Agenda

Description

Volumetric video technology captures full-body, dynamic human performance in four dimensions. An array of 100+ cameras point inward at a living entity (person, animal, group of people) and record their movement from every possible angle. Processed and compressed video data from each camera becomes a single 3D file – a digital twin of the exact performance that transpired on stage – for use on virtual platforms. Finished volcap assets are small enough to stream on mobile devices but deliver the visual quality detail of 100+ cameras, making them a go-to solution for bringing humans into the Metaverse.

The volumetric video market is expected to grow from $1.5B USD in 2021 to $4.9B USD by 2026 as holographic imaging becomes increasingly crucial for the development of compelling, human-centric immersive content and Metaverse creators strive to solve the “uncanny valley” problem.

The session dives into the latest and greatest applications of volcap in augmented reality across multiple sectors – including fashion, entertainment, AR marketing and branding, enterprise training, and more…

We’ll examine the ground-breaking potential this technology holds for augmented and mixed reality as well as some of the challenges that may face this burgeoning industry.

Speakers

Elisha Burrows

Stage Hand , Departure Lounge Inc.

Skylar Sweetman

General Manager , Metastage

Description

If you’re a founder, you’re probably used to Investors asking all the questions. But in this session we want to flip things around and give the power to the founders. We’ve invited 4 investors who all focus on investing in AR/VR, Spatial Computing and the Metaverse. They will have 2 minutes to pitch their own funds and the areas they’re interested in and then it’s over to you. Want their opinion on the startup you're building? Curious to get their hot take on a specific use case or opportunity? Wondering if they’re tired of defining what the Metaverse means to them? It’s up to you to ask.

Speakers

Gregory Castle

Managing Partner , Anorak Ventures

Moritz Baier-Lentz

Partner , Lightspeed

Dave Haynes

Partner , FOV Ventures

Kristina Serafim

Managing Director , Verizon Ventures

Description

Join us as startups pitch to our panel of judges for a chance to be named AWE's "Startup to Watch" for 2022. The winner will be announced at the Auggie Awards ceremony.

Judges for the Start-Up Pitch competition are Dave Haynes, Tipatat Chennavasin, Pearly Chen, and Kristina Serafim.

Speakers

Jenny Xu

CEO , Talofa Games

Timothy Porter

CTO , Mod Tech Labs Inc.

Pearly Chen

VP Business Dev. , HTC Vive

Alex Porter

CEO , Mod Tech Labs Inc.

Alex Westner

Founder / CEO , Xander

Kristina Serafim

Managing Director , Verizon Ventures

Yolanda Barton

Founder , Revere XR

Dave Haynes

Partner , FOV Ventures

Jonathan Nowak Delgado

CEO and Co-Founder , Spree Interactive

Aldo Petruzzelli

CEO/Co-founder , Aequilibrium

Noah Robinson

Founder & CEO , Innerworld

Tipatat Chennavasin

General Partner , The Venture Reality Fund

Description

Join us as startups pitch to our panel of judges for a chance to be named AWE's "Startup to Watch" for 2022. The winner will be announced at the Auggie Awards ceremony.

Judges for the Start-Up Pitch competition are Dave Haynes, Tipatat Chennavasin, Pearly Chen, and Kristina Serafim.

Speakers

Chaitanya Ravi

RLab Contact , SentioVR

Amber Hawkes

Co-Founder , Here LA

Ariella Lehrer

President , Legacy Games

Quentin Turner

Founder, CTO , Intrinsic XR

Pearly Chen

VP Business Dev. , HTC Vive

Giovanni Fantoni Modena Fantoni Fantoni

CCO , Vitruvian

Dominique Wu

Founder , XReality Pro

Tipatat Chennavasin

General Partner , The Venture Reality Fund

Dave Haynes

Partner , FOV Ventures

Kristina Serafim

Managing Director , Verizon Ventures

Ofer Baharav

CEO , Villa

David A. Smith

CTO, Founder , Croquet

Alex Coulombe

CEO , Heavenue / Agile Lens

Sherry Chang

CEO , Neural Lab

Description

As Marty Neumeier so aptly describes, a brand is the “gut feeling” people have about your product/service. How do you ensure that your brand in the metaverse doesn’t give indigestion to your customer’s avatar?

