Happy Labor Day Weekend, Digital LA peeps!
14 Holiday Weekend ideas
Cuz u may get an idea for a startup, song, script, app or game!

-  Fiesta Hermosa FREE! bands, food, Sat-Mon

-  Taste of LA - food fest @ Paramount Studios, Fri-Sun

-  Cinespia: The Birds on Sat; True Romance on Sunday @ Hollywood Forever

- Nocturnal Wonderland: don't forget your neon and costumes to this three-night rave fest in San Bernardino with more than 40 DJs and bands, Fri-Sun

- Disneyland's 60th anniversary Paint the Night Parade, Disneyland Forever fireworks show, World of Color, and Hyperspace Mountain all end on Sunday Sept 5, your last chance to see these shows!


SHOWS: 
- John Williams Meastro of the Movies movie music @ Hollywood Bowl, Fri-Sun
- Kills @ Pomona, Fri; @ Wiltern Sat
- Newsies musical @ Pantages
- 5 Seconds of Summer @ Irvine, Sun
- Wet Carnival @ Queen Mary L. Beach, Sat

MOVIES: 
- Light Between Oceans, Morgan

 
LA in Seattle:  We're headed to Seattle to cover  LA  peeps representing at two events, and organizing our own annual Seattle event! Come, or tell your friends!

- Digital LA - Seattle Cocktails, Sat 9/3 @ Daily Grill downtown. After the PAX show floor closes, walk across the street to join us in the bar at Daily Grill. Look for Digital LA founder Kevin Winston in the red shirt in the bar area for comp appetizers. FREE RSVP so we know you're coming! 

-  PAX West video game conference for fans features several  LA companies on the show floor and hosting parties. Loot Crate and several other LA games companies represent. We'll be live tweeting from the conference via @DigitalLA

-  Bumbershoot   music fest features three days of music on several stages at the Seattle Center. Bands include Billy Idol,  Macklemore , Death Cab for Cutie, Third Eye Blind, Tame Impala and dozens more, including several LA bands. 

Beyond LA

- Burning Man: Burners head off grid (hopefully) for Mad Max style cosplay in the desert, bartering, and no cell phones if they can resist. Watch the official less-dusty Burning Man livestream. The Man burns on Saturday!

-  DragonCon scifi / pop culture festival in Atlanta 
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Thanks for a great Silicon Beach Fest!

Silicon Beach Fest celebrated its fifth anniversary with three days of panels, parties, keynotes, mixers and a VIP yacht cruise at the Marina del Rey Hotel and other venues last week. More than 350 speakers shared insights and experience on more than 80 panels and sessions over three days, on topics including growth, VR, advertising, influencers, social media, developers, design, and more. 


Thanks to speakers, sponsors, volunteers, organizers, vendors, and attendees for making our fifth summer Silicon Beach Fest such a success! Several attendees said and tweeted they found the panel topics that continued into engaging hallway and mixer conversations both information-packed and inspiring. Watch for our Silicon Beach Fest one-day event this fall. 

We will be presenting highlights of SBF over the next few weeks in this Digital LA newsletter, which also lists our upcoming weekly Digital LA events, including our FREE RSVP Digital LA - Seattle Cocktails this Sat 9/3, during the PAX games convention and Bumbershoot music festival this Labor Day Wknd. 

SBF HIGHLIGHTS

Kitterly wins SBF Startup Showcase 2016 Title
Kitterly won the Silicon Beach Fest Startup Showcase 2016 title. The crafting site is an alum of 500 Startups, and is founded by Mari Bower, CEO. Kitterly wins the prize package including the SBF 2016 title, $5,000 courtesy Media Temple, a Surf Air flight to its California destinations, two Air New Zealand tickets on its LA - London route, ten hours transactional legal services from Sheappard Mullin, and three months membership at CTRL Collective, at either its Playa Vista or new Downtown location (for a tour email tm@ctrlcollective.com) . Kitterly was first of the 20 startups pitched at the Silicon Beach Fest 2016 Startup Showcase. Five judges choice and one audience choice advanced to the finals on Friday. The six finalists were: Kitterly, Markett, Heal (doctor on demand), Heartbeat (women millennial marketing network), Canny (cannabis directory), and audience choice Vampr (music networking). Markett, an on demand marketing company that is part of Amplify accelerator, placed second. Watch the Friday Final pitches in this replay video. 

Silicon Beach Fest receives Certificate of Recognition from LA Mayor Eric Garcetti. At Downtown Day on Monday, Office of LA Mayor Eric Garcetti city officials presented Silicon Beach Fest founder Kevin Winston with a Certificate of Recognition, on the 5th annivesary of Silicon Beach Fest this year (photo right). Then, LA City Officials described the Mayor's tech initiatives, including attracting tech companies to move to LA, open data hackathons, digital divide programs, opportunities for startups to bid on city projects, and a huge job fair in January, which Jason Nazar is spearheading as LA City Entrepreneur In Residence.  

