This workshop covers basic audio and video production techniques, especially as they apply to the creation of streaming media files. The workshop begins with an explanation of the challenges and limitations of streaming media, then discusses the tools used to create streaming media, and streaming media workflow. Following this foundation, audio production and video production are both covered in detail. Attendees will learn how to produce audio and video that will achieve the highest quality streaming media files.

Internet-based streaming media has been too difficult to use to truly challenge radio and TV. However, several recent technical developments have paved the way for audio and video downloads to be accessed by tens of millions of new mainstream consumers. Much of the skill and experience in producing and encoding content for the web also applies to podcasting and video-blogging, but this seminar covers the key differences and new skills required, including content format, target platforms, syndication methods, cross-platform issues, software, licensing, and advertising.

This workshop covers streaming media workflow after content has been produced. Beginning with encoding, the workshop demonstrates how streaming media encoders work and discusses best practices, such as bit rates, screen resolution, and which codecs to use. The segment on authoring addresses metafiles and embedded streaming media players. Cross-platform embedding issues will be discussed, as well as simple scripting for controlling streaming media players. Finally, administering streaming media servers will be covered, including setup and day-to-day management.

Content subscription services on the Internet continue to grow at a rapid pace with revenues the past few years over $60 million and projected revenue for this year of more than $1 billion. Learn how you can be a part of this explosive market space, and the key technologies and trends your business will need know about to succeed. This half-day seminar covers DRM Issues including everything from the nuts and bolts of e-commerce-enabled rights management to approved business models and conventional marketing techniques. You will also learn how DRM can be used in P2P Networks and to market, monetize and monitor your content more effectively.

It's not a real competition—yet. TV is still the giant, but streaming video is attracting enough brands and buzz to warrant a side-by-side comparison of the two business models and consumer climates. Todd Herman takes a (relatively) objective view of both business models, dissecting where he thinks each is in the lead and where each can gain. What about consumer behavior in streaming versus TV? Should brand managers target the same shows online as they do in TV? Come hear, critique, and disagree with one guy's opinion of this competition, which is too early to call a race, but too important to ignore.

Portable media, media Players, mobile video phones, and wireless are being watched carefully by broadcasters, streaming companies, and communications companies. This session looks at different projects from around the world and what makes sense for today's streaming companies. Find out how on-demand, streaming, PPV, video-blogging, syndication, and podcasting fit into the world of personal broadcasting. Learn how companies and content producers do it, and how to measure success. Whether you're involved in Internet broadcasting, cable broadband audio and video, IPTV/telco TV or digital TV or the satellite delivery, the changes brought about by widespread distribution of content on the Internet demand a close look.

As the streaming media Industry evolves, more companies are offering content for sale on their websites and in syndication. This panel looks at the issues surrounding the successful deployment of DRM-enabled digital media for downloads and streaming business models. Areas of discussion will include payment processing, content encryption, defining licensing and business models, persistent security, and DRM for devices. Join some “paid media” industry experts to discuss the streaming media payout.

The much-anticipated convergence of television and the Internet has not happened as anticipated. Instead, an ecosystem of mobile media devices is moving media consumption away from the desktop and into the living room using relatively simple web syndication technologies. Building on the combined cultural shifts of weblogs, the iPod and TiVo, streaming media is experiencing a long-awaited breakthrough into the cultural mainstream. This panel of experts will discuss some major effects of podcasting on mainstream media, and what’s happening with video-blogging.

Rich media marketing and advertising on the Internet offers the unique opportunity to directly target advertising on specific demographics, and also allows advertisers to get direct response rates based on views and click-throughs. With rich media email, interstitial streaming ads, product sponsorships, and viral marketing, the creative possibilities can be very informative and cost-effective. This panel of experts will discuss what has and has not worked for them, the opportunities for rich media marketing, and how to make it work for you.

This how-to session delves into the intricacies and best practices of live broadcasting. Fraom signal acquisition to encoding to server distribution, the session will detail the best practices for delivering a live Internet Webcast. Discover how to deconstruct a complex and rich live event down to its elemental parts, from hardware and software to the workflow and signal flow of the production. Industry experts and end-users will share experiences and guidelines to help you produce successful, high-quality Internet broadcasts.

