Agenda

Description

Being creative in any industry is hard, but working for businesses that are not traditionally art-oriented adds another level of challenges to artists on top of coming up with brilliant ideas. As more and more businesses investing in XR, a new door of opportunities have been open to the artists that are beyond the traditional entertainment industry. As exciting as it sounds, many artists will also find themselves in a situation having to explain their art and its value to other people at their company who are not used to 3D animation or XR production workflows. In this talk, I would like to share my experiences working as an XR 3D Artist at Verizon, a company I thought I would have no business working for just five years ago. I will share how I adapted to the role, the industry, and how I learned to provide my creative inputs using my past projects as examples.

Speakers

Minhyul Olivia Bae

Senior 3D Generalist , Verizon 5G Labs

Description

We will give a behind-the-scenes tour of our latest AR work, take a critical look at the creative and technical challenges encountered in the last two years of NYT Immersive storytelling and describe how our thinking about this storyform evolved over time.

Speakers

Yuliya Parshina-Kottas

Immersive Storytelling - Graphics and Multimedia Editor , The New York Times

Karthik Patanjali

Graphics/Multimedia Editor , The New York Times

Description

MR is the new trendy thing. However, what brings value is having your custom Holograms, aka custom 3D models, in context and experience.
Why does learning this matters? It is similar as creating a picture in Photoshop and then you don’t know how to put in your app or share it.
With Mixed Reality becoming more common, as designers, we need to understand the file formats and how to make it easier for users to create their own content.
But how does someone do that? It is such a complex process not many people know. There are so many CAD and 3D making solutions with different paradigms. I will break it down which ones work best for MR.

Speakers

Ana Sofia Gonzalez

Senior UX Designer , Microsoft

Description

No one could have subscribed to HBO for Game of Thrones if they hadn’t known Game of Thrones existed. We know this is true, and yet, the XR industry is still wondering why non-gamers aren’t flocking to headsets. The reason is simple: we not only need content, we need to get the word out. Does a tree fall in a virtual forest if no one’s there to see it?

The goal of this panel is to demonstrate a structured review method that simplifies the way we talk about immersive experiences. It invites the XR party viewers not currently familiar with immersive content available in headsets, and also engages those well-versed in the industry. The panelists’ approach will open people’s eyes to a new way of thinking about XR narrative and allow them to open their mouths and speak more clearly about XR content. It will also give both new and seasoned XR viewers a little something extra to talk about. After all, it is word of mouth that makes content viral, or even just mainstream.

Speakers

Jessica Kantor

Host/Executive Producer , The Look Club

Erika Barraza

Host/Executive Producer , Meta

Eve Weston

CEO/Creator of Realities , Exelauno

Description

The session will focus on how we conceptualize ideas and storylines and how we convert these into AR experiences. The talk will highlight quick prototyping options and approaches, as well as the path to reach full fidelity with the latest PBR workflows and real-time lighting. Modern AR creation pipelines will be discussed and how mobile, desktop, headset and cloud services all come together to provide solutions that scale.

Speakers

Stefano Corazza

Head of Roblox Studio / Gen AI , Roblox

Description

See how the innovators of DreamWorks Advanced Creative Technology team use XR to bring the vast worlds and larger than life characters from the big screen to your breakfast table. We’ll explore how we use the newest technology and immersive narratives to connect with our audiences while preserving everything we love about our stories and characters. Embracing the growing capabilities of augmented reality, we work to extend the reach of Trolls World Tour into all of our worlds.

Speakers

Sarah Scialli

Mocap Engineer , DreamWorks Animation

Jubin Dave

Product Lead Strategy , DreamWorks Animation

Christina Lee Storm

Manager of Virtual Production (NLAB) , Netflix

Description

Immersive experience has long found a home in location-based entertainment, bringing a sense of disbelief and amazement. Virtual and augmented reality technology is a natural progression of the innovation around these experiences and adoption has been growing over the past three years in its second emergence in out-of-home entertainment.
While there is enthusiasm around the endless possibilities for xR in the location-based entertainment market, a bumpy road lies ahead with many challenges.
Join Greenlight Insights for a detailed, data-driven presentation exploring the current state of xR in location-based entertainment and where we will be heading.

