Agenda

Description

According to a recent survey, there are over 1.4 million transgender adults in the United States. This doesn’t include the massive number of individuals under 18 years old that are transgender and non-binary. The number of transgender and non-binary individuals who are coming out is increasing every day. With increased awareness, education, and visibility individuals will continue to come out as their true selves. VR and AR companies have a massive opportunity with this community as a vehicle in a transformation of self. Dr. Kristie brings 12 years of clinical expertise and best practices of working with the transgender population. She will discuss new opportunities for developers with an understanding of transgender and non-binary users.

Speakers

Kristie Overstreet

Psychotherapist, Clinical Sexologist , Therapy Department

Description

Pick up any smart phone and gestures to operate it are nearly universal. Put on a set of smart glasses or play a mobile AR game and they are hobbled by out dated UX/UI standards that interfere with the new opportunities on the emerging AR platforms for spacial computing. In contrast to the UX/UI guidelines for WIMP interfaces; precious little has been written about best practices for AR. With screenless information, spatial computing, floating menus, mid air gestures, restyled 3DOF and 6DOF controllers, new graphics, audio, and haptics AR offers novel interaction patterns that demand new interface language and standards. Come join us for a dive into the emerging UX / UI standards for AR and spatial computing with inspiring examples from Leap Motion, North, mixed reality, Magic Leap, as well as some from XEO's own laboratory and latest experiments.

Speakers

Nicole Lazzaro

President , Xeodesign Inc

Description

This interdisciplinary session will explore the role of the spatial browser in the post-smartphone world, the creation of 3D web and immersive content, and new interaction modalities for information discovery.

Speakers

Russell Ladson

CEO , Drop Software Inc.

Description

This panel will present varied viewpoints regarding how to build and operate an ethical enterprise in the VR/AR field. Explore challenges and opportunities of funding a B-corp or nonprofit, and the importance of operating by an ethical code in a field dominated by companies not necessarily operating on an ethical basis.

Speakers

Jesse Martinez

Founder , Latino Startup Alliance

Selma Sabera Ruzdijic

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER , MEOW WOLF

Josh Lovejoy

Principal Design Manager , Microsoft

Ben Delaney

Chief Analyst , Greenlight

Robin Rosenberg

CEO , Live in Their World

Description

Embodying another person is known to increase empathy and understanding. How do we harness this for soft skill training? Join Equal Reality to discuss how we've applied these principals in the diversity and inclusion space.

Speakers

Annie Drake

Founder , Equal Reality

Description

Conversation about the challenges that the industry has in terms of data analytics (standards, cybersecurity, data management protocols, etc) knowing that content, interactions and transactions will be creating data outside of "computers", but everywhere.

Speakers

Rosario B. Casas

CoFounder & CEO , VR Americas LLC

Description

Users aren't just watching your content, they're feeling it with their wearables. Brain patterns and heart rate are XR storytelling's new inputs. Peek inside the world's first VR & AR content channel powered by a brain-computer interface and heart rate to learn about a new study on XR's therapeutic impact on anxiety.

Speakers

Sarah Hill

CEO | Chief Storyteller , Healium

Description

Spatial computing devices will transform how we understand and approach spatial problems across countless business practices. That’s certainly the promise that brings us all here, yet how do we tap that transformation in these early days with today’s devices in cost effective ways? I’d like to share our learnings of where to find those gems and how we’re navigating today’s myriad barriers to deliver on those gems. Five years in the trenches developing dozens of XR apps has revealed powerful patterns that have become the underpinnings of our holistic enterprise platform. The goal of the platform is to deliver what’s possible today while rapidly layering in new capabilities as new services and devices emerge. The platform approach makes it possible to rapidly and efficiently embrace new benefits over time without disrupting processes. Those benefits include fewer injuries, faster design iterations, reduced rework, less travel, faster comprehension, deeper insights, more impactful sales, and longer knowledge retention.

Speakers

Michael Hoffman

Partner / Co-founder , Object Theory

Description

AWE Nites are a place for developers, creators, investors, founders, corporate decision makers, and curious folk to come together to celebrate the activity and devote conviction around building an augmented reality (AR) hub in each city.

Come and hear from the AWE Nite organizers around the world about their experiences and see how you can get involved.

Speakers

Patrick Johnson

Founder , Rock Paper Reality

Patrick Johnson

CEO , Rock Paper Reality

Suzan Oslin

Director of Spatial Experiences , UXXR Design

DAVE LORENZINI

Chief of Secret Police , Draw & Code

Molly Portillo

Community Manager , AWE

Shota Saito

Product Director , Graffity inc,

Carl White

CEO , Meshicon Software

Emily Smith

Digital Engagement Coordinator , Nelson Education

Ron Padzensky

Author , Independent Consultant

Description

To-date, most 3D graphics have been rendered on opaque displays. Now, not only are we putting holograms into the real world, but we're also doing it on additive displays! How do we render holograms that look good in this environment, and how do we make them look like they belong?

The Mixed Reality Lighting Tools are a collection of easy Unity based solutions, from replicating your environment's lighting, to casting believable additive shadows. Come find out how easy it is to make your Mixed Reality application more immersive!

Speakers

Nick Klingensmith

Mixed Reality Academy Lead Engineer , Microsoft

Description

Due to its ability to transport people into places and experiences beyond their reach, XR has tremendous applicability outside of enterprise solutions and gaming. Particularly, immersive media can be used to connect family members of all ages no matter their travel budget, time or mobility constraints. In VR people can hang out together, share memories and experiences, travel to new worlds, engage in health and wellness activities, and so much more.

In this session, we’ll discuss the research from dozens of focus groups with consumers of all ages conducted by AARP Innovation Labs and how we took that research, applied design thinking, and took a user centered approach to develop the new VR platform, Alcove. We’ll share how XR is a powerful tool for families to stay connected and build relationships when they can’t physically be together.