Now that the technology is proven, the royalties are somewhat predictable, and the audience is arriving in droves, how will those who operate Internet radio businesses make money? Is there room for the independent entrepreneur, or is Internet radio just an add-on to more comprehensive services like Yahoo! and AOL? Is a subscription service the only way to go? Can a free, advertising-supported model work? Can costs be controlled to make any of these models work for the long term? Hear from those who are running Internet radio stations—and benefit from their experience.

Trying to get a handle on just how much to pay for streaming services is more than just a little difficult. In this session, Michael Hoch, co-author of the StreamingMedia.com research report entitled "The Cost of CDN & Streaming Services: 3rd Edition" answers your questions on current and future pricing trends. This session also gives pricing details and service capabilities for vendors including Akamai, Limelight Networks, Mirror Image, SAVVIS, and VitalStream.

The digital entertainment space is buzzing with new arrivals, all looking to gain a competitive piece of the pie. This session explains the new subscription and digital download services that are available from an eclectic array of major record labels, film studios, and entertainment-on-demand providers. Still, there are many questions: What format will become dominent? Who’s making the biggest moves in the space, and how will they gain eyes and ears? What do the consumers really want? Hear answers to these questions and more from executives who are breaking into this new world of digital entertainment.

Choosing a content delivery network and distribution partner can be extremely confusing for content owners. Who are the players and where do they stand in the vendor value chain? What services do they really offer? How much do they charge? In this unique session you will hear representatives from the leading five content delivery networks answer these and other on-point questions in back-to-back sales presentations. By the end you will have learned what you need to know to choose the vendors and services to fit your needs.

Mobile carriers around the world are looking for ways to capitalize on their infrastructure investments to support high-speed (3G) data services. Market convergence is taking place whereby networks, devices, content, and other technologies are now able to make multimedia applications a reality. In addition, consumers and enterprises are rapidly adopting wireless data services, and streaming content is poised to be at the center of this adoption in the years ahead. Come hear from John Giamatteo, newly named Executive Vice President of Worldwide Business Products & Services and International Operations for RealNetworks, about Real's perspective on this emerging space. Prior to joining Real, John Giamatteo was President and CEO of Nortel Networks Asia Pacific.

A relatively new conduit for corporate communications, webcasting provides exciting ways to engage targeted audiences. Whether it’s for internal training, sales and marketing, or investor relations, effectively reaching your audience requires understanding the strengths and weaknesses of existing technologies, guidelines for assembling event resources, and selecting the best channel for message delivery. Hear several case studies of webcast events and gain valuable insights into webcasting best practices.

Technology advances in networking, broadband, media codecs, security, and consumer electronic devices are enabling a new wave of potential home media and entertainment services—and creating more choices not only for consumers but for creators and distributors of media and entertainment assets. This panel will discuss the pros and cons of various business models and technologies for providing movies and programming to the home, including IPTV versus IP VOD, live versus on-demand, and live streaming versus downloads.

Learn how State Farm Insurance built a cooperative production process among several corporate departments including IT, television engineers, TV producer and directors, graphic artists, and programmers. Hear how they are producing blended products, using custom events within the media stream to synchronize presentation graphics, third-party and custom-built tools, streaming studio design, media management through attributes, media databases, and corporate content delivery networks.

In the wake of the Supreme Court's and Acacia Research Corp's patent litigation campaign against video and audio streaming, there has been increasing concern over the legal risks that media technology innovators may face as the market for these products continue to grow. This session will review these risks and explore their impact on such issues as raising venture funding, reverse engineering competitor products, as well as design, launch and marketing decisions with a panel of innovators in the digital media space.

