In a continuing effort to book speakers from a variety of disciplines impacted by invergence, I’m excited to announce that the Inverge 2007 conference has added Catherine Ogilvie, Executive Vice President & General Manager of the San Francisco office for Edelman, the largest independent public relations firm in the world.

A British national, Catherine has over 20 years experience in developing and executing successful marketing and communications programs around the world. She has worked in global markets for companies such as Harrods, Motorola and Napster.

Catherine will be a great compliment to fellow Inverge 2007 speaker Renny Gleeson, Global Director of Digital Strategies at Wieden + Kennedy, one of most respected indepdendent advertising agencies in the world.

Here is the complete list of Inverge 2007 speakers.

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Here is a preview of a press release going out on tomorrow’s wire:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Karamy Muessig
Xposure Unlimited
Phone: 503.750.9041
Email: karamy@xposureunlimited.com

Interactive Convergence Takes Center Stage in Portland at Inverge 2007

New multi-disciplinary conference brings together national and local thought leaders, aligns with city’s top cultural events

Portland, Ore. — Aug. 14, 2007 — On Sept. 6 and 7, Portland will play host to Inverge 2007: the interactive convergence conference, a new event that will bring together experts in advertising, marketing, entertainment, media, retail, product design, public relations, virtual worlds and interactive technology to demystify today’s – and unearth tomorrow’s – trends in the interaction between consumers and content. Inverge 2007 will take place in the heart of Portland’s Pearl District (Gerding Theater at the Armory, 128 NW Eleventh Ave), and will focus on the constantly evolving interactive convergence, or what conference founder Steve Gehlen calls “invergence,” that is shaping how people and companies engage with each other.

“With the digitization of content and the democratization of distribution, the lines are blurring across industries, professions and corporate silos. So, the timing seems right for a multi-disciplinary conference where we can come together, interact with experts across various fields, and learn from each other,” stated inVerge conference founder Steve Gehlen of IndePlay, Inc., the company producing the event.

Speakers at the conference, including executives from MTV Networks, Ensequence, Wieden + Kennedy, frog design and Nau, as well as researchers from MIT and Leiden University in The Netherlands, aim to shed light on a business and entertainment landscape that is currently being redefined by several types of invergence. Examples include the invergence of media platforms, online + offline, content + advertising, and corporate + consumer-generated content. Both traditional and new media will be explored across various industries and disciplines, with Portland’s quintessential creative approach to business serving as the backdrop.

“As a location for inVerge, Portland has the advantage of being away from traditional industry centers while also being one of the country’s most lauded cities and a well-regarded source of creative innovation,” said Gehlen. “It’s an obvious neutral location to bring together thought leaders, influencers and cultural creatives to discuss new ideas about how to invite and excite consumers to interact with brands and each other.”

Inverge Speakers Include:

> Joshua Green, Research Mgr, Convergence Culture Consortium, MIT
> Jeff Yapp, Executive Vice President, MTV Networks
> Chris Van Dyke, CEO, Nau
> Dalen Harrison, CEO, Ensequence
> Ken Papagan, President & Chief Strategy Officer, Rentrak
> Renny Gleeson, Director of Digital Strategies, Wieden + Kennedy
> Adam Richardson, Director of Product Strategy, frog design
> Jason Stoddard (Managing Partner) and Ken Brady (VP, Asia), Centric
> Bill Barnett, General Manager, 926 ventures
> Mark Deuze, Professor, Journalism and New Media, Leiden University

To provide attendees with a unique experience, the Inverge conference is integrated with three other top Northwest cultural events that will all start on Sept. 6 in Portland: the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art’s Time-Based Art Festival, MusicFestNW, and the First Thursday Gallery Walk. A pass to inVerge includes full access to MusicFestNW (which runs for 3 days and features more than 125 indie bands) and vouchers to 3 Time-Based Art Festival events.

The price for attendance of the two-day Inverge conference is $495 in advance or $595 at the door. inVerge 2007 is sponsored in part by the Portland Development Commission.

For more information and to purchase tickets: http://www.inverge.com.

To read more about invergence: http://invergence.com.

For more information on the Time-Based Art Festival: http://www.pica.org/tba.

For more information on MusicFestNW: http://www.musicfestnw.com.

For more information on First Thursday: http://www.firstthursdayportland.com

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The visual identity for the Inverge 2007 conference was developed by Jessica Bernert at Pail Design and we lauched it recently.

 Here is the logo:

Here is the Web/Email header with the tag line:

I really like these colors, which were influenced by input from our set designer, Marc Ricketts of GuildWorks.  They will look great with Marc’s set and stage lighting at the event.

The Inverge conference website is currently in development.  You can see the interim page at:

www.inverge.com

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Inverge 2007 is shaping up to be a great event. Aside from the conference itself, the setting of the event is something to be excited about. Recently, Steve blogged about why Portland is a great host city. Those of us who live and work here are already convinced.

Here are some tips for people flying in:

Check the deals. Before booking your trip, remember to check availability of Portland hotel deals here at the Travel Portland site. While you’re in the mood, spend some time wandering around the Travel Oregon site as well.

Stay through the weekend. As Steve mentioned in his post, the PICA Time Based Art festival and MusicFestNW will be going full steam at sites all over town. Check out the amazing rosters at TBA:07 and MFNW.

Wander around. Portland is all about neighborhoods. The Pearl District and Nob Hill-NW 23rd are great places to start, and there are many others all over town including cool Eastside neighborhoods such as Hawthorne, Mississippi and Alberta.

You don’t need a car. Walking works fine all over downtown and the Pearl. TriMet can get you in from the airport and to shows, shops and restaurants in any corner of town. Fare is a buck seventy to most places you’ll need to go and is free downtown. Or call a cab for longer hauls.

Pick up a paper map. It will help make sense of what’s on your mobile. In the Pearl, a good walking map is free at Powell’s City of Books (you should go there anyway.) Downtown, walk over to the visitor center in Pioneer Square or find one of these folks with their green umbrellas and floppy hats. They stock carts full of maps and other info.

Get out of town. OK, if you have a day or two to spare, maybe you do need a car. Oregon is many things, as illustrated nicely here. The mountains, the gorge, the coast and wine country are an easy drive from Portland.

Seek out the food. Portland’s food-and-restaurant scene rivals that of any North American city. Period. Here’s a piece from local paper Willamette Week on just a few excellent restaurants. Everyone should know by now about the breweries, coffee houses, chocolatiers and teahouses. Even the doughnuts get good press in the national media.

Feed your head. Festivals or not, music and art are thriving in Portland. Check out this list of Portland bands. Jazz is alive and well at Jimmy Mak’s, just a few steps from the conference venue, and on any given night you can find blues, folk and country at venues around town. You’ll be in town for First Thursday on the 6th, when all the galleries in the Pearl open their doors into the night. Rembrandt and the Dutch masters are holding court at the Portland Art Museum until the 16th, in an exhibit on loan from the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.

Bring sunscreen. Weather is usually beautiful in early September.

What did I miss? See you in Portland at Inverge 2007.

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Great news!  I received an email today from Joshua Green of MIT, confirming that he will be able to speak at this year’s inVerge conference.

Ever since I read the book Convergence Culture, written by Henry Jenkins, Director of the MIT Center for Comparative Media Studies, I wanted someone from that program as a speaker at this first year at inVerge. 

So this is very cool.  Joshua is the research manager for the Convergence Culture Consortium at MIT, part of the Center for Comparative Media Studies.

 I am excited to meet Joshua in September and hear him open the conference on the morning of the 6th.  He will really help set the stage for the other speakers.

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