The focus of the Ypulse College Mashup will be on reaching today's college students with technology. We will use the same framework of hearing from both "old school" media companies and how they are adapting and leveraging technology as well as from some of the most buzzed about start-ups in the space. We're also planning panels on college activism 2.0, how technology is transforming the admissions process and about what kind of employees these students make once they enter the work world. We'll end the day with a panel of college students who will tell us about the role technology plays in their lives on campus. Just as with our past events, we will have a "user generated" lunch session where attendees can suggest topics and lead discussions.

We are reaching out to speakers and sponsors right now. We have all kinds of sponsorships available for this event -- including four slots for 20 minute sponsored case studies that focus on reaching college students with technology. Our keynotes and panelists for Ypulse Mashup events are all chosen by me based on editorial criteria. The sponsored case studies are the only paid speaking opportunity we offer. If you're interested in exhibiting or sponsoring, please get in touch with Charles Pelton.

We will be launching the registration site for the Ypulse College Mashup in the next week -- in the meantime, I want to introduce our small advisory board (which may expand a little bit) for this event.

Stephen E. Loflin, Executive Director, The National Society of Collegiate Scholars
Steve Loflin is the founder and Executive Director of The National Society of Collegiate Scholars (NSCS). Steve has held professional positions at the University of North Florida, The George Washington University, Georgetown University and the Semester at Sea Program. In 1994, Steve founded NSCS to recognize students who had done well academically during their first years in college and to provide members with an opportunity to be honored and involved in an organization devoted to scholarship, integrity and service. NSCS currently has more than 225 chapters in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. The membership consists of 160,000 current undergraduate students and 400,000 alumni lifetime members.Steve was recently elected president of the Association of College Honor Societies which is the only certifying organization for collegiate honor societies. In September 2007, in collaboration with Kaplan, Steve published Adventures Abroad: the Student’s Guide to Studying Overseas which is a compilation of study abroad stories, experiences and advice collected from members of NSCS. Originally from South Carolina, Steve attended the University of South Carolina, receiving a B.S. in Business Administration Marketing. Upon graduation, Steve attended Florida State University where he received an M.S. in Higher Education Administration with an emphasis on College Student Development.

Rajiv Mody, Senior Director of Franchise Development, MTV Networks Music/Logo Group
As the producer behind MTV Networks' Emmy-nominated seven virtual worlds, Mody manages day-to-day internal operations and works with all external partners to continuously develop and program the virtual worlds. Previously, Mody served as director of integrated marketing for MTV, manager of strategic partnerships and public affairs for MTV, and researcher and writer in MTV's News & Documentaries department. During this time, Mody helped establish MTV's integrated marketing west coast division, and coordinated presidential candidate appearances for MTV's voter registration campaign Choose or Lose 2000. Before MTV, Mody served as a research analyst in the Clinton White House. Mody earned a certificate in general management from the University of California Los Angeles Anderson School of Management and a bachelor of arts in political science and economics from Brown University . He has also completed the National Association for Multi-Ethnicity in Communications Executive Leadership Development Program.

Penelope Trunk, author of Brazen Careerist: The New Rules for Success
Penelope Trunk writes career advice for young people. She explains why old advice - like pay your dues, climb the ladder, and don't have gaps in your resume - is outdated and irrelevant in today's workplace. She has a reputation for giving advice that is counterintuitive but effective, like take long lunches, ignore people who steal your ideas, and stop vying for a promotion. She is the author of Brazen Careerist: The New Rules for Success. She writes a career column for Yahoo Finance, and a column in the Boston Globe that is syndicated in more than 200 newspapers. Trunk's blog has been featured in Business Week and the Wall St. Journal as essential reading for young people trying to steer their careers. Trunk has been a guest columnist for Time magazine writing about trends surrounding Generation Y at work, and she speaks widely on the topic of how to recruit and retain young employees.

Just a few highlights for me:

1. The tween panel inventing "the double mic." We had two microphones for the tweens to pass back and forth, and they somehow decided that each tween using two at one time was better.

2. Watching the Kidzbop video and realizing that if I were a tween today I totally would have uploaded videos of myself doing handstands and walkovers to Duran Duran.

3. Hearing that attendees wanted to keep the discussion going on COPPA and how to create a uniform way for kids to register on their sites (more on this soon including a way for all of you who work at kid/tween sites to connect about this). As a sidenote, I want to give Ypulse advertiser and Mixer sponsor MyYearbook props for taking the lead on making 13 and up social networks safer.

