Agenda

Description

A healthy creative ecosystem, with diverse technologists and artists working in a wide variety of modes and methodologies, is absolutely critical to our cultural climate. It also makes better art, and better products.

Interdisciplinarity requires flexibility to build collaborative trust and to merge or understand the possibilities of practical capabilities like technologies and instruments, and others' creative and technical expertise.

Limber connective tissue is needed for interdisciplinary practice and may take some warming up, or time to learn new creative language or workflows. Opportunity for creative frictions and cross-pollination can bring inspiration toward new pursuits, or nourish existing practice. Meaningful inclusivity takes thoughtfulness.

In this panel, we will discuss some challenges and strategies for functional creative and technical interdisciplinary collaboration.

Speakers

Ruthie Doyle

Director, Interdisciplinary Program , Sundance Institute

Valencia James

Director , Creator

Ellen Oh

Dir. of Interdisciplinary Arts Programs / Stanford Arts Incubator , Stanford University

Sarah Ellis

Director of Digital Development , Royal Shakespeare Company

Description

Welcome to Metaverse Melodies, a groundbreaking live pitch competition where three teams pitch their musical creation to a panel of producers as they vie for the chance to bring their productions to life in virtual reality. In this high-stakes, high-energy session, witness the future of Broadway and live entertainment as it unfolds in the metaverse. The winner will receive the ultimate prize: a full-scale production of their show in virtual reality.. Be part of this pioneering journey that shatters traditional barriers and creates a more inclusive and accessible world of theater, where artists, producers, and crew members come together to build a thriving, equitable ecosystem.

Don't miss out on the chance to witness the birth of the next generation of Broadway and live entertainment, where creativity knows no bounds, and technology takes center stage. Come and be inspired by the rich, diverse stories that will captivate audiences and elevate humanity, both on and beyond the virtual stage.

Speakers

Christopher Sepulveda

Film, Theatre & XR Producer , Apples and Oranges

Tim Kashani

CEO & Co-Founder , Apples and Oranges

Pamela Winslow Kashani

Co-Founder , Apples and Oranges

Description

In the multisensory virtual experience, the interplay of sight, sound, and touch simulation can enhance our sense of immersion, embodiment, and delight. How far away are we from achieving that? How can we integrate visual, audio, and haptic interfaces to create more compelling experiences? How can we use these tools today to facilitate genuine connection and communication – and what advances do we want to watch out for?

Our panelists will share learnings and observations from their research and development work to exceed the expectations of customers who want new, tactile experiences and unique personal environments. Join us to explore how multisensory experiences might affect the ways in which we create our real (and virtual) spaces.

Speakers

Laura Kusumoto

Enterprise XR Program Manager , Creator

Jacquelyn Morie

Founder, Chief Scientist , All These Worlds, LLC

Linda Jacobson

Director of Marketing , HaptX

Tom Carter

CEO & Co-Founder , Ultraleap

Kip Haynes

Sr. Creative Technologist , Lowe's

Description

News organizations were one of the first to embrace 360VR content. Now Paramount’s CBS News Bay Area and CreatorUp have taken immersive storytelling back into the spotlight. In the last 5 months, five customized storytelling projects set engagement and viewership records as Scott Warren from Paramount and Dan Krolczyk from CreatorUp were able to merge teams to remove obstacles. Join the session for an opportunity to see the fifth season finale’ of stories that range from the snowcapped mountains of Tahoe to raging Pacific outside the Golden Gate Bridge. Learn more about how Insta360, HTC Vive and other partners helped along the way.

Speakers

Scott Warren

President & General Mgr of KPIX & KBCW & CBS News Bay Area Stream , Paramount

Dan Krolczyk

Director of Global Partnerships , ELB Learning

Description

In this presentation, Barry Kaplan will discuss why AR/VR has not yet exploded in the market, and introduce a game-changing wearable technology. The MudraBand from Wearable Devices, is the world's first SNC (surface nerve conductance) wristband that reads neural signals generated by simple hand gestures and translates them into Bluetooth actions.

Barry will explore how MudraBand allows for more natural and intuitive interactions in AR/VR, and discuss how SNC technology reads the bio potentials of the user, registers tiny changes in electrical output, and extrapolates the intended gesture using deep learning models. Finally, Barry will showcase how MudraBand is revolutionizing the way we interact with digital content, bringing a new level of realism to immersive experiences.

Speakers

Barry Kaplan

EVP USA , Wearable Devices

Description

This session will explore how haptic feedback can elevate the user experience in XR content.

Beginning with an overview of the benefits of haptic feedback, this session will delve into the science
behind the bHaptics' devices and discuss the design, implementation, and application of haptic
feedback to enhance user engagement, with a special emphasis on real-world case studies that
showcase the technology's capabilities.

The session will provide attendees with practical insights and actionable strategies to maximize the
potential of haptic feedback in their own XR content with bHaptics’ haptic devices.

