1 Director’s Welcome Letter

It’s funny, how inspiration works. Putting on a conference like this is a mountain of consistent work. Sometimes you feel like you are getting tackled at every yard line, like nobody cares, like you can never cut through all the noise. Kind of like the VR industry has felt these past few years. Then you approach the finish line, the culmination of all your intense work, sacrifice, asking for favours, alms, attention, support, all the things you have learned and been taught along the way and realize... wow we still have to actually launch this thing.

I wasn’t sure how or when I was going to write this letter, because I was firing on all cylinders, moving a million miles a minute...and then it occurred to me - that is what this year’s show is about. It is about pausing for a moment, like one of those volumetric John Gaeta bullet-time sequences, and taking stock in all that has come before, and how to communicate that to as many people as possible in a way THEY can understand. This year our theme is about Humans and about Recalibration. We have come so far so fast, and we can’t forget that it is about us, people, and the beautiful world we live in, above all things.

This year, we take what we have learned and, rather than dwell on the difficulty of the path to here, we recalibrate and get ready for the Big Show; that part where our alien technology meets people in the way that works best for them. I believe immersive spatialized technologies can make the human experience better, and transmit ideas and messages in powerful new ways.

We are here to observe and affect in as many positive ways as we can. To ensure that the technology is used responsibly and also that its outer limits can be explored wholly, by anyone, anywhere.

That means, now it is time to look up and out with open hearts and minds and get ready for the amazing things that are about to happen.

Keram Malicki-Sanchez Programming Director / Producer, VRTO

VRTO Virtual & World Conference & Expo 2019 is brought to you by:

Programming Director / Producer: Keram Malicki-Sanchez Director of Communications / Producer: Stephanie Greenall

Executive Administrator / Registration / Graphic Design: Chrissy Aitchison VIP Coordinator: Melanie Smith Volunteer / Production Coordinator: Rachel MacKenzie Senior Event Production Advisor / AV Lead: Josh Miles Joudrie Guest Services / Production Support: Marika Woyzbun Floorplan Design: Rory Wicks Alpha Team: Michael Hoang • Simon Conlin • Sappho Hansen Smythe • Kate Aitchison • Nicole Mackereth • Melanie Morris

Special thanks to all of our event volunteers!

Cover Artwork: Keram Malicki-Sanchez

https://conference.virtualreality.to

Official event hashtag: @VRToronto #vrto2019 VRTO hashtag: #VRTO

2 VRTO Conference is operated by VRTO (Virtual Reality, ) a division of Constant Change Media Group Inc. 2 Thank You to our Sponsors & Partners

Premier Sponsors:

Sponsors:

geogram

Strategic Partners:

This is an independently run event that comprises many young startups and bold and innovative people. This conference and expo would not be possible without the generous support and participation of our sponsors, media and community partners. 3 Conference Schedule

Saturday, June 1, 2019 Sunday, June 2, 2019 Monday, June 3, 2019

10:00 am 10:00am - 10:20am 10:00am - 10:50am The State of the Art (LBE Edition) 9:30am - 10:50am The State of VR by the Numbers Clifton Dawson VIPs’ Exhibits Preview Tipatat Chennavasin 10:30 am 10:30am - 11:20am LBE 2019 & The Experience Economy Moderator: Clifton Dawson 11:00 am 11:00am - 11:50am Panel: Morgan Carlson, XR Trends for Future Dreamers: 11:00am - 11:50am CJ Hervey, Laura Mingail Embodiment, Worldbuilding, & the Ancient AR/VR 11:30 am Future of Experiential Entertainment Brave Williams 11:30am - 11:50am Kent Bye Barrier Breaking: VR For Everyone Keisha Howard

12:00 pm 12:00pm - 12:20pm 12:00pm - 12:50pm Spatialized 3D Audio 12:00pm - 1:00pm VR and the Road to Now…and Then and Generative Music SUPER SESSION Moderator : Keram Malicki-Sanchez John Kyle Varley Entering the Arena: AR, VR and Panel: Blake J. Harris, Blair Renaud the Future of eSports 12:30 pm 12:30pm - 1:00pm Moderator: Geoffrey LaChapelle 12:50pm - 1:00pm Immersive Audio: Panel: Ajay Fry, Keisha Howard, Book Signing Nightmares, Dreams, Realities Jakyo Manor Christian Hurst

