vechey, Co-Founder, PopCap
Games
Jason Oberfest, Vice
President of Social Applications, Ngmoco |
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4:30 pm
5:00 pm
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Conference Reception - Conference Attendees Only
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Virtual Goods - Wednesday, February 17, 2010
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8:00 am
9:00 am
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Registration for Expo and Conference Attendees
Networking Breakfast - Conference Attendees Only |
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9:00 am
10:00 am
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 Keynote:
Natalie Hornsby
VP of
Marketing
Cepia LLC - Creators of Zhu Zhu Pets
How does a brand new toy go from obscurity to phenomenon in
half a year? As the Vice President of Marketing at Cepia, the
company that makes the toy, 24-year-old Natalie has been the driving
force behind the marketing and branding of Zhu Zhu Pets.
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10:00 am
10:15 am
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Networking
and Exhibit Hall Break |
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10:15 am
11:15 am
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Digital Goods: How to Generate Revenue from Virtual Items
and Microtransactions
Virtual goods are proving to be a booming and now widely accepted
way to monetize online brands, but how do you take advantage of this
new revenue model? How do you get a virtual goods solution up and
running? How do you price goods? What items are best created by the
brand owner and what items is the community best-suited to develop?
How does distribution take place? How are items priced, how are fees
collected, and how does one avoid fraud? Whether you are looking for
a partnered platform solution or a do-it-yourself strategy, there
are proven paths toward success as well as pitfalls to avoid. This
session presents a nuts and bolts introduction behind the most
common, most tested, and most reliable virtual goods strategies in
play today.
Margaret Wallace, CEO, Playmatics
(moderator)
Charles Edward Hudson, Vice President, Business Development, Serious
Business
Kevin Dasch, Vice President of
Finance and Business Development, IMVU Inc.
Wade Tinney, CEO, Large Animal
Games
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11:15 am
12:00 pm
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Prepaid Cards and Mobile Payment Solutions
As virtual goods take off across a broad spectrum of
buyers, business models and payment schemes are developing to
facilitate monetization and ROI. One of the fastest-growing
categories of the virtual goods ecosystem is prepaid cards and
mobile pay. Hear what companies on the leading edge of payment
solutions have to say about consumer buying habits and trends, and
the solutions being developed to capture revenue an entire industry
can share in.
Ingo Lippert, CEO, MindMatics
David Marcus, CEO and
Founder, Zong
Michael Müller, CEO,
Paysafecard
Brian Parlotto, Senior Vice
President of Products and International, INCOMM
Ted C. Sorom, CEO, Rixty, Inc.
Kris Soumas, Head of Games,
A&E Television Networks (moderator)
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12:00 pm
1:00 pm
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Lunch and
Exhibit Hall Break |
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1:00 pm
2:00 pm
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Keynote:
Tor Sirset
Vice President of Marketing
Girls/Preschool
Bandai America Incorporated
Bandai is expanding its dominance in the boys market to the girls
category. Core to that effort is the integration of online elements into
the majority of these toys. Core to that effort is the integration of
online elements into the majority of these toys. In an
engaging onstage interview, Tor Sirset will discuss the strategy behind this rollout
and how the Internet plays an increasingly important role in the
crafting and marketing of toys.
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2:00 pm
2:30 pm |
Networking
and Exhibit Hall Break |
2:30 pm
3:30 pm |
Getting Paid: Payment Systems That Power
Virtual Goods
Monetization strategies come in all shapes and sizes --
credit cards, virtual currencies, proprietary credits, universal
game cards, Paypal, those that are tied to mobile carrier networks,
and those that tap SMS are some of the ways consumers pay for online
entertainment. This session will present the various payment schemes
available to online brands as well as developing models and help
attendees make the right choice among competing payment systems.
From determining acceptable payment types to combating fraud, this
panel will scrutinize critical issues in creating a monetization
solution that's right for your online business today. Whether it's a
virtual world, social media campaign, or virtual goods economy that
supports your business, this session will help you take the first
step required to build or implement a payment solution that supports
your brand online.
Karl Mehta, Co-Founder & CEO,
PlaySpan
Mike Haswell, VP, Business
and Legal Affairs, Jambool, Inc.
Sheetal Nehra, CEO, Surfpin
Kevin Grant, SVP Sales, BOKU
Renata Dionello, Director,
Consumer Business Development, PayPal (moderator)
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3:30 pm
4:30 pm
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Apps, Games and Goods - What Has Worked,
What Hasn't?
There's no one-size-fits-all solution to growing virtual
goods revenues inside social gaming and casual game networks. From
direct pay and offers to new strategies yet announced, this session
brings together some of the industry's most successful players and
asks: what's worked until now and how are you adapting to consumer
demands and industry expectations for the near and long-term?
Joe Hyrkin, Entrepreneur in
Residence, Trinity Ventures (moderator)
Mike Trigg, VP of Marketing,
Hi5
Mihir Shah, Chief Revenue
Officer, Offerpal
Brian Balfour, VP
Production, Viximo
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Tracks:
Schedule At-A-Glance
Toys and Online
Online Games & Virtual Worlds
Virtual Goods
Technology Platforms
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