discoveryWe’re pleased to announce a trio of new speakers for our DiscoveryBeat event on how to get your apps noticed. Our newest speakers at the Dec. 8 event include Ge Wang, the co-founder, chief technology officer, and chief creative officer at iPhone app developer Smule. We’re delighted because Smule has popularized apps such as the whimsical Ocarina music app that lets you blow into an iPhone and produce sound as if it were a real wooden instrument.

Note: Early bird offer ends Nov. 20.

DiscoveryBeat is also about getting noticed. We’re looking at the hottest intersection of social, mobile and game companies, delving into the formulas that the experts have come up with to get attention for their apps in a sea of noise. Smule has managed to do that numerous times, even in the midst of 100,000 competing iPhone apps.

geBesides Ocarina, Smule has come up with bestselling iPhone apps I AM T-Pain, Leaf Trombone, World Stage and Ocarina. All of them have been hits and are aimed at broadening the audience for expressive audio. Wang is also an assistant professor at Stanford University in the Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics. He is the founding director of the Stanford Laptop Orchestra and the Stanford Mobile Phone Orchestra.

pleasantsOur event will also include John Pleasants, chief executive of social gaming firm Playdom. Pleasants was formerly chief operating officer at video game giant Electronic Arts until he left in June to become the head of Playdom, which has seen its growth take off like a rocket as it amasses social gaming audiences on the MySpace, Facebook and iPhone platforms. Playdom recently raised $43 million in venture capital, it acquired two game companies that make Facebook and iPhone games, and it has grown both its headcount and revenues dramatically this year.

zippoOur third new speaker is Jon Vlassopulos, who is chief executive of app developer Moderati and general manager of North America for Bellrock Media, Moderati’s parent company. His development company has seen huge success with branded entertainment projects, such as the Virtual Zippo Lighter iPhone app. That app has been downloaded more than 5 million times, making it the top branded app on the iPhone. Moderati has also created the Romplr interactive music app for the iPhone, and A&E’s Paranormal State iPhone app. The company also has  projects under way with big-name brands such as Coca-Cola, Panasonic, Myzo and the original programming project, â??24 Hours at Sundanceâ?, a real-time, online reality show competition broadcast live from the Sundance Film Festival with Ashton Kutcher, which received over one million views.

Our previously announced speakers include Roy Sehgal, executive producer of the Cafe World social game at Zynga; Julian Farrior, CEO and founder of iPhone hit game maker Backflip Studios; and Sebastien DeHalleux, president of social gaming firm Playfish, which was recently acquired by Electronic Arts for as much as $400 million.

DiscoveryBeat will be a mini-conference and networking reception on the afternoon and early evening of Dec. 8. It will take place at the Automattic Lounge on Pier 38 in San Francisco.

We'll discuss the â??secret recipeâ? for getting discovered in an age when getting discovered can mean huge viral growth and the difference between profound success or prompt failure. We think there are five main ingredients to the secret recipe for viral growth: 1) Social networking and marketing, 2) advertising, 3) web design, 4) partnering and 5) measurement.

We’ll have more speaker announcements in the coming days. To buy tickets, please click on this link. And follow this link to read more about DiscoveryBeat. Early bird pricing is $114 per attendee. After Nov. 20, the price will be $149.