1:00 pm 1:00pm - 2:00pm 1:00pm - 2:00pm 1:00pm - 2:00pm BREAK BREAK BREAK

2:00 pm 2:00pm - 2:20pm 2:00pm - 2:20pm Seamlessly Interactive: The Need for Developers 2:00pm - 2:50pm A Roadmap to Adaptive Storytelling Kevin Henderson SUPER SESSION Etienne Archambault, Luisa Valencia Real Talk For VR/AR Startups Moderator: Tipatat Chennavasin 2:30 pm 2:30pm - 2:50pm Panel: Jonathan Gagné, Discovering Humanity in the Virtual: 2:30pm - 3:30pm Srinivas Krishna, Mary Sorrenti Indie VR Game Developers: Syrmor’s Gonzo Journalism in SocialVR The Game Show Jesse Damiani, Syrmor Shiraz Host: Dustin Freeman 3:00 pm 3:00 - 3:30pm Martin Bradstreet, Andre Elijah, Emma Rye – Gamifying MRI in VR Blair Renaud for Patient Wellbeing 3:00 - 3:50pm Dr. Hillel Maresky, Shachar Weis 3:30 pm 3:30 - 3:50pm The Space Expanse Eagle Flight and Beyond: Galit Ariel 3:30pm - 3:50pm Key Learnings from Ubisoft VR and BREAK Growing the XR Ecosystem Olivier Palmieri 4:00 pm 4:00 - 4:20pm Creating (at) the 4:00pm - 4:45pm 4:00pm - 4:45pm Immersive Media Studio Prototyping the Future of AR in VR VR is a Gimmick. But is That Bad? Sarah Vick Lee Vermeulen Tom Westerlin 4:30 pm 4:30pm - 5:15pm ‘The Choice VR’: Volumetric 5:00 pm Documentary Filmmaking 5:00pm - 6:00pm Tom C. Hall, Joanne-Aśka Popińska 5:00pm - 5:50pm Team Human Podcast: Live Recording Same Old Brand New Everything Host: Douglas Rushkoff 5:30 pm 5:30pm -6:00pm Amelia Winger-Bearskin Guests: Keram Malicki-Sanchez, Virtual Reality’s Ever Evolving Pipeline Amelia Winger-Bearskin Timur Musabay, J. Lee Williams

6:00 pm 6:00pm - 7:00pm 6:00pm - 6:30pm 6:15pm - 7:00pm A New Controller for a New World: Team Human Podcast: Q & A Digital Humans, Telepresence, 6:30 pm What’s Next For Neural Interface Volumetric Capture for Art & Enterprise Technology 6:30pm - 7:00pm David Dexter, Andrew MacDonald, Adam Berenzweig Team Human Podcast: Book Signing Dan Mills, Imran Mouna

4 Conference Schedule

Schedule Note The published schedule is accurate current to the time of printing, and is subject to change without notice. For updates – and more information about sessions and speakers – use this QR code to visit the live VRTO schedule online at: https://conference.virtualreality.to/schedule2019

Occupied is an interactive agency that develops high-end custom XR occupiedvr.com

5 5 Event Floorplans

EXHIBITS SECOND FLOOR (main floor)

Time of Doubles

CONFERENCE

Media Lounge

FIRST Queen Street FLOOR (ground floor)

6 6 Event Floorplans

Time of Doubles Haru Ji & Graham Wakefield Extended May 25-26, 2019 for VRTO!

Immersive projection, volumetric At the base of a food chain of energy sensing, granular synthesis, artificial circulation and preservation, visitor’s ecosystem. doubles emanate myriad bright fluid particles, sources to be eaten by the Time of Doubles is an immersive smaller virtual organisms. Larger interactive art installation. It invites organisms hunt the smaller ones, visitors to experience mirror leaving physical residues and films existences of themselves taking on behind as they undulate through this new roles in a virtual ecosystem. multimodal world. Within a uniquely created computational world, visitors’ doubles http://www.artificialnature.net become continuous changing sources of energy and kinetic disturbance.

THIRD VIP FLOOR Lounge

7 7 Sponsoring, Exhibiting & Partner Companies

Christian Bobak Photography - christianbobak.ca CleanBox Technology - cleanboxtech.com Asia Amusement & Attractions Expo - CLEANBOX is a complete hygienic system that quickly www.aaaexpos.com decontaminates your VR/AR headsets and any future venue AVR360 - wearabletechnologyshow.net/avr360 gear, assuring safety for your customers and venues. Blimey - blimey.tv Constant Change Media Group - constantchangemedia.com Cadillac Lounge - cadillaclounge.com Business and Content Consultation for VR since 2015. Canadian Film Centre - cfccreates.com Cream - creamproductions.com CFC Media Lab is a training institute and accelerator for emerging interactive and digital creators, practitioners, Dames Making Games - dmg.to entrepreneurs. DX3 - www.dx3canada.com Canadian Geekcast - canadiangeekcast.podbean.com FITC - fitc.ca Canadian Hispanic Congress - FIVARS - fivars.net thecanadianhispaniccongress.com Game Time International - gtimagazine.com.tw Captive Camera - captivecamera.com Gamma Space - gammaspace.ca Charles Street Video - charlesstreetvideo.com Geogram - geogram.co

The province’s leading universities focused on technology and design have teamed up to forge a new model for the delivery of post-secondary education in Ontario: together OCAD U and Ontario Tech University will develop dynamic new ways of learning, curriculum, programs and research capacities.

