Village Gamer

Banff – The Banff World Television Festival (BANFF) announces the new Kids & Animation series featuring top television program creators, broadcasters and executives in children’s and animation industries. The 30th edition of BANFF takes place at the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel in Banff, Canada, June 7–10, 2009.

“We developed the Kids & Animation series out of our continuing effort to create innovative festival programming together with more opportunities for building new business relationships,” commented Peter Vamos, BANFF Executive Director. “We are proud to launch this new series led by some of the best in the industry of animation and children’s television programming.” The Kids & Animation series is designed to address new programming formats along with the current trends and issues facing the youth focused and animated television industries. Sessions will run concurrently with the regularly scheduled sessions on Tuesday, June 9 and will include networking opportunities, broadcaster briefings and spotlights on key players in the industry.

The Kids & Animation series will include a Feature Spotlight on industry leaders Stuart Snyder, President and Chief Operating Officer, Animation Young Adults and Kids Media, Turner Broadcasting System and Toper Taylor, President, COO of Cookie Jar Entertainment.

Scheduled panelists throughout the series include Bronwen O’Keefe, VP, Original Programming for Nickelodeon and Teenick; and Frank Saperstein, Senior Vice President of Animation & Children’s Programming of E1 Entertainment. Industry sponsors for this new initiative include E1 Entertainment, Starz Animation, and Astral Media’s Family Channel.

Ron Berryman

The Banff World Television Festival and nextMEDIA Banff have also announced that Ron Berryman, Senior Vice President & General Manager, Digital Publishing Group of Fox Interactive Media (FIM) to deliver the Banff/nextMEDIA Crossover Keynote address on Sunday June 7, 2009.

“Ron Berryman’s understanding of the synergies between television and interactive media and the importance of strategic branding make him the ideal keynote speaker to integrate both the BANFF and nextMEDIA audiences,” commented Peter Vamos, BANFF Executive Director.

Under Berryman’s leadership, FIM has successfully harnessed the power of the Internet to create a richer online experience to its millions of users. His keynote on branding entertainment properties online will address how to create compelling interactive property, produce innovative broadband experience, engage and increase website traffic, and generate more revenue.

As Senior VP & GM Digital Publishing Group for FOX Interactive Media, Ron Berryman guides the online strategic direction for digital publishing, local media, as well as the network’s 200+ affiliates. Berryman previously founded and served as CEO of Sidereus Technologies, a company specializing in delivering rich-media desktop applications and rich-media-enabled web technologies. Sidereus was acquired by Fox Interactive Media in August 2005 and recently rebranded as FIM Labs.

Before founding Sidereus Technologies – and also online ad agency Sidereus Group – Berryman served as VP of Marketing and Product Management at ZapMedia, a convergence technology company based in Atlanta. Prior to ZapMedia, Berryman worked for The Coca-Cola Company, serving as a team leader for brand measurement and analysis, and helped institute a formal CCUSA 2002 brand planning process. Previously, he spent 10 years as the principal owner and operator of Berryman Communications, a marketing communications company in Chicago, IL.

Berryman serves on several industry association committees, including the Internet Streaming Media Alliance and the Consumer Electronics Association. He has won several regional and national ADDY Awards and two REGGIE Gold Awards.