Agenda

Description

OnBoardXR is a seasonal, virtual festival of short, live performances and artists showcasing their own experimental XR tools in a single 3D virtual event. Audiences may access the show from almost any device to experience roughly one hour of curated synchronous, short spatialized performances. Join this session to see highlights from the last year, including full body motion capture dance, IOT connecting the physical and virtual worlds, structured improvisation and semi-traditional theater using avatars and web cameras.

Speakers

Michael Morran

Digital Events Producer , Active Replica

Clemence Debaig

Artistic Director , Unwired Dance Theatre

Rebecca Evans

XR Producer & Director , Dimension Adventures

Brendan Bradley

Scrappy Storyteller , The Jigsaw Ensemble

Description

Good friends Alex Goldberg and Lee Kebler reminisce on some of the most influential examples of spatial computing from the films that they grew up with, and they elaborate on products and services that might have been subsequently influenced. There will be a Q&A session at the end where they encourage audience members to share some of their personal favorite examples.

Speakers

Alex Goldberg

XR Innovations , Blue Origin

Lee Kebler

Director , Journey

Description

The recent proliferation of new digital technologies and art distribution platforms has resulted in a major shift in the way contemporary artists create and distribute their artworks. Eric Prince, founder and CEO of digital production platform and art marketplace ART[XR], introduces the new digital WebXR medium and present some use cases where artists, galleries, and museums have used this technology to create compelling art experiences.

The discussion illustrates how the XR medium has evolved from a solitary process to a collaborative process of artists and developers creating the work together in real time from all over the world.

Internationally renowned artist Bill Claps conveys his experience working with the webXR medium to create and present his artworks with the new XR-NFT format, walking us through the process of transforming real world art into digital 3D artworks.

Immersive Storyteller and Immersive Media Producer Christi Fenison brings perspective on employing elements of narrative transport, immersion, agency through interaction, and gamification to engage users and drive change.

The talk will conclude with a discussion of the implications that this democratization of the art distribution process has for changing the commercial and economic structure of the art world.

Speakers

Christi Fenison

Co-Founder , Cause + Christi: Immersive XR Design

Eric Prince

Founder & CEO , ART[XR]

Bill Claps

COO , ART[XR]

Description

With the upcoming next-gen consumer VR headsets integrated with eye tracking, XR games are expecting huge opportunities of optimizing gamers' experience in many areas like interaction, UI, avatar, visual and graphics. Tobii and Starcade Arcade will share their experience in how to make Starblazer, a space RTS game, more intuitive and immersive, pitfalls to avoid in development and new features to expect.

Speakers

Alexander Clark

CEO & Founder , Starcade Arcade

Johan Bouvin

Senior Director of Sales and Business Development , Tobii

Description

Creating an incredible multiplayer experience with esports potential is no easy task, but our panel of developers discuss challenges, best practices, community-building, and lessons learned as they've paved the way for esports in a new medium.

Speakers

Dennis Nuis

Consultant | Community and Change Manager , Caveman Studio

Amy Stormant

Content Creator | Reporter , VR Community Builders

Tim Mcguinness

Co-Founder & CEO , Virtex

Seth Luisi

Founder , Impulse Gear

Jan Goetgeluk

CEO , Virtuix Inc

Description

What should the Metaverse look like? How do maximalist and minimalist approaches affect XR? Is either inherently better? Do we want technology that is minimally invasive, or do we want to live in our best fantastical art worlds? Watch best friends with wildly opposing design philosophies duke it out.

On the side of maximalism, we have Jerome Morrison, a creative technologist at Meow Wolf, known for its larger than life maximalist psychedelic art installations.

On the side of minimalism, we have Lauren Cason. Lauren is the co-founder of RefractAR and is known for her minimalist design approach in her XR work. She was previously an artist on Monument Valley 2 and a prototyper at Apple.

Speakers

Jerome Morrison

Product Manager , MEOW WOLF

Lauren Cason

Cofounder/Creative Director , RefractAR

Description

Imagine a world where you attend a Broadway show any day of the week, at a price you can afford, from anywhere across the globe and have the best seats in the house. Now imagine that the community of artists, producers and crew members who create this experience have unified to craft an ecosystem of equality where all make a living wage and issues such as disability, sexual orientation, gender, and race inequity have been reduced to a case study in the history books. Imagine that world where we celebrate rich, diverse stories accessible to everyone, inspiring generations to come in elevating humanity. The intersection of foundational technologies has crossed the exponential growth point, making what was futuristic now real.

