We were thrilled to attend the 15th-annual Augmented World Expo, in Long Beach, California!
With an estimated 6000 attendees, AWE is the largest and longest-standing convention for augmented, virtual, and immersive experiences: a field collectively known as XR.
Our new XR Lab Coordinator, Drew Stone, went to share what we’re building with others at the BCXR Lab, hear directly from with other leaders and visionaries in the space, and connect with others to strengthen our NW XR EDU Network!
The festivities got started the evening before the first day of the conference (June 18-20), with an impromptu networking smorgasbord across from the convention center.
Sean Mann, CEO of RP1, greets pre-event attendees welcoming them to the 15th Annual Augmented World Expo at an Irish pub across the street from the Long Beach Convention Center, The Auld Dubliner.
Tuesday, 7/18/2024
Networking, and checking out the Expo Floor
Keynote (pic)
A historical approach to XR, and AWE’s 15-year tenure as the predominant convention for immersive technology. AWE co-founder and CEO Ori Inbar addresses the crowd at his keynote address to review how far we’ve come as an industry.
Arctop focus game with an EEG accessory that measures brainwaves as focus and heart-rate during the game experience.
Trying out integrated 360 video and spatialized topographical map of University of Oregon’s 360 Eagle Creek Fire project using photogrammetry; the footage was gathered years ago VIDEO, and now is an immersive benchmark to show how specific areas of wilderness recover from wildfires.
I tested out some VR training simulations deployed to the Apple Vision Pro, with a reusable fabric face-cover from Ringling College of Art and Design.
After a whirlwind tour through the packed expo hall, the opening night party at “The Cove” was being DJ’d by none other than DJ Celeste! It was great to meet her in person, and jam to the grooves with a Boston Dynamics Robot Dog “Spot” in the background!
While waiting for the XR Guild social event co-sponsored by the Virtual World Society at a nearby venue, the crowd outside got a rare glimpse of something flashing and soaring across the sky; it turns out we were inadvertent spectators for the SpaceX launch that evening!
Wednesday 7/19/2024
Tony Parisi (original creator of GLTF format!) asks questions from the Khronos Group panel about 3D content creation. Look forward to our lightning talk at the upcoming Khronos Group’s OpenXR Live 2024 events in Seattle, on September 12! Sign up to attend here: LINK
Perrin Kaplan hosts an engaging panel with creators of Social VR experiences: Jonathan Hamel (Gorilla Tag, EchoVR), Morgan Tucker (Rec Room), and Shane Rhodes (Walkabout Mini Golf)
Members of Magic Leap talk about their learnings in introducing users to new control schemas and paradigms, and a review of the key points in “Building XR for Beginners,” by Magic Leap.
Women in XR / XR Women awards ceremony at the Expo Hall stage!
XR Women leadership team: Robin Moulder, Christine Hobbi, Caroline Dennis, Tricia Blake, Wendy Sherman, Ginna Lambert.
Members of XR Women (and allies) crowd the stage for a group photo after the awards ceremony.
VIP Auggie Awards afterparty put on by Big Rock Creative and MIT Reality Hack was a great success, with cool refraction glasses!
Austin Cain (of Cause + Christi) rides a rocket art-car at the Auggie afterparty.
Thursday 7/20/2024
Adele Keane (Imvizar) with Deirdre V. Lyons and Whitton Frank (Ferryman Collective) in the first session of the last day as a fireside chat, talking about creating intimacy in virtual storytelling experiences.
Cameron Kostopoulos talks about the perception shifting experience of the award-winning Body of Mine VR experience, available on the Meta Quest Store.
Austin Caine, Kyle Render, and Kirsten Hudson, talking about stand-up comedy, and the history of success bringing live comedians to virtual comedy clubs.
In the ‘How to Build Virtual Worlds’ panel with Michelle Weisblat-Dan (IamCompubear), Helen Lundstrom Erwin, and Christi Fenison discuss the process and care for details in creating engaging virtual worlds in translation from a written work to immersive virtual experiences.
Creator Lightening Panel with Amy Sidenwurm of immersive media institute, agog on the mic, and Juliana Loh (creator of the award-winning Dragon Magic) to her left.
Scarlett Kim and Athena Demos on Enhancing Human connection in the Physical World with XR.
Ruth Diaz, Psy.D, delivers truly innovative ways to consider how to handle bad actors, aberrant behavior and the culture of trolling through her Deepen; Orient; Transform (DOT Model) and Conflict Resiliency.
Making a case for “Conflict Resiliency, vs. “Conflict Resolution”.
The Augmented World expo was a fantastic event, and was filled with tons of connections, ideas and palpable energy for the momentum of immersive media, shared realities, and earnestly meaningful development for the future!
We plan to return to AWE in 2025 to make even more connections and share our story of what we’re facilitating to bridge the connections between education, developers, community and culture at teh Bellevue College XR Lab.
Last Updated August 12, 2024