Silicon Beach Fest Closing Party, presented by TechStyle Fashion Group, featured closing keynote speaker Dan O'Keefe, co-exeutive producer of the top TV show Silicon Valley. He spoke about producing and writing for the show, which is an inspiration and favorite show among entrepreneurs from Silicon Valley to Silicon Beach and around the world. He said that show writers get ideas for storylines based on tech news, visits to startups in Silicon Valley, and staff writers' own personal experiences. The show also has consultant experts who advise on everything from investing and financing to developer and coding to ensure the show is authentic and accurate. He said the show is always looking for good new story ideas. 
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PANEL RECAPS

If you moderated or were on a panel, and can write a summary, please email it to info@digitalla.net with SBF as subject so we can add it here and on our site!

Keynote: Shawn Gold, CMO of TechStyle Fashion Group: Reimagining the Fashion Business

TechStyle CMO Shawn Gold discussed his company's recent name change from JustFab, and its marketing campaigns across its portfolio of brands that include JustFab, Fabletics, ShoeDazzle and Fabkids. TechStyle specializes in using social media, TV, and other digital tools to reach each of its brands audience in different ways. For example, Shoedazzle is upbeat and hip; Fabletics activewear frequently uses humor, and Fabletics co-founder actress Kate Hudson frequently appears in videos. Watch replay.
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How Television Fits in the Digital Conversation to Fuel Growth
Presented by Icon Media Direct

Growth is a big theme at this year's Silicon, Beach Fest, with several LA startups that have grown to national and international audience in the past few few years. Several startups have seen huge success from integrated digital and television campaigns to reach larger mainstream audiences. Nancy Lazkani, CEO of Icon Media Direct, moderated a panel with speakers from TrueCar, Jarden Consumer Solutions and Guthy-Renker who described how integrated digital and television campaigns can increase awareness, branding, and sales.  TrueCar CMO Neeraj said that television plus digital absolutely resulted in increase boost. Watch replay. 

Speakers:
 - Nancy Lazkani, Icon Media Direct, Inc., CEO (Moderator)
- Neeraj Gunsagar, TrueCar, Inc., Chief Marketing Officer
- Kierie Courtney, Jarden Consumer Solutions, VP/GM Global Consumer Direct
- Boris Shimanovsky, Guthy-Renker, LLC, Chief Creative Officer at Guthy-Renker, President, GRM
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Maximize Your Digital Fundraising with Marketing and Social Media, presented by UCLA Extension

Javon Frazier, EVP, Strategy & Business Development, Studio 71, LP and UCLA Extension Instructor, discussed how he set out to raise $10,000 for their YouTube client's project "Joking Hazard," a card game that was developed to be the next "Cards Against Humanity." They started a global Kickstarter online fundraising campaign to gain awareness and raise funds for their project. In less than 6 weeks, Studio 71, LP surpassed their expectations raising over $3.2 million and garnered attention for their project that is still making headlines. Javon and panelists discussed how they developed the campaign, oversaw all the marketing and will be handling the game's printing and fulfillment.

Speakers:
- Bilal Kaiser, UCLA Extension, Instructor; Agency Guacamole, Owner (Moderator)
- Javon Frazier, EVP, Strategy & Business Development, Studio 71, LP and UCLA Extension Instructor
- John Fitzpatrick, Studio 71, Producer & Talent Manager, ProSiebenSat.1 Group
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TV and You: What's Next? featured AT&T executives discussing TV entertainment products that consumers want, including speakers from DIRECTV, VR, and more. Watch replay.

Speakers included:
- Erik Brannon, IHS Markit Technology, Principal Analyst (Moderator)
- Michele Barney, AT&T, VP Content & Programming
- Ben Mui, AT&T, VP Engineering
- Peter Sargent, AT&T, Director, Product Management

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Digital Hispanics: Where and How to Engage Them, presented by Univision

Univision executives and latina influencers discussed how to reach latino audiences online at a packed panel on the main stage. Univision executives discussed their programming, content, outreach, and partnerships with influencers for everything from entertainment to increasing latino voting at the polls. Watch replay.
 Speakers:
- Diego Carvejal, Univision, Vice President of Digital Content
- Jennifer Perri, Univision, Director of Partnership Development and Multi-platform Strategy
- StyledbyAle, Lifestyle Blogger/YouTuber
- Leon Krauze, Author and KMEX-34 News Anchor
- Christina Zalpa, Sizmek, Sales Manager LATAM & US Hispanic
- Adrien Sossa, Xad, Director, Channel Partnerships
- Jaime Gabaldoni, Univision Communications, Senior Autos Editor and Influencer
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Improve Your Online Dating Life with Female Dating CEOs Panel
Four female dating CEOs got together at Silicon Beach Fest to share their 30 years of dating industry tips on how to create the perfect dating profile. The conversation included how they got involved in the multi-billion dollar online dating industry, with backgrounds in technology, finance, entertainment, and fashion, and a discussion on the big elephant in the room, Tinder.

