The first national Ypulse conference is right around the corner and we're finalizing the lunch roundtable discussions now. For any of you sitting on the fence, I wanted to give you a preview of what you can sign up for at lunch. There will also be a few table for folks who just want to socialize as well.

Sponsored discussions: (more to be announced)

- Developing and using customer advocacy to help build your brand led by Yahoo!
- Yahoo! for Teachers, the online destination for educators led by Yahoo! for Teachers
- Successful strategies for monetizing brand engagement with teens led by Photobucket
- Getting inside the minds of youth led by C&R Research
- The Widget Revolution: What's working, what's bombing and what's coming next led by eCrush
- Developing and using customer advocacy to help build your brand led by Yahoo!
- Gaming vs. socializing: Do teens prefer structured or open-ended online experiences? led by Gaia Online
- Virtual items and goods: Going mainstream led by RockYou
- Social media marketing: Leveraging social media to engage and convert today's media savvy youth into your brand advocates led by MindOH!
- Can you control how your IP gets mashed up? led by VIZ Media
- Driving word of mouth: What makes a campaign go viral led by Oddcast

User Generated Discussions:

- Mobile vs. Web technologies: What's the best technology to reach the youth market? led by Ginger Thompson, CEO, YouthNoise
- Youth voting 2.0: How to engage young voters led by Elizabeth Rosenberg, Director of Communications & Marketing, Declare Yourself
- Why teens love avatars and how they use them led by Maura Welch, WeeWorld
- Social networking for tweens led by Bobbie Carlton, Director, Marketing, B*tween Productions, Home of the Beacon Street Girls
- Blogging communities: What teens do when they're doing 'nothing' led by Krissy Teegerstrom, Community Manager, LiveJournal and Vox, Six Apart
- Video Mash-ups: What happens when teens take control of the TV channel? led by Joseph Tankersley, Walt Disney Imagineering
- Hosting the widget revolution led by Jessica Alter, Bebo
- How to engage youth in social change networking led by Courtney Macavinta, Girls For A Change
- Building a safe community led by Jeanine LeFlore, VP of Products, Piczo

And don't forget, you can still register to participate in C&R's tween and teen webinars. The findings from these focus groups will be discussed at the event!

Register for the webinars using these links:

June 27: Today's Tweens and Technology (10-13 yrs.)
June 28: Today's Teens and Technology (14-18 yrs.)

And...register for the Mashup today!

Posted by anastasia at 10:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I didn't think the New School panel would be complete without a video site. It's kind of ironic that the company I chose was actually founded by former Viacom execs. That said, I think that Next New Networks represents the future of TV programming -- niche, short and online. They are working with existing online video producers to create a network of topical sites such as ThreadBanger, a DIY culture site originally started by teens on AOL and JetSet Show, a vlog for teens featuring our other Mashup speaker Zadi Diaz. You can see all their networks here. What's interesting about them to me is that they are finding and nurturing existing web talent vs. creating their own slick online programming (think: Prom Queen). One of the founders, Tim Shey, will be speaking. You can read his bio here. Reigster now before the event sells out.

Posted by anastasia at 06:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

For those of you attending the Mashup (or planning to), when you register, you can suggest a lunchtime roundtable topic and volunteer to moderate it! We knew we wouldn't be able to cover everything people wanted to discuss in our panels, case studies and keynotes, so we built in time for YOU, the attendee to program an hour. Some of these roundtables will be led by sponsors as well so you can find out more about companies like Gaia and RockYou up close and personal. In the next couple of weeks, we'll send an email to registered attendees with a list of roundtable topics and moderators and let you sign up for where you want to sit at lunch -- no wandering around the high school cafeteria trying to find the cool kids to sit with here. Not every topic will make it (for example, if just one or two people sign up for a table, we may not have that table), but it should give lunch a distinctively user generated flavor.

Also, sponsor update. The mobile IM and social networking company VelvetPuffin from Singapore has signed on as a sponsor and will be the fourth and final speaker for the Totally Mobile panel. If anyone knows the mobile market -- it's a company based in Asia! We are also excited to announce that Julie Ask, vice president and research director at Jupiter (who is also their mobile analyst) will be moderating this panel.

If you have not registered for the Mashup and plan on attending, I strongly encourage you to register soon. We do have a capacity for attendees and we're getting there quickly.

Posted by anastasia at 11:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Reminder: The "early adopter" deadline is today so register now for 20 percent off!

You can't talk about youth and technology without talking about cell phones and mobile technology -- it is often how teens (and tweens) wake up (the new alarm clock) and check the time (the new watch) as well as stay connected to their friends 24/7. It's also how they check in with mom and dad.

Compared to other countries in Europe and Asia, the U.S. still lags behind when it comes to using our phones for much more than basic communications. Yes, young people personalize with ringtones and wallpaper, but will they use their phones as social networking tools or mobile entertainment centers? What are teens looking for in a phone? How do you create mobile marketing opportunities for advertisers that actually offer something of value to young people? These are just some of the questions we'll explore in the Totally Mobile panel at the 2007 Mashup.