www.ontariotechu.ca/ocadu | www.ocadu.ca/ontariotechu

CHRISTIANBOBAK.CA Event Photography

[email protected] 416 834 4651

8 Globacore - vr.globacore.com Occupied VR - occupiedvr.com Hand Eye Society - handeyesociety.com OGR - oculusgamereviewer.com Homido - www.homido.com Ontario Tech University - ontariotechu.ca Homido’s purpose is to democratize Virtual Reality Pandor Productions - pandor.com thanks to VR headsets for smartphones (iOS & Android). Pimax - pimaxvr.com IAB - www.iabcanada.com SGO / Mistika VR - sgo.es IndieGameReviewer.com Siggraph - s2019.siggraph.org - interleavecreative.com Interleave Signal Space Labs - signalspacelab.com - irisvr.com IRIS VR Toronto Game Devs - canadiangamedevs.com Kelencontent - kelencontent.com Toronto Media Arts Centre - tomediaarts.org Malicki Sanchez Law - malickisanchezlaw.com Tribe of Pan - tribeofpan.com Marquee Letters Toronto - marqueeletterstoronto.com Trinity Square Video - trinitysquarevideo.com Martov Co. - martov.com VR FEST - virtualrealityfestival.com MasterpieceVR - masterpiecevr.com What’s Your Tech - whatsyourtech.ca My Dear Drone - mydeardrone.com OCAD U - ocadu.ca

Space for genderqueer, nonbinary, femmes, TMAC is a collective artist-run centre and platform Two Spirit people, and trans and cis women for anyone to create and play with art and tech - film, to create games freely animation, video games, music, video, immersive media, electronics and more. dmg.to Daily free, public arts and culture programs. Special events, workshops, screenings, talks, festivals, game nights and more: community gathering and event spaces; coworking space for media artists and anyone working in creative industries; Spaces for creation, exhibition and meetings available for rent; equipment libraries, editing suites, double-height galleries, open labs and social areas with free wi-fi;

And coming soon: 210-seat cinema and performance A nonprofit coworking space space Café serving coee, pastries and lunch daily Studio for anyone working in and experimenting apartment for visiting artists with games and interactive digital media tomediaarts.org gammaspace.ca

9 Exhibitors

Pimax / IRIS VR “LOW-FI” is the spiritual successor to the critically acclaimed “TECHNOLUST” and will be showcasing several scenes from the meticulously crafted Cyberpunk world created by Blair Renaud. The short visit to the future will be showing on the Pimax 5K+ headset.

Friend Generator “After Dan Graham” is a interactive art installation inspired by Dan Graham’s 1974 video art installation “Time Delay Room 1.” Both a re-creation and homage to Graham’s work, this installation extends his groundbreaking use of video feedback to investigate how technology mediates self-perception. Designed for multiple participants, this installation presents a virtual environment inside a physical environment. CFC The Canadian Film Centre (CFC), celebrating 30 years, is a charitable cultural organization that supports, develops and accelerates the content, careers and companies of Canadian creative and entrepreneurial talent in the screen-based and digital industries.

Masterpiece VR MasterpieceVR features dynamic brushes and powerful sculpting tools that allow you to build tangible objects, colorful environments, and high quality models. Sculpt with friends in the same room in real time, or invite spectators to watch while you create. Most recently, MasterpieceVR released Motion, a VR art creation tool for rigging, skinning, and posing assets within Virtual Reality.

10 Exhibitors

Tribe of Pan “The Choice” is a Virtual Reality documentary experience inviting you to enter the digital consciousness of a virtual person dealing with an unplanned pregnancy. As your mind searches for answers, real people appear in this space with you. They speak to you about what shaped their decision to terminate their pregnancy and the emotions they experienced. Each person’s story is different, diverse and unique. Martov Co. “Forged” features an innovative combat system that provides a fully immersive, intuitive yet challenging experience, as well as Martov’s award-winning aesthetics. Choose your hero and a team of AI allies to face off against your foe, destroy their source of power, and dominate the forces of Dekar. (2 player experience)

Signal Space Lab Using a cutting-edge VR filming technique, “Afterlife”—from Signal Space Lab—takes the audience through branching narratives that seamlessly reveal a story that shifts based on the characters that the player chooses to follow, and the objects activated within the environment. No two playthroughs are alike! Occupied VR & Blimey (co-production) Featuring interactive environments that are 3D scanned replicas of historic locations & exclusive interviews with key figures from the different communities, Occupied VR and Blimey’s latest experience “The Holy City” celebrates diversity rooted in culture, fostering an inclusive sense of community. Back from Cannes, they will be on hand to demo a selection from the larger experience coming soon.

CFMDC is a non-profit, non-commercial media arts distributor that specializes in independent, artist-made moving images including work from historically underrepresented communities. Supporting Artists using cutting-edge We advocate for a holistic understanding of media arts technology through rentals, production, distribution and exhibition that education and exhibition since 1981! prioritizes artists’ rights, accessibility and the creation of new audiences through education and critical thinking. charlesstreetvideo.com www.cfmdc.org

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