Here are their top tips on how to improve your dating life.

Julie Spira, Moderator and CEO of Cyber-Dating Expert: "Always ask a question in your profile or in text/email exchanges to become engaged in the convo and meet IRL." @JulieSpira

Kelly Steckelberg, CEO of Zoosk: "Use Spellcheck. The Zoosk study about grammar and spelling showed it had a huge effect on success rate." @Zoosk

Talia Goldstein, CEO of Three Day Rule: "Don't post a mysterious other man or woman. The person viewing the profile will wonder, is this your husband or brother?" @ThreeDayRule

Jennifer Kelton, CEO of BOD Dating App: "Don't post selfies in the steamy bathroom mirror. Find a friend to take your photos." @badonlinedates

Full Recap with 20 Tips from the CEOs can be found at https://cyberdatingexpert.com/tips-female-dating-ceos
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Women Founders: Mentors & Funding

Women founders discussed how they raised money to start their companies, and raised subsequent rounds of funding. Watch replay.
Co-Moderators:
Justine Lassoff, Tuesdaynights, Co-Founder; LOVE GOODLY, Co-Founder
Melinda Moore, Tuesdaynights, Co-Founder; Moore Media Ventures, CEO
Panelists
- Ariel Kaye, Parachute, CEO/Founder
- Amber J. Lawson, Good Amplified, CEO
- Nanxi Liu, Enplug, CEO
- Amanda Taylor, DanceOn, CEO
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SPONSORS
Thanks to our Silicon Beach Fest 2016 sponsors!

- Icon Media Direct is a Premiere sponsor. Icon Media Direct helps develop digital and TV broadcast campaigns for startups ready to reach larger audiences and markets, locally to nationally. Icon Media Direct CEO Nancy Lazkani moderated a panel with TrueCar and others on their TV + digital marketing campaigns. Icon Media Direct also presentedthe Opening Party at the Marina del Rey Hotel lawn, and is providing a free tote bag to all attendees. 

- TechStyle Fashion Group, formerly known as JustFab Inc., iss a Premiere sponsor. CMO Shawn Gold spoke on a keynote on Friday Aug 26, plus other execs will spoke on the Fashion Tech panel downtown, and the Growth panel. TechStyle also presented the Closing Party at CTRL Collective.

- Media Temple returns a Platinum Plus sponsor, having supported Silicon Beach Fest the past four years. Media Temple provided the $5K Startup Showcasee pitch prize, the volunteer T-shirts, and sponsored the Sunday Funday Pool Party (photo right)

- AT&T joins as a Platinum sponsor, with speakers from its DIRECTV product and other divisions on panels. AT&T presented the Thursday Night AT&T Reception, Aug 25, on the lawn at the Marina del Rey Hotel. 

- Univision returns as a Platinum sponsor, with its Thursday Aug 25 panel discussing Latino content, influencers and distribution. Univision has launched several digital initiatives, partnering with Latino influencers, and more. 

- UCLA Extension joined as a Platinum sponsor. UCLA Extension instructors spoke on two panels: Digital Fundraising on Wed Aug 24, and Got Content? on Thur Aug 25. UCLA Extension also sponsored the CoolHaus ice cream truck for free ice cream on Wed 3-4p. Attendees visited the UCLA Extension table at the Sponsor Lounge to learn more about UCLA Extensions courses to help you advance or transition careers. Use code SBF16 for a 10% discount off courses online. 

Gold sponsors include: Latham & Watkins, Sheppard Mullin, Chief Outsiders, Air New Zealand, The LaunchPad Agency, and Ogletree Deakins. Greenberg Glusker provided the lanyards and badges. 

Bronze sponsors including Loyola Marymount University, AdColony, and Stubbs Alderton & Markiles.

Thanks to our in-kind sponsors: Soothe (provided complimentary massages in the Startup Village and VIP lounge - Soothe photo right), Surf Air, Quest Nutrition, Shootly, Bezalel, Tesloop, High Brew Coffee, The Bouqs Company, and more. 

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PRESS

We are creating a list of press about SBF. If you wrote an article or blog post, please tweet @DigitalLA or email info@digitalla.net with SBF PRESS as the subject. 