I chose the speakers on this panel for a couple of different reasons. I saw a presentation by Loopt at the Community Next conference and was incredibly impressed that the company was started by a college student with the goal of using mobile technology to address a basic human need: Meeting friends face-to-face. Zannel actually approached me to launch a Ypulse channel on their service (maybe someday when there are more of me!). I think they represent the possibility of using mobile as a way to consume entertainment content -- and more importantly, create it. What can I say about Facebook -- they are expanding like crazy, and whatever they do with mobile has a built-in enormous audience. While Twitter may be attracting lots of buzz, but will it attract Facebook users if they already have the same capability? We will be adding a fourth panelist soon as well as announcing a moderator for this panel, but I wanted to give you a sense of what the discussion will be.

Here's a little bit more about the Totally Mobile panelists so far:

Jed Stremel, Director of Business Development, Facebook
Jed oversees Facebook's mobile strategy transforming how individuals find and express information relevant to their life. Prior to Facebook, Jed played key partnership, business operations, and strategic roles at high-growth businesses. He spearheaded mobile initiatives for Yahoo! building the company's efforts to empower seamless communications across SMS, WAP, Java, BREW, and other mobile technologies. At Tellme Jed managed distribution, promotion, and licensing relationships with leading online and telecommunications partners. Jed holds a law degree from Santa Clara University and a bachelor's degree in economics and public policy from Duke University.

Sam Altman, CEO, Loopt
Sam, 21, is the co-founder of loopt, a startup that has built a revolutionary "social mapping" service to change the way people use mobile phones to keep in touch with their friends. Sam founded loopt while he was still a student at Stanford University to find his friends on campus and to improve the way friends communicate. Sam currently is on leave from the computer science program, where he focused on computer security and machine learning. He also helped develop a patented system for navigation for one of the world's first autonomous helicopter navigation systems, a task for which his experience as a pilot of small aircraft was good training.

Adam Zbar, CEO, Zannel
Adam recently served as a mobile media strategist to Infospace Mobile, Disney MVNO, Moviso, and Flame Ventures. At Infospace and Disney, Adam led strategic planning for their next generation mobile media applications. He was vice president of North American distribution at WorldRes, where his team managed more than a thousand affiliate and strategic online travel partners including Travelocity, Yahoo, AOL, Lodging.com, Verizon, Rand McNally, and Sidestep. Adam was VP, Business Development & Strategy at a company that now is part of Agency.com, securing Mandalay Bay, Warner Home Video, Six Flags, Princess Cruises, and Fox FX as clients. He started his career as a McKinsey consultant.

P.S. Someone wrote and asked if there will be podcasts of the event. Our sponsor Gorilla Soapbox will indeed be on site recording and we plan to post video podcasts once they're edited.

Posted by anastasia at 09:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I feel like the bar tender yelling last call! If you haven't registered yet for the first Ypulse conference, time is running out to save 20 percent on the price. For any of you who have paid to attend a youth marketing conference, you already know the price is pretty reasonable, but why not save your boss a little bit more and register early. Bosses like that.

Also a couple of speaker additions to announce: Lance Tokuda: CEO of RockYou, a Mashup sponsor, will be joining the New School panel...And Jed Stremmel, Facebook's Director of Business Development, and their "mobile guy," will be joining the Totally Wireless panel to talk about what Facebook's doing in the wireless space. We should have a couple more speaker announcements soon, but we're pretty much there.

We'll be updating the Who's Coming box on the Mashup site as people register. So stay tuned...

Posted by anastasia at 01:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Reminder: The Mashup early adopter discount ends on May 29th. So register now to save 20 percent!

When we were thinking about pre-conferences, we wanted to offer two really different options for folks. Jay Frank, the head of programming at Yahoo! Music, wrote about the Music Mashup the other week. I asked Gary Rudman, a qualitative market research veteran who has been talking to teens since 1991, to write a post about the pre-conference he will be leading at the Mashup called Cracking the Code: Marketing To Teens In The Digital Age. Unlike the Teen Superstar panel at the main event, this pre-conference will include regular teens -- and not just on a panel. Read on...

From Gary Rudman:

Many adults, parents, and marketers think they know what it's like to be a teen. Because everyone has lived through that age, and some even have current contact with them, it's only natural that most feel like they are experts.

Yet, unless you are a teen in today's technology-driven world -- or work with teens from across the country each day as we do -- it's really hard to clearly understand where their heads are and how they operate. While the emotional angst and awkwardness of the teen years has remained largely the same, everything else about being a teen has changed. And we mean everything else.

Teens today are evolving in this world where constant, rapid and disruptive change defines their world view. In fact, change is now part of their DNA. We call these teens the Flux Gen because they are forced to adopt, adapt, and advance to technology and the world around them. They are constantly realigning their lives to fit the current paradigm. The reason? In their short lifetime, they have experienced an unprecedented wave of social change driven by innovation such as the Internet, cell phones, PDAs, iPods, TiVo, digital cameras, video cameras, among others. As adults, marketers, and parents, we're playing catch up in a game we'll never win. Teens are simply too far ahead of us.

