I speak at conferences and give private talks at companies on a variety of topics including vertical video, the rise of the stories format, brands becoming publishers, being creative in a technical world, life as an entrepreneur, publishing technology, the only two things a startup needs and how to run your business like Tony Stark.
Here are some of the talks I have given, conferences I’ve participated in and shows I’ve been on.
Media in the AI Era
July 9, 2025 — Loring Place, NYC — Host
Top executives to explore how AI is reshaping personalization and operational efficiency in the media industry.
Media Product Forum
”How to Win at AI”
May 7, 2025 — Current at Pier 60, Chelsea Piers, NYC — Speaker
Publishing is undergoing a major transformation. As business models adapt to leaner, audience-centric approaches, organizations are refocusing on building top-tier products that drive engagement and loyalty
This event featured product leaders from leading media companies — including Neil Vogel, CEO of Dotdash Meredith, Daniel Hallac, CGO of The Free Press, Anne Marie O’Keefe, COO of Inc. & Fast Company, Bharat Krish, CPO of Newsweek, and Bridget Williams, CPO of Hearst — who shared how they’re realigning their strategies to meet the demands of this new landscape.
Press Gazette: Media Strategy Network USA
Mar 13, 2025 — 1 World Trade Center, NYC — Roundtable Host
Press Gazette’s Media Strategy Network USA is a biannual event that convenes some of North America’s most influential executives in the news, media and publishing sectors.
2025 DCN Next Summit
“In conversation with Ariscielle Novicio, CTO and SVP, Product & Digital Strategy, New York Post”
April 22-23, 2025 — Miami, FL — Speaker
DCN Next Summit offers a mix of high-level views on the issues that help advance the future of the media business, coupled with a closed-door setting that guarantees candid, open discussion.
CES Tentpole Dinner
Jan 8, 2025 — Aria Resort & Casino, Las Vegas, NV — Host
Invitation-only C-level industry discussion and networking session at Bardot Brasserie.
Disney Data & Analytics Conference 2024
“Crafting Enchanting Customer Journeys with AI and Data”
September 10, 2024 — Orlando, FL — Panelist
Tim Hossain, VP of Marketing for WordPress VIP, hosted a panel discussion that included News Corp’s VP of Data Science & Analytics Manu Singh and 10up’s SVP of Business Development Billy Fischer.
Imagine a world where businesses effortlessly conjure the perfect customer journey, with precise personalization in every single interaction. In this panel discussion, we’ll reveal the secrets behind using AI and analytics to captivate customers at every marketing touchpoint.
Our panel of data-driven wizards will unveil the real-world potential of generative AI and advanced analytics in transforming the customer journey. By tapping into the hidden charms of data, you’ll weave unified, seamless and enchanting customer experiences.
CIO 100 Symposium & Awards 2024
“Delivering Next Generation Content and Digital Media Experiences that Scale with Ease”
August 6, 2024 — Colorado Springs, CO — Speaker
What will it take to deliver the next generation of content and digital media? As legacy technology struggles to deliver on the promise of composability and AI, enterprises look to open source solutions to help them build best in breed solutions. Join WordPress VIP as we share what we’ve learned from helping Salesforce, Meta, and the White House create content experiences that scale with ease in the face of increasing IT complexities.
The Rebooting Show with Brian Morrissey
“How AI will impact publishing”
July 29, 2024 — Guest
Brian Alvey, CTO of WordPress VIP, discussed with me how AI’s impact on publishers’ day-to-day operations will be felt first and foremost on mundane tasks that end up eating up a lot of resources. The early efforts to embed AI within the publishing process were predictably ham-handed. Using ChatGPT to create AI slop is hardly innovative – and unlikely to be very effective. I’m very skeptical of creating much value out of using AI to churn out tons of aggregation newsletters, for instance.
Run with VIP: Neal Fraser Celebrity Chef Experience
July 23, 2024 — Los Angeles, CA — Host
Join WordPress VIP and Iron Chef America winner, Neal Fraser, at Redbird for an exclusive culinary experience.
The Media Product Forum
“WordPress VIP Explores New AI Capabilities”
July 11, 2024 — New York, NY — Guest
Brian Alvey, Chief Technology Officer at WordPress VIP, sits down for an interactive fireside chat.
Meet the Boss Virtual Roundtable
“Sweating the Basics: Streamlining CMSes for a Better Website”
April 23, 2024 — Speaker
Colin Cosell moderated a private online discussion with several enterprise companies whose IT teams were looking for advice on optimizing customer experiences and increasing revenue.
Foundry CIO Executive Roundtable Dinner
“Enterprise Content Management Performance Strategies for 2024”
April 11, 2024 — Costa Mesa, CA — Host
Join senior technology executives from the LA metropolitan area for a dinner roundtable discussion that will explore how leading organizations optimize enterprise-wide content management strategies across increasingly complex organizational environments and technology infrastructures.
2024 DCN Next: Summit
“Differentiating After Great Equalizing Tech Advancements”
February 9, 2024 — Charleston, SC — Speaker
Penske Media Corporation’s SVP of Product Delivery Nicola Catton and I talked to senior media and tech execs about the challenges of differentiating against the competition when they’re all using the same cloud, the same gen AI and the same open source CMS.
WordPress for Enterprise
“The Future of Enterprise Content Management is Open Source”
January 18, 2024 — Speaker
WordPress VIP is a high-end hosting, support, and consulting service specifically tailored for large-scale, high-traffic WordPress websites, offering premium features, robust security, and expert technical guidance. Hear from Brian Alvey, the company’s CTO, in this session.
Scale: The Modern Media Podcast
“The Art of Building Startups with WordPress VIP’s CTO, Brian Alvey”
August 17, 2023 — Guest
We take an extraordinary trek through Brian’s illustrious career, unpacking his groundbreaking work with heavyweights such as TMZ, Business Week, and TV Guide. You’ll get an insider’s look at WordPress VIP, understanding its design for large, high-traffic businesses, and how it provides an unsurpassed platform for companies reaching millions of customers.
Osom to Know – a WordPress podcast
“Building the Perfect CMS with WP VIP CTO – Interview with Brian Alvey”
June 26, 2023 — Guest
Brian sheds light on how WordPress VIP builds tools for improvement in search, security, analytics, and digital asset management for enterprise-level clients. He also talks about how hiring psychologically-driven people who are responsible and communicate well is important when building remote teams. Brian shares different experiences, including working with well-known brands, famous investors, and his friend Jason, and also gives insights on the role and responsibilities of a CTO.
WPVIP Executive Roundtable
“AI Experimentation”
May 30, 2023 — Speaker
Dan Walmsley, a lead engineer on Automattic’s Applied AI team, and I discussed our AI product work and led a private roundtable discussion with tech leaders from dozens of enterprise companies who shared their challenges with integrating new AI products into their workflows.
VIP Live! With 10up
“Lessons Learned From Going Headless”
July 13, 2022 — San Francisco, CA — Speaker
Hear from Phil Crumm, SVP Marketing & Growth at 10up, and Brian Alvey, CTO of WordPress VIP as they discuss lessons learned from going headless and their predictions for this technology going forward.
StreamYard Connect Ep43
“Create Video Clips for Your Live Streams with Brian Alvey”
September 9, 2020 — Guest
On StreamYardConnect with Ross Brand, Answers RN founder and Clipisode CEO Brian Alvey talks about how Answers RN helps you easily create snackable video clips for social media and your live streaming broadcasts. You can use AnswersRN to make short video clips to play in your StreamYard live streams.
Zoomin Customer Experience Series
“The Power of Video Stories from Real People”
July 22, 2020 — Guest
Join Megan Gilhooly and Scott Abel for a chat with serial entrepreneur Brian Alvey, the founder of Weblogs, a web publishing platform he and his co-founder sold to AOL for $25 million. We’ll discuss why Alvey says he was born with publishing in his DNA and we’ll learn about his latest adventure building a product he believes can that help people leverage video content in powerful ways.
The Jeff Dwoskin Show
“All the Answers Right Now”
May 25, 2020 — Guest
Looking to make fast, amazing Q&A videos? You’ll love my interview with Brian Alvey, CEO of Answers RN, an app that has revolutionized Q&A sessions.
This Week In Startups
“Episode 1000”
November 12, 2019 — San Francisco, CA — Guest
1000th Episode Retrospective! Jason & TWiST lifers Lon Harris, Brian Alvey, & Tyler Crowley re-live favorite moments & guests, highlighting innovations in podcasting & tech over the last decade, hitting global trends & what’s in store for the next 1000.
VidCon
“Rapid-Fire 6 Minute Case-Studies”
July 11, 2019 — Anaheim, CA — Speaker
Tired of long boring case studies? Come see the top 7 case studies for 2018/2019 as curated by the Vidcon Advisory board. Hosted by Gabe Gordon of Reach Agency, this is your chance to see the newest, best-in-class case studies from influencers to Instagram and KPIs to ROI. No nonsense, just the facts — delivered directly from top brands and agencies in 6 minutes. Brands represented include Microsoft, Express, EA, Nationwide, Tinder, Chipotle and Netflix.
The Business of Content
“He sold his blog network to AOL for $25 million. And that was just the beginning”
November 18, 2018 — Guest
I interviewed Alvey about what it was like to run a blog network in Web 2.0’s early days, how he ended up in a 45 minute meeting with Jeff Bezos, and why the iPad failed to save the media industry.
SF Video Marketers Meetup
“How to Use Video to Drive Business Results”
October 4, 2018 — San Francisco, CA — Speaker
Renee Teeley from the animated video platform Powtoon hosted a panel with video marketing experts, including Scott Frost from Adobe and Harrison Westwater from CNET.
VidCon Australia
“Hands-On with the Top Tools Revolutionizing Online Video”
September 1, 2018 — Melbourne, Victoria, Australia — Speaker
I hosted a hands-on session at VidCon Australia bringing together “some of the top new products, apps, and programs in a demo format with audience Q&A. These tools can help you optimize your content, maximize your total reach, identify and work with influencers, embrace and identify user-generated content, and make creating online content easier.” Presenting companies included VidIQ, Adobe, Storyful, Clipisode, and Peg. During our presentation we announced Clipisode’s new automatic captions feature — and we demonstrated it live with an audience member. It was amazing.
PayPal Innovation Lab
“The Titans of Viral Marketing”
August 2, 2018 — San Jose, CA — Speaker
I gave a private talk and Q&A at PayPal’s Silicon Valley HQ, examining legendary products like PayPal, Hotmail, Dropbox that had viral marketing power built into their core loops.
Entrefest
“Human Creativity vs. The Inevitable Domination of AI”
May 17, 2018 — Cedar Rapids, IA — Speaker
What does it mean to be creative? What chance do you have at being remarkable when everyone on the planet has a supercomputer in their hand and new equalizing technologies appear every few years? Brian Alvey explores the challenges that creators face in our technology-dominated world — challenges that also show up in movies like Sound City, Tim’s Vermeer and The Incredibles.
This Week In Startups
“Episode 811”
April 13, 2018 — San Francisco, CA — Guest
In a news roundtable episode, Iain Thomson of The Register and I talked about Mark Zuckerberg testifying before Congress, Facebook’s data dilemma, Trump ordering a USPS review, YouTube’s demonetization fallout, self-driving car accidents and the dangers of human distraction.
Ross & Nez
“How To Make Videos Easily and Inclusive”
January 27, 2018 — Guest
Brain Alvey builds software that makes creative people more powerful. The founder of Clipisode, Brian joins Ross & Nez to discuss how the app simplifies the process of creating videos for social media. Clipisode makes you the host of your own 5-minute daily talk show, featuring your friends and fans. It’s a great fit for Instagram with square video and for “stories” content on such platforms as Snapchat, Facebook and Instagram.
ZDNet Radio’s Tonya Hall Show
“Social Marketing Secrets: Going From Nobody To Noticed”
December 11, 2017 — Guest
Tonya and I explored how artists can break through the noise to promote their music, the rise of Instagram Stories, music video budgets, Patreon, Grammy nominations and ways to create direct relationships with your fans.
This Week In Startups
“Episode 782”
December 4, 2017 — San Francisco, CA — Cohost
Filmed at LAUNCH Founder.University. Startup Tuneup: Jason Calacanis and Brian Alvey dissect and then perfect pitches in seven verticals: stain-free clothes, outdoor marketplace, political engagement, account data, podcast sharing, healthcare and electric scooters.
Helix Academy
“Starting Startups and Lessons from a Lifetime of Business”
December 3, 2017 — Guest
Trevor Carlson and I talked about lessons from a lifetime of entrepreneurship, including how to tell startup winners from the losers, how investments weed people out, resiliency and why you should never go 50-50 in a partnership. I also took audience questions using Clipisode about my biggest failure, podcasts’ impact on marketing, when to monetize your users and advice for adopting new media within traditional marketing teams.
Angel Podcast
“Episode 9”
November 14, 2017 — San Francisco, CA — Co-host
“Ask An Angel! Jason Calacanis and Brian Alvey answer investor questions on picking startups, evaluating founders, due diligence, how syndicates work, deal terms and more.”
LAUNCH Scale
October 17-18, 2017 — San Francisco, CA — Co-host
I ran the SeedInvest Stage at the 4th annual LAUNCH Scale conference, introducing and interviewing an impressive roster of growth experts: Rebecca Kaden, Charles Hudson, Beth Scheer, Christian Smith, Andy Artz, Amanda Richardson, Bobby Brannigan, Susan Mason, Jason Costa, Clara Brenner, Sonny Mayugba, Martijn Scheijbeler, Mick Liubinskas, Jenny Lefcourt, Ryan Carson, Stacey Bishop, Eitan Bencuya, Adam Huda and David Hassell.
Content Marketing Pros Meetup
October 11, 2017 — San Francisco, CA — Speaker
I hosted a lunch-and-learn session with fantastic group of technology experts. We created a collaborative video show in just a few minutes using Clipisode and explored all of the ways to easily integrate the app into content marketing workflows.
Content Wrangler Webinar
“Creating Social Video for Brands and Influencers in Minutes”
October 10, 2017 — San Francisco, CA — Speaker
“Who doesn’t want more fame, more influence, more respect and a legion of superfans? But blogging and podcasting are a time suck and building up that legion of superfans will take you years. Great news: there’s an app for creating quick video shows with your friends and followers that gives them the three things superfans crave: access, attention and acknowledgement.”
“But hasn’t this collaborative video thing been tried before? Yes. Dozens of times. But no one else has followed the wisdom of Jerry Springer like the Clipisode team has. Jerry Springer? The talk show guy? Do we have to fight on camera and take paternity tests? Of course not. Not if you don’t want to.”
I joined Scott Abel for a one-hour webinar that took a deep dive into the collaborative video app Clipisode and showed our new online studio brands and agencies are using to build branded animations for video shows.
This Week In Tech
“Episode 619: Honey, I Shrunk the Panel”
June 18, 2017 — Petaluma, CA — Guest
Amazon buys Whole Foods, and has its eyes on Slack. Is Apple’s HomePod a Sonos killer? Facebook’s Safety Check causes stress. Twitter’s redesign. Voter fraud conspiracies. E3 announcements. Jason Calacanis guest hosts This Week In Tech with Peter Rojas, Dave Mathews and Brian Alvey.
Information Development World
“Calculated Disruption”
May 15, 2017 — Menlo Park, CA — Speaker
“They say no business plan survives first contact with customers. It’s true! When we took our initial product to market, we ran into seven common objections. The customers we thought would be perfect for our product were never going to use it. Using that list of objections as a blueprint for our follow-up product, we not only found market validation — we also ended up inventing a novel collaborative video content format.”
This Week In Startups
“Episode 731”
May 9, 2017 — San Francisco, CA — Co-host
Part 2 of Inside LAUNCH Incubator includes four more startups that have gone through the program. We watch their pitches, give candid feedback and go behind the scenes of the highly competitive Incubator. Featuring David Bennahum from Ready, Jennifer Simchowitz from Keepster, Jesse Lakes from Genius Link and Dan Grueter from Poppins.
This Week In Startups
“Episode 730”
May 5, 2017 — San Francisco, CA — Co-host
Jason Calacanis and I talk with LAUNCH Incubator founders about their products, give and receive candid feedback about the highly competitive Incubator, key takeaways, struggles, the funding process, and more. Featuring Tyson Woeste from Transported and Allen Chen from FitBod.
LAUNCH Incubator
“The Only Superpower A Founder Needs Is Storytelling”
April 13, 2017 — San Francisco, CA — Host, Featured Speaker
I hosted the LAUNCH Incubator’s fifth class and was the featured speaker, giving a talk on the importance of storytelling for founders.
LAUNCH Festival Startup Summits
April 6-7, 2017 — San Francisco, CA — Host
I hosted the LAUNCH Startup Summits at the Innovation Hangar in the historic Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco’s Marina District. Expert investors gave feedback to more than 100 startups pitching on stage in a dozen categories — AI & Machine Learning, Health & Biotech, Smart Home, Consumer & Media, Food & Water, Education, VR & AR, Hardware, Cannabis, Drones & Robotics, Enterprise and Fintech.
Angel Summit
April 5, 2017 — San Francisco, CA — Host
I hosted the Sequoia Stage at the LAUNCH Festival’s Angel Summit at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco. My guests included Katherine Boyle (General Catalyst), Rob May (Talla), Stonly Baptiste(Urban.Us), Sara Deshpande (Maven Ventures), Tom Williams (Better Company) and several other successful early-stage investors.
Founder University
April 3-4, 2017 — San Francisco, CA — Guest Host
I hosted day one of LAUNCH’s first-ever Founder University, “a two-day educational experience for founders who have launched their product but haven’t raised a Series A.” I gave a talk on the importance of storytelling and vetted pitches from ten startups.
LAUNCH Scale
“Out of Office, On the Clock: Scaling with Remote Talent”
November 15, 2016 — San Francisco, CA — Speaker
“There are many great reasons to staff your startup with a distributed, remote team. But there are just as many solid reasons to avoid it. Having run eight companies with fully remote teams, Brian will tell you what works, what doesn’t work and what you need to watch out for if you’ve taken VC money.”
LAUNCH Scale
November 14-15, 2016 — San Francisco, CA — Co-host
The 3rd annual LAUNCH Scale conference was held on two stages at Bespoke Coworking’s private event venue in Westfield San Francisco Centre.
I ran the Cisco Stage and had the pleasure of introducing and interviewing some incredible speakers including Amanda Richardson (Hotel Tonight), Mar Hershenson (Pear.vc), Jason Demant (Bento), Satya Patel (Homebrew), Shaun Abrahamson (Urban Us), John Heltzel (Los Altos Advisors), Sonny Mayugba (Waitr), Katherine Boyle (General Catalyst), Jonathon Triest (Ludlow Ventures), Melody McCloskey (StyleSeat), David Hassell (15Five) and Adelyn Zhou (TopBots).
This Week In Tech
“Episode 581: You Can Pay to See It All”
September 25, 2016 — Petaluma, CA — Guest
Is Apple late to the VR/AR game? Has Palmer Luckey’s support of Trump trolls hurt Oculus? Who will buy Twitter? Snapchat announces $130 camera Spectacles. And Yahoo has possibly the largest data breach ever. Jason Calacanis guest hosts This Week In Tech with Ben Parr, Robert Scoble and Brian Alvey.
Threat Surface
“Episode 12”
July 22, 2016 — Los Angeles, CA — Featured Guest
“Every startup is its story. In this episode, Julie and Brian explore the fascinating relationship between startups and narrative.”
VidCon
“New Business Models for Online Video”
June 24, 2016 — Anaheim, CA — Moderator
The panel I hosted featured Meghan Camarena, Kenn Henman, Bryon Schafer and Moj Mahdara.
“From tip jars to subscription services, sponsored videos, fan tours, branded merchandise and more, this session explores new ways to monetize the powerful direct connection between a successful online video property and its passionate and loyal community.”
LAUNCH Festival Scale Stage
March 3-4, 2016 — San Francisco, CA — Host
I hosted the LAUNCH Scale stage in the gorgeous Cowell Theater at Fort Mason. My speakers included Sahil Jain from AdStage, Marshall Kirkpatrick from Little Bird, Anneke Jong from Reserve, Jeffrey Pfefferfrom Stanford Business, Jed Katz from Javelin Venture Partners, Adelyn Zhou from Alight Labs and many more experts on growth hacking. One of our guests was unable to speak, so I did a 20-minute Ask Me Anything session taking questions from the audience.
LAUNCH Festival
“Introducing Clipisode”
March 2, 2016 — San Francisco, CA — Presenter
Max and I gave a preview of Clipisode at the 15,000-attendee LAUNCH Festival startup competition in San Francisco.
Angel Summit
March 1, 2016 — San Francisco, CA — Host
I hosted the LAUNCH Festival’s Angel Summit at Fort Mason in San Francisco. My guests included Gil Penchina, Cyan Banister, Peter Pham, Paul Judge, Steph Palmeri, Jonathon Triest, David Samuel, Fabrice Grinda, Tom Williams, Danielle Morrill, Jason Lemkin and several other successful early-stage investors.
LAUNCH Hackathon
February 28, 2016 — San Francisco, CA — Judge
“1,000 confirmed developers and designers will join us the weekend before LAUNCH Festival, competing for up to $1M in investment. 250 teams of four will spend 48 hours creating a company, with the top five making it to the main stage of the LAUNCH Festival on Friday where they will be given two minutes to show their creations before a grilling from our judges! The Grand Jury will select the top projects and invite up to four of them to the LAUNCH Incubator — which comes with a $250,000 investment.”
LAUNCH Incubator
May 14, 2015 — San Francisco, CA — Guest Host
I hosted the LAUNCH Incubator’s second class. My special guest was Jason Shellen from Pinterest.
The Influencer Podcast
“Influencer Podcast”
April 29, 2015 — Guest
“Brian is a great person to talk to, he has a great story and it’s not all wonderful things. What you learn from Brian is that being an entrepreneur has its ups and downs. Although I comment in the beginning that everyone should know him, he’s honest in saying that many people don’t and that’s not a problem for him. He’s doing what he loves.”
IBM “Thoughts on Cloud” interview with Marc Perton
“Brian Alvey: The real creative cloud is made of people”
April 9, 2015 — Guest
“In this interview with Thoughts On Cloud, Alvey reflects on his experience creating new platforms — and how some of the same concepts that make cloud computing an efficient way to operate a business apply equally well to managing other resources, including human resources.”
LAUNCH Festival
“Introducing Recurrency”
March 2, 2015 — San Francisco, CA — Presenter
We introduced Recurrency on stage at the 11,700-attendee LAUNCH Festival startup competition in San Francisco and won the “Best Incubator Company” prize.
This Week In Startups
“Episode 501”
December 18, 2014 — San Francisco, CA — Host
“It’s the Jason ‘no holds barred’ interview, Part 2! Our celebration of Episode #500 continues into Episode #501 as Brian Alvey, Jason’s lifelong friend (and very first TWIST guest) commandeers the host’s seat and puts Jason in the hot seat.”
This Week In Startups
“Episode 500”
December 18, 2014 — San Francisco, CA — Host
“Brian Alvey, Jason’s lifelong friend (and very first TWIST guest!) commandeers the host’s seat and puts Jason in the hot seat for a riveting ‘no holds barred’ interview. Tune in to hear Jason’s unfiltered answers to Brian’s and fans’ questions about his legacy, triumphs with LAUNCH, troubles with Mahalo, the Uber controversy, the plummeting quality of journalism, his favorite TWIST episodes, essential qualities in a founder, what he’s got to prove, why he’s going supernova in 2015 — and much, much more.”
LAUNCH Scale
October 23-24, 2014 — San Francisco, CA — Co-host
LAUNCH Scale is a two-day conference featuring stellar, highly tactical speakers. Unlike the LAUNCH Festival, which is for startups who have raised little or no money and are debuting for the first time on stage, LAUNCH Scale is for companies that have raised at least an A round and now need to scale their business on every front: technology, design, talent, money raising, marketing and sales.
Systematic Podcast
“Startup Religions with Brian Alvey”
June 24, 2014 — Featured Guest
“Brett chats with Brian Alvey, chief scientist of Ceros and an entrepreneur, investor and advisor. The conversation covers meeting the creators of the most popular technologies, startup ‘religions,’ meditation and more.”
The Contently Show
“How Nimble Publishers Survive”
March 10, 2014 — New York, NY — Featured Guest
“On this week’s Contently show, Brian Alvey, the Chief Scientist and Chairman at Ceros, talks with Contently CCO Shane Snow about how the nimble survive, and those fighting a publishing war from 10 years ago inevitably fail. Also debated: the mobile opportunity for brands, dogs vs. kids, and the coolest startup in New York.”
LAUNCH Festival
February 24-26, 2014 — San Francisco, CA — Grand Jury Judge
Hundreds of competing companies. More than 9,000 attendees registered. A ridiculous amount of prize money. The largest startup conference on earth – again.
The LAB Miami
“A Religion of One”
July 26, 2013 — Miami, FL — Speaker
In The LAB Miami‘s first ever fireside chat I told the story of how I found my own personal startup religion.
iStrategy Conference
“Brand Publishing’s Secret Weapon”
April 23-24, 2013 — Miami, FL — Speaker
“Retail brands and marketing teams have figured out that they need to become publishers because quality content drives SEO and, more importantly, social media conversations. Effective content marketing is increasingly becoming the difference between winning and losing customers. The two biggest challenges for brands taking on publishing are strategy and tools. In this case study, Brian will share his content strategy rules and give the first public demo of Ceros, brand publishing’s secret weapon.”
LAUNCH Festival
March 4-6, 2013 — San Francisco, CA — Grand Jury Judge
Hundreds of competing companies. More than 6,000 attendees registered. The largest startup conference on earth.
American Express
“The 3 Rules of Online Storytelling”
July 24, 2012 — New York, NY — Speaker
Private talk on the brand publishing revolution for the American Express Global Marketing Team.
This Week In Startups
“Episode 266”
June 15, 2012 — Los Angeles, CA — Featured Guest
I was on a news roundtable episode with Simon Berg of Ceros, Dave Mathews of NewAer and Andrew Warner of Mixergy.
SIIA Strategic & Investment Conference
“A Seat at the Table: Crowd Fusion”
May 10, 2012 — San Francisco, CA — Speaker
Working with the major platforms can be a big challenge. In this session, Crowd Fusion CEO Brian Alvey shares experiences and war stories gained working on behalf of major publishers interacting with Apple, Facebook, Android and other platforms. Learn what drives each of their strategy and what you might expect going forward.
Showtime
“It’s Showtime! 10 Ways to Create Value Now”
December 7, 2011 — New York, NY — Speaker
Private talk on creating value.
This Week In Startups
“Episode 171”
July 29, 2011 — New York, NY — Featured Guest
I was on a news roundtable episode with Dave Mathews of NewAer.
RightScale CloudExpo
“Embracing Failure”
June 8, 2011 — New York, NY — Speaker
“Integrating content management systems for global media companies with multiple properties is nothing new to Crowd Fusion CEO Brian Alvey. But when faced with a tight window of time to get TMZ migrated off its old platform plus ensure its compatibility with the then-new iPad, Brian knew he needed the cloud but didn’t have time for the learning curve. He relates how he was able to launch on time, impress his customers, and get a comprehensive view into his entire cloud infrastructure thanks to RightScale.”
paidContent Mobile
“Too Many Choices?”
May 18, 2011 — New York, NY — Panelist
Tom Krazit grilled Fran Hauser of Time Inc, Mark Johnson of Zite and me on the mobile app landscape.
“Content publishers large and small face difficult choices about how to use often limited resources with a growing number of platforms and business models in mind. Is an iOS app a must? Is Android’s open marketplace the best place to launch? When should Windows Phone 7, webOS or BlackBerry OS be in the mix? Does a rich browser option make the most sense? And which option offers the most profit potential?”
Streaming Media East CDN Summit
“CDN and Cloud Convergence”
May 9, 2011 — New York, NY — Panelist
I was on a panel moderated by Jacob Rosenberg, Senior Technical Director of Web Operations at AOL, which included Amazon CloudFront GM Tal Saraf and AccuWeather CIO Steve Smith.
“As the capabilities of cloud-based infrastructure services expand, they begin to encroach upon that of content delivery networks. Major providers such as Amazon have built their own CDNs, while SoftLayer and Rackspace have partnered into this space. In the traditional CDN business, more sophisticated content can be delivered in ways that begin to approach Platform as a Service offerings. Is the CDN concept becoming just a specialized application hosted on the Cloud? What are the distinctions between them, and should infrastructure providers and major consumers consider consolidating?”
Breaking Development
“A Perfect Storm: When Mobile Met The Cloud”
April 11-12, 2011 — Dallas, TX — Speaker
“When Brian Alvey and his team set out to build another enterprise-grade content management platform, they expected the focus would be on traditional websites like Crowd Fusion’s first customer, TMZ. However, breakthroughs in both mobile technology and cloud computing have resulted in Crowd Fusion powering mobile apps like Best Buy’s Tecca and News Corp’s ground-breaking tablet-only news publication, The Daily.”
“Brian will share behind-the-scenes stories about publishing for mobile apps in the cloud and show how you can capitalize on convergence.”
This Week In Startups
“Episode 129”
April 1, 2011 — Featured Guest
I was on TWiSt’s first ever news roundtable with DocStoc CEO Jason Nazar and author James Altucher.
SxSW Interactive
“Sites, Servers, Action! Cloud Computing Goes Hollywood”
March 14, 2011 — Austin, TX — Speaker
With Warner Bros SVP Bob Mohler, I gave a behind the scenes look at large media brands that have embraced the cloud.
“Popular brands like celebrity gossip site TMZ and News Corp’s iPad news app The Daily run on Crowd Fusion — entirely in Amazon’s cloud. Join Crowd Fusion CEO Brian Alvey and Warner Bros/Telepictures SVP of Digital Media Bob Mohler and learn how cloud computing has graduated from geek hobby to mainstream business use. You’ll hear real stories of successes and failures from the trenches, plus find the answers to all of your cloud questions in our Q&A.”
LAUNCH Conference
February 23-24, 2011 — San Francisco, CA — Grand Jury Judge
LAUNCH is “the best place to launch your startup, raise money and learn about starting a company.” I spent 3 days watching hot new companies compete for prizes and funding — and helped choose the winners.
The Big Web Show
“Episode 39”
February 17, 2011 — Featured Guest
“Jeffrey Zeldman and Dan Benjamin are joined by Brian Alvey to discuss the early days of the web, balancing products and services, taking big meetings, what’s coming next for Content Management Systems, being a small publisher, and moving toward bigger platforms.”