Some recent articles so far:
- 10 VR Predictions from SBF, in Huffington Post article by Liz H Kelly

- Huntington Post: "Back to the Future" Phone Booth by Unispace by Liz H Kelly

Photo right is Kluge designer Abraham, who is watching the Silicon Beach Fest VR experience that he created. Fly through the SBF 3D boardwalk featured in Kluge's graphics featured all over the fest programs, main stage banner and site. You can download it at http://siliconbeachfest.com/vr and watch it on your phone, or with VR cardboard googles, like the ones in the pic created by Unofficial Cardboard. 
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PHOTOS

We are selecting and uploading photos from the thousands taken by Shootly photographers. 

In the meanwhile, here are photos that SBF Festival Director Kevin Winston took with his trusty red camera:

- Wednesday Opening Party, presented by Icon Media Direct

- Friday pics and closing party including drone video are  coming!
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ABOUT SILICON BEACH FEST
Silicon Beach Fest is LA's original festival celebrating LA tech, entertainment & startups with panels, keynotes, workshops, mixers, and more that was held August 24-27, 2016 in LA.  We are excited to celebrated its 5th year, adding an extra day of panels for three days of panels Aug 24-26 at the stunning Marina Del Rey Hotel, which had a $25M renovation, with gorgeous views of the marina, water and boats from every conference room. There will be a Silicon Beach Fest one-day event in the fall, and the mutliday event returns next summer 2017. 

- Watch a recap of last year's fun in this SBF sizzle reel, created by Lemonlight Media (which can create one for you!) 

OUR UPCOMING EVENTS

Digital LA - Seattle Cocktails , Sat Sept 3, 6-7:30pm @ Daily Grill, downtown Seattle. 
In Seattle for PAX games conference, Bumbershoot music fest, or live in Seattle? Join us for our annual Seattle Cocktails during Labor Day Weekend. We are meeting up at the bar area of the Daily Grill on Pike / 7th, across the street from the Convention Center where PAX is located, and a few blocks away from the Monorail to Seattle Center and Bumbershoot. Meet Digital LA founder Kevin Winston who is visiting for PAX / Bumbershoot. Look for him in the bar area 6-7:30p for complimentary appetiers (drinks on your own) as we talk LA and Seattle tech, trade notes on Bumbershoot bands and PAX parties. FREE to attend, complimentary appetizers, drinks on your own. FREE RSVP.
OUR RECENT EVENTS
LA @ Comic-Con
LA represented at San Diego Comic-Con this past weekend. Dozens of LA experts spoke on panels, Hollywood film and TV studios and startups like Loot Crate had booths on the show floor. Plus lots of fun cosplay on the show floor, including Thor (photo right), Pokemon and more. Highlights included:

- Marvel's super panel featured the casts of Guardians of the Galaxy, Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman, Lupita Nyong'o), Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch, Tilda Swinton, Spider-Man: Homecoming (Tom Holland) and more, and the announcement of Brie Larson as Captain Marvel. The new Marvel Studios logo and Thor Ragnorak logo was revealed. 

- Warner Bros. released trailers and news for Wonder Woman, Suicide Squad and Fantastic Beats with much fan approval 

- Star Trek premiere featured the cast introduced by Conan O'Brien, with fireworks, laser show, and outdoor IMAX screen with live symphony and choir at the Embarcadero park

- Conan hosted the Game of Thrones show

- VR demos by VF Werx, and many more in the VR lounge

- Pokemon Go: At the Pokemon Go panel upgraded to Hall H (first time for a game), Niantic Labs CEO John Hanke discussed new features that are planned for the most popular mobile game / app in history, adding that the release has only about 10% of the ideas they have planned for the game. He also revealed the Valor, Mystic and Instinct team captains, and commented how in LA, Pokemon Go encourages people to explore hills, hikes, parks, and piers left behind by our car culture. Panel summary in our  Pokemon Go article. Still looking for a Dragonite or Aerodactyl? Try this Rare Pokemon and Where to Find Them in LA  article by our founder Kevin Winston in Thrillist LA. Niantic Labs is hiring developers in its LA office, so you can maybe help add features, decrease server lag.