So, in our pre-conference session "Cracking The Code: Marketing To Teens In The Digital Age," we put you inside the head of today's teens. We give you a 3D picture of the teen psyche by immersing you in the lives of the average American teen.

We will begin by taking you through the macro trends that are shaping their lives -- and that we identified in our groundbreaking work, the gTrend Report. We continue the exercise with a moderated Q&A session comprised of a panel of teens. We then break into smaller teams and have the teens and attendees partner to create marketing campaigns for fictitious, teen-targeted products. The teams then present their ideas to the group. We conclude with a moderated Q&A session.

So put your waders on and get ready to dip in the fascinating world of the Flux Gen. See you in July!

Posted by anastasia at 08:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

13 days left until the "early adopter" discount goes away...so register now for 20 percent off.

What we realized very quickly is that there is more than enough content to create a two day event focusing on teens and technology, especially when you look at all of the companies in "the new school" entertainment space. I used the term new school to contrast what traditional media companies are doing to meet the needs of this totally wired audience with the tech start-ups that have literally changed the game.

This panel was the most challenging to pull together because it really could be five separate panels, each loaded with cool companies representing social networking, the MySpace ecosystem, virtual worlds and video. And remember, if your company isn't speaking, you can still attend and sign up to lead a lunchtime "user generated" roundtable discussion on a topic related to teens and tech.

Since we just learned yesterday from eMarketer that the number one thing teens are doing online is "watching and reading personal content made by others," I wanted this panel to show both the diversity of ways teens are doing this and reflect where this space is going. I've blogged before about how some of our speakers are "sponsor/speakers" -- and yes, it's a little murky, and the process will be different for the second big Mashup, BUT I couldn't be happier with the companies who are both sponsoring and speaking on the new school panel.

I think Takkle represents the trend of niche social networks and of tech start ups partnering with traditional media to deepen their offering. While Teen Second Life is smaller than most virtual worlds, there has been so much buzz about Second Life and so much cool educational activity from non-profits and librarians on the teen grid, I wanted to include them on this panel. Gaia Online, which is a much larger virtual world than Teen Second Life, is also a sponsor and will be presenting a separate case study. Photobucket, (a sponsor) was a major slideshow player in the MySpace ecosystem until they recently boarded the "mother ship."

And...I'm not sure who is going to speak yet, but RockYou, the white hot ecosystem player/widget maker just signed on as a sponsor and will be on this panel. I was having coffee with someone who works at another hot tech start up in Silicon Valley and asked him what company he thought was really making waves -- he said, RockYou (I'm not making this up). So I'm very psyched to have them at the Mashup -- who knows, maybe MySpace will buy them before July! Because I feel this panel will not be complete without a video site, it will be the only five-speaker panel at the Mashup (we're going to make it a little bit longer). Look for an announcement on that soon.

Here are the bios of the "New School" speakers...

David Birnbaum, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Takkle
Before founding Takkle, David was the co-founder of PearTree Equity, a technology-focused venture and incubation firm based in New York. Prior to PearTree, David was a member of the founding management team of Cometa Networks, a company formed by Intel, IBM, and AT&T, and private equity firms Apax Partners and 3i. Previously, he was an investment professional at Apax Partners (formerly Patricof & Co.), a global private equity firm with over $11 billion under management. David also spent several years as an investment banker on Wall Street and helped create the telecommunications group at Furman Selz, LLC. David received a BA from Columbia University and an MBA from the Wharton School of Business.

Claudia L'Amoreaux, Community Developer, Second Life
Claudia L'Amoreaux is a Community Developer at Linden Lab, creators of the trailblazing virtual world, Second Life. Claudia supports K-12 educators in facilitating extremely immersive, constructivist learning experiences. She has provided leadership on Internet education projects in the U.S., Brazil, Fiji, Europe, and the Middle East since 1985. She co-founded the Meta-Learning Lab. Her work has been featured on New Dimensions World Broadcasting Network and BBC World Radio. Claudia co-authored the book Creating Learning Communities.

Alex Welch, CEO, Photobucket
As CEO, Alex is responsible for developing the overall vision, strategy and product roadmap for the company. In 2003, Alex and his Co-Founder Darren Crystal observed that e-commerce and social networking users were in need of an easy-to-use centralized "hub" to store and publish images. Alex and Darren have spent three years building, tuning, and enhancing the application and core infrastructure of Photobucket. Prior to founding Photobucket, Alex was a software engineer at Level 3 Communications, where he was responsible for developing advanced networking software and services. Alex received his BS degree from Colorado State University, with an emphasis in Computer Information Systems.

Moderator: Liz Gannes, Staff Writer, GigaOM
Liz Gannes is a staff writer at the GigaOM network, where she edits and writes for NewTeeVee.com, a publication devoted to online video, in addition to contributing stories about web software to GigaOM.com. GigaOM is a set of tech news sites combining the power of personal publishing with journalism and analysis. Prior to GigaOM, Liz was a reporter at Red Herring.

