You may not yet be aware, but our fearless leader of Microstock Group, Tyler Olsen aka Leaf will be appearing at the User Generated Content Conference and Expo (UGCX) this February in San Jose. Not just once, but TWICE! 

Leaf is on a panel titled Servicing the Crowd: Business Opportunities around UGC where he'll discuss his experience creating and operating a business servicing a UGC market (microstock) - effectively representing all forums that cover UGC businesses. Not only has he built up an amazing resource which everybody in the industry watches (trust me, they ALL do!), but he's also created a real community - not just a few people swapping tips, but a real community where people know each other, help each other, throw the occasional insult, but generally contribute for the benefit of the community.

Leaf's second panel is Making a living in Microstock which features microstockers successful enough to live on their microstock earnings. They'll discuss and answer questions on how they've achieved that success and how others can do the same.

You may also recognise many others participating in the conference.
...alphabetically:

Yuri Arcurs - "the world's top selling microstock photographer"... enough said
Ellen Boughn - industry consultant and Dreamstime's Director of Content (and superstar blogger!)
Kelly Cline - the 'big time' food photographer from iStockphoto's exclusive ranks
Fred Durham - founder and CEO of CafePress - I know some people here sell photos on CafePress
John Griffin - founder and CEO of Cutcaster, and avid user of Microstock Group
Jack Hollingsworth - guru traditional stock photographer who's giving a solo session on "Stock 2.0"!
Jeffrey Kalmikoff - the Threadless guy!... enough said
Bruce Livingstone - founder and CEO of the microstock industry. Just kidding... sort of. iStockphoto founder & CEO
Rahul Pathak - founder and CEO of LookStat, the new microstock earnings tracking and analysis website
Andres Rodriguez - the outspoken top microstocker, aka "the nicest guy in microstock"
Yuval Tal - CEO of Payoneer, the Mastercard debit card microstock payout facility
Kelly Thompson - iStockphoto COO and guru architect of all things good at iStock
James West - co-founder and CEO of Alamy. Yes, ALAMY is there!

Bruce Livingstone & Kelly Thompson are doing a tag-team keynote, and Fred Durham is doing one too. Those familiar with the entrepreneurial field will be interested to know that Guy Kawasaki is also keynoting, and Craigslist founder Craig Newmark's keynote makes it four!

Impressive list, don't you think? 

The conference runs February 9 - 10, is at the San Jose Convention Center, in San Jose, California, USA. With a lineup like that, it's worth traveling to be there. You can get more details about the conference itself at the website, www.ugcxevent.com

Entry to the conference isn't cheap for most of us, but you can use Leaf's discount code from the ad at the top of the page (premium members will need to log out to see the ad).

For details on the photography track (where all the above speakers are participating) see this page: http://www.ugcxevent.com/phototrack.html
For a list of all speakers and their bios, see this one:  http://www.ugcxevent.com/speakers.html

Just to be clear, I'm promoting this event here because I think it's awesome and very relevant to us as microstockers. I'm conference co-chair and will be moderating the 'Making a Living in Microstock' session, but there's no financial benefit for me (or leaf) if you buy a ticket. However, it would be great for us to share it with you.

I look forward to reading your responses and I hope I will meet many of you there. If you have any questions, I'll be happy to answer them. Just post below, or feel free to PM me or contact my via my site.

-Lee

edit to correct link address

Looks interesting alright I am thinking of making the journey from little old Ireland to San Jose, great opportunity to put faces to some of those names!

NS

Will they be making a video?  Alamy video their annual meeting and I have watched the last 2.  Makes more sense than all of us going to San Jose.

San Jose is a bit out of my way, but congratulation Leaf on the double feauture.

Yes, a video would be nice.  A free ticket to San Jose wouldn't be bad either.   

Regards,
Adelaide

Quote from: sharpshot on January 09, 2009, 14:23
Will they be making a video?  Alamy video their annual meeting and I have watched the last 2.  Makes more sense than all of us going to San Jose.

It makes sense for Alamy who make money selling photos. For a conference which makes money on ticket sales, it doesn't make much sense. Unless they sold the videos, but then you wouldn't get to ask questions. I haven't heard any plans to film the sessions, but I'll find out. At minimum, I'll ensure you all get a photo of Leaf in action! 

Quote from: Lee Torrens on January 09, 2009, 15:10
(EDIT)
... I haven't heard any plans to film the sessions, but I'll find out. At minimum, I'll ensure you all get a photo of Leaf in action! 

congrats to all involved. And Lee, once you get that vid out to us, our "fearless" leader will no longer also be our "faceless" leader .at least to me, as I've written to leaf  several times, ( I used to live in his hometown), but  never seen his self-portrait) 

Quote from: hali on January 09, 2009, 16:47
congrats to all involved. And Lee, once you get that vid out to us, our "fearless" leader will no longer also be our "faceless" leader .at least to me, as I've written to leaf  several times, ( I used to live in his hometown), but  never seen his self-portrait) 

Faceless is he?  Not any longer:



Sorry Tyler, couldn't resist. 