The first step is re-examining your core brand assets so that they travel well. Whether or not you have technical teams engineering your immersive presence, brands with traditional agencies, brand managers and creative staff need to make sure the building blocks of brand are reevaluated, taking a new look at their brand strategy, customer profiles, success metrics, mission, vision, values, naming conventions, even color palette. The art and practice of building brands hasn’t changed, but there are new questions your guidelines need to answer.

Cynthia and Justin will walk you through what they believe are the first 10 Essential Questions, and how to uncover what your specific brand needs to evaluate.

Speakers

Justin Breton

Brand Experiences & Strategic Partnerships , Walmart

Cynthia Maller

Head of 3D Creative Technology , Walmart

Description

As we begin to build out communities inside the Metaverse/virtual worlds, are there any key architectural tenants and principals we should consider first, that might be different from game design ecosystems? Traditional Experience Design from themed attractions have long been well equipped to answer these questions. Tune in to this fireside chat with Disney Imagineer and Experience Designer, Amy Jupiter, to help us better understand if building for the Metaverse holds the same requirements as building a new themed attraction.

Speakers

Kathleen Cohen

Tech Humanist, XR Strategist , The Collaboratorium

Amy Jupiter

Founder/Chief Experience Designer , ByJove: A Collective of Perspective TM

Description

The Metaverse connects us virtually. It bridges the physical space between us so we can be together, wherever we are. This presentation illustrates our new reality in real-time by embracing immersive technologies, and telling the story of a day in the life of Sophia as she traverses the Metaverse to create meaningful memories with her friends and family and creates hyper-connective pathways to excel in her career from anywhere in the world.

“MetaTr@versal: A Day in the Life” is an innovative live stage play that demonstrates the power of an embodied internet in service of humanity while illustrating the value of interoperability and open standards. This event will feature a cast of industry talent (and some surprises) as the people Sophia encounters in a day in her life. The audience will experience the show through the point of view of Sophia and come out with a vision for how they, too, can embrace the wonders of the Metaverse.

Speakers

Ali Daniali

CEO/Founder , HRVSTS

Ali Daniali

Founder and CEO , HRVSTS

Rolando Masís-Obando

Neuroscientist + YouTuber , Johns Hopkins University

Karen Alexander

Executive Director , XR Women

Ben Erwin

Creator , The Polys - WebXR Awards

Damon Hernandez

Co-founder / CEO , Mixx Reality

Dulce Baerga

Advisor , Dulce Dotcom

Dulce Baerga

Mixed Reality Technologist , Dulce Dotcom

Alan Smithson

Co-Founder , MetaVRse

Sophia Moshasha

Podcast Host & DC Chapter VP , VR/AR Association

Evo Heyning

CEO , Realitycraft

Christi Fenison

Co-Founder , Cause + Christi: Immersive XR Design

Jacquelyn Morie

Founder, Chief Scientist , All These Worlds, LLC

Daniel Dyboski-Bryant

Founder , Virtual World Society

Neil Trevett

President , Khronos Group

Christopher Lafayette

Founder , GatherVerse

Austin Cause Caine

Co-Creator , Cause + Christi: Immersive XR Design

Terry Schussler

Sr. Dir., XR & Metaverse , Deutsche Telekom AG

Julie Smithson

Co-Founder & COO , MetaVRse

Description

As the Metaverse continues to grow, it's essential that we discuss the development of a humanity-first approach in regards to standards of education, accessibility, safety, privacy, wellness, equality and community development.

Join Dr. Muhsinah Morris for a Fireside Chat with Christopher Lafayette as he shares ideas gleaned from the GatherVerse community as well as the greater tech community with a focus on global communities for the Metaverse.

Speakers

Christopher Lafayette

Founder , GatherVerse

Muhsinah Morris

Metaversity Director and Professor , Morehouse College

Description

Do you want to be a pioneer in the Metaverse? Do you want to learn the fundamental principles to create a successful Metaverse strategy that ensures your company stays competitive and achieves maximum customer engagement? By attending this presentation from thought leaders Barton Goldenberg and Tim Bajarin, you will learn an 8-step methodology for doing business in the Metaverse.