Also, Mashup advisory board member and all around great gal Dixie Feldman, editorial director from The N, will be rounding out the "Old School to New School" panel. If you attended the L.A. Mashup, you know how entertaining Dixie can be. I feel like this panel is pretty girl centric with Harper Collins, Conde Nast, Hearst and Viacom/The N, but hey, girls rule!

Posted by anastasia at 09:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I can't remember when I first heard about Mortified. It could have been a local event listing that caught my eye and well, how could I NOT go see a production that involved people reading from their real teen diaries. I have some pretty funny stuff in my basement from when I was an 18-year-old "Wiccan." Maybe I'll perform with Moritified at some point. You can read former Ypulse contributor Jennifer Wait's take on Mortified here. And that's what's cool about the production -- it's real people performing their real diaries.

So when I was thinking about how to close the Mashup, I thought having Mortified perform would not only be entertaining and fun, but will hopefully get us in touch with our own teen years and inspire a deeper understanding and empathy for where teens are coming from. I interviewed Dave Nadelberg, founder of "Mortified" and the author of Mortified: Real Words Real People Real Pathetic about what inspired his work.

Ypulse: What was the original inspiration for Mortified?

Dave Nadelberg: I grew up in the mundane suburbs of Detroit, a fertile breeding ground for teen angst and melodrama. There, I wrote a love letter to a girl I barely knew. Years later, I found a draft of the letter and shared it with friends and quickly realized I was not alone. I launched Mortified and set out to collect more horrific autographical artifacts like it. To my delight, I found much worse. We are now the largest and longest running project of its kind, operating chapters in several cities, publishing a series of books, contributing to shows like This American Life, speaking at schools, and more.

YP: Describe the process you use in working with non-actors - from recruiting them to rehearsing to performance.

DN: Our website, getmortified.com, is our number one marketing and recruitment tool. People who want to read on stage simply request to meet with us via our site. We get to work with all sorts of people -- lawyers, teachers, ad execs -- and love giving them a chance to essentially unleash their inner rock star on stage. We screen all material but avoid using words like audition since ours is not a process where the participant is there to impress us with talent. They're simply there to share something -- a journal, a lyric, a play, a home movie -- they created decades ago and answer a few questions about their life. As such, our screening sessions always unfold into strange makeshift therapy sessions that are somewhere between Charlie Brown's five cent "therapy stand" and Taxicab Confessions.

YP: What was you're most mortifying teenage moment?

DN: My first kiss was with a girl who was actually doing it to make fun of me as part of a practical joke. It was a mix of sweet victory shortly followed by humiliation. A perfect primer for a career in Los Angeles.

YP: What do you think media and marketing professionals who spend most of their time thinking about how to reach teens will get from seeing Mortified at the Mashup?

DN: Mortified offers a direct line in to understanding the teenage mindset. Each piece captures the unflinching thoughts, desires and frustrations of youth. That's where the comedy comes from -- simply listening to kids' passionate point of view. Over the years, we've poured through hundreds if not thousands of old notebooks. Beyond being funny or fascinating, they are windows into understanding how kids interpret the world around them. This is why marketers, educators, psychologists and parents get a kick out of what we do, and often invite us to speak at schools or seminars. It's entertaining, but it's also huge insight that applies to any generation. Given that today's kids are viewed as more savvy or cynical towards marketing, modern campaigns obviously can't afford to condescend. To relate to a kid, you need to understand where they're coming from. Adults are great at remembering childhood events but often forget the unique perspectives we had during those events. Mortified provides as a great way to understand kids by stepping back into their shoes -- be they Doc Martens, hippie sandals or velrco Zips.

YP: When does the second book come out? Give us a two sentence preview of what's inside...

DN: Mortified 2: Love is a Battlefield hits stores Winter 2007. It is themed around the concept of romance. While it will be a great Valentine's gift for anyone who is in love... it will be an ever better gift for someone who is jaded about love. And we're pretty sure there are more of the latter lurking around.

Register now to get the "early adopter" discount (ends May 29). Also, a big shout out to our new sponsor, Gaia Online, and our new exhibitor, GOOD Magazine.

Posted by anastasia at 12:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (1)

Note from Anastasia: Jay Frank is the head of programming and label relations at Yahoo! Music. He is also on the 2007 Mashup advisory board. I asked him to share his thinking on the program lineup he put together for the Music Mashup pre-conference on July 16. When you register for a "Deluxe" pass, you can attend either of the pre-conference offerings. Coming soon: A post from Gary Rudman on what he has planned....

When Anastasia asked me to put together the agenda for the first Ypulse Music Mashup, I wanted to do something that's a little more compelling than normal. To me, it's easy to talk about teens enjoying Beyonce or trading music online. For certain, they do that (and Eric Garland's keynote will really address those points so directly you'll hardly believe he's being that honest). Yet teens are doing so much more than that, much of which goes unreported.

