THE INTERACTIVE LAUNCH COMPETITION
Hosted by Craig Leddy, Interactive TV Works, current MBA student teams from USC, UCLA, UC Irvine and University of Denver presented competitive marketing solutions before a judging panel for the 2014 Interactive Launch Competition. First place went to the team from University of Denver, Daniels College of Business with one student from USC Marshall (pictured below) who presented on digital lockers and a redesign for UltraViolet. The audience choice award went to UCLA who presented on 4K Ultra HD TV.
IMAGINE FILM CHALLENGE
Four teams of student filmmakers from Columbia College Chicago, Loyola Marymount University, New York Film Academy and UCLA had only 48 hours to shoot, edit and present an original short film live from Imagine Park. The films were judged live by Charles Segars, Ovation Network, Carter Pilcher, ShortsHD, film legend and Golden Globe Winner, Rutger Hauer, Dominic Patten, Deadline Hollywood, and Academy Award winning producer, Nick Reed, and the teams were mentored by ESPN Films. Team “The Broken Slates” from the New York Film Academy won the grand prize with their film, “Deliver Us” and a check for $10,000. Look for all films to be aired on ShortsHD – The Short Movie Channel.
THE INTERNET OF THINGS' THINGS
In the heart of Imagine Park was the Internet of Things Lounge, a diverse sampling of devices and toys highlighting the future of connected devices, from smart egg cartons to smart flower pots. The Quirky Egg Minder notifies you of the freshness of each egg and programs alerts when the carton is running low. The Parrot Flower Power measures the health parameters, like light, temperature and soil moisture, of your plants.
ESPN'S GRANTLAND TALK TV IN IMAGINE PARK
Grantland, the Bill Simmons-created, ESPN-owned site, covers television, movies, sports and pop culture, and produces custom content, be it a podcast, a pre-cap, or a collection of YouTube videos, that’s tailor made for the particular target audience. Sports ant TV writers from Grantland spoke in Imagine Park for almost an hour about the Golden Age of TV, the impact of social media and the different ways fans can now engage with entertainment content.
THE 2014 CIO.IT COMPETITION
Chief Information Officers and cable’s IT executives competed in the fifth annual CIO.IT Competition, made up of two panels of four finalists each, narrowed down from more than two dozen entries. In collaboration with CableLabs, the panelists made 10-minute presentations on a solution to a cable IT challenge. In the category, “Elevating the Experience: New Ideas for Delivering Best-in-Class Service,” the winner of our competition was Viroopax Mirji of Infosys (pictured below on the left). In the category, “Video Here, Video There: Solutions for Making Multiscreen Delivery Look Easy,” the winner of our competition was Kent Steffen, of CSG Media (pictured below on the far right).