4. Lunch! Once again the lunch discussions were buzzing, especially Peter Grunwald's research discussion, which drew so many people, he had to pull four tables together.

5. Yummy lobster rolls and Sakipolitans at Bongo

I also loved the video interviews with tweens Snippies produced for the event. You can watch them all online here. Our friends at Gorilla Soapbox recorded the entire day and we will be posting it (except for the tween panel) after we get through the July Mashup videos.

A big thanks to our sponsors:

Swivel
Kiki
Privo

And our exhibitors:

Whateverlife (did anyone see Ashley on "The View"?)
Beacon Street Girls
Pay Jr.
Snippies
Gorilla Soapbox

And the Ypulse Mixer sponsors:

MyYearbook
Fleishman Hillard's NGT

Thanks to everyone who attended! Our next event will be focused on reaching college students and will take place in early February in the Los Angeles area...Stay tuned.

First, some logistical info:

- Location, registration and events
- Our lunch roundtables
- Transportation to the Javits Center (our venue) and weather
- What to wear
- Other stuff (like you can buy copies of Totally Wired on site!)

Location, Registration and Events

The conference begins on Friday, September 28, at 8.30 a.m. at the Javits Center, 655 West 34th Street. The Jacob Javits Center is located between 38th and 34th Streets from 11th to 12th Avenues on Manhattan's far West Side, best to enter from 11th Avenue.

Registration is in the Javits Center's Concourse E. There you will pick up your badge and will be directed to the Conference itself, which is in Room 1E 15/16. All other conference materials will be in Room 1E 15/16. (Millennials badges will not be valid for the Ypulse Tween Mashup.)

(For those of you who also registered on the Ypulse Mashup site for the Millennials Conference the day before, on Thursday, September 27, on-site registration is different. You'll pick up a different badge at The Millennials conference.

Remember, your pass to the Ypulse Tween Mashup also entitles you to visit the entire Digital Life show floor.

For the Ypulse reception at Bongo on Friday at 5:00 p.m., please email me to sign up. Spaces are limited.

Lunch Roundtables

Our "user generated" roundtables (led by attendees who volunteered to moderate discussions around specific topics) will be held at lunch. (We’ll provide the food, of course.) You need to sign up for the roundtable of your choice in the Exhibit area in the conference room. Don't forget to do this when you arrive because some of these discussions may fill up quickly!

The topics are:

- Future of tween magazines - Nancy Gruver, New Moon
- What's developmentally appropriate for girls 8-13 online - Joi Podgorny, Ludorum
- Tweens and video games - Jen Brown, Allykatzz
- Research on tweens and social media - Peter Grunwald, Grunwald Associates
- Why tweens love avatars - Maura Welch, Wee World
- Mom and the tween media experience - Dr. Mary Manz Simon
- Casual Games vs. Immersive Envionments - Bobbie Carlton, Beacon Street Girls
- Tweens and Payments - Jessica Stroud, Pay Jr.
- The Do's and Don'ts of COPPA - Denise Tayloe, Privo

Transportation and Weather

We encourage you to use public transportation to get to the Javits Center. Several bus lines pass by the convention center and there are subway stops a few blocks away. You can get driving and walking directions from the Javits Center site.

According to weather.com, the weather will be pleasant, but with isolated showers on Friday. (Need to check on Tuesday before finalizing final copy.)

Dress

Casual. Jeans are fine. But if you insist, you can wear business casual, too.

Other stuff

I'll have copies of my book, Totally Wired: What Teens And Tweens Are Really Doing Online, available for purchase for $15 (we can only take cash, sorry!) in the conference area. See you Friday!

Keep the lunch roundtable topics coming. Right now we have:

Future of tween magazines - Nancy Gruver, New Moon
What's developmentally appropriate for girls 8-13 online - Joi Podgorny, Ludorum
Tweens and video games - Jen Brown, Allykatzz
Research on tweens and social media - Peter Grunwald, Grunwald Associates
Why tweens love avatars - Maura Welch, Wee World
Mom and the tween media experience - Dr. Mary Manz Simon

Sponsor Roundtable
Tweens and Payments - Jessica Stroud, Pay Jr.

