onferences, panel discussions, keynotes: what makes them engaging, and what dooms them to dullness?
 |
| From an interview with inventor Dean Kamen at the MITX Fireside Chat series in 2003. Photo is courtesy of Dan Bricklin. |
I serve as the program chair for a trio of annual conferences in New England that focus on innovation:
The Nantucket Conference on Entrepreneurship and Innovation, held each May
Convergence: The Life Sciences Leaders Forum, held on Martha's Vineyard every June
Future Forward, held in the fall in various locations
I also serve as a host, speaker, and moderator at 20 to 25 other events each year, at events around the U.S. that focus on innovation in a wide range of industries. Below is a list of upcoming (and past) events that I've been involved with. (Contact me if you'd like to invite me to attend or take part in an event.) More about my moderating and hosting work is here.
One of the things I most enjoy doing is moderating lively, insightful panel discussions; here's a compilation of advice for moderators and event organizers about how to run a great panel discussion.
Upcoming events I'm involved with:
Among the multi-media presentations I've been giving lately:
Past events:
May 30, 2008- Making Media Now 2008
Participating on a panel on "the future of long-form documentary in the age of Internet video." Waltham, MA. June 11, 2008- Tegrity User Conference
Delivering a keynote talk on "What Innovators Can Learn from Hollywood." Orlando, FL.
The Innovation Economy in New England: Strengths and Challenges The Future of Web Video: The Changing Relationship Between Producer and Viewer What Entrepreneurs and VCs Can Learn from Hollywood What Big Companies Can Learn from Hollywood The Psychology of Technology Adoption Reading the Tech Tea Leaves: Ten Trends That Matter
(Please get in touch if you'd like to invite me to attend or take part in an event. More background on my event work can be found here.)
April 9, 2008- AlwaysOn Venture Summit East
Moderated a panel of partners from new(ish) venture capital firms. Boston, MA. March 27, 2008- Nantucket Conference dinner: Consumer Tech in Boston
Moderated a panel of entrepreneurs and executives from consumer electronics companies, including Ambient Devices, HP, and Chestnut Hill Sound. Cambridge, MA. March 18, 2008- NAB Futures Summit
Moderated "Innovators' Insights" panel. Pebble Beach, CA. March 13, 2008- Harvard College Entrepreneurship Club
Delivered talk on New England's Innovation Economy. Cambridge, MA. March 11, 2008- NERCOMP Annual Conference
Gave a talk on "What Innovators Can Learn from Hollywood." Providence, RI. (Audio podcast of the talk is here.) March 8-9, 2008- South by Southwest Film Festival
Moderated panels on digital cinema for indies and visual effects/computer animation. Austin, TX. (Video is available here -- click on "SXSW 2008 Film Coverage.") March 2, 2008- Plumb Club Forum
Moderated a panel on Web 2.0 retailing. New York, NY. February 27, 2008- Harvard Business School Entertainment and Media Conference
Moderated a panel: "Will Venture Capital Find and Fund the Next YouTube?" Boston, MA. February 25, 2008- 7th Annual North America Forum for Investing & Partnering in Biotech
Moderated a panel on investing in medical devices. Boston, MA. February 13, 2008- Entrepreneurs on the Edge: Next-Gen Display Technology
Moderated a panel with execs from QD Vision, MERL, E Ink, Myvu, and Ambient Devices. Cambridge, MA. (Audio and video available here.) February 12, 2008- Internet Video: What's Next?
