Session: Stepping Into VR Locomotion

Denny is a VR pioneer/designer, spearheading the critically acclaimed “The Gallery: Call of the Starseed” launch title for the HTC Vive. With consultation credits including Valve, HTC, Oculus VR and 20th Century Fox, Denny’s work in innovative solutions for VR traversal and interaction, gave rise to“VR Comfort Mode’, and more recently‘Blink”. Both solutions now broadly adopted and referenced in VR best practice guides industry wide. As a thought leader working in VR since late 2012, Denny regularly speaks at events, sharing his experience and vision on how VR will impact our lives.

Session: VR Family Fun & Entertainment

Mary Jesse is a technology executive, strategist, inventor and entrepreneur.  She is Chief Strategy Officer for VRstudios in Seattle, an industry leading enterprise VR company. Ms. Jesse is a wireless industry expert with more than 25 years of experience developing cutting edge systems and building companies in roles such as Vice President of Strategic Technology for McCaw Cellular Communications, Vice President of Technology Development for AT&T Wireless, Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer of RadioFrame Networks, Co-Founder and Producer, Rip It Productions, LLC, and Founder and CEO of Ivycorp. Ms. Jesse is a licensed Professional Engineer (PE), holds Bachelors and Masters Degrees in electrical engineering and has authored more than a dozen patents.   She currently serves on the Advisory Board of the University of Washington, Bothell School of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).  She volunteers her time to advance STEM education, promote world changing films and support women in business.  She frequently speaks and writes on technology, business and entrepreneurship and is active on social media @themaryjesse.  

Session: Designing Immersive Experiences

Formally trained in both Architecture & Industrial Design, Howard has spent the past 20 years working as both Interaction/Experience Designer & 3D Generalist on several internationally recognized, award winning, and bleeding-edge AAA titles and products. 

His educational & professional path have diversified his skill-set to naturally transition into the ever-emerging fields of Mixed, Augmented, and Virtual Realities.

Recent projects included working with SoarTech, a leader in the Artificial Intelligence field, and the Microsoft R&D Design Group, supporting teams including: HoloLens Digital Experience Showcases, the HoloLens Core Shell Team, Future Envisioning and Cortana.

Learnings from Fast and Furious Prototyping in Virtual Reality

Elbert Perez specializes in working on innovative content for exciting new platforms. He is currently a Sr. Software Prototyper for the award winning HTC Vive, where he works both internally and with external developers to create immersive VR experiences. He has previously worked at Microsoft on multiple narrative innovations for products such as the Xbox One, Windows Phone, SmartGlass and various game properties. Elbert is also an independent game developer with over 20 published games on multiple platforms, including PC, Windows Phone, iOS, Android, and Xbox 360. His games have been downloaded more than 2.5 million times.

Session: Inside the VR Headset

David speaks both the languages of software and hardware fluently and has actively been designing and making things with the help of all the available modern technologies. Please visit his blog: davidonthings.wordpress.com to learn more details on his recent progressive product designs for VR headset, wire bender, and other things.

On the software front, David has been a thought leader in the areas of big data analytics, co-creation strategies, identity management, and high end 3D graphics systems. David is a leading contributor to the following communities: CSC Leading Edge Forum, Google+ 3D Printing, Vancouver Hack Space, and VanVR. David has held the role of Chief Technology Officer at both TradeBytes Data Corp. and Visiphor Corporation, and now has taken on the role of Principal at Wavesine Solutions Inc. Learn more about David by clicking here. 

Session: Life After VR Hits Mass Adoption

Mack Flavelle is the founder of Hammer & Tusk, the global community for immersive content. Hammer & Tusk curates the best content, runs the most interesting experiments and builds the coolest projects in the VR/AR Space. In 2015 Hammer & Tusk was acquired by Axiom Zen.

Previously Mack was VP of Product at Tapstream, CEO at Compass Engine (sold to East Side Games), advisor to Ghostbird Software (acquired by Yahoo) and CareLedger (YC W2015) and a bunch of other things better left unsaid.

Panel: E-Commerce in VR

Patrick is an experienced digital leader in the fields of creative direction, team leadership, ideation, growth hacking, gamification, and world-building. He is the Executive Director at DigiBC, a non-profit organization dedicated to making BC the most recognized centre for digital media and wireless excellence in the world. He provides leadership, advocacy, education and pursues growth opportunities for BC companies in the digital and next generation technology industries. 

He also works as an instructor at the Vancouver Institute of Media Arts, teaching courses related to SEO & internet marketing, online business development, and project management. Previously, he worked as the Creative Director for Snaptech Marketing, utilizing both his creative and management skill sets to ensure client projects surpassed expectations.