We’ll also share how through the development of this platform we’ve engaged the ecosystem of startups that deliver consumer content beyond simple entertainment and gaming, and how we, as an industry, can create virtual and mixed reality content that is valuable and accessible to all.
Additionally, we’ll discuss learnings and tips for building applications that incorporate the needs and considerations of people all ages, and explore the golden opportunity this industry has in addressing non-traditional consumer segments.

Speakers

Cezara Windrem

Innovation Catalyst & Head of VR , AARP Innovation Labs

Description

Immersive technologies present a series of ethical dilemmas for experiential designers who have to make morally-ambigious design decisions. For example, the Holocaust Museum had to request Niantic Labs remove it as a PokéStop within Pokémon GO. Respecting this sensitive cultural context seems like an obvious moral intuition, but it also points to a larger open question of who owns virtual space? Should the AR cloud be considered an extension of private property? Or should it be more of a First Amendment free speech zone that democratizes creative expression? Can both be true? How should designers navigate these types of complicated moral dilemmas when the interests of the individual are in conflict with the interests of the collective? This keynote talk by The Voices of VR podcast host Kent Bye will explore the full landscape of ethical and moral dilemmas that creators of augmented reality technologies will be facing in the near future ranging in topics of privacy, ownership, consent, identity, economics, cultural norms, and implicit social contracts.

Speakers

Kent Bye

Producer , Voices of VR Podcast

Description

Education is and will always be the greatest application of virtual and augmented reality. We have known for many years the power of this technology to awaken, engage, enlighten and lift hearts and minds. Now that the delivery technology has reached the tipping point we need to address the next steps in guiding XR to become a robust tool for enriching hearts and minds worldwide. The Virtual World Society is honored to have Kathy Bisbee, Rylan Daniels and Marie Graham in this session to give their vision of education in VR from community, school and youth perspectives. This session will be moderated by Prof. Tom Furness, Founder and Chairman of the Virtual World Society and a VR Pioneer.

Speakers

Tom Furness

Founder & Chairman , Virtual World Society

Rylan Daniels

Futurist, VR/AR Developer , High School Student

Marie Graham

Director of VR/AR Lab/ Educator , Mount Vernon School

Kathy Bisbee

Founder & Director , Public VR Lab

Description

Topics to be covered:
• Realtime data analytics for Parkinson’s Disease Research
• Virtual Reality NeuroTherapy and Applications in Rehabilitation
• Eye-Tracking in AR/VR for Brain Health
• Surgical Training in VR
• Surgical Assistance with AR

Speakers

Jessica Maslin

Co-Founder and President , Mieron, Inc.

Mike Boland

Chief Analyst , ARtillery Intelligence

Tait McCarthy

CTO , MotusXR

Daniel Beeler

CTO , SyncThink

Michael Hoffman

Partner / Co-founder , Object Theory

Description

Circuit Stream AR developer Nakisa Donnelly shares her development experience getting started with Magic Leap and also building more complex applications. She'll dive into how Unity works with the ML1 and explain how to implement core features like haptic feedback, spatial audio, and gestures.

Description

AR/VR Garden promotes human and bio-diversity, inclusion, empathy, cimate justice, and wellness. It started a few sketches of flowers created with Tilt Brush. I tweeted a link inviting anyone to remix or add to the garden. My friends were sure I'd recieve hate symbols and offensive drawings. I begged them to trust in humanity; I was not wrong! People around the world added to the VR Garden. As mentor at the Teen Tech Lab at the downtown library, members created AR embroidered patches of flowers for their own drawings in the garden. Our idea to match the AR Flower Patches to other teen's drawings and music samples will be executed this year for teens at libraries. Performed live in NYC, and Los Angeles, AR/VR Garden has recently visited Southeast Asia to draw with school children and underserved women in Cambodia, and Malaysia. This summer VR Garden will create a digitally immersive interactive exhibiton using AR and work with school children in China to use AR to activate their virtual reality garden. Creating a regional garden in 2019, will create a case study to propagate ARVR Garden globally.

Speakers

Paige Dansinger

Founder , Better World Museum

Description

Presentation of the winning team of "Stories of the Future 2030", the XR Creathon organized by the XR content lab Garage Stories at the Institute for the Future to discuss and prototype how should XR technologies affect the way we interact with the world in the following years.

Winning team:
SIA, a mixed reality solution developed with Magic Leap aimed to use these technologies—with the caveat we were to think in the year 2030—to allow those with cognitive disability to augment their abilities and mold the world around them to their level of ability, placing the burden on SIA instead of them or their caretakers or businesses, schools, or employers.

Speakers Include:
Marta Ordeig, Garage Stories
Cristy Stone, SIA Reality - winning team
Noreen Qureshi, SIA Reality - winning team
Ewan Johnson, SIA Reality - winning team
Darius Clarke, SIA Reality - winning team
Erik Flowers, SIA Reality - winning team

Speakers

Cristy Stone

Market research and viability , SIA Reality

Noreen Qureshi

Use case definition and storyboards , SIA Reality

Ewan Johnson

VR prototype development , SIA Reality

Darius Clarke

VR prototype development , SIA Reality

Erik Flowers

Problem statement and persona , SIA Reality

Marta Ordeig

Founder , Garage Stories

Description

AR experiences for consumers, including gaming and other immersive entertainment, are continuing to evolve to become more engaging. This conversation will cover the current and future applications for AR, including mobile gaming, and storytelling.

Speakers

Edward Saatchi

CEO , Fable Studio

Kirin Sinha

Founder & CEO , Illumix

Description

AWE Wrap-up and Best in Show Awards

Speakers

Ori Inbar

Co-Founder , AWE and Super Ventures