Parties included Nerd HQ, IGN, TV studios, and dozens more. MTV held its Fandom Awards at the Petco Park lawn, with celebs and artist performances that was televised later. IMDb went big with its first ever Comic-Con party, with a three-story #IMDboat docked in the harbor, with celeb interviews and photo opps featuring its new content shows. We had a blast at our annual Comic Cocktails, with Captain America, Batman, Supergirl, Poison Ivy, and more cosplay heroes enjoy Instagramable views of the Gaslamp, Petco Park and San Diego Harbor from the rooftop Altitude Sky Lounge at the Marriott Gaslamp. Attendees took pics with model Captain America, and Thor, Star-Lord, Black Widow, and Gamora standees. Check our  pics. 
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Pokemon Go Strategy Workshop
At our Pokemon Go Strategy Workshoplast week, we discussed tips on how to play, and how small businesses, restaurants, and bars, can use PokeStop lures, discounts, promos, and social media, to drive in-person visits and revenue . Guest speaker Mike Prasad had helped the Koji truck use Twitter to drive customers to its business five years ago, jump-starting the tweeting food truck trend which is now commonplace in LA. Special guests attending included Pikachu, Ponyta and Dodrio (photo right), thanks to double lures we placed at the Ambrose Hotel, itself a PokeStop. Pokemon Go was estimated more than 65M users in the US in its first week of launch, making it the most popular app ever. Niantic Labs, which developed the app for Nintendo, is hiring developers in its LA office, so you can help work on its upcoming new features. Our founder Kevin Winston recently wrote a "Rare Pokemon in LA: Where to Find Them" article in Thrillist LA as a guest contributor. 
John Couch, Apple VP of Education, talks ed tech  
John Couch, Apple VP chat: The education system is built on content consumption and memorization, but needs to move to 3Cs: Creative, Collaborative, Challenging, said John Couch, Apple's VP of Education at our fireside chat last night at CTRL Collective. He also said that tech tools can let education be more customized to individual learning styles and interests, rather than mass classroom learning set to the average. John discussed what it was like working with Steve Jobs, saying he pushed you to your limits, but not in the mean-spirited way often depicted in movies. At Apple, John created iTunes University, giving people access to university lectures from LA to the Ivy League, and also worked on mobile education apps in classrooms. Thanks to Fishermen Labs and the Foundry for co-hosting this event. 
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Intro to Silicon Beach
Build a solid team, connect at events and just get started, said speakers at our Digital LA - Intro to Silicon Beach panel at CTRL Collective.
The Intro to Silicon Beach event featured an overview of the Silicon Beach scene presented by Digital LA founder Kevin Winston.  Kevin gave an overview of LA tech's ecosystems including key startups, investors (VCs, angels, angel groups, accelerators), services (legal, design, education) and community resources (press, events, etc.)
Then a panel of Silicon Beach startup founders gave their perspectives, including how they started their companies, secured funding, and built their teams. They also described their keys for success in Silicon Beach. Speakers included Taleia Mueller co-founder of CTRL Collective, Eric Chevalier CEO of VR Scout, and Mark Jeffrey, founder of Guardian Circle. Read more tips in our article 

Digital LA - Social Media and Influencers

Up-and-coming influencers gave advice on how they use social media to engage fans, work with brands and startups, do collabs and develop their brand, at our Digital LA - Influencers and Social Media panel at CTRL Collective in Playa Vista.
Speakers included influencers with TV, music and online video backgrounds, influencers who've developed agencies, and brands who discuss how they work with influencers. The event was held on Monday of Social Media Week LA. Read 7 Social Media Influencer Tips  article .
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Digital LA - Design Quality and Quick

Design for your website or app can be high-quality AND quick with an open collaborative corporate culture that encourages creative ideas from all levels, and iterates quickly with feedback from all stakeholders and customers / users, said speakers at our Design panel at Philosophie in Santa Monica. Speakers from NFL Digital, eHarmony, Philosphie, Kluge and Hypn said good quick design starts with strategy and philosophy, rapid sprints, and feedback. Tech tools can help mange workflow and allow multiple sources of input on a project. Article to follow. 
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Digital LA - LA Tech meets Berlin Tech
BERLIN - We hosted our first event in Berlin, to bridge the LA and growing Berlin tech scenes. Berlin is fast becoming a tech hub in Europe, with inexpensive office and housing and entrepreneurial energy. Our panel featured speakers from tech startups and companies including:
- Dubsmash is working with Hollywood studios who want to feature their songs / content on the popular lip-sync app, said Lisa Ruebsam, Partnerships Manager at Dubsmash. At San Diego Comic-Con last year, the Agents of SHIELD cast starting using Dubsmash in an organic campaign - the cast just started using it to create fun Dubsmash wars, that fans loved. 
- EU Pioneers, a leading accelerator which recently held a demo day with 13 startups. Kalam Ali said it invests in anything cutting edge and interesting, from a hydroponics tech company, to Splash VR 
- Splash VR: CEO Michael Ronen (photo right) discussed how he founded the VR company with his theater background, as theater helps you create an immersive environment. The Splash VR app lets you create immersive 360 video "splashes" with your iPhone and post immediately to your Facebook account. No special camera or stitching software needed. Michael is working with LA entertainment companies and influencers to help increase marketing awareness and downloads. He will be at VidCon next month. 
- BCG Digital Ventures is helping its large corporate clients in Berlin identify new tech opportunities, and advises on new businesses to create, or startup companies to partner with. Karsten Wysk helps BCG, leveraging his previous experience founding a gaming startup. 
- Jens Hilgers described how BITKRAFT is specializing in sports and gaming. 
- Optilyz founder Rob Rebholz gave advice on how startups can develop business relationships.
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Digital LA - Space Tech panel: shuttles, rovers and VR