Moderated a panel with execs from Boston.TV, Brightcove, Digitas, Polaris Venture Partners, and WGBH. (Sold out.) Cambridge, MA. January 31, 2008- Sundance Film Festival
Moderated annual "VC Outlook" panel, with investors from Highland Capital Partners, General Catalyst, Advanced Technology Ventures, and Bain Capital Ventures. (Sold out.) Waltham, MA. (Audio podcast available here. January 25, 2008- Sundance Film Festival
Moderated a panel: "Collision Course: Content Providers and the Creative Community Chart a Course for the Future." Panelists included filmmaker Maria Maggenti and JibJab co-founder Evan Spiridellis. (Audio podcast is here.) Park City, UT. January 10, 2008- "New England's Innovation Economy: Understanding the Strengths and Challenges"
Talk for the Harvard Business School Association of Boston. Boston, MA. January 8, 2008- "The Venture Capital Industry: Looking Back on 2007 and Looking Forward to 2008"
Moderated a panel on venture capital trends, with Jonathan Seelig, Larry Bohn, and Alan Spoon. Boston, MA. December 3-4, 2007- International Film Festival Summit
Moderated two panels. Las Vegas, NV. November 30, 2007- MIT Venture Capital Conference
Conducted a "fireside chat" with Google executive Chris Sacca, and moderated a panel about Web 2.0, digital media, and consumer tech. Boston, MA November 28, 2007- Thinking Big (Private Event)
Conducted a conversation about building big, innovative companies in New England, with Michael Greeley of IDG Ventures and Paul Maeder of Highland Capital Partners. Boston, MA November 14, 2007- MIT Enterprise Forum
Moderated a panel on "how innovative businesses are combating global warming." Cambridge, MA November 8, 2007- Future Forward 07
Served as the program chair for the seventh edition of Future Forward, a gathering that brings together CIOs, CTOs, entrepreneurs, and investors from around New England. Conducted "fireside chats" with the CEOs of Akamai Technologies and RSA Security. Weston, MA. October 31- Video on the Net
Moderated a panel about video search, with execs from Dabble, AOL Video/Truveo, and EveryZing. Boston, MA. October 28-30- CIO | 08: The Year Ahead
Hosted and moderated a gathering for CIOs and senior IT execs. San Diego, CA. October 25, 2007- Village Ventures CEO Summit (private event)
Moderated a panel discussion with CEOs Steve Ellis of Pump Audio and Jim Eisenstein of OptaSite. Cambridge, Massachusetts. October 23, 2007- Tech Blogs
Moderated a conversation about the impact blogs, podcasts, and video reports are having on the tech sector. Cambridge, MA. October 11, 2007- Film Arts Foundation
Taught a class on digital distribution and marketing for makers of film and video. San Francisco, California. September 17-19, 2007- IFP Filmmaker Conference
Moderated panels on how new technologies are helping filmmakers connect with audiences, and the opportunities presented by digital distribution. New York, NY. September 8, 2007- Toronto International Film Festival
Moderated a panel on what social networking means for filmmakers. Toronto, Ontario, Canada. September 5, 2007- Leadership in Venture Capital
Moderated "fireside chat" conversations with Paul Maeder of Highland Capital Partners and Scott Tobin of Battery Ventures. New York, NY. June 27, 2007- Web Video Summit
Moderated a panel on video production titled, "Lights, Camera, Sound: How to Get Great Results." San Jose, CA. June 21-23, 2007- Convergence: The Life Sciences Leaders Forum
Served as program chair and moderated a "fireside chat" with investor, philanthropist, entrepreneur, and frequent candidate Chris Gabrieli. Martha's Vineyard, MA. June 12, 2007- Digital Distribution for Film and Video (free event!)
