Beet Retreat 2013, a two-day conference with a select group of digital media leaders, on the state of digital video at the W Retreat and Spa on the Caribbean island of Vieques on February 1 and 2.

The Beet Retreat is presented by:

Our keynote speakers this year will be Jonathan Boker, Director of Advanced Media, MediaVest, Rob Norman, Chief Global Digital Officer of GroupM Worldwide; David Payne, Chief Digital Officer of Gannett; Vijay Ravindran, Chief Digital Officer of The Washington Post Company;  and Stephanie Sarofian, SVP and Managing Director, Digitas.  

Speakers:

Christina Beaumier,  VP, Global Client Dev, Xaxis, GroupM

Jonathan Bokor, SVP, Director of Advanced Media, MediaVest

Dan Colarusso, Global Head of Programming, Thomson Reuters

Tal Chalozin, Co-Founder & CTO, Innovid

Zohar Dayan, CEO, Wibbitz

Jason Forbes, EVP & MD, Zeebox USA

Charles Gabriel, VP of Video Sales, AOL

Kevin Gentzel, Chief Revenue Officer, NDN

Roland Hamilton, Managing Director, U.S., Dailymotion

Lisa Hsia, EVP, Digital Media, Bravo/NBCUniversal 

Joy Marcus, Partner, Draper Fisher Jurvetson

Tom McMahon, President, Videology

Rob Norman, Global Chief Digital Officer, GroupM Worldwide

Joanna O'Connell, Analyst, Forrester Research

David Payne, Chief Digital Officer, Gannett Company, Inc.

Jason Pontin, Editor in Chief and Publisher, MIT's Technology Review

Vijay Ravindran, Chief Digital Officer, The Washington Post Company

Mitchell Reichgut, CEO, Jun Group

Stephanie Sarofian, SVP and Managing Director, Digitas

Tal Simantov, General Manager, AOL On

Mike Shehan, CEO, SpotXchange

Michael Smolens, Chairman and Founder, dotSub

Adam Singolda, CEO, Taboola

Ashley Swartz, Founder and CEO, Furious Minds

Joe Tartaglia, SVP for Sales, Dailymotion

Ron Yekutiel, CEO, Kaltura

Tom Wilde, CEO, RAMP

Alan Wolk, Global Lead Analyst, KIT Digital

About the Event

This is our second year organizing this invitation-only event.  You can find videos from our last event, held in March, right here.  The program will be limited to 30 participants.

Each speaker will have the opportunity to be part of one of several
panels and/or be interviewed on-site. The panels will be taped
and published on Beet.TV and throughout our syndication network.

The
event will be both a comprehensive exploration of our fast-changing
industry as well as an extraordinary networking opportunity with the top
publishers, network executives, journalists, investors, technologists and
advertising executives from around the globe.

The programming will break into three tracks:  digital video monetization; the technology of distribution and the future of content creation around entertainment and journalism.

Helping moderate will be Beet.TV contributor Ashley Swartz and Jason Pontin, editor-in-chief and publisher of MIT's Technology Review. We are pleased to have MIT's venerable publication as our media partner.  Pontin helped moderate last year.  Here is what he says about the program:

"If you want to understand how online video is being transformed by new technologies and business models, you need to join Andy Plesser at his Beet Retreat in Vieques. You'll hear from the innovators and business leaders who are driving the future of online video—at the beautiful W resort—and return home with fresh insights to apply to your own ventures."  Jason Pontin, CEO and editor in chief, MIT Technology Review

Here are more testimonials from last year's attendees:

"The Beet.TV retreat in Vieques is the consummate anti-conference. A small group of senior executives all of whom touch the online video industry gather in a beautiful setting to discuss the future. Long lasting friendships are formed. GO!"  Joy Marcus, Partner, Draper Fisher Jurvetson (New York)

"Joining Andy Plesser's Beet.TV retreat, away from where events usually take place, was a great experience. It entailed an intimate and unique forum of top digital executives, the right blend of bigger companies and smaller startups, a well defined agenda — which all around — turned into a top notch experience. People shared, exchange thoughts, debated and had a great time. Taboola will be there next year." — Adam Singolda, CEO Taboola (New York)

"The Beet Retreat is unlike any conference you have been too. Enjoy fantastic food, breathtaking views and stimulating conversation with some of the best thought leaders in the media industry. Leave your business cards at home and be prepared to make new friends."  Lippe Oosterhoff, CEO Livestation (London)
The conference begins on Friday, February 1, and ends on Saturday evening.  

Spouses, partners or traveling pals are welcome to attend the two extraordinary dinners and other activities.  We can accomodate kids too.  There is a registration fee of $950.

If you would like to suggest a participant, please email us at info(at)beet.tv

About Vieques and the Event

Vieques is an amazing place, certainly worth a few extra vacation days if possible.  It was just named the top Caribbean Island by Travel & Leisure magazine. 

For a flavor of the island, please watch my video of the island's wild horses eating mangoes at the top of this page.   Below is a photo montage of the March event.

Logistics and Transportation

Attendees
need to fly to San Juan International. There are many  direct flights
from U.S. cities via JetBlue, Delta, Continental, American and others.
From Europe, there are direct flights from London Gatwick (BA) and
Madrid (Iberia).

Prices right now, from New York to San Juan, are relatively low but will go up.

Vieques is about 25 minutes by a small prop
engine plane from San Juan International. The plane tickets are about
$200 roundtrip. We recommend Cape Air, Vieques Airlink and Seaborne.

There is also a ferry which is located in Fajardo, about a 1:15 drive,
$75 cab ride from the airport.  The ferry is $2.00.  

Hotels and other Lodging

The
W is providing participants with  a room discount.  They are holding rooms for
us at a special room rate of $299 per night.  This discounted rate must be booked by December 1. 

There
are small, less pricey inns and guest houses, which we recommend. Also,
if you are a family or coming with another couple, renting a house is
an option. Some places we suggest are:

Malacon House, modern guest house in Esperanza
Hix Island House, high design ecotourism
Hacienda Tamarindo, old fashion Caribbean inn
Casa Casadas, small and dramatic b&b
Villa Venti, small, modern and cool b&b

You can find a number of houses for rent on VRBO.

Andy Plesser