So here’s my rather belated post looking at a couple of interesting breakout sessions at Manchester’s recently concluded  b.TWEEN08 conference.

For the uninitiated, this post is part of a series covering the b.TWEEN08 conference that took place at Manchester’s Museum of Science and Industry from 18-20 June. Click on the “b.TWEEN08” tag to see all articles in the series.

I’m discussing the conference organizers decision to scrap the traditional ‘roving microphone amongst the audience’ question and answer session after each presentation in favour of distributed ‘break out’ discussions in specially allocated areas within the main conference hall.

In essence, rather than having a moderated Question and Answer (Q&A) session from the stage, b.TWEEN08’s organizers instead opted for more informal ‘Break Out’ sessions where delegates could gather round speakers they liked and discuss points raised during their presentation(s).

I’ve decided to share my notes from a couple of the more interesting breakout sessions I attended at b.TWEEN08.  This post will be useful to anyone who has to write a pitch for an investor or anyone who is interested in making and distributing films on the web.

I’ve written up some of the points I noted at Matt Hanson’s very interesting breakout session after his A Swarm Of Angels presentation during Day 1’s Building Successful Communities session. 

Watch his presentation in full at the b.TWEEN website.  Here’s my write up of the highlights of Day 1 of the b.TWEEN08 conference including a look at the Building Successful Communities session.

The now obligatory disclaimer: I’ve typed up my hastily scrawled notes here.  If you have read something you contend didn’t happen at the conference then make your point in the comments!

A Swarm of Angels Breakout session - Matt Hanson

A Swarm Of Angels is moving from 1000 to 5000 paid subscribers for its innovative ‘crowdsourced’ million pound film project.  Users pay £25 each to subscribe to receive trailers, insider knowledge etc etc.

Trailers have been created for (two) films.  Different promotional drive to gain more members. Online promotion that bypasses the usual gateways.

Only recently did they do any traditional promotion – they were recently covered by Italy’s La Republica.

“The community validates what you’re doing.”

Quality of membership. Provides community autonomy.

“I have directorial control over the feature film but you can do it collaboratively.”

I questioned their approach to merchandise/memorabilia.  Cited Four Eyed Monsters approach to sharing content online via YouTube, iTunes, MySpace etc but monetized by creating and selling t-shirts, cinema tickets and DVDs of the finished film.

I said that A Swarm of Angels has demonstrated monetisation of ideas but wondered how they would approach monetization of offshoots, merchandise etc.

His response:
It’s about thinking outside the box.  Get it platform promiscuous.

It’s about trying to be more creative.

Another delegate asked what the £25 subscription gave each user. Emotional share?

His response:
It’s a subscription but allows project to function as a meritocracy.

He didn’t really answer my question about how he intended to monetize crowd-sourced merchandise but then it was quite a busy break out session (at least 10 delegates in attendance) with questions coming at him from all directions.

Other points:

Blender?  An approach to ‘open content’ that is about sharing the assets.  Is really about showcasing their animation tools.

Back to A Swarm of Angels: it’s about edgy, cult cinema.

Learn more about A Swarm Of Angels.

UPDATE: Get A Swarm of Angels updates via Twitter, the microblogging service.  You can also follow Matt Hanson on Twitter.

Here are my notes on Kaiser Kuo’s Breakout Session after the Pitch Clinic on Day 1 of the b.TWEEN conference.  Watch that session in full at the b.TWEEN website.  Check out my highlights of Day 1 of the b.TWEEN08 conference including a look at the Pitch Clinic session.

Here Kaiser, whose job involves evaluating promising startups in the Chinese Internet industry for Ogilvy China, shares what he looks for in a successful pitch amongst a small group of 8-10 delegates.

Pitch Clinic Breakout session – Kaiser Kuo

Presentation: 1 page, cover letter, 1-2 pages, like an executive summary

What company does, problem solved, core competencies of founding team.

Don’t need to hear it based on the model of another company (e.g. this is a Chinese ‘YouTube’ etc)

A delegate asked which specific industries he focused in.

His response:
Consumer facing internet facing things – video, video advertising, P2P.

Kaiser on the pitch proper:

Presentation not fluffily put together. Lengthier bios of team members.  Some SWOT analysis, present the problem and solution.

Talk about competitor landscape.   Don’t like “we have no competitors in this”.

Show me you took some time to do this.

Think about the questions a critical, [well-informed] person would want you to answer.

Some examples based on his experience with the Chinese Internet industry:

There is a $1 billion online advertising marketplace in China.  Baidu and main Chinese internet sites/portals receive 60% of this.

A lot of Web 2.0 companies persist in the delusion of ramping up their site traffic under the assumption that they can magically turn on an advertising switch when the traffic is the size of the big players in the market.

Need to see that you are not deluded, that you understand the marketplace…

It’s not as simple as having as much traffic as the big players.

Who are your competitors?

“Music Piracy per capita less in China than in the US”.  Contrary to popular opinion…

The only way musicians have been able to make money is through polyphonic ringtones.

Predicts that full length song downloads could be a revenue earner.

40 million full length song downloads sold.  $3 per song. In either Japan or Korea, can’t remember which he said.

Other initiatives:
Get universities to pay monthly for DRM free music.

Where you there?  Remember it differently?  Leave your thoughts in the comments.

Look out for the next installment of the study of social media usage amongst FTSE100 companies.

Related posts:

1. b.TWEEN08 Conference Highlights – Day 2 – 20th June – Part 2
2. b.TWEEN08 Conference Highlights – Day 2 – 20th June – Part 1
3. b.TWEEN08 Conference Highlights – Day 1 – 19th June

Any new technology offering brings its own disruption to tried and tested methods of doing things.

Online video is no different.

The legal ramifications of a digital age in which the most basic media devices enable consumers to create perfect copies of any content they consume is testing the limits of existing copyright law.

Not to mention shaking the raison d’etre of established media companies at its very core.

Future posts in our Legal Issues category will explore the implications of copy rights in the brave new world of digital media.

You beg to differ?

Share your opinion in the comments.

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1. InVideo Ads: A First Step Towards Monetising Online Video
2. TV, video & movie content consumption online almost doubles in the UK
3. Defining Online Video Audience Analytics