Gave a presentation at the downtown SF Apple Store on Internet distribution opportunities for film- and video-makers. San Francisco, CA. June 6-8 2007- Compliance Week 2007
Moderated four panel discussions, which involved senior ethics and compliance executives from companies such as Google, Coca-Cola, McDonald's, HP, Fannie Mae, SprintNextel, Xerox, and Lockheed Martin. Washington, D.C. June 2, 2007- Producers Institute for New Technologies (private event)
Spoke about the changing landscape of film funding, production, and distribution. San Francisco, CA. May 17, 2007- Film Arts Foundation Member Event: Depth of Field (for members only)
Participated on a panel discussion about film funding and distribution. San Francisco, CA. May 9, 2007- BIO International Convention
Moderated two panels, "Biotechnology Devices: Where Man Meets Machine," and a panel on venture capital investing in New England. Boston, MA. May 3-5, 2007- The Nantucket Conference on Entrepreneurship & Innovation
Served as program chair for the eighth annual installment of this invite-only event, which convenes a high-level group of entrepreneurs, investors, executives, and technologists. Moderated "fireside chats" with Ask.com CEO Jim Lanzone and MIT Media Lab Director Frank Moss. Nantucket, MA. April 27, 2007- New Rules: Convention and Change in Communication
Hosted day-long conference at Baruch College. New York, NY. March 21, 2007- The Future of Film
Moderated the opening panel, "What Does the Future Hold?" Beverly Hills, CA. March 18-20, 2007- NAB Futures Summit
Moderated a panel discussion on "Disruptive Innovators," with execs from Grouper, Sling Media, MTV Networks, and BitTorrent. Pebble Beach, CA. March 10 and 11, 2007- South by Southwest Film Festival
Moderated two panel discussions: "New Media Goes to the Movies" and "Building an Online Fan Base." Austin, TX. February 15, 2007- Institute for International Film Financing
Gave a talk on "The Future of Web Video." San Francisco, CA. January 24, 2007- Sundance Film Festival
Moderated a panel discussion on rights and licensing issues in the digital era. Park City, UT. December 5, 2006- MITX Fireside Chat
Conducted an on-stage interview with Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster. (Audio of the event is available here.) Boston, MA. December 2, 2006- MIT Venture Capital Conference
Moderated a panel on "The Future of Digital Media." (Video is available here.) Cambridge, MA. October 26, 2006- Future Forward 06: The New England Technology Summit
Helped organize the sixth edition of Future Forward, an event that brings together companies involved in creating important new technologies with the CIOs and CTOs who evaluate, purchase and deploy new technologies. Moderated a panel on "The Psychology of New Technology Adoption." Beverly, MA.
Moderating at Digimart, October 2006.
October 16-18, 2006- Digimart: The Digital Revolution, Take 2
Moderated panels on "How to Engage with the Online World" and "Future Theatres" at the second annual Digimart conference on digital distribution. (Video available here.) Montreal, Canada. October 3, 2006- New England Healthcare Institute Member Dinner
Conducted an on-stage conversation with Boston Scientific co-founder John Abele. Cambridge, Massachusetts. (Not open to the public.) September 22, 2006- The NAB Radio Show
Moderated a panel of "Extreme Thinkers," featuring political commentator and blog entrepreneur Arianna Huffington, "Mavericks at Work" author Bill Taylor, and JWT Chief Marketing Officer Marian Salzman. Dallas, TX. September 7, 2006- Village Ventures Partner Fund Meeting
Delivered a talk about Hollywood's love-hate relationship with new technologies, and sat on a panel discussion about new media opportunities. Cambridge, MA. (Not open to the public.) July 27, 2006- The Future of Movies: Digital Age Cinema Executive Roundtable
Moderated a panel for the Churchill Club that included director Randal Kleiser, tech execs from Disney and Universal, Dolby's GM for digital cinema, and Todd Wagner from 2929 Entertainment. Palo Alto, CA. (An audio version is here.) June 23, 2006- Los Angeles Film Festival
Moderated a panel titled "The Film Experience: Big Screen/Small Screen," with Jim Ramo from Movielink, James Ackerman from ClickStar, Ashwin Navin from BitTorrent, John Horn from the LA Times, and director Brad Silberling. Westwood Village, CA. June 8-10, 2006- Convergence: The Life Sciences Leaders Forum
