Westbound Boarder

Next week, Tadpole Marketing, in partnership with Stanton & Company, will host it’s second-annual Women in Business conference, focising on women who are involved in the sports business industry.  With a phenominal line-up of speakers, this seems like a really great event, so if you can make it I highly suggest you attend!

Details

When: January 13^th, 2010 from 6pm-10pm

Where: Red Bull Headquarters in Santa Monica, CA

Cost: $30, Proceeds support the Women’s Sports Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to empowering girls and women to participate in sports equally.

About the Conference

This highly anticipated event is designed to inspire individuals through the contributions of influential women in sports marketing. Our unique format includes a networking reception, a panel of experts and through our round-table discussions, allows attendees to get face-time with the panelists instead of being a number in a crowd.

Awesome Panel of Speakers

• Laura Gentile: Vice President, espnW for ESPN
• Jessica Mendoza: Olympic Gold and Silver Medalist/President of the Women’s Sports Foundation
• Mary O’Connor: Director of Olympic Marketing for the Marketing Arm
• Julie Solwold: VP of Global Sports Marketing for Paul Mitchell
• Amy Stanton: Founder and CEO for Stanton & Company
• Diane Thibert: Global Director PR for Oakley

I think that opportunities to strengthen women’s position and perspective in the business world, especially in sports business, a traditionally male-dominated industry, are so important and it is really neat to see events such as these flourishing in the industry.  Unfortunately, I will be unable to make it this time around (sadly, I’ll be vacationing in Vail) but if you get a chance to attend please leave a comment below and tell us what you thought!

For more information or to sign up, visit Tadpole’s blog.

This Friday, “X-Games 3D: The Movie” will debut in theaters nationwide (on the big screen for one week only), and the film sounds pretty rad.  Here’s a full synopsis:

“X Games 3D: The Movie” captures the drama and spectacle that play out every year at the X Games events, highlighting the behind-the-scenes stories of the featured athletes and the sacrifices they make in pursuit of glory and the advancement of their sports on the biggest stage in action sports. The full-length feature film uses groundbreaking digital 3D techniques to provide an unprecedented all-access pass to the X Games, and it contains more than 90 percent native 3D content which vividly documents the dedication of these athletes as they pursue glory and progression on the ultimate stage in action sports.”

Advance tickets can be purchased here.

X Games start today, and I’m proud to say they’re in my home town!  Taking place at the Staples Center in Downtown LA, this year’s games should be as exciting as ever.  Check them out!

Action sports enthusiasts everywhere live, think, and breathe their own respective sports… but how often do they think about discussing, or even trying, other sports, just for thrill’s sake?

About two weeks ago, Danielle and I had a chance to catch up with Simon Jeremy, creator of The Conch.  Launched into public beta on March 30 (Danielle and I tested the service for two weeks while it was in private beta, too), The Conch is a social network that brings together action sports enthusiasts nationwide.

Danielle and I spoke with Simon initially a couple of months back because he wanted to gather perspectives from people actively involved in different action sports and use their outlooks in the development of his social network.  After months of development and weeks of tweaking the site to perfection, on Monday March 30, the Conch was born.

Simon started the Web site on the foundation that people involved in various action sports frequently talk with each other about their adventures, but don’t really venture into conversations about other action sports.  As an avid action sports enthusiast a la board sports myself, I would have to agree with his initiative – I talk to people about snowboarding, surfing and wakeboarding all the time, but I can’t remember the last time I spoke with someone about rock climbing.  Many people try new sports without ever returning, and The Conch provides members a support structure in hopes they’ll try new sports on an ongoing basis.

“We aim to bring together everyone with a passion for adventure and the outdoors,” Simon said during our conversation when describing The Conch.  I really feel like the site needs no further explanation – its a place where action sports enthusiasts of all types can congregate and converse about where to go and what to do, and their different experiences as participants in the adventure arena.  Members are encouraged to create a profile describing their hobbies and interests, join groups, upload photos and podcasts, create a blog, find “friends,” and more.  There are also interesting opportunities for businesses, including the ability to connect with advertisers and audiences they’re attempting to reach.  It’s the perfect landing space for the action sports industry to join as one.

One of the site features Danielle and I found most interesting while talking to Simon and testing the site was the adventure rating application, which is a tool that takes into account the adventures you have taken and assigns you an adventure rating.  “We wanted to create an application that encouraged people to, not just find new adventures to do and different adventure sports to try, but also to keep coming back and doing them on a regular basis,” said Simon.  Your adventure rating is based on factors that make the sport more or less adventurous; for example (with snowboarding) do you snowboard at resorts, or frequent the backcountry? (Obviously the latter being more adventurous).  But of course, the overall goal is to help you keep track of what you’re doing and the adventures you’re pursuing and encourage you to share these moments with others.  Simon noted that while researching the development of this application and talking to people across different industries, it was interesting to find and compare how different people define the blanket theme “adventure.”

Overall, the Conch is a neat site, and it really fits into a trend that we’ve been seeing a lot more of as online social media becomes more prevalent in our everyday lives – the rise of niche networks that serve to complement offline groups, conversations and activities.  Its really a neat concept, and while it has caught on in several other personal and business areas, I’ve noticed this theme has been fairly absent from the action sports industry until fairly recently.  I’m excited to see this concept come to play in the industry I, myself, am passionate about, because it really opens up so many doors and possibilities in the way of people connecting and supporting a common initiative.

So with that, go check out The Conch – and be our friend while you’re at it!  You can also join our group page here.