Speakers

Alexis Macklin

VR/AR Analyst , Greenlight Insights

Description

With the recent arrival of 5G and its bandwidth-widening abilities, the promise of augmented reality is here, delivering hyper-realistic and more personalized AR activations for the attractions industry.
Nexus Studios is enabling the future of attraction experiences via augmented reality. Nexus has developed the first ever “Enhanced Location” at AT&T Stadium, home to the Dallas Cowboys, where fans can take selfies with oversized virtual NFL players.
Imagine a life-sized Beyonce leading concert-goers through Coachella or a hyper-realistic Monet describing his paintings to you at the Museum of Modern Art. The technology Nexus has created can enable these incredible and personal experiences and entice concert-goers, museum lovers, and dedicated sports fans to immerse themselves within the experience and much more.
We’ve all seen AR at its most basic, think Pokemon Go, but Nexus has developed an AR engine that is truly next level when used in conjunction with a 5G network. Through the use of “Enhanced Locations,” the company delivers a true AR experience to sports fans that leverages volumetric content (giant 3D 'holgram'esque' digital layers) that were not previously possible.
Nexus used mapping technologies to prime the stadium location as a stage for AR material to be placed on top. The platform’s innovation is in scanning the environment to create an accurate digital twin from the resulting photogrammetry, bringing to life engaging content and experiences in real-world locations.
In this session, Nexus Head of XR and Interactive Arts, Luke Ritchie, will explore new ways the attractions industry can engage with their visitors via augmented reality.
Key Takeaways:
• A definition of “Enhanced Locations” in an attractions setting
• Examples of venues where “Enhanced Locations” can augment a user’s experience
• A solid knowledge of the creative and technical tools and techniques necessary to enable the future of augmented reality content
• Case study examples of 3D holographic content created for sporting events, that are vastly superior to what's come before in terms of quality, texture and therefore believability

Speakers

Luke Ritchie

Head of XR , Nexus Studios

Description

Immersive, interactive projection environments are XR experiences that bridge the physical and digital worlds. Domes, panoramas, globes, and projection-mapped spaces provide a social, collaborative way to experience 360° content, solving some of the practical challenges of deploying XR at scale. In these group experiences audiences can collaborate and connect - whether with data, with brands, or with one another.

Drawing on more than a decade of The Elumenati’s projects with clients from NASA and NOAA to Dreamworks and Deloitte, this talk looks at XR use cases across entertainment, enterprise and education. In location-based entertainment, immersion and interactivity enable social interaction IRL, and bring a fun factor that draws crowds and builds lasting memories. Leveraging these technologies in live brand activations is a crucial element in building CX, creating the engagement that is key to experiential marketing strategies. And a rapidly evolving toolset for content creation enables cross-disciplinary connections in education and design, from research labs to executive briefing centers, and from virtual production to civil engineering. We’ll discuss best practices and lessons learned in implementing immersive XR across these verticals, and brainstorm ways to stay connected in a post-corona future.

Speakers

Hilary McVicker

VP Sales and Marketing , The Elumenati

Description

Post CoVid-19, Location Based Entertainment and Attractions face particular challenges to help guests get comfortable with having fun together in theme parks again. Join Terry Sanderson of Dreamcraft Attractions to explore these challenges and see why 2019’s ‘Midnight Ride’ VR attraction is well positioned to handle re-opening while maintaining high levels of guest hygiene and throughput due to it’s unique design, layout and features.

Speakers

Terry Sanderson

Business and Product Development , DreamCraft Attractions

Description

Poplar is one of the world's AR leaders in the Advertising and Marketing sector (source Digi-Capital). The platform has enabled the production of over 100 AR campaigns on demand, for top brands internationally: music labels, gaming, entertainment, beauty/luxury, consumer goods and food and beverage. David, it's CEO (ex-YouTube/Google and Netflix), will share with AWE's audience some metrics from these brand case studies, as well as best practices on how to create successful AR advertising and marketing campaigns.