DOWNTOWN LA - Experts from NASA JPL, Google Lunar XPRIZE, SpaceVR and more space companies discussed their projects at our first Digital LA - Space Tech panel, in collobration with SpaceportLA.
The panel was held to celebrate Yuri's Night, with space-related events happening worldwide around this date to mark the first human's launch into space. Astronaut Yuri launched into space in 1961. See article http://digitalla.net/spacetech
LA is increasing in space tech, thanks to aerospace companies that have been located here including Northrop Grumman, Boeing, and institutions like NASA JPL and CalTech in Pasadena. In addition, new tech companies like SpaceX, and new space related startups have started up here.
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Digital LA - Music for Games: 12 Tips for Composers
PLAYA VISTA: Top composers who scored music on game franchises including Assassins Creed, Blizzard games, Star Wars, and Witcher and indie breakout Ori and the Blind Forest gave valuable career advice on composing music for games at our third Digital LA - Music for Games panel, held at CTRL Collective in Playa Vista.
More than 125 attendees including composers, students, and sound designers and engineers loved the discussion, saying it was "amazing," thanks to candid and advice from top award-winning composers with decades of experience. Speakers included Austin Wintory (Assassins Creed: Syndicate, Journey), Gordy Haab (Star Wars: Battlefront), Penka Kouneva (Bloodborne, Prince of Persia, Transformers), Mikolai Stroinksi (Witcher 3), Gareth Coker (Ori and the Blind Forest, Minecraft), Garry Schyman (Bioshock), and Russell Bower (Blizzard).
Read 12 Top Tips for composing music http://digitalla.net/music4games
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Digital LA - LA Dev Shops
When you have a baby, you're not done once you leave the hospital. Similarly, once you've hired a developer to build your initial product, you're not done either: ongoing maintenance and taking care of your site or app is necessary, said Ethan Grey of Slate Studios, and other speakers at our Digital LA - LA Dev Shops panel on Tuesday (photo right). LA's top dev shops Citrusbyte, Philosophie, Slate Studios, Kluge, and Weez Labs discussed best practices for creating apps, sites, services for large enterprise companies, Hollywood studios, and startups, including product features, scalability, cost and timing.

Looking for a developer? We summarized these top dev shops in the panel in the handy chart below. 

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Digital LA in the OC panel  featured top OC founders, and attracted attendees from Long Beach to Laguna Niguel to Gigasavvy offices in Irvine. Olloclip founder Patrick O'Neill said he Kickstarted the idea for a iPhone clip-on lens for macro, fish eye, and 3D-printed prototype models thinking "what would Steve Jobs do / design." Apple ended up being its first customer, and Olloclips are now sold at Amazon, Best Buy nationwide, and Patrick was named in Entrepreneur Magazine. Ciaran Foley founded Immersive Entertainment VR to do something different in VR: create the Holodeck from Star Trek. Its Grand Canyon experience lets you paddle down the Grand Canyon, and interact with AI-controlled butterflies so every experience is different. Liliana Monge founded Sabio to offer developer coding classes in Culver City and Irvine. Joel Tanner started Gigasavvy as a digital agency bringing cutting edge ideas to clients in the OC, which has one of the highest concentration of corporate HQs in California.
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Digital Women celebrates International Womens Day
with 50 LA Tech women speakers
More than 50 women speakers, including startup CEOs and founders, investors, and industry experts shared their insights at our second annual Digital Women summit, held on International Women's Day Mar 8, at CTRL Collective. The theme was mentorship, including mentoring workshops and Codegirl movie screening, with high school students from the film. Keynote Moj Mahdara, CEO of Beautycon Media, shared her story growing BeautyCon via international events, content, and subscription lifestyle boxes curated by beauty influencers. Nancy Perlman described LA City's Office of the Mayor's Elevate Project, a mentorship program for women in tech to help each other. At workshops, attendees got hands-on advice including the Sabio coding workshop, marketing and social media advice, business and legal advice and more. 