In this session we explore current and future XR live theatrical versions that intersect stage, screen and beyond. By creating digital assets and story moments in XR we accelerate the traditional development lifecycle while defining and building the virtual future of live entertainment.

Speakers

Tim Kashani

CEO & Co-Founder , Apples and Oranges

Pamela Winslow Kashani

Co-Founder , Apples and Oranges

Description

If you love live performances but have felt frustrated by their virtualized formats, from jury-rigged social VR to not-actually-live live events in Fortnite and various streaming platforms, this is the workshop for you. Come see a future where anyone can customize a show in real time from their browser, then host it live for potentially hundreds of people in the same virtual space.

In this session, Alex Coulombe of Agile Lens provides a sneak peek at the platform his new company Heavenue is building to make putting on a live show in the metaverse easier than ever. Be among the first to see what it looks like to import assets, set up custom characters, establish environments (including time of day and weather), and cue anything from lights to sets to costumes. How do we attain hyper realism? How do we make experiences accessible across browsers and VR headsets? Is it hard or expensive to bring a live actor's performance into a virtual space? All this and more will be answered. Join us to explore the future of live virtual performance.

Speakers

Alex Coulombe

CEO , Heavenue / Agile Lens

Description

By 2030, the global esports industry is expected to reach over $4.7 billion. While only a fraction of that is VR esports, the fact is that twenty years ago no one could've anticipated the value, appeal, or evolution of traditional esports. Now it's exciting to anticipate the future of competitive VR, which beautifully combines technology and physicality for sport.

Join this group of expert panelists as they discuss how players, community moderators, content creators, event organizers, and others play an essential role in the development of VR esports and the communities overall.

Speakers

Ace Eddleman

Author & Board Member , International VR League

Amy Stormant

Content Creator | Reporter , VR Community Builders

Christopher Vezina

Founder , VR ESPORTS LEAGUE

Tabby Gibbs

Manager of League Community and Broadcasting Manager , Virtualities

Dewey Blankenship

Founder , VR Party League

Description

While VR presents amazing opportunities for solitary experiences that can be fun and absorbing, we don’t generally seek out isolation when pursuing out-of-home entertainment. The shared emotions and memories we take away from successful social experiences in VR, whether communal, collaborative or competitive, can be extremely compelling and even cherished. With extensive experience in LBE (location-based entertainment), gaming, immersive experience design, technology development, user experience, and related financing, the panel will explore the growing importance being placed on immersive social experiences in the VR/AR-for-LBE space, for both shared-location and virtual group experiences. We’ll also discuss the affiliated technologies, platforms, and methods of user engagement, communication, and gamification that are fueling the most impactful LBE-VR/AR experiences.

Speakers

Gregg Katano

SVP, Strategic Partnerships and Business Dev. , Medici XC

Dana Ware

Creative Creative Officer , ARound

Jenna Seiden

Senior VP Business Development , Skydance Interactive

Rob Taylor

CXO , Pendulum

Description

When an immersive experience takes on all or most of a person’s senses, it becomes a new dimension. Large amount of creativity goes into architecting a dimension (characters, story line, visual, sound, touch feedback) and large amount of compute goes into rendering such dimension into reality (high quality sound and graphics, tracking) this on top of the ingenious instrumented space where such dimension exists.

Previously, rendering of sounds and visuals of a dimension were limited to the amount of compute a person could carried. Compute offloading with high bandwidth, low latency wireless technologies are removing such limitation. New dimensions can quickly utilize what state of the art compute and rendering technologies can deliver with the potential of shortening development and deployment cycles.

Speakers

Steve Duckworth

Void , The Void

Serafin Diaz

VP of XR , XCOM Labs

Description

‘Metaverse’ technologies have promised to bring us together, but many have left us with the illusion of connection. Removing us from the familiar into uncanny and uncomfortable experiences that cannot be sustained or enjoyed by all. We need to start with places where our friends and family gather together. Tilt Five builds on everyone’s favorite pastime – game night – and sprinkles in augmented reality (AR). Blending physical presence and virtual ones, Tilt Five’s holographic gaming system allows for users to interact with each other, whether together or remotely, and of course, the holograms on their table! Jeri Ellsworth joins AWE to share how we can create meaningful social interactions by reinventing game night.

Speakers

Jeri Ellsworth

CEO , Tilt Five

Description

Join Niantic Lightship as they talk with developers and designers building truly immersive, real-world AR experiences with the new Lightship Visual Positioning System (VPS). Hear how unlocking the ability to quickly and accurately localize users enabled these developers to create new methods of game play and bring new experiences into AR that have otherwise been impossible.