This session illustrates how to build various enterprise streaming applications such as executive announcements, internal communications, human resources, and training. See demonstrations of these apps and how quickly they can be put together, hearing tips, best practices, and proven techniques from a multi-national company. Learn about the pros and cons of embedded versus stand-alone presentations, when each is appropriate, as well as encoding issues and practice. See how underlying technologies such as style sheets, absolute positioning, and cookies can be used to quickly create a quality interactive presentation. Application code will be available upon request to help jump-start presentations for your organization.

Turner Studios has built an integrated approval environment using Hewlett Packard iPaq Pocket PC devices, Anystream Agility Encoding, and Avid Unity SAN storage. The system allows Turner Broadcasting producers to view and approve in-production content from any location around the world using wireless Internet access points. This session is a case study about how to encode content from multiple sources and the delivery methods used to send that content to hand-held devices in high-quality formats.

Educational institutions have long been testing grounds for the latest technological breakthroughs that change how we work and learn. Learn how education institutions are using streaming today and how business organizations can take a cue from academia by using streaming technology to enhance distance learning and corporate training initiatives. Hear first-hand examples of how streaming media technology is supporting classroom learning and providing distance learning—and how hybrid models are emerging that offer the best of both worlds.

Advertising using streaming media is a hot topic, but many questions remain about how to implement in-stream advertising. How do you choose the right technology solution for your ad campaign? And what user metrics and tracking options are available? In this special session you will hear back-to-back sales presentations from leading in-stream solution providers showcasing how leading agencies and brands are reaching and engaging target audiences online to influence brand awareness, recall, and purchasing decisions.

Dr. Steven Haimowitz is an early and enthusiastic adopter of various technologies to improve healthcare and the delivery of healthcare information including streaming media. His company, Healthology was one of the earliest companies on the Web to implement streaming video as a core component of its content offerings. Now, the com- pany has successfully established the largest syndication network for streaming health content on the Internet. Haimowitz will discuss the key factors that contributed to his decision to create a streaming video library, the operational challenges, and the business model that supported Healthologyís streaming media activities. Listen and learn about his passionate beliefs and practical applications for streaming technology in the field of healthcare communication.

This is the session that really counts! Here is where you'll find out how much streaming media on a corporate network actually costs, and look at who's making streaming media pay in terms of savings and competitive edge. Experts will also discuss case studies that show organizations that are profiting from streaming media and different ways that streaming media can pay—or save you money. Hear about the likely payback period on streaming video projects, and how to know if now is the right time for your organization to invest, or should you wait a bit?

Just how prevalent is consumer streaming over the Internet? Who does it? Where? When? How? comScore Networks is a provider of marketing research services, including key measures of streaming media activity. This session will share new information about how people consume streamed content over the Web. Learn how popular online radio and online video are, as well as the effectiveness of recent ad campaigns that integrate streamed content.

With budgets under ever-greater scrutiny, it's crucial to find new, inexpensive, innovative, and highly effective ways to make webcasts more interactive. This session digs into available applications and techniques for adding interactivity within and surrounding your streams. Whether you simply want to add stickiness to your site or incorporate functions for interactivity, this session will build a foundation for you to begin your own projects. The experts will discuss the use of Flash, SMIL, chat, slides, managed messaging, polling, and more.

Sorenson Squeeze has grown to be the most popular compression tool in the last years. It runs on Mac and Windows, and supports all the major streaming formats, including MPEG-4, Windows Media, RealMedia, and the new VP6 codec for Flash 8. Come see master compressionist Ben Waggoner demonstrate the software, showing tips, tricks, and workarounds to get the best results out of this core encoding tool.

Many companies are migrating Web sites to rich media, and many are using the Macromedia Flash platform. Traditionally a progressive download format, new Flash developments now have the potential for distribution of streaming media. This panel of Flash developers and project managers will share real-world examples of rich media websites and give advice on how to plan for a successful Web site redesign using Flash.

With streaming in its second development phase after the shakeout, the industry is looking forward to continued growth and expansion. But are there hidden hurdles we’re encountering that continue to limit this progress? This session will be an open discussion of issues and practices that may be affecting or restricting the growth of the industry. Bring your comments, plus questions about anything you have heard, or not heard, during the conference.