For example, mixtapes got the most press it ever had when one of the top mixers, DJ Drama, was arrested for practicing his craft. Even then, most people are unaware of this tool to distribute music to teenagers. We're bringing together some of the experts in this field to really get into how this has become such a strong, unsung tool to distribute music.

What really was key, though, is to bring an artist in who is truly living the new paradigm of music distribution. Someone who is actually connecting with teens and doing it outside the system: using MySpace, Yahoo! Music, etc. and not relying on getting a Top 10 radio single. Actually going peer to peer to build up an audience that brings in fans on tour as well as fans that buy records.

That artist is Secondhand Serenade. Very quietly, this earnest San Francisco singer-songwriter made great acoustic songs that he connected to fans thru his MySpace page, earning hundreds of thousands of friends in the process. It quickly found its way onto the Yahoo! Music radio station where he became the first unsigned artist to break the Top 40 most played songs. Released 3 months ago, his debut album AWAKE has sold 25,000 copies and 120,000 downloads. By the time the Mashup rolls around, he will likely have sold 100,000 copies given the current trajectory and people will start waking up to who this new "rising young star" is.

By attending the Music Mashup, you will get such a headstart on this new teen success. We will be having a panel discussion with the artist, his manager and Daniel Glass, the music industry legend who chose this artist to start his new independent record label with. We will also be having a cocktail party afterwards where Secondhand Serenade will do a special acoustic performance for all attending. Then, you will walk away being one step ahead of everyone else on what is certain to be one of the most organic teen music success stories of 2007.

This will truly be a memorable event all around that is worth getting to the Mashup early for. Be prepared to have complete immersion in teens and music. I look forward to seeing you all in San Francisco in July.

Posted by jay at 07:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I wanted the first Ypulse conference to go beyond discussing teens as consumers and to really delve into how technology is transforming the rest of their lives -- at home, at school and with their friends. This was the inspiration behind this particular panel at the Mashup, and I think the speakers we have confirmed will help deepen your understanding of this generation's "totally wired" life.

To address how teens' technology use is changing the dynamic at home -- how involved parents are (or aren't) in their teens' digital lives, I invited Anne Collier, founder of Net Family News and co-author of MySpace Unravelled. Her fellow Mashup speaker Henry Jenkins posted an in-depth interview with Anne here. From her bio:

Anne Collier is a mom, analyst, children's advocate, and journalist who has worked in media (print, radio, TV and the Web) since 1980. Her NetFamilyNews.org is the digital "community newspaper" of the tech-parenting and online-safety community. Its "kid-tech news for parents" is designed to empower and educate grownups with the latest information on children's tech interests and practices, as well as their online safety. Anne also is co-director of BlogSafety.com and co-author of the book "MySpace Unraveled." Previously she served as a stringer for the Christian Science Monitor in Southeast Asia.; Asia editor and associate producer for MonitorRadio; and Tokyo correspondent for World Monitor, a nightly TV news program. She also helped launch the Monitor's Web site, CSMonitor.com.

Nobody has done as much amazing research on how teens are using technology in all facets of their lives as The Pew Internet & American Life Project. We are incredibly lucky to have Amanda Lenhart, who is behind most of Pew's research on teens, speaking at this event. From her bio:

Amanda Lenhart has been with the Pew Internet & American Life Project since its inception. Prior to that she worked in communications and journalism, notably as editorial coordinator of Civilization magazine. She graduated magna cum laude from Amherst College with a double major in English and Anthropology, and holds a Masters in Communications, Culture and Technology from Georgetown University. For her research about and knowledge of youth and their use of the Internet, as well as issues of the digital divide, Amanda has been widely quoted in major print news outlets, as well as numerous local, national and public radio and television programs. Her research areas cover children, teens, parents and the Internet, the digital divide, education, content creation, blogging, and instant messaging.

I refer to the Kaiser Foundation's research on media multitasking often and see it referenced constantly. They kicked off an ongoing investigation into how much media teens are actually consuming at once, and I know you will learn a lot from Ulla Foehr, Co-Author, Generation M: Media in the Lives of 8-18 year olds. From her bio:

Ulla Foehr has focused her work and study on young people and media. In addition to her recent report for the Kaiser Family Foundation on young people's media multitasking behaviors, she was part of the research team that conducted both of the Foundation's studies on young people's media use habits. That research was the foundation for a book she co-authored, Kids & Media in America, which discusses patterns of media use among 2-18-year-olds. Before earning her doctoral degree at Stanford University in Media Studies, Ulla worked at the Kaiser Family Foundation, managing entertainment media partnerships and conducting research. Ulla began her career in media at JP Kids, a kids' educational media company.