Speakers

Kiuk Gwak

CEO , bHaptics

Description

This panel features both the client and the agency that created a compelling AR activation leveraging story-telling, serialized content, and both in-person and virtual events to connect with developers.

This innovative campaign used web-based AR to help drive engagement at a virtual event, offering up a gamified and educational interactive experience featuring 'Chuck' - a sarcastic and snarky block character that led the user through the experience. The campaign further evolved by engaging in-person, conference attendees with booth-activated AR experiences that further told Chuck's story.

Speakers

Lisa Peyton

Immersive & Strategic Comm. Instructor , University of Oregon

Kellie Bayer

Senior Event Program Manager , Intel

Billie Goldman

Partner Marketing Director , Intel

Patrick Johnson

CEO , Rock Paper Reality

Description

The Gateway to the Future is an AR project that aims to "enrich cultural heritage through the power of technology". It consists of two AR experiences centered around the Wasserschloss - an iconic UNESCO World Heritage Site located in Hamburg. HONOR partnered with ARLOOPA to bring the concept to life and tasked two visual artists - Yunuene and Timo Helgert, to creatively transform the Wasserschloss using AR.

Yunuene's "Sailing Through Time" project takes viewers on a journey through the port city of Hamburg's marine logistics history.

You can enjoy both experiences for free using the ARLOOPA app. Users lucky enough to be in Hamburg can use AR from the Poggenmühlen-Brücke bridge on the side of the Wasserschloss landmark as a vantage point. Everybody else can just use a flat surface to project the entire visual ensemble on a flat surface.

We can see how the metaverse is colliding with physical reality.

Speakers

Yunuene Yunuene

Artist , Creator

Arman Atoyan

Chief Wizard , ARLOOPA

Description

Does the idea of making tabletop holograms excite you? Well, it should! The Tilt Five Augmented Reality System offers a new way to develop and play. Jeri breaks down her latest AR projects and how she approaches developing new games and experiences. With a low-friction path to making AR content–even if it’s your first time–the system provides you everything you need to engage, entertain, and educate your users. Find out how you can create the ultimate experience for family game night or even develop a plugin to increase your team’s productivity–the possibilities are endless!

Speakers

Jeri Ellsworth

CEO , Tilt Five

Description

As new technologies evolve, so do the ways we live, work, play, shop and explore the world around us.

Hear how gaming and play are influencing our everyday experiences. Learn how global brands and up-and-coming startups are creating connected experiences and merging mixed worlds through gaming, the metaverse, web3, emerging technologies such as augmented reality, AI, voice, sound, senses, and beyond.

This session will share an overview of the current market landscape with real-world examples and discuss how innovators are changing the way we interact with the world.

Take Away 1: Provide an understanding of how gaming and play are influencing our everyday experiences.

Take Away 2: Outline specific examples of how companies are creating mixed and merged experiences through gaming, the metaverse, web3, emerging technologies.

Take Away 3: Key trends, future thinking and the opportunities ahead for gamifying the world around us.

This session is for….
This session is for brands, technologists, innovators and creators who are looking to learn more about how gaming and play are influencing our everyday experiences.

Consumer Brand Leaders, Digital Executives, CIOs, CTOs, CDOs, CXOs, Technologists, Product Leaders, Product Managers, Product Owners, Digital Transformation Leads, Cultural Transformation, Consulting

Speakers

Matt Fleckenstein

Executive Product Leader , The Walt Disney Company

Adam Shlachter

Strategic Partnerships Marketing , Niantic

Val Vacante

VP, Solutions Innovation , dentsu

Eve Weston

CEO/Creator of Realities , Exelauno

Description

In this exciting panel we will be talking to the game legends, Survios, about how they collaborated with Qualcomm and T-Mobile to develop the next generation of AR gaming with the Puzzle Bobble game.

We will explore how Survios utilized the Snapdragon Spaces platform to develop and deliver an outstanding demo of Puzzle Bobble. What game mechanics were used and how the platform was utilized. What considerations made this IP attractive for developing on the Snapdragon Spaces platform.

We will hear from an expert from Qualcomm on the features of the Snapdragon Spaces platform that were used.

We will also hear from T-Mobile’s XR lead, Cerilenne Menendez Mendoza about how connectivity and the T-mobile network has powered this 5G XR game.

Speakers

Louisa Spring

Founder , SAM Immersive

Kathy Braegger

Director, Business Development , Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.

Cerilenne Menendez Mendoza

XR Lead , T-Mobile

Alex Silkin

Co-Founder & CTO , Survios

Description

Following the WebXR Summit Series, Meet The Makers moves past the “what and the how”, to focus on the “Who” of the Metaverse; the people building it. This session will debut the new series pilot that featuring interviews that are both personal and technical with World Builder Artsy Marie, XR Engineer Ben Ferns, Generative AI Expert, Author Evo Heyning. Live in person, the team that executed the first volumetric live streamed red carpet and awards presentation at the 3rd Poly Awards, will discuss how they pulled off using Scatter’s Depthkit volume at ZeroSpace to put hosts and guests into the Polys Red Carpet Theater built by Cause+Christi.

