LONDON – XBIZ EU’s first official day of activities and seminars begins on Monday at the Radisson Edwardian Bloomsbury Hotel to bring together the industry’s movers and shakers from around the world to learn, educate and share business stories.
But first, on Sunday, many started gathering here for the third installment at the Radisson, beginning with early evening cocktails on opening registration day. The day also included an improptu anti-porn protest by the LondonFeministNetwork.org outside of the hotel.
On Monday, the first of two days of XBIZ EU sessions begin with such speakers as Gamelink’s Jeff Dillon, Mobile Entertainment’s Katy Philips, AdModa’s Sebastian Garel-Jones, ConvertAnywhere’s Scott Pattenden, Cherry Media’s Monica Robles and Julia Dimambro, StarEdition’s Alex Lecomte and consultant Damian Jennings.
Other panelists feature PAY4’s Sascha Winkler, Epoch’s Frank Gannon, OrbitalPay’s Karen Campbell, NETbilling’s Wendy Nelson, CCBill’s Gary Jackson and CyberSocket’s Morgan Sommer, as well as, DatingFactory’s Sam, WhiteLabelDating’s Gary Taylor, AWE’s Douglas Richter, Mansion Productions’ Oystein Wright, ATKCash’s Kim Nielsen, Cash In Pill’s Bruno Anacona Lopes, ReallyUseful’s JT, Payze’s EvilChris, and others.
This year’s XBIZ EU sessions will include Mastering Mobile Marketing, with panelists Gamelink’s Jeff Dillon, Mobile Entertainment’s Katy Philips, AdModa’s Sebastian Garel-Jones, ConvertAnywhere’s Scott Pattenden, Cherry Media’s Monica Robles and Julia Dimambro, StarEdition’s Alex Lecomte and consultant Damian Jennings. The Online Billing Strategies panel will feature PAY4’s Sascha Winkler, Epoch’s Frank Gannon, OrbitalPay’s Karen Campbell, NETbilling’s Wendy Nelson, CCBill’s Gary Jackson and CyberSocket’s Morgan Sommer.
Additional speakers slated to speak at XBIZ EU include DatingFactory’s Sam, WhiteLabelDating’s Gary Taylor, AWE’s Douglas Richter, Mansion Productions’ Oystein Wright, ATKCash’s Kim Nielsen, Cash In Pill’s Bruno Anacona Lopes, ReallyUseful’s JT, Payze’s EvilChris and others.
XBIZ EU 2013 also will feature a range of special panel discussions, including the controversial Porn Studies session featuring editors Clarissa Smith and Georgina Voss, who will speak about the academic journal that garnered significant media attention; an interview with ATVOD's Pete Johnson; and The War on Porn panel featuring leading U.K. industry attorney Myles Jackman, U.S. attorney Marc Randazza, Free Speech Coalition's Diane Duke and author and commentator Nichi Hodgson.
And on Monday, Sex & Censorship will hold a public meeting during XBIZ EU to discuss opposition to censorship of the Internet and other media. Jerry Barnett, who founded Sex & Censorship, will open via video at the meeting and will be followed by stripper and activist Edie Lamort, porn star Karina Currie, obscenity attorney Jackman, the FSC's Diane Duke and Julian Petley, a professor who is an expert on censorship.
On Sunday, XBIZ EU experienced a protest outside of XBIZ EU official hotel and convention site for the conference. About two dozen protesters lined Bloomsbury Street for about one-and a-half hours, claiming in their chants that the conference was there to maximizing profits.
Organizers from LondonFeministNetwork.org lined in front of the hotel to gain publicity over the protest, one that was similarly staged at XBIZ EU 2011 by UKFeminista.