If you’ve been thinking about attending the HPA Tech Retreat in Palm Springs, February 9-13, better make up your mind: it’s close to selling out, and advanced registration closes this coming Monday, February 2. As the press release says:

The Tech Retreat is a relaxed yet focused gathering where engineering, technology and strategic business leaders join top creative talent to explore and debate the most compelling topics facing the media and entertainment industry today.  The event offers four solidly scheduled days of sessions, demonstrations and events, and delivers a forward looking perspective on an industry continuing its dynamic and rapid transformation of how content is created, finished, distributed and arrived.

For 20 years, the Tech Retreat has proven to be a bellwether event where groundbreaking ideas are born and industry-changing technologies unveiled. From drones and UHD, the cloud and cyber security, to maintaining creative intent while exploring the next iteration of broadcast standards – if it’s being thought about, it will be discussed, debated, and perhaps even refuted at the Tech Retreat. More than 45 sessions, 75 early morning thought provoking breakfast roundtables and over 100 speakers make up the conference program. In addition, 30 new technologies are slated to debut in the event’s curated Demo Room, and the schedule is crafted to offer time for exploration and interaction.

Leon Silverman, President of the HPA, noted, “As we enter our 21st year, the Tech Retreat continues to be one of those events you can’t afford to miss. The mix of topics, technology and top industry minds makes this event a yearly check-in with industry gurus and deep thinkers that seem to gather at the HPA every year in the desert. Making the pilgrimage to the HPA Tech Retreat seems to provide so many of us with a check on the pulse of the entire industry.”

Speakers and Sessions

For the complete 2015 HPA Tech Retreat schedule and speakers’ bios, click HERE. There are over 45 sessions presented during the course of the Retreat (Please note the final schedule is subject to change.)

Highlights of the 2015 HPA Tech Retreat include :

• The HPA Supersession – A full day of sessions focused on a shifting industry. Just when we thought we had mastered the transition to the “digital age,” we’re seeing new and fundamental shifts.
• Keynote – Not Your Father’s Post
• Cyber and Content Security: Time for a Strategy Change
• Sensory Stimulation
• Next Generation of Cinema: New Technologies and Techniques: What they Mean for Filmmakers
• Understanding the New Acquisition
• From Snowflakes to Standards: Maintaining Creative Intent in Evolutionary Times
• Drones for Dummies
• The Annual Broadcasters Update
• Personalized and Immersive Sound
• DDP and IMF
• The Cloud Demystified
• Utilizing Fingerprinting Technology for Shot Matching
• Enhancing the Creative Palette
• Automatic Content Recognition

Among nearly 100 All Star speakers, the Lineup Includes:

• Wendy Aylsworth, Warner Bros.
• Bill Bennett, ASC
• Stephen Beres, HBO
• Sara-Duran Singer, Netflix
• John Fithian, National Association of Theater Owners
• Barbara Lange, SMPTE
• Carolina Lavatelli, Internet of Trust
• Pete Ludé, Real D
• Theresa Miller, Lionsgate
• Loren Nielsen, Entertainment Technology Consultants
• Daryn Okada, ASC
• Vikram Phatak, NSS Labs
• Bob Seidel, CBS
• Skip Pizzi, NAB
• Andy Shenkler, Sony DADC New Media Solutions
• Leon Silverman, HPA
• Masayuki Sugawara, NHK
• Larry Thorpe, Canon
• Mario Vecchi, PBS
• Erik Weaver, Entertainment Technology Center at USC

Silverman commented, “It’s our 21st year, and the lineup is more inspiring and informative than ever. We don’t go to the Tech Retreat with the answers, we go with the questions, and that’s by design. And you always leave feeling as though you’ve been engaged and informed, even though you may leave with different questions! It’s not a sales event, it not a typical conference, it’s not a trade show, and it’s not a scholarly event. But, it’s personal and thought provoking, and all of the most interesting people are there; especially the ones you have never met. There’s simply nothing else like it.”

Disclosure: I’ll be attending the 2015 HPA Tech Retreat on a press pass, though I’m providing my own transportation and lodging. There is no material connection between me and the HPA, but, um, they’re giving me a press pass in return for writing about the Tech Retreat. That’s sort of what the deal is with press passes, after all. Nonetheless, I’ve attended in the past as a paying customer, because I felt it was worth it.