Speakers

Julie Smithson

Co-Founder & COO , MetaVRse

James George

CEO & Co-Founder , Scatter

Elena Piech

XR Producer , ZeroSpace

Austin Cause Caine

Co-Creator , Cause + Christi: Immersive XR Design

Christi Fenison

Co-Founder , Cause + Christi: Immersive XR Design

Ben Erwin

Creator , The Polys - WebXR Awards

Description

Coming Soon!

Speakers

Bob Cooney

Author , The Being Virtual Show with Bob Cooney

Chanel Summers

VP Product Development , VRstudios

William Tustin

CFO , Chicken Waffle

Jonathan Nowak Delgado

CEO and Co-Founder , Spree Interactive

Description

It's never too early to start building a strong community through active engagement with your potential customers or players. In this session, Eric Masher and Todd Jackson offer practical advice on how to create and sustain a successful VR community.

Speakers

Eric Masher

COO , Impact Reality / Flat2VR Studios

Todd Jackson

Content Creator / Podcaster , Q2C-VR Gamer

Description

This casual discussion outlines the original mission of holoride from 2015, with our co-founder's vision spun out of AUDI Innovation. Our longstanding partnerships with HTC and Schell Games paint an immersive journey building a solid platform together pairing real time car data, open map data and original content creation. We will explore the successes and challenges within the VR industry that helped us reach our goal of an Elastic SDK, the onboarding of more strategic partners, our RIDE Token, scaling a diverse company, launching a consumer facing product store and rolling this out both in Germany and the US. So what’s in store for the next 5 years, 12 years -- and, the long game of mobility, transportation and media & entertainment? Come join the lively conversation.

Speakers

Christopher Bellaci

General Manager North America , holoride

Kathleen Cohen

Tech Humanist, XR Strategist , The Collaboratorium

Description

From the barriers to entry to getting experiences funded and then creating the actual deliverable product, Adrian Rashad Driscoll and Rommel ‘RomeDigs’ Reyes will help the audience understand how we can bridge the gap between music and XR. These entertainment experts will share tips on bringing music artists in to the XR space and answer audience questions related to the process.

Speakers

Adrian Rashad Driscoll

Head of Immersive , Collimation

Rommel "RomeDigs" Reyes

Producer, Director , Creator

Description

Join us for a discussion with creators who are leading the way in 21st century entertainment. Does the current Hollywood structure support them? How do they independently forge ahead with the emergence of a new show business model? How does using XR enhance their visions and make their projects reach extraordinary heights? These topics and more will be explored on this exciting panel with the next generation of moviemakers and performers.

Speakers

Lisi Linares

Publicist

Whitton Frank

Co-Founder , Ferryman Collective

Jonathan Sims

Director and XR Creator , Hyper RPG

Brendan Bradley

Scrappy Storyteller , The Jigsaw Ensemble

Description

This panel will discuss the emergence of XR theatre production, including VR and AR integration with narrative original and adaptive works, as well as how to blend XR technologies with live and virtual audiences. The theatre world has developed communities for live, virtual productions that include multi-site AR and VR integrations, as well as hybrid events that deliver mixed effects for remote audiences.

This session will include some of the leading producers and technologists in global immersive theatre and dance, including Pip Brignall, from The Round; Kiira Benzing, with Doubleeye Studios; Scarlett Kim with Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and Chris Pfaff, Chris Pfaff Tech Media LLC (moderator) and will include both live and recorded demos of immersive theatre.

Speakers

Chris Pfaff

Owner , Chris Pfaff Tech/Media LLC

Kiira Benzing

Executive Creative Director , Double Eye Studios

Pip Brignall

Co-Founder , The Round

Scarlett Kim

Director of Innovation & Strategy , Oregon Shakespeare Festival

Description

Fans don’t just want to watch the game - they want to be a part of the experience. To engage their attention, fans demand a personalized, emotional experience, with increasing pressure to show innovation. Tech enabled experiences provide brands an opportunity to gain insights on their fans (their needs, motivations, etc.), and become more influential in their purchasing decisions.

Whether digital platforms, AR, VR, AI, holograms, or NFTs, the gamification of the fan experience is an example of the way teams and brands can optimize consumer interactions to increase sales, analyze customer engagement, and measure partnerships. From pre-event, to on-site, to at-home, and post game experiences, our fireside chat will explore how brands can leverage XR to connect with consumers, build fanbases, and influence opinion.

Speakers

Bobby Basham

Director, Baseball Innovation , Chicago Cubs

Natascha French

CMO , MVP Interactive

James Giglio

CEO and Founder , MVP Interactive