What’s in store at the 2017 HPA Tech Retreat. And why it matters.
For more than 23 years, the HPA Tech Retreat has brought community and passionate conversation to the desert as attendees step away from their offices, studios and facilities to investigate and discuss – and often to debate – the rapid onslaught of technological changes that affect how stories are seen, heard and shared. It’s a unique, intimate event exclusively for those engaged in this expanding environment of media. Over the years, a number of incredibly important advances from companies like Sony (OLED monitors, SE memory), Pansonic (Varicam and 3D), Real D (Ultimate Screen) and so many more have been seen first at the Tech Retreat.
With its non-marketing approach, the Tech Retreat has brought years of thoughtful analysis to bear, and this year’s Tech Retreat program under the tutelage of Mark Schubin promises to be a stunner. Sessions include The World’s First 8K/4K Regular Broadcasting, AI/Machine Learning, a Remote and Mobile Production panel, and Production in the Cloud. Tuesday’s supersession, programmed by Leon Silverman, Jerry Pierce and Seth Hallen, focuses on the changing patterns of consumption, which impacts everything. Sessions include How today’s technologies are changing the relationship between content creators and content consumers; Speaking of Consumption Devices: Bringing Home the Bits; and Do You See What I see: Who is Watching and on What?.
Launching big this year is TR-X (Tech Retreat eXtra), a full afternoon of engagement with the thought leaders and experts from two critical domains. The Virtual and Augmented Reality session, chaired by Marcie Jastrow (Technicolor Experience Center) and Lucas Wilson (SuperSphereVR), will explore the changing VR landscape in the context of rapidly growing integration into entertainment applications. Speakers include representatives from Technicolor, Jaunt, Digital Domain, Radiant Images, MPC, Subtractive, 8i, and Magnopus. A second TR-X session, chaired by Madeleine Noland, will focus on the latest developments in ATSC.
Because the HPA Tech Retreat is envisioned as an escape for the attendees, there are abundant opportunities to step out of a session and have a drink, a coffee, or even an ice cream bar with the speakers and your colleagues. Have a question? The person who can answer it, or at least discuss it, is bound to be close by. The atmosphere has always been the secret of the event’s power and appeal: while the sessions feature amazing topics and speakers, it is empowering to continue those conversations one-on-one or in small groups, into the evening. The Innovation Zone, which filled up early, will feature opportunities for Tech Retreat attendees to meet more than 50 companies doing work on the leading edge.
From AI to VR to ATSC and HDR, it’s at the Tech Retreat. And so are your friends.
Full information about the supersession, the Tech Retreat program, and TR-X, are available online.