Portland Social Media

inVerge 2007

During September 6th - 7th the inVergence Conference will take place at the Gerding Theater in the Pearl. As described on their website, “inVerge 2007 is an immersive 2 to 4-day experience…[it] focuses on emerging interactive convergence [invergence] dynamics manifesting as various global business trends including: media platform integration, brand integration, collective intelligence, participatory culture and mass collaboration”.

Invergence. It’s a new word. I’ve never heard of it. So I recommend you read up their blog post describing the ethos and spirit behind invergence. In short, the conference is about digital technology and how we interact with it and each other.

Once inside the conference, you can expect it to be run unlike a typical conference. All attendees will be present in one space for each confirmed speaker. Those in attendance will be able to give immediate feedback to the speaker through the use of these vintage and aptly named Perception Analyzers. No, they won’t read your mind or aid in the reading of others

Registration fees to attend inVerge 2007 start at $595. But, this registration fee also gives you access to two other amazing events happening in Portland; PICA’s Time-Based Art festival and MusicFestNW! Join inVerge’s email list to find out when tickets to this innovative tech conference go on sale.

OnHollywood 2007

JD Lasica, over at socialmedia.biz, is at the OnHollywood event and he has a great post about what’s being talked about at OnHollywood. Of interest to me, from his post, are the following:

• Richard Rosenblatt, CEO of Demand Media, unveiled dot.tv
• Chad Hurley said, “We’re seeing the optimum length of a video is 2 minutes.” on YouTube and he doesn’t attribute this to something YouTube caused, but rather it’s the nature of video on the Internet.
• Michael Robertson made a prescient statement that he doesn’t see the explosion of video on the Internet as a benefit to the middle-of-the-road video producer or talent, because he remembers the 90’s when most thought the Internet would allow the rise of “middle-class musicians” to make a living without being signed to a big label. So far, he’s right and those that dedicate their lives to playing music still have a hard time paying the rent - the only band I can think of that has done well without signing to the majors is Arcade Fire; could be wrong. To sum up, Michael suggests you should always reach for the top with your creative works, if you ever want to make money.
• Richard Rosenblatt disagreed and tired to sell everyone that the only thing standing in the way of someone making an instructional video in their basement for $500, is for there to be a monetization system in place where he can sell it for > $500.
• Blake Krikorian, founder-CEO of Sling Media, hates DRM. Not sure if everyone in the audience nodded their head in agreement when he espoused his dislike for DRM - I would be enthused if everyone agreed.