Virtual Reality & Wearables for News

New technologies to attract and immerse the audience

GEN Study Tour

San Francisco and Los Angeles
20 26 September 2015
The Global Editors Network will take you on a tour
to discover how new technologies can deliver news
in innovative forms. From smart watches to fully
immersive virtual reality news experiences this is
innovation that is coming soon. Join us to learn from
experts, practitioners and startups.
Smart watches wont necessarily have the mass
impact that smartphones did, but they are personable
and, if well done, can grab the users attention. Apple
is already on Watch OS 2, and most pre-ordered
devices are only just shipping.

Dont think smart glasses are dead: a new generation
of such devices will be ready for 2016, but news

organizations must think to develop Augmented

Reality usages for special events and so-called
augmented conferences.
When FaceBook bought Oculus Rift, virtual reality
became a topic of discussion. Most VR devices are
still big and clunky but will change within the next
couple of generation of devices, as we are already
seeing with Google Cardboard.
From Thursday to Saturday, you will have the
possibility to attend the annual conference of the
Online News Association (ONA), the most attended
conference on digital news worldwide.

Schedule overview:
Sunday 20 September
Monday 21 September
Tuesday 22 September
Wednesday 23 September
Thursday 24 September
Friday 25 September
Saturday 26 September

Arrive and welcome dinner, San Francisco

Silicon Valley
San Francisco, travel to Los Angeles
Los Angeles
Meetings and ONA conference, Los Angeles
ONA conference, Los Angeles
Flights back

www.globaleditorsnetwork.org/programmes/study-tours/

SCHEDULE

Schedule subject to change

Sunday, September 20 San Francisco

Arrival at Hotel Nikko
7pm | meeting at hotel lobby
7.30pm | Welcome dinner to meet fellow participants and discuss the study tour. Dan Gillmor, author and blogger, will be
present to answer your questions about data.

Monday, September 21 Silicon Valley

9am, Pebble, Palo Alto | Pebble is a company that develops a line of smartwatches compatible with iOS and Android
devices. The company raised $10.3 million through an initial Kickstarter campaign.
10:30am, Stanford University, Palo Alto | Each year, Knight Fellows at Stanford are chosen to work on a specific project
contributing to the future of news. Well be talking to those focusing on wearables to understand why they chose this area,
what they have learnt and how they believe their projects will help shape the future of news.
12:30pm, Nick Grudin, Head of Partnerships, Facebook | Following the much-publicized purchase of Oculus Rift, what
are Facebooks plans to conquer wearables and VR? And what can traditional media organisations learn?
3pm, Matterport, Mountain View | Matterport designs high-quality, rapid 3D visualization of physical spaces. The
company is working with major US news organisations on VR applications and experiences. Participants can learn how to
create gripping VR experiences for the news industry.
5pm, HTC Headquarters | HTC will debut its new Vive headset later this year, which brings virtual reality experiences to
life with 360-degree views and use real-world settings. The mix of VR and AR experiences brought by this new device will be
of huge benefit to news organisations far and wide.
7pm | Dinner with Jean Louis Gassee, VC and Monday Note contributor, at Radius restaurant. Gassee, who is a former Apple
executive and whos known for creating Be Inc and the Be OS systems, will share his views on where the opportunities are
with wearable technology.

Tuesday, September 22 San Francisco

9:30am, Innovation at Samsung, Financial District | Samsung has launched wearable products successfully and will soon
be moving into VR. The Head of Innovation will take the group through the demographics of those buying their products,
learnings so far and opportunities in the future.
11:30am, AJ+, David Cohn | The AJ+ team is working on some interesting new products. David will take us through the
editorial challenges faced and how they are adapting the newsroom and content flow to allow for new devices.
1pm | Lunch with David Gehring, vice-president Partnerships at the Guardian News & Media, and one of the founding
partners for the Google Digital News Initiative. Learn how The Guardian is tackling partnerships with Silicon Valley to stay
ahead of the game.
3pm, Twitter, City Centre | Following SMS, Twitter was the birthplace of short and sharp messaging. How is the company
adapting its app for wearables and what can we take away from their experiences of short but sweet?
7pm | flight to Los Angeles
Evening | Check in at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza, Los Angeles

