Description

How do we make compelling and desirable XR experiences for the diverse needs of XR users? User experience (UX) research can identify the direction and accelerate the path towards this goal. But UX research in XR faces new challenges compared to traditional media. What are they and how can UX professionals help solve them? This panel invites UX experts from Academia, Magic Leap, Meta, and Microsoft to share why and how UX research can solve difficult and unique problems in XR, from identifying the target users to iterating and evaluating solutions that may not exist in full form when the data is needed to inform decisions. They will focus on how they have tailored User-Centered Design methodologies for XR, why and how multiple disciplines need to collaborate to make successful XR experiences, and other related topics. If you are interested in finding out how UX research can help your product, come join us in the panel.

Speakers

Yan Xu

UX Research Scientist , Meta Reality Labs

Thom Gable

Senior User Researcher , Microsoft

Zhen Bai

Assistant Professor , University of Rochester

Marina Kuznetsova

Principal User Research Manager , Microsoft

Danny Carson

Sr Director , Magic Leap

Jacqueline Zimmermann

Lead Behavioral Scientist , Magic Leap

Travis Bowles

User Experience Research Manager - Hardware , Meta

Description

Events in virtual worlds are on the rise: concerts, festivals, fashion shows... all of them are now becoming as relevant in the virtual world as they are in the real world. But exactly as it is very difficult to organize a big event in physical reality, it is not easy to host one of them in virtual reality, either.
Antony Vitillo from VRrOOm has helped in crafting dozens of virtual events in the last three years, including the virtual version of SXSW and a concert with more than 75M views. In this session, he will give you some guidelines on how to design and organize your virtual event to ensure it will be a success.

Speakers

Antony Vitillo

Owner , The Ghost Howls

Description

Companies spend millions of dollars every year on using 3D & 2D software and have to sacrifice many hours of highly skilled time to create usable 3D assets. This not only creates a barrier to entry but also makes 3D content creation non-sustainable, not scalable, expensive and very time consuming.. Companies further have to invest (and have invested) heavily in automation and modern 2D to 3D techniques such as photogrammetry to fix the common problems that arise with a variety of categories and asset types, often needing an extensive last mile edit by highly skilled 3D artists to complete the asset for commercial use. Join Daniel Frith (Vice President of 3D) from Avataar as he expands upon the advancements in Neural Radiance Field technology (NeRF) and how this will democratize 3D, introduce scale and disrupt the 3D industry.

Speakers

Daniel Frith

Chief Creative Officer (CCO) , London Dynamics

Description

Storytelling IP is well-known for making transmedia journeys, from books to movies to comics to TV shows and even Instagram stories and AR activations. Now, the Metaverse provides yet another place for IP to shine. Here, fans can not just engage with the stories and characters they love, but own a piece of them.

The NFT landscape supports both top-down and bottom-up storytelling. We’ll bring our audience up to date on the current state of storytelling in the Metaverse and cite case studies of specific NFT projects, including our own, that shine a light on new ways to tell stories. Some NFTs evoke a story, have a backstory or inspire the viewer to create a new story. Our collections are unique in and of themselves and shine a light on a new frontier of storytelling in the Metaverse and a new business model: the world’s next Kickstarter.

Speakers

Iris Ichishita

Filmmaker, Producer , Toekenz

Eve Weston

CEO/Creator of Realities , Exelauno

Description

Advertising and marketing is evolving. Marketers today need to find new ways to engage users wherever they are, especially new strategies to offer a personalized experience that drives results. AR experiences are intrinsically personal as they put the user at the center of a story and make them an active participant with branded content. AR drives engagement with demonstrated results across the marketing funnel including dwell time and lift in purchase. In this session, you will learn how AR is changing advertising and marketing, the massive opportunity of web-based augmented reality, and review case studies and key success metrics of in-market AR experiences.

Speakers

Tool Callif

President , Tool of North America

Diana Mendez

Marketing Manager , Niantic, Inc.

James Giglio

CEO and Founder , MVP Interactive

Jason Yim

CEO , Trigger Global