Served on advisory board, moderated a panel, and conducted a fireside chat with Abiomed CEO Michael Minogue. Martha's Vineyard, MA. May 18, 2006- FilmAngels Gala
Conducted an on-stage conversation with Jim Ramo, CEO of Movielink. San Jose, CA. May 4-6, 2006- The Nantucket Conference on Entrepreneurship & Innovation
Served as program chair for the seventh annual installment of this invite-only event, which convenes a high-level group of entrepreneurs, investors, service providers, and technologists. Moderated sessions with Staples founder Tom Stemberg and Dr. Robert Gagosian, president of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. April 28, 2006- Symposium on Effective Communication
Hosted day-long conference and conducted an on-stage interview with Judith Summerfield, Dean of Undergraduate Communication, CUNY. New York, NY. (Video is available here.) March 21, 2006- NAB Futures Summit
Moderated a panel on "Must See IP: Models for Success." Pebble Beach, CA. March 13, 2006- South by Southwest Film Festival
Moderated a panel on "blogging about film." Austin, TX. November 29, 2005- Institute for International Film Financing
Moderated an event in San Francisco. November 1, 2005- Future Forward 05: The New England Technology Summit
Helped organize the fifth annual edition of Future Forward, which was held at Tupper Hall in Beverly, MA, on the beautiful north shore. Brings together start-ups (and larger companies) involved in creating important new technologies with the CIOs and CTOs who evaluate, purchase and deploy new technologies. Moderated a "fireside chat" with inventor and writer Ray Kurzweil. September 30, 2005- Getting Ready for Prime Time: Online Video and the Future of Television
Moderated a panel on "Content Discovery and Search," with executives from Yahoo, AOL, and BlinkX. At the Hillside Club in Berkeley, CA. September 18-20, 2005- CMO Perspectives: Making the Right Connections
Hosted this first-annual event for CMO Magazine at the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs. Speakers included Diane Gulyas, CMO of DuPont and Charlotte Beers, former chair of J Walter Thompson and Ogilvy & Mather. Also, Steve Hayden, who was involved in creating Apple's famous "1984" Superbowl ad. Plus marketing executives from McDonald's, Wal-Mart.com, Hyatt, Levi Strauss, NASCAR, and Harrah's. June 9-11, 2005- Convergence: The Life Sciences Leaders Forum
Moderated a couple panels and served on advisory board. Speakers included Senator Ted Kennedy and John Abele, founder of Boston Scientific. Martha's Vineyard, MA. May 5-7, 2005- The Nantucket Conference on Entrepreneurship & Innovation
Served as program chair for the sixth annual installment of this invite-only event, which convenes a high-level group of entrepreneurs, investors, service providers, and technologists. Google CEO Eric Schmidt and Monster.com CEO Jeff Taylor were two of the "featured speakers." May 13, 2005- Technology and Communications Conference
Hosted several sessions at Baruch College in New York. May 24, 2005- Nokia and Mobility
Served on a panel in San Francisco. April 13, 2005- MITX Fireside Chat
Conducted a one-on-one interview with Scott Cook, the founder and chairman of Intuit. Cook also serves on the boards of eBay and Procter & Gamble. At the Harvard Faculty Club in Cambridge. February 3, 2005- Harvard Business School Entrepreneurship Conference
Moderated a panel on team-building, which included Paul Orfalea, the founder of Kinko's. January 29, 2005- Cyberposium at Harvard Business School
Moderated a panel on "Data-Driven Marketing." January 27, 2005- The Boston Foundation
Served on a panel that discussed the book "The Good City: Writers Explore 21st Century Boston," which includes an essay of mine. December 15, 2004- MITX Fireside Chat
Conducted a one-on-one interview with Dr. Robert Langer, a noted medical device inventor who runs the Langer Lab at MIT. Langer is the youngest person ever to be admitted to the National Academy of Engineering, the National Academy of Sciences, and the Institute of Medicine (and the only person ever to be admitted to all three). At the Harvard Faculty Club in Cambridge. December 4, 2004- MIT VC Conference
Moderated a panel on "The Battle for the Digital Home" at the 7th Annual MIT Venture Capital Conference. December 8, 2004- Life sciences panel discussion at Swiss House
The title was "Life sciences clusters:
how does Boston perform in comparison to European regions?" Panelists included Mass Biotech president Tom Finneran and Joseph von Rickenbach from Paraxel International. At the Swiss House for Advanced Reseach and Education in Cambridge. November 12, 2004- Babson Forum on Entrepreneurship & Innovation
Moderated a panel on "Identifying an Opportunity in Technology" at Babson College. Panelists included Ray Kurzweil and representatives of Terra Lycos and Protonex. October 19, 2004- MITX Fireside Chat
Conducted a one-on-one interview with Robert M. Metcalfe, inventor of Ethernet, founder of 3Com, venture capitalist, conference organizer, and former columnist for InfoWorld. At the Harvard Faculty Club in Cambridge. October 14 and 15, 2004- Future Forward 04: The New England Technology Summit
Helped organize the fourth edition of this annual event, in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Brings together start-ups (and larger companies) involved in creating important new technologies with the CIOs and CTOs who evaluate, purchase and deploy new technologies. May 25, 2004- MITX Fireside Chat
Conducted a one-on-one interview with Malcolm Gladwell, author of "The Tipping Point" and staff writer for the New Yorker. Dan Bricklin has a write-up. Held at the Harvard Faculty Club in Cambridge. Wednesday, March 10, 2004- Nanotech 2004
Moderated a panel on nanotech investing. Friday, March 4, 2004- HBS Entrepreneurship Conference
Moderated a panel of entrepreneurs and VCs on the topic of "Financing Your Venture." February 11, 2004- MIMC Fireside Chat
Conducted a one-on-one interview with Clayton Christensen, author of "The Innovator's Dilemma" and the "Innovator's Solution" and a professor at the Harvard Business School. Held at the Harvard Faculty Club in Cambridge. (Dan Bricklin produced a great write-up on the event, with photos.) February 7, 2004- HBS Venture Capital and Private Equity Conference
Moderated a panel on "Technology Investing: Promising Sectors and Strategies" with four venture capitalists. December 8, 2003- MIMC Fireside Chat
Conducted a one-on-one interview with George Gilder, author, oracle, senior fellow at the Discovery Institute, and publisher of the Gilder Technology Report. Held at the Harvard Faculty Club in Cambridge. November 14, 2003- Babson Forum on Entrepreneurship & Innovation
Moderated a panel on "Creating Compelling Consumer Products" with former Bose president Sherwin Greenblatt; John Farber, co-founder of Oxo Corporation; and Elizabeth Lewis of Insight Product Development, among others. November 6-7, 2003- Future Forward: The New England Technology Summit
Helped to organize the third installment of this event, in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. First two were in Woodstock, Vermont and Lenox, Massachusetts. Moderated panel on "The State of the Tech Sector in New England." October 14, 2003- WPI Venture Forum
Delivered a presentation on new technologies being developed in New England, and the new rules of entrepreneurship. Then participated in a panel discussion on the region's economy. October 1, 2003- The New Breed of Technology Leader
Managed a wide-ranging panel discussion with Helen Greiner of iRobot, Paul Sagan of Akamai, and Jonathan Zittrain of Harvard's Berkman Center on Internet and Society. September 18, 2003- MIMC Fireside Chat
Conducted a one-on-one interview with Esther Dyson of Edventure Holdings. Esther is a venture capitalist, publisher of the influential tech newsletter "Release 1.0," and the organizer of PC Forum. (Dan Bricklin covered the event in his Weblog.) June 2, 2003- J. Robert Scott Executive Breakfast
Ran a panel on entrepreneurship in the life sciences. May 30, 2003- TiECON 2003 Annual Conference
Moderated a panel on nanotechnology at what is described as the largest conference on entrepreneurship in the Northeast. May 29, 2003- MIMC Fireside Chat
Conducted a one-on-one interview with Dean Kamen, founder of DEKA Research in New Hampshire and winner of the National Medal of Technology. Kamen is best-known as the inventor of the Segway Human Transporter, but has also devised dozens of medical devices from implantable stents to suitcase-sized dialysis machines.He's the founder of the non-profit FIRST, which organizes a nationwide robotics competition, and is currently working on water purification technology for developing countries. (Dan Bricklin has some photos and a wonderful write-up of the event right here.) May 28, 2003- Molecular Internet Panel