I'm really excited about our sponsor/speaker C&R Research being on this panel because they are doing original research just for the Mashup. We're finalizing what the topics will be right now -- more on this soon. What I do know is that Jacqueline Lane knows her stuff:

Jacqueline Lane joined C&R in 2006 and is responsible for leading its TeensEyes division. As an experienced researcher, she brings with her a wealth of experience in the teens/young adults market. Over her career, Jacqueline has conducted a variety of unique quantitative and qualitative research projects, immersing herself in the youth culture. Before joining C&R, Jacqueline worked as a independent consultant for a wide variety of clients and industries, including publishing, Internet/e-commerce, automotive, fashion and consumer packaged goods companies. Prior to that, Jacqueline held positions at Time Inc. and Scholastic Inc. assessing and developing marketing, brand awareness and research platforms. She holds a B.A. in Political Science & Sociology from Columbia University.

Even though we've asked Edutopia's James Daly to moderate this discussion, he is more of a panelist/moderator. James will hopefully share some of the innovations and challenges happening with how technology is (and isn't) being utilized in education. From his bio:

James Daly has spent more than 25 years in magazine journalism, frequently tracking the radical effect that technology brings to calcified industries. He is the editor in chief of Edutopia, produced under the aegis of The George Lucas Educational Foundation. The publication tracks innovative people and practices in our nation's K-12 public schools. Previously, he served as editor in chief and founder of Business 2.0 magazine. James also served as the editor in chief of Redherring.com, as well as a features editor at Wired, senior editor at Forbes ASAP and a columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle. His freelance writing has appeared in publications ranging from Rolling Stone to the Los Angeles Times.

Finally, check out our press release about the Music Mashup pre-conference and spread the word to anyone you know who is tracking the combination of young people, digital technology and music. The "early adopter" discount ends May 29th (it's 20 percent off), so you want to register now. Remember, if your company sends three or more attendees, you get an additional discount. Also, since some people have been asking, "deluxe" just means you get to attend a pre-conference and the main event.

Posted by anastasia at 01:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

When I thought about keynote speakers early on for the Mashup, Peter van Stolk was at the top of my list. Readers who have seen me present at various youth marketing conferences know that I have used Jones Soda as a case study for "totally wired" marketing. Early on they harnessed the passion of their consumers/fans with label design competitions and by inviting feedback on the latest flavors. They have extended their brand by jumping into the MySpace ecosystem with slideshows and layouts as well as by promoting indie music, incorporating user generated video and offering fun games. From their own website:

"Jones Soda has always been about the consumer and interacting with the consumer. From the ever changing photos on our labels to the company's websites, www.jonessoda.com and www.myjones.com, and the recent MyJones Independent Music site, www.myjonesmusic.com, Jones Soda has created a cult following and is a passion not only among soda drinkers but with its employees, directors and shareholders."

This is a brand that is very in tune with its audience and that has created "brand fans." I'm really excited that Peter will be keynoting at the first Ypulse conference.

I also want to be transparent about our speaker selection process. Because youth and technology is such a big topic to tackle in a day, and because I wanted to cover media, marketing and how technology is transforming the everyday lives of young people, we created a panel format that has specific slots. So for example, the "new school" entertainment panel has a slot for a virtual world, a social network, a video site and a MySpace ecosystem site instead of a panel dedicated to social networking or a panel dedicated to virtual worlds. We chose most of our speakers editorially -- companies that have garnered lots of buzz or have intrigued me or represent a future direction the space is moving towards.

We also offered some speaking slots at the sponsor level. I probably wouldn't do it this way again because I think it's confusing -- if we do another conference (we being me and Modern Media, my event partners) we plan to have a very clear program for sponsors that is not mixed in with the regular panels but will offer speaking slots. So far this year's sponsored speakers include Photobucket, Hearst Digital Media and C&R Research. Photobucket fit nicely on the "new school panel." Hearst/eCrush will give a 15-minute marketing case study. C&R Research will present original research on the Totally Wired Life panel. We have set aside a couple more sponsored speaking slots - there are two on the Totally Wired Mobile Panel, one for a video site on the New School panel and another 15-minute marketing case study or two. If we don't sell them, we will fill them with our own editorial choices.

If your company is interested in speaking, but wasn't selected this time, you should attend anyway. The panel discussions are designed to be very interactive -- a conversation that includes the audience. And, any registered attendee can volunteer to lead a "User Generated" lunch time roundtable where you can talk about a topic related to reaching teens with technology with up to 10 other interested attendees over lunch. Feel free to email me with any questions about our process or for sponsorship information. Register now through May 28 for the "early adopter" discount.

Posted by anastasia at 11:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

When I thought about keynotes for the 2007 Mashup, I wanted to bring in speakers who were both engaging and who I felt like attendees would learn a lot from. Other than the hallway conversations and networking, isn't that why you would attend a conference? So when I thought about the theme of the Mashup, "reaching today's totally wired generation with technology," the first speakers who popped into my mind were Henry Jenkins and danah boyd. Henry and danah are both incredibly well respected academics who have that rare talent of being able to make their scholarly research accessible and applicable to the real world.

