Lord Puttnam and Lord Triesman Join List of Speakers at Virtual Worlds Forum Europe as New Sponsors and Partners Sign-up
Preparations for this month's inaugural Virtual Worlds Forum
Europe in London are gathering pace with the announcement of
additional keynote speakers, new sponsors and fresh partnerships.
Lord Puttnam, the award-winning film producer and campaigner, is
to present a keynote presentation entitled 'Virtual Worlds - media,
entertainment, narrative: a radical shift from passive to
interactive'.
He will be joined by Lord Triesman, Parliamentary Under-Secretary
of State (PUSS) in the Department for Innovation, Universities and
Skills, who will also be giving a keynote speech on the opening day of
the conference.
Other newly confirmed speakers include senior executives from Lego
Universe, Sony Computer Entertainment, Boingboing.com, Mind Candy and
Linden Lab. Also speaking will be Professor Michael Hulme from the
Centre for Study of Media, Technology & Culture.
Meanwhile, Virtual Worlds Forum Europe has formed a partnership
with Australia-based X(Media)Lab, www.xmedialab.com. Founded in 2003,
X(Media)Lab runs networking events and workshops where 'mentors' are
teamed with groups of individuals seeking help with bringing their new
media projects to market.
Past X(Media)Lab event participants have included executives at
major corporations from around the world such as the BBC, Disney,
Intel, Bebo.com and BBDO.
X(Media)Lab will be holding a one-day workshop at the Virtual
Worlds Forum Europe. It will be the first time that a workshop has
been held outside of the Asia-Pacific region.
The London mentors have been drawn from the Virtual Worlds Forum
Europe speaker line-up and include Frank Campbell, Chief Business
Officer, MindArk; Lizzie Jackson, Digital Social Life Research and
former BBC Online Communities; Meg Pickard, Head of Communities and
User Experience, The Guardian; and Steve Prentice, Group Vice
President and Chief of Research, Gartner.
Sasha Frieze, Virtual Worlds Forum Europe conference director,
says, "We are very excited to be bringing X(Media)Lab to London, one
of the world's digital media hotspots, and offering it as an
additional element to our two day conference."
"We have had an absolutely amazing response to the whole Forum
event. We really sense that there's a palpable excitement in the
market to meet, talk and do business among participants from as far
afield as Japan, the US, Australia and right across the whole of
Europe," she adds.
Elsewhere, the Virtual Worlds Forum Europe has:
-- Confirmed new sponsors. They include The Electric Sheep
Company, developer of add-on software for 3D virtual worlds;
Enne Entertainment Studios, a Spanish-based games developer
and animation design studio; FutureBrand, a brand strategy and
design consultancy of the McCann-Erickson WorldGroup.
-- Negotiated new delegate deals. Each delegate will now receive
a complimentary copy of Forrester Research's "The Real
Business of Virtual Worlds" report, as well as a four day pass
to The Hospital, a private members' club for creatives in
London.
Notes to Editors:
About The Virtual Economic Forum Ltd
Virtual Worlds Forum Europe 2007 is produced by The Virtual
Economic Forum Limited, a company leveraging decades of expertise in
the delivery of media events.
About The Virtual Worlds Forum Europe
The Virtual Worlds Forum advisory board includes:
-- Professor Richard Bartle, University of Essex, author,
"Designing Virtual Worlds"
-- Justin Bovington, CEO, Rivers Run Red
-- Mark Boyd, Creative Director and Head of Content, BBH
-- Mike Butcher, Editor, TechCrunch UK
-- Paul Hemp, Senior Editor, The Harvard Business Review
-- Aleks Krotoski, Journalist, The Guardian and virtual worlds
researcher
-- Ren Reynolds, TerraNova
-- Alice Taylor, VP Digital Content, BBC, Wonderland blog
Virtual Worlds Forum Europe 2007 takes place October 24 - 25, 2007
in Central London with work-shops on the 23rd and the 26th of October.
Online registration is open, and to ensure you're kept up to date,
sign up to our mailing list at www.virtualworldsforum.com.