About the Personalize Media Conference
Following four successful Individuated News conferences, Peter Vandevanter has organized the PERSONALIZE MEDIA CONFERENCE for April 2011 in Denver and October 2011 in Washington, D.C., continuing his passion for important innovations in media.
Over the past four years as founder of the Individuated News conferences, Peter brought together thought leaders in publishing (The New York Times, The Washington Post, Time, Inc., Gannett, MediaNews Group); in search taxonomy (ICurrent.com, PPIMedia); in website software (Accrisoft, IPhase3); in web-to-print technology (Syntops and Niiu); in digital printing (CGX, Printcasting); and printer manufacturing (OCE, Hewlett-Packard, Ricoh) to discuss personalization of news and advertising on any and all platforms.
There have been many breakthroughs:
-- Gregor Dorsch (Syntops) presents his mix and match newspaper technology in 2007 and brings the product to market in 2008 in Switzerland.
-- John Dowd (PrecisionAds) demos his geo-targeted product in 2009 and by the next year it’s in the market generating $350 CPMs for ads
-- Dan Pacheco (Printcasting) describes his blog to magazine product in 2009, and by 2010 its about people transforming blogs into books, I-Pad products, mobile presentations and glossy magazines.
-- Larry Tracy and Patrick Schroeder (Hewlett-Packard) tout the home-printed newspaper beta in 2009 and bring a globally retailed internet printer to market at the 2010 conference.
Peter’s personalization conferences are always cutting edge. And presenters and vendors alike seem to get the feedback they need to move their products more successfully to market.
Here’s a testimonial email about the 2010 conference from Brianne Warner, a University of Virginia MBA Publishing candidate: “I was most impressed with the quality of the presenters. We went to a media conference in New York earlier this year, and each presentation felt like it was showcasing the state of industry thought 4 years ago. INC felt like it showcased 6 months in the future.
The schedule was also really well laid out, so by the end of just 2 and a half days, you had enough interaction that real connections were made. The memory stick with presentations was terrific (I've already used it for reference!), and even the food was stellar.”
2011 sponsorships -- which range from $2,500 to $10,000 -- are limited. You’ll want to commit early to have a real say in the conference. Please contact Peter at 303.253.5334.
A Short History of the Conference
The Personalize Media conference began as the Individuated News Conference, which was founded on the premise that people should be able to choose news and advertising delivered on any and all platforms.
The first Individuated News Conference – or INC 1 -- was held in Leipzig, Germany, in June 2007, in order to celebrate and study the first variable data, inkjet printer: the Kodak Versamark.
Although its speed was slow and its print quality was inferior to offset, the fact that Kodak and Christian Bayerlein of Bayerlein Publishing (Augsberg, Germany) had collaborated to engineer a newsprint web onto a “copy” machine to print a newspaper was worth a conference, or at least a few beers at the local hofbrau. We wined and dined well in Leipzig that summer.
At that first conference, E-ink arrived from its nearby factory in Dresden, Germany, and demonstrated that digital technology.
INC 2 was held in Denver the next June (2008), with a concerted effort to explain the potential of personalization online and in print to enough publishers to perhaps get a product out the door.
OCE, who had developed its own VDP, web, inkjet press (the Jetstream) sponsored the conference and Duncan Newton from OCE is renowned (at least on the YouTube video that followed the conference) for saying: “If you guys are trying to print individuated products. Old hat. We’ve been doing that for a decade.”
INC 3 moved to Washington DC in 2009 (and OCE was once again the primary sponsor) determined to spotlight some -- any -- personalized print products, even flawed products that were never going to make it out of beta. After two years of intense discussion, we needed products. So the call went out far and wide and we got some:
- Time Magazine’s Mine (Editor Wayne Powers presented)
- The Washington Times national edition (Asst. Man. Editor Ted Agres presented)
- MediaNews Group and Hewlett Packard’s home printed newspaper (VP of Targeted Products Peter Vandevanter; Patrick Schroeder and Larry Tracy of HP presented)
- Syntops-Swiss Post’s personal news newspaper (CEO Gregor Dorsch and CTO Michael Stangl presented)
But conference founder and moderator Peter Vandevanter reminded everyone at INC 3 that personalization and the conference itself remained platform agnostic, because, after all, “What are we going to say when the news is on your shower curtain every morning?”
Despite presentations from all the print innovators at the conference, a vote was taken that none of the products would succeed quickly: that in fact a strictly online product would be the next breakthrough for personalization.
And indeed it was, as by the next spring (2010), Apple had launched the I-pad and applications that presented newspapers and magazines of choice were evident and popular on the internet device.
INC 4 embraced in-depth discussions of personalization online, especially micropayment strategies, and the conference lived up to its billing as uncompromisingly platform agnostic. Steven Brill, the founder of Journalism Online, was the keynote speaker. Dan Kruger of IPhase3 may have presented the most “revolutionary” concept: full protection for content creators online.
But the conference’s roots in print personalization did not disappear at INC 4, as Niiu from Germany arrived to present its “individualized”, printed newspaper. To demonstrate how Niiu works, a new HP T300 web, inkjet press owned by Frederic Printing in nearby Aurora, CO, printed individuated newspapers at the conference.
And Hewlett Packard demonstrated it’s new globally retailed, internet-ready, TouchSmart, $99 printer (embedded with USA Today, Fandango and Mapquest) by printing daily versions of the Denver Post, just as was done the summer of 2009 in field tests in Denver.
Another key industry announcement at the conference was the formation of the Information Trust Association, in order to seek digital solutions online that protect content creators. The ITA was put together by Bill Densmore, with funding from the University of Missouri RJ Reynolds School of Journalism.
As the Individuated News Conference series transitions to the Personalize MEdia conferences, more innovative people and companies will be highlighted.
About us
The Personalize Media team is a cross-platform group of experienced media and technology experts.
Attendees are responsible for the cost of transportation and hotel accommodations.