www.globaleditorsnetwork.org/programmes/study-tours/

Wednesday, September 23 Los Angeles

10am, Robert Hernandez, USC Annenberg School of Journalism | Robert Hernandez is dedicated to preparing
journalists, who do multi-platform work, know how to reach and create audiences for their projects and think critically
about how they can be supported. He will provide a hands-on demonstration and discussion of the new technologies and
partnerships he is working at.
11am | Tour of Annenberg School of Journalism new media facilities and projects
12:30pm, Lunch with Aaron Luber, Product Partnerships, Google | At the recent IO gathering, Google Cardboard was at
the top of the agenda. Find out more about Google plans, and have a demo of Google Cardboard and how it can be used for
news content of the future.
3pm | Nonny de la Pea was called the Godmother of VR by Engadet and named by Fast Company as one of the People
Who Made the World More Creative in 2012. De la Pea develops immersive journalism pieces, which uses virtual reality to
put users on the scene as news and nonfiction stories unfold. She will also tell us how Emblematic Group, her company, is
addressing monetization issues early on by creating native advertising to support immersive journalism.
7pm | Dinner with Dan Pacheco at the Getty Museum. Pacheco is a digital journalist with 18 years of experience in news and
information startups and new product development.

Thursday, September 24 Los Angeles

10am, YouTubes new VR hub, Los Angeles | YouTube is setting up a VR hub in LA, soon to be launched. This will take
us on a guided tour of the hub and explain what YouTubes plans are in this area. This will help you plan how to take your
YouTube channel to the next level and ahead of the competition.
12:30pm | Lunch with Gilles Raymond, CEO, News Republic
Examples of ONA Conference sessions you can attend on this day:
1:30pm Mobile Bootcamp, Periscope
3pm
Revenue Streams Beyond the Big Three
6pm
ONA Reception

Friday, September 25 Los Angeles

8.30am | Breakfast with Jim Roberts, CCO, Mashable
Examples of ONA Conference sessions you can attend on this day:
10am
Table Talks
12:30pm Lunchbox at the ONA conference
1:30pm What Journalists can Learn from Game Designers
3pm
Solving for News: Real World Lessons from Start Ups
5pm
Breeze Lawn Reception

Saturday, September 26 Los Angeles

Examples of ONA Conference sessions you can attend on this day:
10am
Flying into New Territories with Drone Journalism
11:30am The Journo Tech Community has Evolved, But How?
12:30pm Lunchbox at the ONA conference
Flights back

www.globaleditorsnetwork.org/programmes/study-tours/

PRACTICAL DETAILS
Working language
All presentations and discussions of the study tour will be held in English.

What is included in the fee

Participants should ideally to arrive at the afternoon of Sunday, September 20. The study tour will end on Saturday,
September 26, in the afternoon, in Los Angeles.
The fee covers all expenses from the Sunday dinner to the Saturday lunch. This includes four-star accommodation, meals,
transportation, and a flight from San Fransisco to Los Angeles on September 22.
The fee also includes a ticket to the ONA conference. The event is from Thursday, September 24, to Saturday, September 26.
You have the possibility of attending all the sessions and discussion panels.
(The flight back to San Francisco and the return flight from Los Angeles are not included.)

Fee details
Fee for GEN Summit participants or former participants to a GEN study tour:

5,200/$5,800 for the first and any subsequent participants from the same media group

Fee for first-time participants in a GEN study tour:

6,500/$7,300 for the first participant

5,200/$5,800 for any subsequent participants within the same media group

GEN will reimburse 50 percent of the fee if a participant cancels three weeks before the study tour. Any participant can
replaced by another member of the same media group.

Who should attend

The study tour will consist of 12 participants.
The study tour is geared toward editors-in-chief and group editors; senior news executives and top managers who want to
understand how media organisations can take advantage of new digital platforms and new devices in the fields of virtual
reality, augmented reality and wearables from a content and business perspective.

Registration
For registration, questions or comments, please contact:
Jean-Yves Chainon
Study Tour Manager, Global Editors Network
jychainon@globaleditorsnetwork.org
+1 808 724 6037
Bertrand Pecquerie
CEO, Global Editors Network
bpecquerie@globaleditorsnetwork.org
+ 33 1 53 01 98 82

www.globaleditorsnetwork.org/programmes/study-tours/