At the Startup Showcase, DIY crafts site Kitterly, which just graduated 500 startups, won the Judges First prize, including a Surf Air flight, CTRL Collective one-month membership, and tickets to pitch at Silicon Beach Fest this Aug 24-27. Vrai and Oro custom jewelry commerce site, which just graduated downtown Grid110 fashion accelerator, won second place judges choice, and the Audience Choice Award. Thanks to all the speakers, volunteers, organizers, press, and sponsors for supporting women in the LA tech community! Article and pics coming soon. Follow #DigitalWomen for tweets. 
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Artificial Intelligence: Siri to Miss Piggy
We talked about AI chat bots and other AI applications at the first AI panel in LA! Speakers from Disney Accelerator alum Imprerson talked about its Miss Piggy AI with personality that you can chat with M-F on Facebook. AI can seem more human when it remembers earlier conversations, reacts differently to repeated input. AI conversational quality is measures by minutes of engagement, and humor (counting LOL, haha) Utility AI Josh can turn on the lights and heat in your house via voice command. SmartAction AI can better do customer service. B2C AI includes chat bots and utility AI. B2B AI includes data science, big data, and data mining AI for emails, data sets and social media. Article http://digitalla.net/ai

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12 Ways to Increase Diversity in Tech and Entertainment
at our panel, the Most Diverse Forum in LA to discuss these issues  

Industry experts with experience from Hollywood studios to Silicon Beach startups discussed ways to increase diversity in tech and entertainment at the most diverse open public forum ever in LA to discuss these important issues.
With the Oscars controversy, diversity reports from UCLA and USC, and news and social media outcries raising awareness about diversity, the panel was held to accelerate the conversation from stats to actual action steps that individuals, companies and communities can take to improve diversity.
In our discussion, diversity includes women, ethnic, LGBQTI, international, veterans, mental health, physically abled, etc. Panelists represented women, men, black, latino, asian, jewish, white, gay, lesbian, veterans, international, and more, making it the most diverse forum yet in LA to discuss these issues. 
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  You'll love the Dating App Tips and Profile Pic Advice
 PLAYA VISTA - Dating apps, are increasing in LA, already the home to several category leaders, said speakers at our Digital LA - Dating Apps event, held at CTRL Collecive in Playa Vista.
The annual pre-Valentine's Day event feature three parts: panel with speakers from Happn, Grindr, and Three Day Rule; a startup pitch with new dating app startups, and profile consultation, where panelists gave attendees pointers on which pics to add or delete from their dating profiles.
LA, known for lots of attractive young single people who like to date and go out, is home to several leaders in the dating and social networking space. Tinder is huge. Grindr just received $93M investment. IAC / Match.com works with Three Day Rule. 
Read full article of 7 Dating App Tips and Profile Pics advice
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Beauty Tech: Smokey Eye to Periscope to Startups 

squarePLAYA VISTA - Expert in beauty content discussed tips for creating and sharing beauty content at our Beauty panel, held on Feb 1 right after two beauty related conferences in LA, to kick off Awards season this month. 
Panelists included Susan Yara of Mixed Makeup, Trina Albus of Magenta agency, and Lizzy Sherman of Creative Age, who shared their experience based on creating content, working with brands, and engaging communities with social media and influencers. 
Read our article on 7 Beauty Tech Tips for content, social media, and beauty startup ideas 
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Sports Tech panel features Super Bowl ad finalist
square
HOLLYWOOD - Sports startup CEOs and Crash the Super Bowl ad finalists discussed how they both start with a good idea, fund it, create it, and market via social media and influencers, at our Sports Startups and Content panel at WeWork Hollywood.
The panel featured two of the Top 3 worldwide finalists for the Doritos Crash the Super Bowl ad competition to win $1M. LA-based Doritos Dogs and Swipe for Doritos submitted their ads, which ranked in the Top 3 finalists out of more than 4,500 entries worldwide. The winner will be announced at the Super Bowl. Full article.
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Hollywood partners with Silicon Beach on VR, holograms

CULVER CITY - Movie marketing adds VR, holograms and other cutting-edge technologies, in addition to social media, influencer marketing and web sites, said speakers from Universal Studios, Fox, Ludomade, and others at our Digital LA - Movie Marketing panel at Ludomade creative agency in Culver City.
Movie studios and agencies are always looking for the next new big idea, or "hook" to help market films to movie-going audiences. Several studios are turning to new technologies and partnering with new startups to engage core and mainstream fans, and get buzz via social media and the press. Read our  article.  
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Digital Health increasing in LA; Heal wins Startup Showcase
PLAYA VISTA - The Digital Health startup scene is increasing in LA, with world renowned health institutions including Cedar-Sinai, UCLA, and Kaiser wanting to innovate to increase patient care and outcomes at reduced cost and administrative expense, said speakers at our Digital LA - Digital Health event.
The event included a panel with experts, and a startup showcase with six up-and-coming health startups pitching.
The Heal 'Uber for doctors' app won our Digital LA - Digital Health Startup Showcase at CTRL Collective in Playa Vista. The Heal app lets you summon a doctor to your home in LA, OC, and the Bay Area for $99 a visit. 
Read article.
SnapStars share Snapchat Secrets at our Snapchat Panel

