Agenda

Description

Still consumer behavior continues to change, e-commerce continues to grow and virtualization gains traction. What is the future of our malls, stores, and for that matter all Consumer Environments?

Are consumers ready for completely virtual immersive realities, events, and shopping?

What will become of a massive commercial real estate market that contributes $33Trillion to the US economy alone?

While we are dreaming of a long-term virtual meta-reality the near-term mixed reality future is being created inside of the Built Environment.

In this session, Jeremy Bergstein, Vice President of Customer Experience at Resonai, will discuss the future of malls, retail, and consumer venues, and why our the near-term meta-reality will likely be created in our Built World.

Speakers

Jeremy Bergstein

VP of Global Experience , Resonai

Description

Within USA TODAY NETWORK's DNA is the desire to innovate how the organization tells stories. Since 2018 USA TODAY's Emerging Technologies team has developed over 40 highly engaging and interactive augmented reality (AR) experiences, exploring complex, historical, and trending news topics. Recognizing an opportunity to improve the core user experience within the app's framework, the team leveraged engagement analytics and external user testing to develop a robust and intuitive user onboarding sequence, resulting in a 3x increase in average time spent per user.

A few media-rich AR experiences that include the updated framework are “Seven Days of 1961: A Dangerous Ride on the Road to Freedom,” "Champions of Women's Suffrage,” "Accused: The Impending Execution of Elwood Jones,” “Attica: A Prison Uprising 50 Years Later,” and many others. The Emerging Technology team has also implemented accessible designs to meet their audience's growing expectations for new and inclusive forms of premium interactive experiences.
Will Austin, the Senior Designer of Emerging Technology, will explore the evolution of UI/UX to foster a deeper understanding of AR amongst casual consumers. He will also share insights and case studies on USA TODAY's onboarding challenges, new instructional design, and its vision for the future of premium interactive editorial experiences.

Speakers

William Austin

Sr. Designer , Gannett | USA TODAY NETWORK

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

The OpenXR standard, from the Khronos Group, is a royalty-free open standard that enables application developers to program to a single, common, high-performance API which supports a number of different AR and VR platforms. Containing everything an application needs to drive XR devices in a system, OpenXR helps applications run on a multitude of platforms, allowing hardware manufacturers to gain access to a broader range of pre-existing content. In this session Brent Insko, Lead XR Architect for Intel and OpenXR Working Group Chair will be joined by Lisa Watts, VP Product Marketing & Developer Programs for Magic Leap to discuss the benefit of cross-platform development with OpenXR.

Lisa will present typical myth busters about developing on an OpenXR platform and Brent will share recent industry developments for the open standard, explain how XR developers can integrate OpenXR into their workflows, with updates about expanded augmented reality support that is under development for OpenXR. Together, these two speakers will highlight the role OpenXR plays in getting gaming, entertainment and enterprise XR developers to a common ground. Developers will leave with a fresh understanding of how to leverage OpenXR to create cross-platform XR experiences and expand the open metaverse.

Speakers

Lisa Watts

CEO , OneTwenty1

Brent Insko

Lead XR Architect , Intel

Description

Join us for some of the latest behind-the-scenes research in Google Advanced Technology and Projects Group. We introduce a new full-body interaction technique that uses miniaturized radar technology and advanced machine learning for the detection and recognition of spatial relations, as they naturally occur around devices (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-eh2K4HCzI). By continuously sensing spatial behaviors and movements, ambient computing devices can anticipate our intent, and participate in our everyday life in a more considerate and respectful way: they can reduce the need for direct interactions, or automate some actions in the background, so that the user doesn’t have to attend to them at all –ultimately freeing us from unnecessary tasks.

Speakers

Lauren Bedal

Design Lead , Google

Eiji Hayashi

Staff Research Engineer , Google

Description

As we begin to build out communities inside the Metaverse/virtual worlds, are there any key architectural tenants and principals we should consider first, that might be different from game design ecosystems? Traditional Experience Design from themed attractions have long been well equipped to answer these questions. Tune in to this fireside chat with Disney Imagineer and Experience Designer, Amy Jupiter, to help us better understand if building for the Metaverse holds the same requirements as building a new themed attraction.

Speakers

Amy Jupiter

Founder/Chief Experience Designer , ByJove: A Collective of Perspective TM

Kathleen Cohen

Tech Humanist, XR Strategist , The Collaboratorium

Description

Western Science has a lot to learn from Indigenous Science, it’s a co-evolution of HCI (Human Computer Interaction) knowledge that is so key, right now. We are in the tools building decade. For the past several years LINK (Living Indigenous Network of Knowledge) has been at the forefront building XR tools for global Indigenous communities to create their own stories. At the same time AXRI has been building tools and understanding for neurodivergent communities to participate in virtual worlds/building. At the very core, it's about embedding and/or infusing Indigenous and Neurodivergent values and essence into any object oriented design processes. It's integrated thinking and individualized storytelling at a time where we haven’t yet finished the “proverbial" book on Universal Access & Design. This realtime conversation of what is happening in Russia/Ukraine applies. The LINK of tribal networks can use XR to cross borders and boundaries to help tell stories and be translators when physical access is shut down.

