Join us (FREE) to discover what is happening in the world of Virtual and Augmented Reality. How will healthcare be transformed? Will I attend my college lecture course virtually? How will the way we experience cinema change? What will the definition of social situations evolve to mean? How small will the world really get? How much can our imaginations actually handle?
Virtual and Augmented Reality have made their way around the block before. Many of today's innovators trace their tech roots back to the 1950's and 60's. That first era of Virtual Reality is marked by Ivan Sutherland's "Sword of Damocles." As that wave was put to bed in the late 60's, one of the only consistent users of the technology was the military.
That is, until the 80's and 90's when the technology reemerged in vertigo-inducing arcade games produced most notably by Virtuality. The heavy and expensive hardware of the era, coupled with the unpleasant and impractical 3 minute games led to a few attempts by Sega and Nintendo to keep the trend alive (with no success).
Our current era of Virtual and Augmented reality is commonly said to have started with the $2B acquisition of Oculus VR by Facebook in 2014. From there we have seen an amazing ammout of innovation by a flood of creative pioneers. Although many still believe that the final definition of VR and AR is yet to be discovered, few disagree that this wave is here to stay.
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Join our keynote and panelists to discuss the current capabilities of VR and AR and what the innovators themselves believe the future holds for the technology. And why this time you better get used to it. Â Â
Travis has shot and edited 360 news and documentary content covering Bernie Sanders' presidential campaign, Fidel Castro's death, and the Standing Rock water protectors. Most recently, he served as the Head of VR for Hulu's first 360 sketch comedy show, "Virtually Mike and Nora," and he is an Executive Producer on Hulu's first 360 documentary. RYOT is an immersive media company acquired last year by AOL and The Huffington Post.
As director of Virtual Reality and Content Development at Sony Pictures, Joe Burg is responsible for executing the production and creative strategy of the studio’s slate of VR projects. With a home entertainment background in creative content and new platform development Joe has executed VR projects in the mobile and premium HMD spaces, including Ghostbusters Now Hiring: Act 1 for Playstation VR.Â
As Head of Business Development for appliedVR, a Virtual Reality company developing therapeutic solutions in the healthcare space, Alex oversees the company’s strategic partnership and development efforts with leading hospitals and health systems. Previously Alex led User Insights & Strategy for Meitu, a mobile app development company based in China and worked as a Senior Research Manager at LRW, one of the largest privately-held marketing research consultancies in the world.
Deone Zell is Associate Vice President of Academic Technology at CSUN, where she leads initiatives that advance teaching and learning through technology. Prior she was faculty for 12 years in CSUN School of Business. She earned her Ph.D. at UCLA where she also managed projects for the Vice Chancellor’s Office of Research focusing on high-performance organizations in Fortune 500 companies and universities. She has authored multiple articles and books on the topics of innovation and organizational change.
As Chief Marketing Officer of VNTANA, an Augmented Reality company that created the first scalable and interactive hologram system, Natascha oversees the company’s marketing, sales and communications strategy. Natascha began her career has a journalist for CNN, and most recently worked for various marketing and communications agencies, including Allison+Partners, where she focused on building the startup technology division. Natascha obtained her B.A. in Political Science and Journalism from Emory University, having prior studied at the University of California, Berkeley.Â
Mark Dochtermann is a Senior Technologist with 25 years of experience in all aspects of game development (traditional, web and mobile). His career has given me a deep understanding of product development both from the point of view of the developer and the publisher. Mark led the client teams that created pioneering location based mobile game Ingress and Pokemon Go as part of Niantic Labs, an autonomous unit within Google. Mark is a First Person Shooter visionary who has designed and built many of the earliest shooters that established the genre.
Aude runs the San Francisco office for the Epic Foundation, a startup non-profit supporting projects across the world changing children’s lives. Epic is disrupting the space of philanthropy by bringing in a more impact-focused and experiential approach to giving. Epic has developed its own tools to help donors connect to the difference they are making. Epic’s impact app has been featured in TechCrunch, FastCompany and Business Insider. Epic launched its Epic360 VR series to transport donors instantly to the slums of Mumbai in India, the favelas of Sao Paulo in Brazil and the streets of Palo Alto to immerse themselves in the lives of some of the children supported by the organization.
Iva Leon is a pioneer in the VR industry. She co-founded VRLab in 2014 as a San Francisco VR developer meet up community focused on bringing local virtual reality products and experiences to everyday users. Today she co-organizes the ARVR women and Allies group which promotes women to create a diverse, prepared workforce for the AR/VR industry through raising visibility, facilitating industry connections, and developing educational opportunities.
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