Speakers

Brian Rose

Director , Niantic, Inc.

Tory Smith

Product Manager , Niantic, Inc.

Antony Tran

Co-Founder & CEO , Foundry Six

Jon Wong

Founder & Chief Product Officer , Foundry Six

Shirley Layer

Full Time Creator , LeARn

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

Gamers explored virtual worlds long before the term Metaverse was coined.
Festival goers understand the nuances of what makes an experience incredible- why they go back year after year to make new memories that last a lifetime.
Music of each era is an indication of where our culture is going before we even realize it.
As these core pillars of culture collide in the Metaverse, we’ll hear from panelists who come from deep inside the music, gaming and the broader world of entertainment to learn how fandom is evolving, and how understanding it is key to building a successful business in the Metaverse.

Speakers

Marisol Segal

Head of Digital Partnerships , AEG

Vickie Nauman

Founder , CrossBorderWorks

Danielle (Dani) Tran

Associate , Konvoy

Anne McKinnon

Cofounder & CEO , Ristband

Description

Join a conversation with Executives from Roblox, Meta, Microsoft/AltspaceVR, and Baobab Studios who will discuss their visions for the metaverse and what they're looking for. This panel will be moderated by Maureen Fan, CEO & Founder of Baobab Studios.

Speakers

Mari Kyle

Game Producer , Meta

Duncan Campbell

Content Acquisition Manager , Roblox

Katie Kelly

Head of Engagement , Microsoft Mesh

Maureen Fan

CEO & Co-Founder , Baobab Studios

Description

Creativity is at the heart of the TikTok experience. To expand what’s possible on TikTok and take content creation to the next level, TikTok launched Effect House — an effect development platform that empowers effect creators to build AR experiences and effects for TikTok’s global community.

During Effect House's early beta, effects made in Effect House were used in more than 1.5 billion TikTok videos and garnered over 600 billion views globally.

Join the team at TikTok to learn about how Effect House has inspired a new wave of storytelling, fun, and entertainment across TikTok. Hear about how the team developed the robust, dynamic features that power Effect House and learn some best practices for showcasing your creativity with XR on TikTok.

Speakers

Kathy Wang

Product Management , TikTok

Guohui Wang

Head of AR Effect , TikTok

Description

Story is the most powerful agent for change that we have as a society, and the potential for impact becomes even more evident as we witness the intersection of art and technology.

Join creators, producers, and thought leaders for an engaging conversation around how they approach a project with an impactful mindset. What are the best practices for this type of creation, distribution, and production? How can content and stories made within the XR industry continue or expand these trends?

Speakers

Michaela Ternasky-Holland

Creative Strategist & Impact Producer , Games for Change

Lauren Ruffin

Co-Founder , Crux

Victor Agulhon

CEO , TARGO

Caitlin Robinson

Head of Product Marketing and Business Development , Scatter

Robert Hernandez

Professor of Professional Practice , USC Annenberg School of Journalism

Description

Though the metaverse may be a novel channel accelerated by a global pandemic, its ethos is not. Fans build brands because there’s no greater loyalty than real love. Virtual worlds offer real benefits for engagement. From digitally twining real locations to building bespoke new worlds—(meta)worlds matter more than ever before.

Consumers want exclusive, one-of-a-kind experiences, and now that those experiences exist in completely new virtual formats. But like any other channel, these worlds live and die with content. Although virtual content exists within a three-dimensional world, it has to offer the same level of immediacy, interactivity and engagement that drives traffic to 2D sites. Hungry brands are now beginning to realize what AAA game studios have known for years: there’s a ton of opportunity on the table, and we’re just getting started.

Right now, savvy companies are creating fully realized digital environments for brands, products and IP—driving actual value to stakeholders and customers. While imagination is the only limit to what virtual worlds can accomplish, success starts with purpose. If the metaverse is marketing, then brands have an enormous opportunity to connect with fans like never before.

In this panel, meta-worldbuilders Josh Rush (CEO / Surreal Events), Craig Laliberte (Sr. Business Development Lead / Epic Games) and Greg Mize (VP, Marketing & Innovation / Atlanta Braves) discuss how the Braves became the first MLB team to join the metaverse with Digital Truist Park. They also explore how brands can amplify reach, sales and engagement in the metaverse by putting fans first. Batter up!

Speakers

Greg Mize

VP of Marketing & Innovation , Atlanta Braves

Josh Rush

Co-Founder & CEO , SURREAL Events

Craig Laliberte

Sr. Business Development Manager , Epic Games - Unreal Engine

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