Speakers

Kathleen Cohen

Tech Humanist, XR Strategist , The Collaboratorium

Jon Waterhouse

Research Scientist , University of Idaho

John Anderson

Professor , University of Idaho

Julio Gonzalez

Project Developer , AXR Institute

Description

Join us at Sushi Confidential ( 26 N San Pedro St, San Jose, CA 95113) for the official AWE Afterparty!

One way shuttles available immediately following the Auggie Awards. Open to all AWE participants with an AWE badge.

Come enjoy drinks and snacks while mingling with friends and colleagues and make those memorable AWE-some connections!

Description

Due to digital disruption, 52% of Fortune 500 companies have been purchased, gone bankrupt, or ceased to exist since 2000. Digital disruption is only growing in scope, and no industry is immune. Companies are being forced to find their footing in this new Meta world as the Fourth Industrial Revolution approaches. VIRNECT, an Industrial Collaborative XR company, has been working to address the digital transformation gaps that many industrial businesses are experiencing. From large-scale asset digitization to empowering hybrid workforces and increasing operational throughput with robotics and data, the possibilities are endless. In this session, learn how we're enabling impact, speed, and scale at industrial sites spanning Manufacturing, Energy, Mining, and Transportation.

Speakers

TAEJIN PARK

Manager , VIRNECT

Description

As Marty Neumeier so aptly describes, a brand is the “gut feeling” people have about your product/service. How do you ensure that your brand in the metaverse doesn’t give indigestion to your customer’s avatar?

The first step is re-examining your core brand assets so that they travel well. Whether or not you have technical teams engineering your immersive presence, brands with traditional agencies, brand managers and creative staff need to make sure the building blocks of brand are reevaluated, taking a new look at their brand strategy, customer profiles, success metrics, mission, vision, values, naming conventions, even color palette. The art and practice of building brands hasn’t changed, but there are new questions your guidelines need to answer.

Cynthia and Justin will walk you through what they believe are the first 10 Essential Questions, and how to uncover what your specific brand needs to evaluate.

Speakers

Justin Breton

Brand Experiences & Strategic Partnerships , Walmart

Cynthia Maller

Head of 3D Creative Technology , Walmart

Description

No longer just an idea, a multitude of players, brands and OEMs are bringing the Metaverse to life. Join Hugo Swart, VP and GM of XR at Qualcomm Technologies Inc., as he talks about the constellation of devices and exciting developer tools like Snapdragon Spaces that will drive truly immersive spatial computing experiences. As the leader of the XR team at Qualcomm, Hugo has a front row seat into the platforms, technologies and solutions under development that are your ticket to the Metaverse.

Speakers

Hugo Swart

VP & GM, XR , Qualcomm

Description

With augmented reality, teachers are able to stimulate their students' sense of sight, hearing and touch, heightening the level of engagement and motivation the students have for learning. Sara Smith, CEO and Cofounder of MARVL, and Murewa Olubela, CBO and Cofounder of MARVL, will share insights on how using immersive technologies, in particular AR, leads to increased interactive experiences with coursework, collaboration between students, improved motivation, and increased learning gains for students, and why it would benefit the XR industry to create solutions that enable equity in education.

Speakers

Sara Smith

CEO , MARVL

Murewa Olubela

Cofounder and Chief Building Officer , MARVL

Description

More than a decade ago, the industry started to signal interest in enabling core XR technologies. Around 6~8 years into that phase, the industry started seeing first generation XR devices introduced into the market with varying degrees of success. Just 2 years ago, we started to see an explosion in user interest in XR-related products, in part due to the pandemic influencing user behavior, but also thanks to companies trail-blazing in products and services. The question we continue to ask ourselves is: what are the devices and the user experience that should be offered to the end-users in the next 3~5 years? Goertek is proud of its legacy, and its continued investment into the XR category and we look forward to using this session to engage with the XR community.