He lost his beard and headphones? 

Thanks Lee, hopefully some interesting data will come out of this. Best wishes to everyone involved.

Any video would be potentially useful for marketing future conferences.

Thanks Lee!  I logged out but couldn't find the discount code, is it $195 like the group rates? 

Not sure if I can pull it off by the 9th, but I'm very interested in the Social Content Category.  We've been cooking some ideas that fall under this category.  Not to mention that meeting some of the gang in the photographer's category would be amazing. 

I haven't been to see my Aunt and cousins in San Jose for at least 15 years, so if I go to any conference, this would be a good one.

I guess I'll have to decide in the next couple of days.  Would be nice to know if most people are staying at same hotel or part of town, but I don't need that info yet.

Quote from: Lee Torrens on January 09, 2009, 15:10
Unless they sold the videos, but then you wouldn't get to ask questions.

There's an opportunity staring you in the face 

It's sounds like a great conference but a bit to far to go for me, I would be interested in a video though.

thanks for starting the thread Lee.

Yeah, it seems like it is going to be a great time with tons of super info.  I am looking forward to it.

-> pixart : the UGCX ad is one of the rotating ones so it only comes up 1 in 4 page loads.  Reload the page a couple times to view it.  It will be the only round one, so it is fairly easy to spot. 

If there are a few of us who end up going, it would be great to meet up sometime.  I am sure we will all meet either way, but it would be fun for everyone to get together for coffee or lunch.

Most people are probably staying at the hotel the conferance is in.  I think the discount for the conferance hotel is over now (it lasted until January 5th i think) but rooms are surely still available.  I am staying in a hotel a few blocks away though that was half the price.... travelling on a budget you know   I may make a living from microstock, but I am not quite to the level of my co-panel members

I forget the name of it now, but i can find out if anyone wants to check it out as another option.

->grp_photo ... yep, beard and headphones were gone... at least for that picture.. they are back though, at least the beard.  It gets cold in Norway you know! 

Bloody hell,  my passport is expired.  I'll have to see check on Monday to see how long a new passport will take before I book anything.  The passport office is running slow now that we (Canadians) need one to fly into the U.S.   I think I can still cross the border by car without a passport and maybe fly from North Dakota though... 

Quote from: Lee Torrens on January 09, 2009, 17:09

Quote from: hali on January 09, 2009, 16:47
congrats to all involved. And Lee, once you get that vid out to us, our "fearless" leader will no longer also be our "faceless" leader .at least to me, as I've written to leaf  several times, ( I used to live in his hometown), but  never seen his self-portrait) 

Faceless is he?  Not any longer:



Sorry Tyler, couldn't resist. 

Blown highlights, prison convict attire and 70's sideburns with 3 day old stubble!!

Are you sure this is our leader???

Serious makeover required before this guy gets stopped by customs 

Haha,...sounds interesting but i am too far away in Asia.....

Quote from: leaf on January 09, 2009, 23:26
thanks for starting the thread Lee.

Yeah, it seems like it is going to be a great time with tons of super info.  I am looking forward to it.

Most people are probably staying at the hotel the conferance is in.  I think the discount for the conferance hotel is over now (it lasted until January 5th i think) but rooms are surely still available.  I am staying in a hotel a few blocks away though that was half the price.... travelling on a budget you know   I may make a living from microstock, but I am not quite to the level of my co-panel members

I forget the name of it now, but i can find out if anyone wants to check it out as another option.

The Convention Center is adjacent to the Marriott, which is where the hotel where discount was arranged. There are a lot of people from the photo track staying there.

Hi Lee,

You have a 'g' instead of an 'e' in Kelly Kline's URL...just thought I mentioned it so you can correct it.

Kind regards

S

Quote from: saswell on January 10, 2009, 22:58
Hi Lee,

You have a 'g' instead of an 'e' in Kelly Kline's URL...just thought I mentioned it so you can correct it.

Kind regards

S

Corrected.  Thankyou!

Quote from: Iriz on January 10, 2009, 10:02Serious makeover required before this guy gets stopped by customs 

Better? Hope someone doesn't get offended 

Lool!  - How many downloads on this one?  - And did he sign a model relase... for minors? 

Quote from: fljac on January 11, 2009, 16:57And did he sign a model relase... for minors?

Not needed. It's fair use. Although the focus isn't where we feel it needs to be. 

PARODY 

Sorry I'm laughing at your expense Tyler, but OMG Flemish, that's hysterical.

Get rid of the sideburns ... ha ha

That's too funny... 

Sounds like a really good collection of speakers will be present.Not really affordable to people outside the states i would imagine.Would be nice if we could have some video links after the event perhaps.