Digital LA - Snapchat SnapStarsPLAYA VISTA - Tell a story, engage fans, collaborate and get brand deals, said expert top Snapchatters at our Digital LA - Snapchat panel at CTRL Collective in Playa Vista.
This event was the first panel in LA to feature Snapchat content creators sharing tips on how to use Snapchat to engage fans and work with brands. 
During the panel, panelists and audience coined the word "SnapStars" to refer to top Snapchat influencers with strong followings. Read article http://digitalla.net/snapstars
Social Good Startups Tap Fan Passion
from Star Wars to YouTube Stars 

  Digital LA - Social Good StartupsPLAYA VISTA - Social good startups use digital tools to tap into passionate fans of Star Wars, YouTube influencers and celebs, to raise funds for charities with small asks and direct outcomes, said speakers at our annual Digital LA - Social Good Startups panel at CTRL Collective in Playa Vista.
Panelists said that today's millenials want to support causes that they relate to or connect with thruout the year, and can participate with small asks like a $10 donation or social media sharing and hashtags, with direct outcomes.
Five Food Tech Tips at our Digital LA - Food Panel 

Digital LA - FoodPLAYA VISTA - Food startups and food discovery sites discussed food tech at our first Digital LA - Food Tech panel at CTRL Collective in Playa Vista. Our pre-Thanksgiving panel discussed food startups, from how to take good Instagram food pics, to how to expand your on demand app food delivery.
Food startups are big business. Q3 2015 saw $1B in food related investments worldwide, according to a CB Insights report. DoorDash, which delivers food via couriers from restaurants in 15 US cities, is valued at $1B and plans to expand globally. The European based Deliveroo just announced a $100M investment to expand internationally. Amazon announced it would start delivering food via its Prime Now service in more than 20 cities, including 2 hour Sprinkles cupcakes delivery in LA. (Thanks Calvin Lee @MayhemStudios for the photo)
Our Food Tech panel featured LA based startups BakeSpace, mytable and LA Eater, as well as and LA managers for Yelp and Instacart grocery delivery. Read Article. 
VR: 12 Tips for Entertainment, Movies, TV, Music. Just Start!

PLAYA VISTA - Plan, prep, and promote, said VR experts at our VR for Movies, TV, Music and more summit at CTRL Collective in Playa Vista. VR experts who've worked on VR for Terminator Genisys, bands, and the Emmy-winning Sleepy Hollow VR experience shared their insights on doing VR for Entertainment on our four back-to-back panels.

12 Tips on VR for Entertainment
GETTING STARTED

1. Stop Just Talking about VR, and Start Creating. VR has been the hot topic at every conference this year, from Sundance to E3 to SXSW. But it's time to stop talking and theorizing about it, and start making content, said speakers at our first How to Start VR panel. If you're a filmmaker, writer, director, VFXers, marketing exec, etc, you should just start working on a VR project with your friends. "Just get started," said Jeff Nicholas of Vehicle VR.

See more tips in our article http://digitalla.net/vrent
Silicon Beach Fest - Downtown LA brings together startups
investors, USC, city in growing DTLA tech community
 
DOWNTOWN LA - More than 300 attendees including startup CEOs, investors, city officials USC alums, came together to discuss the rising downtown LA startup scene at our Silicon Beach Fest - Downtown LA at the new Cross Campus in downtown LA.

Photos: Tag yourself in the photos:
- Professional album by Erica K Hsu
- Our founder Kevin Winston's red cam pics. 
LA's first Periscope Panel: 14 Periscope Tips

PLAYA VISTA - Top Periscope influencers gave tips and advice at our first Digital LA - Periscope Panel at CTRL Collective in Playa Vista. This is the first Periscope event with Periscope influencers in LA. 

Periscope influencers have amassed huge audiences on the live broadcast video app in the six months since tis release, with passionate followers who are more "like family." Their Increasing audiences are getting major attention. Artist Amanda Oleander, with a half-million followers, was recently signed by talent agency UTA as the first Periscope star to get Hollywood agency representation. UTA also represents Johnny Depp, Angelina Jolie, Channing Tatum, Ice Cube, and dozens more A-list celebs. Read our article. 
OUR PAST EVENTS RECAP
Our blog links to our recent events including:
 
- Silicon Beach Fest 2015, with more than 2000 attendees at the Marina Del Rey Hotel in June.
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