If you're attending and would like to suggest and topic and volunteer to moderate a lunch discussion, email me!

And finally, this event is not just about tweens, it has been powered by them as well. I wanted post a shout out to the tweens (featured in the photo: my business partner's daughter and her friends) who helped us mail out Mashup post cards last weekend!

In other Tween Mashup speaker news, check out this interview with Joi Podgorny all about kids, tweens and online communities. Joi will be leading a session with Zoey's Room founder Erin Reilly called "Marketing to Tweens with Parental Consent Plus Age Verification that Works."

Finally, I want to thank all of our friends who are helping to get the word out, especially our newest friend, Cynopsis Kids, which is pretty much THE newsletter to get if you work in the kids/licensing/tv space. I also want to thank:

Ziff Davis/Digital Life
Digital Media Wired/The Millennials
The Experiential Marketing Forum
Youth Markets Alert
New Moon

The "early adopter" rate ends Saturday, so register now. Plus RSVP for the Ypulse Mixer sponsored by MyYearbook and NGT at Bongo if you haven't already (this is open to all Ypulse readers, not just Tween Mashup attendees).

For Ypulse readers already registered or planning to register, we will be reprising our hugely successful "user generated" lunch discussions. This means you can suggest a topic related to tweens and technology and moderate a roundtable discussion at lunch. Sample topics could be:

The future of tween magazines
What is developmentally appropriate for 8-13 year olds online?
How to reach moms and tweens
How to leverage different platforms for your tween oriented characters
Tweens and video games - which games are popular and why

Feel free to grab one of these and offer to moderate! Just email me.

We also added a new sponsor! Yes, my conference is being sponsored by a 17-year-old superstar -- Whateverlife will be joining us as an exhibitor at the Tween Mashup.

Finally, don't forget to RSVP for the Ypulse Mixer at Bongo (sponsored by MyYearbook and Fleishman Hillard's NGT). It will be full soon!

Ypulse: What was the inspiration behind Cartoon Doll Emporium -- is this part of your "Peter Pan" complex ;-)?

Evan Bailyn Indeed, it is. Peter Pan Syndrome, to me, means living in your own world, apart from the societal mores that adults like to impose. I believe everyone has their own reality, and CDE is a reflection of that. Our site is going to be more and more a place where kids have control of their experience - a safe make-believe world.

YP: Why did you decide to make it tween friendly/COPPA compliant vs. going the 13 and up route?

EB: I wanted to include kids under 13 because kids imaginations are very fertile at younger ages and I think it is a super demographic to work with. Kids ages 6 - 14 are sophisticated in knowing what they like and don't like but when they find something that appeal to them, they can really fall in love with it. I've found that out from CDE's fan base.

YP: What's the most popular feature or game on your site? Why do you think it's so popular?

EB: Our superdolls are the most popular games on our site because they give kids hundreds of different clothing and accessory options. Kids come to CDE primarily because they love dress up games and we create more of them than any other site on the internet.

YP: Do you moderate your forums? How do you handle community management?

EB: We have six full-time moderators that cover the site 24/7. We also have over a dozen "junior police" - older kids that have earned moderating positions - that sweep the site on a granular level. We strive to be a leader in safety.

YP: What's new or coming soon on Cartoon Doll Emporium that you think Ypulse readers should know about?

EB: A ton of things are coming in the next two months. We are referring to this upcoming fall as the CDE Renaissance due to all of the new features debuting. I don't want to reveal too much, but our fans can definitely expect brand-new profiles where they can display all kinds of personal creations and make-believe items. We are also coming out with artificially intelligent pets that learn from their past experiences and play uniquely with other pets. There are at least ten more new features, but again, I have to keep hush-hush about them for now.

The "early adopter discount" ends September 15th, so register today! And RSVP for the evening event at Bongo (it's an "intimate" venue so the list will be full soon).

And just like at the July Mashup, we plan to have "user-generated" lunch roundtable discussions. So if you're planning on attending and would like to lead one, email me! We'll be pinging registered attendees on this soon...

Finally, don't forget to RSVP for the Ypulse Mixer Friday evening from 5-7 p.m. at Bongo sponsored by MyYearbook and Fleishman Hillard's NGT. Space is filling up very fast. This event is open to Ypulse readers with Tween Mashup attendees getting first dibs.

Ypulse: Playing devil's advocate: Do tweens really need their own cell phones?

