Summer Conference 2012
FSTA Technology Summit Summer 2012
Monday and Tuesday, June 11-12
Marriott Hotel in Union Square, San Francisco, CA
Conference registration is $649 for FSTA members and $749 for non-members
Sponsored By:
Room Reservation
The phone number to call and make reservations is: (800) 228-9290. When you call in, make sure you say that they you’re coming in for Fantasy Sports Trade Association in June of 2012 on 06/11 & 06/12. Book your rooms under the group’s block FAN with our discount rate until May 25th. However we do not guarantee that space is still available. Reservations should be able to pull the group up by name if needed.
| http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/sfous?groupCode=fanfana&app=resvlink&fromDate=6/9/12&toDate=6/15/12 |
Sponsorship
If you are interested in sponsoring the FSTA Business Conference and Research Symposium in Las Vegas, please review our Sponsorship Opportunities. Email Association Director Megan Van Petten for details.
Event Pages
Special Feature
FSTA counsel Glenn Colton, a partner at SNR Denton US LLP, will be available to meet with conference attendees on a one-on-one basis at specified times during the conference (“Office Hours”). Both start-ups and experienced, mature businesses are encouraged to take advantage of this opportunity to ask questions privately of our very own legal expert.
June 11, Conference Day 1
3:00 P.M. Conference Registration Opens
3:30 P.M. Elevator Pitch Enrollment – Guidelines
4:00 P.M. FSTA Board Meeting
5:00 Cocktail and hors d’oeuvres Reception and FSTA Experts’ League Fantasy Football Drafts ( Live on SIRIUS XM Radio). If you will be at the conference and are interested in playing in a FSTA fantasy football league, contact Charlie Wiegert at cwiegert@cdmsports.com.
7:30 P.M. FSTA Hall of Fame Induction
June 12, Conference Day 2
8:00 A.M. Breakfast
9:00 A.M. Welcome and Opening Remarks- Paul Charchian, President, Fantasy Sports Trade Association
9:10 A.M. Welcome from Conference Title Sponsor- CBSSports.com
9:15 A.M. Distributing and Monetizing Content
Are there better ways to distribute and monetize content than are currently being utilized? What can we learn from business models at companies such as Pinterest and SB Nation in reaching new users?
Moderator: Chris Liss, Rotowire
Panelists:
Kent Schact, ESPN
Kent Schacht has been Director of ESPN’s Insider digital subscription product since 2007. He is responsible for managing the Insider business, focusing on acquisition and retention. His day-to-day responsibilities include business operations, business development, marketing and product and cross-platform development. During his tenure, Insider has grown over 80% and has partnered with companies including Major League Baseball, the Wall Street Journal, Microsoft and Starbucks to syndicate and distribute Insider content. In addition to his Insider responsibilities, Schacht also oversees international title development and management for ESPN publishing as well as other digital initiatives for ESPN the Magazine. Previously, he served as senior producer for NBC Universal, where he oversaw the development of the digital platform for the Weather Plus network and interactive strategy for MSNBC TV. Prior to that, Kent worked on the development of four Olympics websites for NBC (Sydney, Salt Lake, Athens and Torino) and as a producer and reporter for MLB Advanced Media. Schacht holds bachelor of science in journalism and masters of science in marketing communication degrees from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. He is a native of Colorado.
Jason Kint, CBSSports.com
Jason Kint joined CBS Interactive as the General Manager of the Fort Lauderdale, FL based CBSSports.com in May 2007. In his role, Kint oversees programming, advertising sales, product development, marketing, technology and general administration of CBSSports.com, high school sports leader MaxPreps.com and the CBSSports.com College Network, a division of CBS Interactive that produces over 160 official collegiate athletic sites. Formerly known as CBS SportsLine.com, in August of 2007 Kint spearheaded the movement to change the company’s name to CBSSports.com. The change marked the evolution of the company into a multi-platform brand offering premier broadcast, online and mobile sports content, giving advertisers the ability to associate with the CBS Sports brand and reach sports fans no matter where they are, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Under Kint’s direction, CBSSports.com has further cemented its leadership position in two segments of the industry: Fantasy Sports and the live streaming of sports events. Since Kint’s arrival at CBS, NCAA March Madness on Demand has become the largest live sporting event on the Internet and is one of approximately 11,000 sports events which CBSSports.com and the CBSSports.com College Network provide live streaming video and audio for each year. In 2008, CBSSports.com expanded its live online video coverage of the Masters Tournament as well as added live streaming video of SEC college football & basketball. CBSSports.com’s fantasy sports products and games have been some of the most popular in the industry and have won eight of the past eleven Fantasy Sports Trade Association awards for best Fantasy Commissioner Product. In January, 2012, Kint announced that CBSSports.com will open its fantasy sports service to third party developers and companies to create apps for their products and services. CBSSports.com’s innovative open Fantasy Platform represents the first of its kind in the fantasy sports industry.
Brian Grey, Bleacher Report
Brian Grey is Chief Executive Officer of Bleacher Report overseeing the strategic direction and day-to-day operation of the company. A veteran of the digital sports media space, Grey joined Bleacher Report in June 2010 as CEO from successful leadership positions as Senior Vice President & General Manager of FOX Sports Interactive where he oversaw the strategic direction and day-to-day operations of FOX Sports’ digital businesses, and directed the expansion of original video production and programming. Prior to FOX Sports, Grey was GM of Yahoo! Sports, where he was responsible for the site’s push into original editorial programming and continued growth in fantasy sports. Before serving in a variety of executive roles at Netscape, AOL and Shutterfly, Grey briefly scouted for the Chicago White Sox in the mid-1990s. Grey is also the ultimate sports optimist despite years of heartbreak as an Oakland Raiders, Portland Trailblazer and Oregon State Beaver football fan, or otherwise known as the Bermuda Triangle of the West Coast. Just avoid mentioning either the “Tuck Rule” Raider playoff game in 2003 or the Greg Oden and Sam Bowie draft picks to him. Grey holds a B.A. from Pacific University, an M.A. in Economics from the University of California at Santa Barbara, and an M.B.A. from UCLA’s Andersen School of Management.