Goldenberg and Bajarin will share Metaverse case study videos as well as technical and business ‘action items’ you can immediately apply to ensure your company prospers doing business in the Metaverse. This is one presentation you will not want to miss!

Speakers

Tim Bajarin

President , Creative Strategies

Barton Goldenberg

President , ISM Inc.

Description

What opportunities do Museums have by existing in the Metaverse? Museums in the Metaverse, including XR/AR/VR, have been defying and redefining traditional museums by exploring new boundaries which may only occur and are unique as a result of being in the Metaverse. Using immersive Game Design, Collaborative World-Building, Wearables, Non-Player Characters (NPCs), NFTs, Cultivating Collectors of 3D Assets, and explorations leading towards true Interpolation. Ultimately, these opportunities that are unique to the Metaverse are increasing new pathways to explore engagement, participation, belonging, well-being, and Social Justice with museum audiences in the Metaverse. The Panelists will share examples of opportunities unique to the Metaverse and their impact on their museum communities in and out of the Metaverse.

Speakers

Robin White Owen

President & Co-Founder , MediaCombo

Wilson Tang

CEO and Chief Designer , Yumebau

James Taylor

Founder/Lead Developer , Found Object Media

Paige Dansinger

Founder , Better World Museum

Description

It is argued that the metaverse isn’t here yet, but the tools and foundational technologies exist to create what we imagine the metaverse might one day be: an interconnected spatial web of mixed reality and fully digital worlds that are persistent, interoperable, and social, with rich economic structures and diverse cultures.

On this panel, we’ll hear from some of the leading voices in this space, who are providing the tools, and technologies, or pushing the creative limits of what is possible in our mission to make the metaverse. We’ll talk about accessibility, challenges, design choices, tools, where we are on the timeline of making the metaverse, and where it’s all heading.

Speakers

Melodie Mousset

Co-founder & Creative director , Patch XR

Betty Fink

Content Manager and XR Consultant , Spinning Top Music

Anne McKinnon

Cofounder & CEO , Ristband

Description

The XR Guild is a collection of conscientious artists, designers, developers, researchers, PMs, lawyers and business people dedicated to the ethical development of χR, Spatial Computing, web3, the Metaverse (and any other popular names that may arise) for the collective benefit of Humanity. It is open to anyone working in XR (at any level of experience or background) who is serious about promoting ethical principles across big companies and small.
Come learn about the Guild, why it exists, what are our principles, and who is organizing it. Bring. your questions and we'll answer as many as we can.
Panelists include Tony Parisi, Amy Peck, Evo Heyning, Damon Hernandez, and Holly Hirzel.

Speakers

Holly Hirzel

Director of Product Management - AR , Consultant

Avi Bar-Zeev

Founder, President , XR Guild

Amy Peck

Founder/CEO , EndeavorXR

Evo Heyning

CEO , Realitycraft

Damon Hernandez

Co-founder / CEO , Mixx Reality

Tony Parisi

CPO , Lamina1

Description

Where are we in the course of spatial computing’s lifecycle? Where are AR and VR having an impact today… and where aren’t they? What's the fate of Apple's market entrance? And will Meta's big metaverse bet pay off? We’ll tackle these and other burning questions with a multidisciplinary panel of industry thought leaders, innovators, and heavy hitters.

Speakers

Mike Boland

Chief Analyst , ARtillery Intelligence

Catherine D. Henry

Creator

Ted Schilowitz

Futurist , Consultant

Charlie Fink

Consultant, Columnist, Author, Adjunct , Forbes

Alvin Wang Graylin

Author, Our Next Reality | Global VP, HTC , HTC

Description

The Metaversities Project is a groundbreaking initiative to bring college campuses and classes into Virtual Reality. Spearheaded by VictoryXR and Morehouse College, which began offering courses in VR in 2021, the Metaversity Project has expanded to include 10 institutions of higher learning in 2022.

A Metaversity is a digital twin of a college campus where students can gather from any physical location as avatars to attend classes conducted by their professors in real time. Each offers a virtual replica of the campus that provides a sense of belonging and connection with the school. But each campus also opens up into worlds of possibility, classrooms that may be nothing like those in the real world but instead might be oceans, planets, cellular organisms, or fictional locations.