Daniel Neal: There's no denying that almost every tween wants a cell phone, but no, not all tweens need one. We don't advocate that. In our society, many factors make cell phones a useful and powerful tool for kids and families, one that can enhance convenience, connectedness and safety. Every family will decide for itself whether cell phones work for their kids. At kajeet, we've put a lot of thought and effort into making sure families and kids can customize their kajeet cell phone service to meet their particular needs, and to ensure that the content available on kajeet cell phones is appropriate for kids.

YP: How did you guys come up with your little alien-like characters?

DN: kajeet's six little dudes represent six different personalities in which almost all kids can see themselves. They are featured throughout our marketing campaigns and in our service itself, an ever-present reminder of who our company serves.

YP: How do you position kajeet against competitors like Disney Mobile?

DN: kajeet is different because it is a pay-as-you-go service with no long-term contracts, no need for mom or dad to switch their plan, and no activation or cancellation or other hidden fees. Our service plan and Wallet Manager enable families to help kids budget responsibly and for parents to always get through to their children. kajeet is the only cell phone service truly made from a kid's point of view. Our services, handsets and content are all about putting kids' needs and interests first, while always being thoughtful from a parent's perspective.

YP: What are the top three features parents say they want in a phone/plan? What about tweens?

DN: Parents - affordability, ease-of-use/simplicity, reliability

Tweens - cool-looking (and not babyish) handsets, lots of features (text messaging, IM, relevant games and ringtones, a camera, alarm clock), the ability to personalize their handset and service

YP: Tell me about your venture into Whyville (another Mashup speaker)...

DN: We partnered with Whyville because together we empower kids to communicate with each other in new and exciting ways. We consider our partnership, which is fairly new, a success -- within the first four weeks of opening, tens of thousands of Whyville citizens had visited the "kajeet Chat Factory" and discovered the fun and useful things they can do there.

YP: Anything else you think Ypulse readers should know?

DN: kajeet is much more than "just a cell phone company." We are all about providing kids and their families with mobile computing platforms that are always networked, and we do this in a way that always puts kids first and thoughtfully addresses the issue of children and technology.

If you would like to get on "the list" please email me (if you are attending or planning on registering for the Tween Mashup, say that in your email). The party is free and open to Tween Mashup attendees and Ypulse readers. If you're in town for Advertising Week, this is the perfect small event with like-minded folks to end on.

Here are the details:

Ypulse Mixer
Friday, September 28th, 5 p.m. - 7 p.m.
Bongo
299 10th Avenue
New York, NY, 10001

I'm also excited to announce Pay Jr. as an exhibitor and break sponsor. I'm also excited to announce that we will be doing a post Tween Mashup Ypulse happy hour at a location TBD on the west side. MyYearbook has signed up to sponsor drinks and food (Yay!). This event will be open to any Ypulse readers, but conference attendees will get priority on the RSVP list if it fills up. Look for an official announcement on this next week.

The Ypulse Tween Mashup is the first b-to-b event to specifically focus on how 8-13 year olds are using technology and what media, marketers and .orgs are doing to reach them. If your company is focused on reaching tweens digitally, and you would like to deliver a sponsored case study or exhibit at the event, please email Charles Pelton. Register now for the "early adopter" discount.

Kyra leads and manages all day-to-day operations, creative direction and business strategy for Neopets. With more than 40 million global memberships registered, Neopets is the largest global youth-focused virtual world. Prior to Neopets, Kyra was Vice President and General Manager of Nickjr.com, where she oversaw strategy, creative and editorial. Kyra repositioned Nickjr.com from a television promotional site to the number one parenting website for parents of young children. In addition, Kyra created and launched Nick Jr. ParentsTV, made-for-the-web broadband video for parents; produced the first-ever 3D online games for preschoolers and led the networks' preschool introduction to wireless, interactive TV and innovative online gaming experiences.

In other speaker news: New School panelist Stardoll is launching "StarPlaza," an interactive shopping galleria where real fashion labels will be able to roll out virtual collections for members to buy and dress up their virtual avatars. They didn't mention any fashion brands yet in their email, but I have a feeling they won't have any trouble attracting them. I can think of no better upsell than being able to dress your avatar in couture.

Fellow New School panelist Whyville just received $440,000 in grants from the Texas Workforce Commission to build Whyville Biotech and the Whyville Advanced Manufacturing Center. Wow.