Henry has done extensive research and writing on everything from gaming culture and fandoms to media literacy, using video games at school and "American Idol." His latest book, Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide, speaks to the rise of "user generated content" and the natural tension between the grassroots communities from which it has emerged and the companies that are trying to capitalize on it. Here's Henry's official bio:

Henry Jenkins is the Director of the MIT Comparative Media Studies Program and the Peter de Florez Professor of Humanities. He is the author or editor of nine books on various aspects of media and popular culture, including "Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide" and "Fans, Bloggers and Gamers: Exploring Participatory Culture." Henry recently developed a white paper on the future of media literacy education for the MacArthur Foundation; is one of the principal investigators for The Education Arcade, a consortium of educators and business leaders working to promote the educational use of computer and video games; and one of the leaders of the Convergence Culture Consortium, which consults with leading players in the branded entertainment sector in hopes of helping them adjust to shifts in the media environment.

If you've been reading Ypulse or Totally Wired this past year, you know I refer to danah boyd's work a lot. danah is in the trenches, talking to teens every day as part of her dissertation on how teens engage in these virtual public spaces. All I can say is that she will blow your mind with her incredible insight into what teens are doing online right now. Here is danah's official bio:

danah boyd is a doctoral candidate in the School of Information at the University of California-Berkeley and a fellow at the USC Annenberg Center for Communications. Her dissertation focuses on how youth engage in networked public spaces like MySpace, YouTube, Facebook, Xanga, etc. In particular, she is interested in how American teens formulate a presentation of self and negotiate socialization in mediated contexts where the audience is often unknown. This work is funded by the MacArthur Foundation as part of a broader grant on digital youth and informal learning.

And since danah and Henry happen to be very good friends, they have "chemistry," and will create a lively keynote conversation this July. Just one more reason to register to attend today. Remember there is a 20 percent "early adopter" discount and another discount if your company sends three or more people. And, don't forget to suggest a lunch time roundtable discussion and volunteer to lead it when you sign up.

Finally, I also want to give a shout out to our newest conference sponsor Hearst Digital Media. They will be presenting a very cool case study created just for Mashup attendees.

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Before I talk about one of my favorite panels at the upcoming Mashup, I wanted to give five quick reasons why you should register now:

1) You can meet and network with other Ypulse readers from major media companies, brands and non-profits who all share a common goal - reaching youth in an authentic way.

2) You will learn from some of the smartest academics and practitioners out there about how young people are really using technology as well as what's working and what isn't when it comes to media and marketing.

3) You will have fun. We're working on finalizing a live musical performance/case study as part of the Music Mashup, planning two parties (before and after the event), and are also hoping to confirm an exclusive closing night performance of "Mortified," just for you. Plus it's in downtown San Francisco!

4) It's the perfect mashup of brands trying to learn about technology and find the right sites to advertise on, traditional media companies wanting to learn about youth oriented tech start-ups to potentially partner with (or someday acquire!), and of course the youth oriented tech start-ups who want to share their viral success with both traditional media and brands.

5) It's incredibly affordable for a youth marketing conference with this calibur of speakers! Right now through May 28, you get a 20 percent discount as an "early adopter." There are also non-profit rates!

Longtime Ypulse readers know I have a big soft spot for "pro-social initiatives" and organizations and people that have been able to use their marketing savvy to do good. We just confirmed our final speaker for the "Totally Wired Social Change" panel at the Mashup in July -- Julie Cordua, the VP of Marketing for (RED). While technology isn't at the core of what (RED) does, they have used MySpace and their own site and blog as a big way of getting the word out. I also think it will be a great opportunity for them to talk about what they have accomplished and answer your questions, given the recent controversy stirred up by AdAge and the blogosphere over the campaign.

Joining Julie on the panel is:

Dave Amos, Web Guy, Idealist.org
Dave Amos is Idealist.org's resident expert on emerging Web technologies and how they can be leveraged to create social change. His particular focus has been connecting Idealist with youth through social networks like Facebook, Myspace and Second Life. Beyond social networking, Dave manages Idealist's relationships with companies (such as Google and IBM) and professional associations. His personal interests include getting youth voter registration, Web development with Ruby on Rails, and juggling.

Ariel Rosen, Head of Pro-Social Initiatives, Virgin Mobile USA
Ariel Rosen joined Virgin Mobile USA (VMU) in 2006 and brings a record of high performance in leading teams and organizations in successful branding campaigns with almost a decade of experience in the philanthropic sector. She has had a significant role in the launch of VMU's RE-Generation, a partnership with YouthNoise and StandUp For Kids to help build awareness and funds for the millions of young homeless people across the country.

Before joining VMU, Ariel served as the Director of Marketing and Business Development for the UK Sports Charitable Trust in London. Ariel also is the founder of Girls on the Run NYC and School Inc. Mentors, and creator of Girls-in-Sports Day.

Travis Russell, Technical Director, Invisible Children
Travis Russell Is the ultimate Renaissance man, only four centuries to late...or too early? Travis was one of two accepted into NYU's Masters Lighting Program at the tender age of 19. After one year, Travis knew more than the faculty and decided to come back to San Diego to work for the prestigious Old Globe Theater. He is gifted in lighting and scenic design, directing, invention of graphic/web art, debating (religion, politics, etc.) But his truest love is the world of paint, and his dog Marley.

