Inspiring additions to the NEoN billboard

Oct. 22, 2010 - PRLog -- International digital arts festival NEoN has unveiled the latest additions to an already impressive line up of delegates confirmed to deliver speeches and presentations at the event’s showpiece two day conference.

Taking place on Thursday 11 November and Friday 12 November, 2010 in Dundee, the NEoN festival conference will this year will feature a host of well known and highly respected individuals within the world of digital art, the digital media and technology driven  industries. The latest confirmed speakers at the conference will include Ian Livingstone of Eidos and Chris Van der Kuyl of brightsolid Ltd., who will be appearing at the NEoN conference as a welcome host, while Managing Director of Revolver PR, Scotland’s leading digital PR agency, Iain S. Bruce; Augmented Reality Specialist, James Alliban and Business Development Manager at Adobe, Neils Stevens, have been announced as holding sessions and delivering presentations on their respective fields of expertise to the NEoN conference audience.

The eagerly awaited NEoN sessions are certain to be one of the highlights of the NEoN conference and the wider festival. The highly respected leaders of their respective fields, James Alliban, Iain S. Bruce and Neils Stevens will be delivering presentations which will be undoubtedly beneficial and stimulate interesting and engaging discussions among audience members whether professionally or otherwise involved in the technology driven arts and media sectors.

“I am thrilled to be involved in this year’s NEoN festival and will be delivering a presentation surrounding digital PR and its importance to the creative digital industries. I will explain exactly what digital PR is, and the fundamental reasons why small companies within the creative technology driven industries must embrace it in order to compete with larger companies, build their brands and engage with their target audience,” said Bruce.

“In addition to presenting at the session, I am looking forward to answering any questions and listening to the discussion which unfolds, not to mention visiting some of the innovative exhibitions and interesting speakers appearing at NEoN.”

In addition to the sessions, NEoN has announced the remaining two high profile, confirmed speakers appearing at the NEoN conference; Chris van der Kuyl and Ian Livingstone.

After successfully hosting last year's NEoN conference, Chris van der Kuyl will return as a welcome host for the NEoN conference. Widely recognised as one of the UK’s leading young entrepreneurs, van der Kuyl will demonstrate his experience, passion and drive for the development of creative interactive technologies, businesses and the arts. Van der Kuyl currently holds the position of Chief Executive Officer at the innovative brightsolid Ltd, whose online publishing division is responsible for companies including the landmark social network, Friends Reunited and the UKs leading family history brand, Genes Reunited. Van der Kuyl is also Chairman of 4J Studios, a next generation video game development studio which prides itself on creativity and technical excellence. In addition to van der Kuyl’s impressive business resume, he plays an integral role in the development of the creative, technical and cultural industries in Scotland. As one of the youngest Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, van der Kuyl sits as a member of the Scottish Scientific Advisory committee advising the Scottish government on all areas of science and technology. Furthermore, van der Kuyl also Chairs the Creative board of the Education Wing at Kelvingrove Art Gallery in Glasgow and is a Director of Dundee Science Centre.

Ian Livingstone OBE, Life President of Eidos and recent recipient of the British Inspiration Award for his services to the interactive entertainment sector is set to entertain and inspire enthusiasts and aspiring entrepreneurs alike. As co-founder of Games Workshop in 1975, Ian Livingstone has played an integral role in the development of the computer games retail industry. During his career at Eidos, Livingstone has been a leading player in major franchises such as Tomb Raider and Hitman. In addition to his involvement in the commercial side of the industry, Livingstone is responsible for a number of cutting edge industry innovations: Launching the UK’s first interactive games magazine, White Dwarf, in 1977 where he held the editorship for five years, and co-devising the Fighting Fantasy series of interactive games books in 1982 which resulted in huge international commercial success.

The line up of speakers and delegates involved with the NEoN conference can be found on the NEoN website. A hard copy of the entire NEoN programme of events is available for collection at various cultural institutions across Scotland, with the main outlet being the Hannah Maclure Centre, Dundee.

The NEoN conference will take place in the Centre of Excellence, University of Abertay, Dundee on Thursday 11 November and Friday 12 November, between 9am and 6pm and tickets available for booking now at http://www.northeastofnorth.com/tickets/

For further NEoN festival information, visit the NEoN website at http://www.northeastofnorth.com/, join the NEoN community http://northeastofnorth.ning.com/, or follow the festival on twitter @weareneon

Ends

Contacts
Helen Reid
Revolver PR
E: helen@revolver-pr.co.uk
T: 0845 130 8992

Donna Holford-Lovell
NEoN
E: d.holford-lovell@abertay.ac.uk

Notes to editors:

North East Of North (NEoN) is an international digital arts festival featuring moving image, performance, music and technology driven arts. The over arching curatorial theme for 2010 is Character: evaluating the abstracted or physical agent in a work of art; investigation of the fictional or psychological systems; observation of the unit of information, symbol, sound or written language. Through this focused dimension NEoN intends to explore the notion of collaboration between visual art, information communication, media production and gaming that will expand digital development and knowledge. (www.northeastofnorth.com)

NEoN was created by Interactive Tayside (www.interactivetayside.com).
Interactive Tayside is a partnership between public, private and academic sectors to develop and promote Tayside's digital media industry.

NEoN is sponsored by: Angus & Dundee City Council, Event Scotland, National Lottery Awards for All, The Japan Foundation, Creative City Challenge, Scottish Enterprise & the North Sea Screen Partnership
Partners include: Interactive Tayside, Dundee Contemporary Arts Centre (DCA), Dundee City Council, The University of Abertay, Dundee College, Hungry Boy, Realtime Worlds, Revolver PR, Red Pepper Events & Insight Innovations.

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Revolver PR is a digitally enabled public relations consultancy, combining key press and public relations skills with leading-edge understanding of Digital PR, online news distribution, social media campaigns and video marketing.