10:00 A.M. Building a Challenger Brand Using Fantasy Sports
Moderator: Cory Mummery, NFL
Panelists:
Chris Russo
Brian Mead, Yahoo
Brian Mead is a Product Manager for Yahoo! Sports, focused on mobile and social products and strategy. He is responsible for the Yahoo! Sportacular mobile applications as well as various social initiatives across Yahoo! Sports properties. Mead joined Yahoo! through the acquisition of then challenger brand Citizen Sports where he held the role of Director of Mobile and Social Product. While at Citizen Sports (formerly PROTRADE.com), he spearheaded the company’s first social sports apps after the Facebook Platform launch in 2007. PROTRADE then pivoted to become Citizen Sports, growing to 10 million Facebook users across fantasy sports and fan applications. In 2008, Mead also took over the Sportacular mobile applications, one of the highest rated iOS sports app and Apple’s selection as one of the 50 apps in the “App Store Hall of Fame.” A Bay Area native, he religiously follows the 49ers, A’s, Warriors along with Johns Hopkins lacrosse and water polo. Mead holds a B.A. in Economics with a Minor in Entrepreneurship & Management from Johns Hopkins University.
Paul Inouye, Perella
10:45 A.M. Networking Break
Glenn Colton’s “Office Hours”
Sponsored By:
11:00 A.M. Consumer Spending Habits
Ipsos Research Presented
11:50 A.M. Sponsorship Pitches
12:00 P.M. Lunch & Networking
1:30 Elevator Pitch- Do you have a new business or idea that will revolutionize the fantasy sports industry? This is your chance to get your idea out to a room full of decision makers! Get noticed by pitching your product at the FSTA conference. Prize for best pitch!
Moderator: Howard Kamen, USA Today
2:30 P.M. Game Design Lessons: What can Fantasy Sports learn from Farmville?
Looking at successful social games to learn about game design, promotion and marketing, micro transactions and engagement.
Moderator: Jeff Ma, Tenxer
Panelists:
Brian Morrisroe
Brian has 15 years of professional experience in the gaming industry and for the past 4 years has been focused on creating location based mobile games as Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer at Booyah. Prior to founding Booyah Brian spent several years at Blizzard Entertainment where, in his roles as Art Lead for World of Warcraft and Art Director for Diablo III, he helped establish the visual style and future art direction of both franchises. He’s helped ship over 15 million units worldwide including blockbuster titles such as Spider-Man The Movie, World of Warcraft, and the follow-up expansion World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade.
Chris Esaki, Microsoft Studios
Chris Esaki has been cranking out high profile interactive entertainment for EA, Namco, and Microsoft for 15 years. While at Microsoft, he has been the Director of Design for the first party publishing group overseeing Kinectimals, Alan Wake, Kinect Disneyland Adventures, Kinect Star Wars, Kinect Rush, Jade Empire, Mass Effect, Gears of War, and Lips. He is currently the Creative Director for Sports at Microsoft Studios focusing on creating interactive sports TV experiences for the Xbox.
3:15 P.M. Analytics, Analytics, Analytics: A Race to the Top or Bottom?
Using the Money Ball approach in Fantasy – are there new analytics that can change the way we play games? How mainstream can these analytics be and is it relative to the universe of people interested in advanced analytics?
Coordinator: Howard Kamen, USA Today
Panelist:
Steve Byrd, STATS
Steve Byrd has been with STATS since 1997. He originally served as Vice President of Marketing for the company, then became Vice President of the STATS Fantasy Sports, Publishing & Television Business Units. Mr. Byrd’s responsibilities include sales, marketing, business development and managing STATS’ relationship with their many league and sport federation partners across the globe. Mr. Byrd is on the Board of Directors of Data Stadium in Tokyo Japan and was a founding board member of the Fantasy Sports Association (FSA). Mr. Byrd is a frequent guest speaker and panel member at leading digital media and sports business conferences across the USA and in both Europe and Asia. Mr. Byrd has been in the sports industry for over 20 years. Previous to STATS, he served in senior marketing, sales management and business development positions at Wilson Sporting Goods, AMF Bowling & Billiards and Sports Sciences. Mr. Byrd has an MBA with Honors from the University of Chicago and a BSME with Highest Distinction from Purdue University.
Greg Moore, Sportvision
4:00 P.M. Elevator Pitch Announcement Winner!
4:05 P.M. Networking Break
Glenn Colton’s “Office Hours”
4:30 P.M One on One Conversation
Brent Jones, 49ers and Northgate Capital
6:00 P.M San Francisco Giants vs Astros! Game starts at 7:15
Map: http://sanfrancisco.giants.mlb.com/ballparks/stadium_maps.jsp?c_id=sf
Suite Link: http://sanfrancisco.giants.mlb.com/photos/gallery.jsp?content_id=26060284&c_id=sf
Sponsored By:
Wednesday, June 13th
Networking Breakfast 8:30-10:30
Technology Sponsor:
