ESPN Edge Innovation Center to Host Inaugural Conference Wednesday, September 29
Featured Speakers Include Lindsey Vonn, Blake Griffin, Kaylee Hartung, Jimmy Pitaro and Mark L. Walker
What: ESPN Edge Innovation will host an inaugural virtual event, the ESPN Edge Conference, on Wednesday, Sept. 29. The conference will take place from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. ET, with Kevin Negandhi and Christine Williamson guiding the segments throughout the virtual event.
Speakers including Lindsey Vonn, Blake Griffin, Kaylee Hartung, Jimmy Pitaro and Mark L. Walker will discuss key topics including sports rights in the streaming age, reimagining the fan experience and more.
The full agenda for the conference:
| Time (E.T.) | Topic | Speaker(s) |
| 10 a.m. | Welcome
Neghandi and Williamson will welcome attendees to the inaugural ESPN Edge Conference. |
Kevin Neghandi
SportsCenter Anchor
Christine Williamson ESPN Host & Reporter
|
| 10:05 a.m. | Vision of ESPN Edge
Walker explores the vision for the ESPN Edge Innovation Center, ESPN’s history of innovation, and how to collectively drive innovation.
|
Mark Walker
SVP, Content Business Development and Innovation, ESPN
|
| 10:10 a.m. | Sports Rights & Streaming
Walker and Pitaro discuss content consumption’s evolution and the future of streaming and sports rights as it relates to ESPN.
|
Jimmy Pitaro
Chairman, ESPN & Sports Content, The Walt Disney Company
Mark Walker SVP, Content Business Development and Innovation, ESPN
|
| 10:25 a.m. | Accenture: Unlocking Potential with New Experiences
Schybergson explains why now is the time to reimagine sports and entertainment experiences to center around people’s values, desires and expectations—and why experience is the key to unlocking meaningful growth and differentiation.
|
Olof Schybergson
Chief Experience Officer, Accenture
|
| 10:40 a.m. | Verizon 5G’s Changing the Game for Sports
Mecum and McPherson discuss how 5G will transform the fan experience and player training and performance. The Phoenix Suns describe how 5G has helped the team with advanced analytics in real-time. |
Brian Mecum
Vice President, Device Technology, Verizon
Erin McPherson Head of Consumer Content and Partnerships at Verizon
|
| 10:55 a.m. | Athlete 3.0
Hartung, Griffin, Katz and Vonn discuss innovating on the field and off as they navigate business ventures, social initiatives and more.
|
Kaylee Hartung
Correspondent, ABC News
Anthony Katz Founder, Hyperice
Blake Griffin Power Forward, Brooklyn Nets
Lindsey Vonn World Cup Alpine Ski Champion & U.S. Olympian
|
| 11:20 a.m. | Empowering Everyone: When We All Play, We All Win
Microsoft + ESPN empowers innovation to ignite the fan in all of us. CVP Sarah Bond takes us on a brief history of Microsoft’s work with LaLiga and the Miami Heat to demonstrate where we’ve been and where we are going next in elevating the fan experience, bringing accessibility and future-forward focus into everything we build in the Edge Innovation Center. The partnership expands fan engagement across new mediums, new businesses, and new audiences.
|
Sarah Bond
CVP, Game Creator Experience & Ecosystem at Microsoft.
|
| 11:40 a.m. | Reimagining the Fan Experience
In today’s digitized world, the modern sports fan has completely different expectations for what they want in exchange for their time, attention, and money. Today, sports fans aren’t content to merely watch a game – they want to fully experience it through enhanced, even personalized interactions. What does the new fan look like? How does technology change the future of in-person and virtual experiences to create a more immersive and rewarding experience?
|
Christine Williamson
ESPN Host & Reporter
Brandon Schneider President & Chief Operating Officer, Golden State Warriors
Erin McPherson Head of Consumer Content & Partnerships, Verizon
Mickey Maher SVP of Partnerships, DapperLabs
|
| 12:05 p.m. | Keynote: Pushing Beyond
Ismail is a globally respected author and business strategist with a quantum physics and philosophy background. He’s a serial entrepreneur and the Founder and Chairman of ExO Works and OpenExO, where he shares his expertise on Exponential Organizations. Salim will take the day’s discussion a step beyond with his entertaining, irreverent, and insightful point of view on how to go from incremental innovation to 10X improvements by implementing groundbreaking technologies that achieve large-scale social impact.
|
Salim Ismail
Co-founder & Chairman, OpenExO
|
| 12:25 p.m. | Cutting-Edge ESPN Projects
This segment will provide an overview on what’s to come from the ESPN Edge Innovation Center, including ESPN’s partnership with ShotTracker. ESPN will leverage ShotTracker’s sub-second, 3-dimensional basketball data and analytics to drive quality storytelling, data-driven broadcast automation, and high-value brand sponsorships.
|
Sean Hanrahan
SVP, Sports Brand Solutions, Disney Advertising Sales
Davyeon Ross Co-Founder & President, DDSports / ShotTracker, Inc. |
Earlier this month, ESPN launched the ESPN Edge Innovation Center, aiming to collaborate with other leaders in technology to explore how new technologies like 5G, Augmented and Virtual Reality (AR/VR) and mobile edge computing (MEC) can enable new ways for fans to experience sports. The ESPN Edge Innovation Center will include key partnerships in the categories of technology, consulting, connectivity and hardware.
When: Wednesday, September 29, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. ET
Where: The virtual event will be accessible at espnedge.com/conference.
How: To attend the virtual event, please register at espnedge.com/conference.
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Media Contacts:
Katina Arnold
ESPN
(860) 912-6643
[email protected]
Olivia Wilson
DMED
(904) 303-3538
[email protected]
