VR Voice Announces Upcoming Free Online VR & AR Games and Entertainment Conference
Today, VR Voice, a leading news source, conference organizer, and media company for the virtual reality, augmented reality, and mixed reality industries announced The VR Games & Entertainment Extravaganza, the world’s first free online conference dedicated solely to the industry. Taking place next Monday through Thursday, July 24–27, the event will showcase new technological innovations and explore the medium’s potential through a series of 50 plus speakers, 1:1 interviews, panels, and other special programming.
“This is the first time anyone has done an online conference like this for AR and VR”, says Bob Fine, the editor and publisher of VR Voice and co-organizer of the conference. Noting the rise of annual technology conventions like Augmented World Expo (AWE) and Consumer Electronics Show (CES), two events that present a cost barrier to many companies hoping to send employees, Fine was inspired to create a similarly immersive and educational experience that would be easily accessible to all. “I am amazed no one else has staged a free online conference on this topic,” he says. “There are hundreds of thousands of brilliant people all over the globe engaged with this technology who are never going on a business trip to San Francisco or Las Vegas.”
“We want people to have the same access to thought leaders and opinions in real time, without the inconvenience of leaving their office”, Fine continues.
The keynote interview will feature Jordan Weisman, a University of Southern California Professor, producer, game designer, and entrepreneur. Other industry leaders scheduled to speak include: Digi-Capital’s Tim Merel; Dean Takahashi of Gamesbeat; Board Member of The Osterhout Group Keith Boesky; Stephanie Llamas of Superdata Research; CEO of Dreamscape Bruce Vaughan; SVP of Technicolor Marcie Jastrow; as well as representatives from AMD, Nvidia, HTC, Microsoft, Giroptic, Zero Latency, Merge VR, and Zeality, among others.
The four day event will also host a presentation on the future of jobs within the VR and AR industries by Tim Herbert, the VP, Research & Market Intelligence at the Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA), and a series of presentations and panels on “VR and Hollywood” given by the VR society. Moderated by the Society’s president, Jim Chabin, these programs include discussions on “360 Video Now & In The Future”, “Venture Capital, VR, Games, and Entertainment”, “The Future of Edutainment,” and “Location Based Virtual Reality (LBVR).”
“The response from speakers and the amount of early registration have surprised and delighted us”, says Fine. “The willingness of industry leaders to make themselves accessible in this way is inspiring.”
Speakers at the VR Voice conference (clockwise) Brent Bushnell, Two-Bit Circus, Guy Primus, The Virtual Reality Company, Tim Ruse, Zero Latency, and Eyal Kleiner, IMAX VR.
The conference will conclude with a session hosted by AltspaceVR and conducted completely in VR. All conference events will be presented using Crowdcast.io, a program that is able to broadcast four-way video conferences into an interface that allows for simultaneous messaging between participants and panelists.
“The VR Voice VR Games and Entertainment Extravaganza is part of a series of conferences focused on industries where the average person will begin to notice changes in their lives today,” says Fine. “The impact of these changes will extend to many more industries over time and VR Voice plans to continue to highlight these changes.”
The VR Voice Games & Entertainment Extravaganza is the second event in the 2017 series, following the “VR and Healthcare” event held last month at George Washington University. Upcoming events include “VR & Higher Education” in Boston on August 10th, and “VR & Construction/Real Estate” on October 26, “VR & Defense/Public Safety” on November 9 and, finally, “VR for Good Summit” on November 17th. All three October and November events will be located in Washington, DC.
Click here to register and for more information including speaker bios and event schedule.
[Full disclosure: I am co-organizer of this conference with Fine and also Contributing Editor to VRVoice.co].