Moderated a panel - how do you measure and justify investing in the Internet as a channel for sales and customer service? May 1-3, 2003- The Nantucket Conference on Entrepreneurship & Innovation
Moderated a panel on renewable energy tech and served as program chair for the fourth annual installment of this invite-only event, which brings together technologists, investors, entrepreneurs, and IT executives - primarily from the Boston area. April 2nd, 2003- MIMC Fireside Chat
Conducted a one-on-one interview with Ray Kurzweil, winner of the National Medal of Technology and author of the forthcoming book "The Singularity is Near." Ray is also the inventor of the Kurzweil reading machine and the Kurzweil music synthesizer, and was a pioneer of optical character recognition scanning. January 18, 2003- Harvard Business School Cyberposium
Moderated panel on WiFi market evolution. January 10th, 2003- CEA Executive Forum
Hosted a day-long, invite-only event at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, put together by Fast Company. December 9th, 2002- MIMC Fireside Chat
Conducted a one-on-one interview with Forrester Research founder and CEO George Colony. George is well-known for being provocative and funny; he's less well-known for playing the banjo. November 12th, 2002- Cliff Notes: Pearls of Wisdom from Leading Business Authors
Ran a panel of several local authors, including David Weinberger, Larry Weber, and Christopher Meyer, for the Jewish Technology Business Network. October 29th, 2002- MIMC Fireside Chat
Conducted a one-on-one interview with Monster.com founder and CEO Jeff Taylor. (He's also the world blimp waterskiing champion.) September 26-28th, 2002- Future Forward: The New England Technology Summit
Served as program chair for the second annual installment of this event, designed for tech innovators and businesspeople from around New England. It offers a sneak peek at new technologies being developed in the region, as well as free-wheeling discussions on the business of technology and the challenges of technology leadership. September 19th, 2002- Molecular X Internet Panel
Moderated a panel that explored some of the more interesting new directions of the X Internet (aka the "executable" or "extensible" Internet). September 10th, 2002-
Technology Enterprise Council monthly meeting
Holyoke, Mass.
Delivered a talk on the state of the tech sector in Massachusetts (and an overview of some promising new tech directions) August 29th, 2002-
Vermont Venture Network monthly breakfast
Burlington, VT
Delivered a talk on the state of the tech sector in New England (and an overview of some promising new tech directions) June 27th, 2002-
State of Massachusetts CIO Council
Delivered a talk on the state of the innovation economy in Massachusetts. (Not open to public.) June 13th, 2002- An Evening with David Weinberger
Conducted a one-on-one interview with David Weinberger, author of the books "Small Pieces Loosely Joined: A Unified Theory of the Web" and "The Cluetrain Manifesto." Venue: Wordsworth Books, Harvard Square. Time: 7 p.m. Admission is free. June 12th, 2002- MIMC Fireside Chat
Conducted a one-on-one interview with New England Patriots vice chairman Jonathan Kraft at the Omni Parker House. June 10th, 2002-
Mass eComm Tech Policy Roundtable
Moderated a roundtable of technology executives and Bruce Mehlman, U.S. Assistant Secretary of Commerce for the Office of Technology Policy in the afternoon; delivered a report on the roundtable that evening at the Mass eComm Annual Awards Dinner June 6th, 2002-
Old Colony Planning Council Annual Dinner
Delivered a talk on the state of the innovation economy in Massachusetts. June 4th, 2002-
MRPC Annual Dinner
Delivered a talk on the state of the innovation economy in Massachusetts. March 20th, 2002- MIMC Fireside Chat
Conducted a one-on-one interview with Rodney Brooks of MIT's Artificial Intelligence Lab about his book, "Flesh and Machines: How Robots Will Change Us." The event, held at the Harvard Faculty Club, was later broadcast as part of C-SPAN's BookTV series. November 30th, 2001- Inventing the Future: Visions of the World to Come
Conducted a half-day symposium on technological possibilities in the 21st century, with panelists including Ray Kurzweil, Alison Taunton-Rigby, David Cyganski, and Sir Arthur C. Clarke. Link above includes streaming video of the entire event.