MyVenturePad Virtual Summit
“Check, Please: Maximizing Your IT Savings”
September 28, 2010 — Panelist
Moderated by William McNee of Saugatech Research, I was on a cloud economics panel with Deborah Farrington of Starvest Partners and Albert Wenger of Union Square Ventures.
“One great advantage of On-Demand is that it allows SMEs to focus their budgets on competitive advantage rather than infrastructure. What are the downsides, if any? Followed by a Q&A.”
Audience Conference
“An Abundance of Tools, An Absence of Craft”
August 14, 2010 — New York, NY — Speaker
On stage at the famous comedy club Caroline’s on Broadway, I talked about the talent side of attracting, engaging and monetizing audiences.
This Week In Startups
“Episode 70”
August 13, 2010 — Los Angeles, CA — Featured Guest
Jason Calacanis and I gave advice to entrepreneurs who called into his show. Then we discussed that week’s technology news.
Amazon AWS Cloud Computing
“Cloud Changes Everything”
June 25, 2010 — New York, NY — Speaker
Crowd Fusion was one of four startups featured at Amazon’s half-day event, on stage with Amazon.com CTO Dr. Werner Vogels. I gave a behind-the-scenes look at how popular brands like TMZ manage their AWS cloud infrastructure directly from within our CMS.
This Week In Startups
“Episode 45”
March 13, 2010 — Austin, TX — Featured Guest
I was a special guest along with Don Dodge, Matt Coffin and Loren Feldman’s Shel Israel puppet. The main guest was Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh.
NY Tech Meetup
“Crowd Fusion for Everyone”
March 2, 2010 — New York, NY — Speaker
I’ve built more than a dozen CMSes for use in private companies. Have I finally created one for the public? Will we see an O’Reilly or For Dummies book on Crowd Fusion?
building43
“Crowd Fusion: a new blog approach”
September 16, 2009 — Featured Guest
“Brian Alvey, who built the content management system behind Engadget and is co-founder of Weblogs, Inc., today helps close out the two-day TechCrunch50 technology conference in San Francisco, Calif., by announcing Crowd Fusion, which provides companies with a new approach to product blogging. In this video recorded before the conference, Alvey discusses the philosophy behind the system which, among other things, allows teams of people to work together on a topic-based site combining concepts of such things as blogs, wikis, news feeds and social networking.”
TechCrunch50
“Introducing Crowd Fusion”
September 14-15, 2009 — San Francisco, CA — Speaker
On stage, in front of more than 2,000 TechCrunch50 attendees and thousands more on the live stream, I gave the first ever tour of the Crowd Fusion CMS. Plus I announced our open source program.
This Week In Startups
“Episode 1”
May 1, 2009 — Los Angeles, CA — Featured Guest
I was the first guest ever on Jason Calacanis’s This Week In Startups show.
SxSW Interactive
“CSS: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly”
March 15, 2004 — Austin, TX — Speaker
I was on the big CSS panel with Tantek Celik, Doug Bowman, Kimberly Blessing and Eric Meyer. I showed how I was making WYSIWYG (rich text) editors generate standards-valid markup in production web sites and content management systems.
SxSW Interactive
“Monetizing the Blogosphere”
March 14, 2004 — Austin, TX — Speaker
Jason Calacanis and I told a skeptical crowd about our plans to build a blogging business, plus gave an overview of all the online and offline revenue streams, marketing concepts and exit strategies available to bloggers in 2004.
Meet The Makers
November 6, 2002 — New York, NY — Host
My third Meet The Makers conference featured interviews with Matt Unger, Executive Producer of Zagat.com, Flash legend Joshua Davis of Praystation and Web design hero Hillman Curtis. Our Web Standards panel included Jeffrey Zeldman from The Web Standards Project and Eric Meyer from Netscape.
Meet The Makers
October 21, 2002 — San Francisco, CA — Host
My second Meet The Makers event featured interviews with the talent behind Google, MapBlast, E*TRADE Financial and Jeffrey Veen. Our “Web Standards and the Future of the Web” panel included Tantek Çelik from Microsoft, Arun Ranganathan from Netscape and Doug Bowman of Wired.
Meet The Makers
April 23, 2002 — New York, NY — Host
My first Meet The Makers event featured “behind-the-screens” interviews with Dwight Merriman, CTO, creator and co-founder of DoubleClick, Enzo Micali, CTO of 1-800-Flowers.com, Dave Bovenschulte, VP of Product Development, TV Guide Online, Tom Romer of The Chopping Block and Mark Conway and Jon Lynch, the VP’s of Engineering and Architecture from Monster.
Brian Alvey 