Keynotes - Monday, February 9, 2009

It's Personal: The Possibilities and Pitfalls of Monetizing User Generated Content

Bruce Livingstone, Founder & CEO, and Kelly Thompson, COO, iStockphoto

iStockphoto is arguably one of the most financially successful user-generated content sites in the world, and is unique in its revenue-sharing business model that has turned community into commerce for 60,000 contributing artists worldwide. iStock sells an image, illustration or video every 1.3 seconds, making it a lucrative business for its thriving community.

Founder and CEO Bruce Livingstone, and COO Kelly Thompson will share their experiences in monetizing, monitoring and growing a UGC-based business. They will also offer insights and hard-won knowledge on the keys to success and failure sustaining a community and keeping both buyers and contributors satisfied.

Craig Newmark, Customer Service Rep & Founder, Craigslist

Session description coming soon...

Keynotes - Tuesday, February 10, 2009

The Accidental User Generated Content Entrepreneur

Guy Kawasaki, Managing Director, Garage Technology Ventures

Guy Kawasaki, co-founder of Truemors and Alltop, will discuss blogging, user-generated news, RSS feed aggregation, and using Twitter as a marketing twool [sic]. Guy will share tips on how to get started, how to get funding (not!), and how he screwed up along the way.

The Spaghetti Monster Effect – How User-Generated Commerce Inspires an Industry

Fred Durham, Founder & CEO, CafePress

A few years ago Tom Cruise jumped up on Oprah's couch and enthusiastically declared his love for his then girlfriend Katie Holmes. The tabloids were a buzz, everyone was talking about the strange behavior, and moments later a T-Shirt slogan was born - "Free Katie." Over the course of the next few weeks the designer of this shirt made thousands of dollars, proving that user-generated content had serious monetizing ability! We refer to this phenomenon as "the Spaghetti Monster Effect;" it's the phenomenon we see when something happens in the real world and captures enough attention to start an online craze. It spreads from the real world into the user-generated cyber-world of blogs, social media, video and ultimately merchandising.

In this presentation participants will have the opportunity to look into past sensations (Spaghetti monsters, Free Katie, Dick Cheney Shooting, 2008 election) and see how they've changes lives, industries, and started conversations in the most unlikely places. Fred will dissect how community driven content is a reflection of public sentiment, explore the cultural phenomenon that have become overnight hits that not only capture attention but also generate real income, and look at how this trend is evolving with technology.

CafePress is the leader in User-Generated Commerce and offers sellers turnkey e-commerce services to independently create and sell a wide variety of products, and offers buyers unique merchandise across virtually every topic.