More good reasons to register now for the early adopter rate. And, don't forget, we're offering a special package with our friends from Digital Media Wire where you can attend both The Millennials conference and the Tween Mashup. Finally, when you attend the Tween Mashup, you also get a V.I.P. tour of the Digital Life floor where all the latest gear and gadgetry will be displayed.

We just added Addie Swartz, CEO, of B*tween Productions, to our new school panel -- Addie will be joining Jim Bower and Mattias Miksche to talk about how these new school brands are using technology to reach tweens. Beacon Street Girls has been an indie success story in the book publishing business and is expanding their online community in a big way. More about Addie:

B*tween Productions is the home of the Beacon Street Girls award-winning book series and Web site for preteen girls. Addie created the Beacon Street Girls in 2002 to provide positive role models and healthy messages for tween girls, whatever their challenges. Today, there are 10 Beacon Street Girls books with more than 500,000 copies in print. There are "super-fans" in 95 countries and BSG related products are sold at more than 850 independent gift shops and through the COPPA-compliant Beacon Street Girl website. Addie founded BrightIdeas in 1992. The company sold educational software to parents and teachers and was acquired by Addison Wesley in 1996.

We also added Bryon Cahill, the editor of Weekly Reader's Read Magazine, to the Old School to New School panel. Weekly Reader is a pretty old school magazine brand, and I have been impressed with how they have dedicated themselves to their new blog "WORD." I don't have his "professional" bio yet, but his WORD bio is pretty funny:

Bryon is the editor of READ Magazine. His whole life has been devoted to reading. In fact, he started reading before he was even born! Back in the middle ages, when Bryon was nothing more than well... nothing... he would read constantly. OK, that's an impossible lie. You got me. Wait a minute. Are we live? Turn off the camera! Turn it off!

We have confirmed that a very senior exec from Nickelodeon will deliver our opening keynote and are working hard to confirm an afternoon keynote from Disney. And...superstar Jupiter analyst David Card will moderate the Old School to New School Panel while kid/tween community guru Izzy Neis will moderate the New School panel.

I'm also happy to announce that Swivel has signed on once again as a sponsor of the event, which includes a case study slot. I was really excited when they told us they wanted to give their case study slot to Kajeet. If you've been watching the evolving tween mobile space, Kajeet has emerged as one of the leaders. They did a recent partnership with Whyville and also launched dudemail, which is powered by 2007 Mashup exhibitor Oddcast. Kajeet's CEO Daniel Neal will deliver the case study.

There are three sponsored case studies available, so if your agency or brand wants "15 minutes of fame" to talk about how you successfully engage tweens with technology, please get in touch with Charles Pelton at Modern Media. We're also looking for a "happy hour" sponsor -- the Javits isn't exactly the most hip environment to network, so we'd like to go somewhere cool in Chelsea after the event to keep the conversation going and the drinks flowing.

I also want to let you know about a special deal we have with Digital Media Wire. They are putting on their Millennials Conference in Manhattan right before the Tween Mashup. If you look at our agendas, you'll see there is almost no overlap -- the exception is Stardoll, but I think seeing Mattias demo Stardoll at Millennials will be very different than seeing him in conversation with other New Schoolers and YOU about under 13s specifically. There is no overlap by design because we want to encourage you to go to both events and are offering a discount to anyone attending the Millennials event. Of course, they are also offering a discount to anyone who wants to attend the Tween Mashup. We also are offering a discounted non-profit rate. The early adopter discount ends September 15. So register today!

We also just confirmed Mattias Miksche, the founder of Stardoll, one of the fastest growing virtual paper doll sites that is open to kids under 13. You can read the Ypulse interview with Mattias here.

Izzy Neis, community guru from Star Farm Productions will be moderating that discussion. We will have more panelists to announce soon.

We have also confirmed former Star Farm vet Joi Pogorny and Zoey's Room founder Erin Reilly for the jointly led session:

Marketing to Tweens with Parental Consent Plus Age Verification that Works

* How to market to tweens and be COPPA compliant
* How to keep kids in - and adults out

Joi is a COPPA expert and Erin has teamed with another company to provide age verification on Zoey's Room that works.

We have loads of invites out and will keep you posted on more confirmations as they roll in. Take advantage of the early adopter discount and register today.