My friend and former colleague, Karl Carter, will be moderating:

Karl Carter, Co-Founder, Inner City Enterprises
Karl Carter helped launch Inner City Enterprises, Inc., a strategic communications and entertainment holding company, to develop and launch creative programs that engage urban youth audiences worldwide. It has four integrated business segments: GTM...It Means A Lot (a youth marketing and promotions agency), Soul Underground (a live, positive entertainment platform for showcasing the best in underground urban talent), Wheat Bread Clothing (a progressive urban streetwear apparel company, and Change the Game (a non-profit community outreach initiative). Karl is responsible for designing innovative media & new business pitches targeting the youth subculture market. Karl received his bachelor's degree in Business Administration from George Washington University, specializing in Electronic Media Marketing.

Posted by anastasia at 09:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

When I was thinking about putting together a teen panel for the Mashup this July, I thought about many of the teen panels I've seen or read about at other events. While it's always nice to have an informal focus group on stage, they always feel a little bit like I felt when I visited the Gorilla exhibit several years ago at the Bronx Zoo. Peering through the glass, making funny faces and really feeling like we were somehow related. I know that's harsh, but my point is that the "real live teens!" way of including teens in a youth marketing conference wasn't the approach I wanted to take.

When we're talking about teens and technology, and especially social networking sites and the growing MySpace ecosystem, we must acknowledge that most of the growth has been fueled by young people and that many of these sites were launched by teens as well. So for the Mashup teen superstar panel, I invited teens who are entrepreneurs, media producers and who know what teens want in a website. I'm incredibly excited about this panel that includes:

Martina Butler, Host, PodShow's Emo Girl Talk
Martina Butler has been places most teenagers only hear about on MTV. With a rock star father, Martina's weekly show focuses on the Emo music scene, interviewing hot bands and the ever-changing production that is her life. Martina, a 15 year old dance student at San Francisco's School of the Arts, is the first teen podcaster to have secured corporate sponsorship with advertising giants like Johnson & Johnson. Not only is she the highest paid teen podcaster in the state, but Martina's success has been featured in publications such as The Wall Street Journal. Emo Girl Talk also is a feature on Adam Curry's PodShow, part of Sirius satellite radio channel 102.

Catherine Cook, President, MyYearbook.com
Seventeen-year-old Catherine Cook is a high school senior who leads a not-so-secret double life. Catherine is a co-founder of the fastest-growing social networking site on the Internet, MyYearbook.com. She and her brother Dave brainstormed the idea-a digital yearbook for the modern age-then persuaded their older brother Geoff to jump on board as their first investor. In just over a year, Catherine grew the site to 1.7 million members and achieved low 7-figure annual revenue through partnerships with companies like CliffsNotes, Paramount Pictures, and Procter & Gamble. She also just raised $4.1 million in venture capital and won early admission to Georgetown.

Ashley Qualls, President, Whateverlife
Hey everyone, I'm Ashley Qualls. I created Whateverlife.com. I have a passion for colors and design, and allowing others to be creative. Whateverlife.com is a place to express yourself, be it in myspace layouts, custom tutorials, and even more exciting graphics. I created Whateverlife.com back in 2004, but only in 2005 did I decide to add graphics and layouts for others to take. Soon, Whateverlife bloomed and I hope for it to continue its success and growth. :)

Robbie Trencheny, President and CEO, Teen Media Productions
TMP creates, hosts, and maintains the best teen media on the internet. From blogging to vidcasting, we are the source for all things teen media.

The panel will be moderated by the lovely Zadi Diaz, whose own vlog for teens, Jet Set Show, was just nominated for a People's Choice Webby Award. Go vote for her now!

The Totally Wired Teen Superstar panel is just one of the many unique offerings we're cooking up at the first Ypulse conference this July.

Posted by anastasia at 10:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

At the 2007 Mashup, "old school" is still cool, just like in hip hop -- it means your company has been creating youth oriented media way before "the internets." We just confirmed Diane Naughton, Vice President of Marketing, HarperCollins Children's Books, for the Totally Wired Entertainment Panel: Old School to New School. Diane will be joining Chuck Cordray, Vice President and General Manager, Digital Media, Hearst Magazines, and Jane Grenier, Publisher of CondeNet's Flip.com to talk about how print publishers are adapting to reach today's totally wired teens. Hint: HarperTeen just had a huge success with HarperTeen FanLit, Hearst just bought eCrush and eSPIN and is doing lots of cool stuff with mobile, and CondeNet just launched its own social network for teen girls (Flip.com). We'll be adding one more speaker to this panel from either linear television (you actually have to say that in the age of broadband) or radio to round out this discussion. Hollywood Reporter blogger Steve Bryant from Reel Pop will be moderating. So get your questions ready!

Posted by anastasia at 06:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)