Speakers

Ken Lin

Head of Product Marketing - US , Goertek Electronics

Description

Companies are often intimidated by implementing VR Training due to the challenges of scaling it. Join PIXO and its panel to discuss how enterprises have overcome these challenges, including:

• Getting buy-in from IT and other stakeholders
• Compliance and security
• Hardware acquisition
• Unique use cases
• How to blend VR with traditional training methods
• LMS Integration
• Identifying relevant content and deploying it remotely
• Cost/ROI

Speakers

Marc McConathy

Learning & Development, Digital Learning , Chick-fil-A

Sean Hurwitz

CEO, Founder , PIXO VR, Corp

Rich Beaudrie

Learning & Development, Digital Learning , Chick-fil-A

Brad Waid

Content Portfolio Director , PIXO VR, Corp

Description

The social unrest and increase in crime the past few years -- exacerbated by the pandemic -- has led to renewed concerns for safety. In this session, we explore how VR is actively being used to improve public safety training for optimal outcomes. From increasing access to training, to learning situational awareness around mental illness, to improving decision-making under stress, Axon is pioneering VR with a mission-based purpose: to protect lives and make our communities safer.

Speakers

Chris Chin

VP , Axon

Description

Speakers from AbbVie and Tipping Point Media (TPM) will discuss the case study of AbbVie’s Virtual Reality Suite of resources, including the newest addition
– an overview of presbyopia, or age-related degeneration of the eye. These VR experiences have been designed to support the launch of AbbVie’s newest products and indications by engaging healthcare providers (HCPs) and creating disease awareness through experiential learning. The newest eye-care focused expansion to this training tool leverages VR’s unique, visual immersion capabilities to simulate the impact of an eye disease on patient in a first-person perspective capacity.

During this time, speakers will detail how the use of innovative technologies can provide physicians and their staff with a deep understanding of various disease states through immersion. The session is meant to give audiences a first-hand account of the huge strides that can be made when companies invest in creativity and innovation and build towards the future.

Speakers

Brittany Gilbert-DeMarco

Director of Experiential Strategy , Tipping Point Media

Weston Pack

Associate Scientific Director , AbbVie

Description

At its best technology can be a powerful force for good in the world.

New cutting edge computer vision and code scanning techniques are helping CPG brands reimagine their packaging and product offering to help the visually impaired locate and access product information through their phone both in-store and at home.

Increasingly brands and businesses are looking to embrace the accessibility and inclusivity agenda for all their customers: providing access to relevant and augmented information for their total customer base, whether they are sighted or blind and partially sighted.

The trick is to deliver this in a way that can work operationally through the design, production and manufacturing chain whilst offering a simple and single scanning solution for all end users. Discover a new approach to solve this problem.

Speakers

Connell Gauld

Co-founder & CTO , Zappar

Description

Join for a discussion around the security/seamier side of the Metaverse and how we can establish trust and keep safety top of mind as we develop the infrastructure and regulations around immersive and emerging technologies.

Speakers

Elvis Chan

Assistant Special Agent in Charge (ASAC) , FBI

Sophia Moshasha

Podcast Host & DC Chapter VP , VR/AR Association

Joel Scharlat

Director of Operations , Cyber Bytes Foundation

Description

The ability of field medics and field surgeons to be able to get immediate consultation from an expert surgeon may be the critical difference in the survival and more positive longer-term recovery of a wounded warfighter. Being able to do this in an Augmented-to-Virtual Reality space would set this collaboration experience to an even higher level. This 3D collaborative space would provide a spatial calibration of the physical and virtual realities to allow the Novice surgeon to work on the physical body within an augmented reality alongside an Expert surgeon’s avatar with a virtual reproduction of the patient’s injury in his virtual reality.

The Virtual Augmented Distributed Engagement Reality (VADER) is an AR-VR Remote Telementoring/Telemedicine application that was implemented by SOLUTE for a medical organization in San Diego and is part of their operations center showcase offerings highlighting the latest leading-edge medical technologies.

Speakers

Vivian Hsu

Software Engineer , SOLUTE

James Pinpin

Principal Software Engineer , SOLUTE

Description

Immersive mediums are playing an increasingly important role in architecture by facilitating design reviews, communicating complex building data, and guiding both off-site manufacturing and on-site construction. Join the conversation with SHoP Architects, the design firm behind projects such as the new YouTube and Uber headquarters in California, and Assembly OSM, a venture-backed architectural manufacturing startup.

Adam Chernick from SHoP and Christopher Morse from AOSM are excited to be co-speaking with Thiasa Yamamura of Sony Electronics about their Spatial Reality Display (SRD) system.

SHoP and AOSM have been at the forefront of pushing the use of immersive tools within the Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) Industry. They have worked closely with Sony in order to push what is possible with immersive technology including the SRD. They will show some of the applied research efforts currently underway at their companies and will speak to their collaboration with Sony.

Speakers

Thaisa Yamamura

Head of Business Development , Sony

Adam Chernick

Director | Interactive Visualization , SHoP Architects

Christopher Morse

XR Developer , Assembly OSM