At a Metaversity, students can conduct chemistry experiments without danger, perform dissections repeatedly to gain a deeper understanding of anatomy, and experience historical events in a visceral way.

A Metaversity brings all the promises and affordances of virtual reality to actual higher education courses. Education in the metaverse is here, now.

This panel will delve into what a Metaversity is, how it works, outcomes and success stories, and the implications of this pioneering model for the future of higher education.

Speakers

Karen Alexander

Executive Director , XR Women

Steve Grubbs

CEO , VictoryXR

Muhsinah Morris

Metaversity Director and Professor , Morehouse College

Cerilenne Menendez Mendoza

XR Lead , T-Mobile

Monica Arés

Founder , Th3 Third Door

Description

The Metaverse is coming and it will impact all our lives before the current decade is out. As an industry pioneer who began working in AR and VR over thirty years ago, I have a broad perspective on where the field has been and where it's going. And right now, I am both excited and concerned. Excited because the momentum has finally hit critical mass. Concerned because of the very real prospect that large corporations could bring the destabilizing features of social media into the Metaverse. To address this, I have been calling for sensible regulation of metaverse platforms to help ensure the technology rolls out in a positive way. This talk will address this important issue by answering three key questions: (1) What will the metaverse really be like when widely deployed? (2) What are the most significant risks consumers will face? and (3) What are the most helpful and sensible forms of regulation to avoid the metaverse becoming a destabilizing force like social media?

Speakers

Louis Rosenberg

CEO and Chief Scientist , Unanimous AI

Description

No other topic took us by storm quite like the metaverse. Its ability to provide seamless, immersive digital experiences due to its always-on connectivity also offers substantial potential for industrial use. So how can we transfer this concept to the enterprise market? And how will AR/VR experiences become more scalable? Get insights in the enterprise perspective from Peter Verrillo (Enhatch) and Kurt Scheuringer (Lockheed Martin). Join Susanne Haspinger (Holo-Light) and Evan Helda (AWS) as they introduce a new cloud platform to create the Industrial Metaverse – enabling industrial AR/VR use cases that were not scalable or even possible before.

Speakers

Susanne Haspinger

Co-founder and COO , Holo-Light

Peter Verillo

CEO , Enhatch

Evan Helda

SR. Specialist Spatial Computing , Amazon Web Services

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

Though many companies investing billions into metaverse technology are competitors, they share a common interest in creating a shared digital universe. To enable an open future where assets are able to move freely and work consistently across the entire digital universe, the metaverse needs standards that combat fragmentation and preserve openness.

Hundreds of industry leaders are working to enable the transition from the development of 3D assets to metaverse assets and explore the roles open standards and open source software will play in the creation of portable, interoperable metaverse scenes and objects.

Join leaders from The Khronos Group, Academy Software Foundation, and the Worldwide Web Consortium as they discuss how companies, creators, and standards developers can work together to make sure the tools required for an open metaverse are not just available, but ubiquitous and robust.

Speakers

Neil Trevett

President , Khronos Group

Aysegul Yonet

Software Engineer , Microsoft - Mixed Reality Development

Suzan Oslin

Director of Spatial Experiences , UXXR Design

David Morin

Industry Relations at Epic Games; Ex. Dir. at Academy Software Foundation , Epic Games - Unreal Engine

Description

360 XR gaming technology is immersive, inner-active, and at the very least cool. It is the main driver of the metaverse industry. Immersive VR Video and VR Filmmaking is a huge departure from traditional filmmaking. Come learn from this panel how they capture reality “as real as it is” and tell their stories in a 3D Metaverse. VR as a medium, has the ability to transport the mind without ever having to leave the comfort of your own home. With this comes a great ethical responsibility for anyone creating in the VR Metaverse.

Join us for a provocative and engaging conversation as we discuss the elements of storytelling as it applies to VR; how VR can expand your brand; and the responsibility that falls to all of us given the ethical concerns that are innate with the technology.

Speakers

Hugh Hou

Co-Founder / Head of XR , CreatorUp

Karen X. Cheng

Director , Karen X LLC

Michael Shabun

VP, Marketing and Business Development , Insta360

Keeley Turner

Executive Producer for VR Content , CreatorUp