Speakers

David Ripert

CEO , Poplar

Description

New research findings will be shared regarding the use of 3D and AR to drive product consideration, engagement, and sales.

Speakers

Rori DuBoff

Managing Director, Strategy & Innovation , Accenture

Description

Immersive technologies are changing the way people interact with their surroundings and with each other, blurring the lines between the digital and physical worlds and reducing the friction between brands and their audiences. Specifically with AR, brands now have the power to interact with consumers in their own environment (cue one of Daenerys’ dragons landing on NYC’s Flatiron Building). The opportunities are seemingly endless – yet companies are still trying to wrap their heads around the tech and its value proposition. How do you achieve ROI? Olivier Koelemij, MD of MediaMonks LA, will make a case for every brand to implement AR into what he calls the ‘modern marketing mix’, capitalizing on its possibilities, whilst addressing both the challenges impacting the adoption of AR as well as the developments that will soon make it even more accessible.

Speakers

Olivier Koelemij

Managing Director, LA , Mediamonks

Description

Brands are looking for novel and innovative ways to mesh augmented reality with their CX strategies. Sometimes, the most atypical brand can be amongst the best teachers for how to bring technologies together.
Working on behalf of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Digitas created JFK MOONSHOT--a fully-synchronized augmented reality recreation of Apollo 11 where every moment, maneuver, and milestone unfolded in real time, second-by-second, precisely 50 years later.
Keith Soljacich, VP/Group Director of Experiential Technology, at Digitas, will discuss how his team conceptualized this one-of-a-kind program, as well as how it has proven to be a testing ground for how brands from all industries can harness this type of technology for consumers’ benefit—and for brands’ revenues.

Speakers

Keith Soljacich

VP/GD Experiential Technology , Digitas

Description

Notices advising customers that retail showrooms and meeting spaces are closed are commonplace, both physically and on the web. In this informative presentation, Tracy Hutson, of ABC's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" demonstrates ViRSE, her new Virtual World technology which moves the sales and service experience online using immersive technologies. Find out how your e-commerce revenue can be boosted for high-ticket sales using ShopViRSE and new best-practices that have been accelerated by the pandemic.

Speakers

Tracy Hutson

Co-founder , ViRSE

Description

Every brand needs what is now called a camera strategy to engage consumers when they are on the phone and on the camera. This is evident in the successful experiences TACTIC builds for brands now. 19 Crimes, Jack Daniel's, Coca Cola, and Jim Beam to name a few of the experiences that have been introduced to millions of new augmented reality users. And as we evolve from the phone to the face where our digital and physical worlds synthesize, AR will be the ad format of the future and a trillion dollar industry. Within this transformation for experiential product boom will be the demand of web based XR and more immersive experiences for user retention. In this conversation between Tactic Founder Pete Oberdorfer and Unity Technologies Head of AR/VR Ad Innovation Tony Parisi, you will discover how to bring users coming back for more, how to safely track user data and grow your sales and more.

Speakers

Tony Parisi

CPO , Lamina1

Peter Oberdorfer

CEO/ECD , TACTIC

Description

In this presentation, I will explore the digital intimacy created by AR, and extrapolate how these new realities will change the way brands and consumer relate.
We swim in the waters of digital connectivity, with discrete pieces of interaction or information floating around us; we pull at one or the other, or it bumps into us, startling us into noticing it.
Currently that interaction primarily requires effort on our part: unlocking a phone, opening a browser tab, typing, looking at a screen.
Augmented Reality / Spatial Computing is the catalyst for the next leap in user experience. With it overlaid onto our personal worlds, it will shape that digital water we swim in. There will soon come a point where navigating our world without AR overlay will seem as impossible as currently navigating without mobile phones would be. Once the connectivity and information moves to our faces having it woven throughout our day will become indispensable. The subject only becomes more complex with the addition of AI-driven digital humans - acting as both brand ambassadors, and our personal concierges.
What is the impact this will have on human interaction? On how brands build relationships with consumers? On business strategy? Join me as I explore the future of what brand means in an immersive world.

Speakers

Linda Ricci

Business / Emerging Tech Strategy Consultant , Consultant