Panel: E-Commerce in VR

Dora Cheng has worked in the technology and gaming industries for over 15 years. Her background is in the production process of AAA console, casual, and social games, and in software project management at companies like Electronic Arts. Cheng is now the founder of uForis VR, a company that is building a set of tools that allow developers to create connected virtual reality apps using web technologies. Cheng is a virtual reality evangelist, with a clear understanding of VR's challenges. She is currently applying the VR software framework built at uForis VR on various use cases, such as real estate and architecture. Dora Cheng's goal is to bring more developers into VR through accessible, Web-based tools. 

Panel: E-Commerce in VR

With a track record for building and leading high performance Agile teams and delivering great software products across multiple platforms, Adrian’s focus has always been on delivery excellence. Michelin, Nintendo, Nike and Electronic Arts are just a few of the brands he has worked with in Canada, the U.S. and Europe.

Adrian founded and is the CEO of Aequilibrium—a Vancouver-based digital product development and design agency dedicated to creating winning web, mobile and IoT solutions. Aequilibrium is committed to helping clients get their product out to market quickly, efficiently and with zero waste. The team strives to set the bar for engaging user experiences for the product by combining an intuitive interface design with carefully crafted code, leading to an unforgettable customer experience. 

Panel: E-Commerce in VR

Steve Graves is a strategist working at Invoke Media – a Vancouver based digital agency specializing in user experience design. Invoke is driven to explore ways in which cutting edge technologies can be utilized to solve business problems, and Steve leads their budding VR division.   

As VR Lead, Steve focuses on understanding how its adoption will impact user behavior and how the technology can grow and evolve alongside the people using it. Given the tremendous potential of VR as an immersive medium, Steve is a firm believer in the potential it has to forever change consumer behaviour.

Prior to joining Invoke, he was responsible for bringing to life The Wild Within for Destination BC – North America’s first VR campaign for a destination marketing board.

Panel: E-Commerce in VR

Tony is the Founder and CEO of CognitiveVR, an enterprise analytics platform specifically designed to address the challenges in virtual and augmented reality. Prior to founding CognitiveVR, Tony co-founded and exited another startup that focused primarily on revenue optimization for enterprise.

Session: Future of Consumer Life in VR

Mitch Ratcliffe has a unique blend of research, writing, and entrepreneurial experience over his career. With a background combining journalism and serial parallel entrepreneurship, Mitch has spent the last year working as a Senior Analyst at the BIA/Kelsey Group. 

He has worked at a senior level with more than a dozen startups, public and privately-held companies, published more than two million words, and produced 86,000 videos over the past couple decades. Previously, he has worked at companies such as TechNet, Microsoft, and hibu. 

Panel: Branding and Advertising in VR

Jesse is the CEO of VRChat, the most social experience in VR. Using a combination of head gaze direction, 3D positional audio and various body gesture inputs, VRChat can provide a truly immersive experience. 

Prior to VRChat, Jesse co-founded A.C.R.O.N.Y.M. Games, an independent game development studio developing mobile games and apps across multiple platforms and devices for some of the most recognized brands in the world. 

Having started his career as a software engineer at Electronic Arts in 1999, Jesse is a seasoned veteran in the gaming industry.

Panel: Branding and Advertising in VR

Matt Grant is the co-founder and Creative Director of LNG Studios, a Vancouver based 3D architectural animation and design studio.  With offices in San Francisco, Honolulu and Hong Kong, LNG Studios’ award winning visualization tools power the marketing campaigns of some of the largest developments in the world.  LNG Studios is an industry leader constantly striving to utilize VR technology to provide the best experience to their clients. 

Prior to LNG Studios, Matt has a long history in television and live news while working as a producer and camera operator for several news and sports networks in his native New Zealand before arriving in Canada in 2005.

Panel: Branding and Advertising in VR

Keegan McColl helped launch Reelhouse.org in 2012, originally a D2C distribution platform for filmmakers. Over the past 4 years he's helped clients like the Sundance Institute, Warner Bros., A24 and Goldcrest to sell, promote, and market their films - direct to fans. Earlier this year, Reelhouse launched the first ever monetization tools for VR creators. Using innovative monetization tools like Bundling, Couponing, Gifting, Live Screenings, Affiliates, etc., creators have a powerful toolset to reach wider audiences and monetize their products across all VR headsets. Keegan grew up on Saltspring Island, studied Entrepreneurship at The Williams School of Business at Bishop's in Quebec and is the Director of Business Development at Reelhouse.

Session: Social Ethics of VR vs. Affective VR

Mirjana’s work can be defined as an alloy of physical and virtual, in between art and science. A focus on the creation of physical spaces and ephemeral designs shifted toward research of user experience in VR and the creation of virtual environments capable of shifting a user’s affective states. Ultimately the goal of this work is creating virtual environments that will allow for altering states of consciousness. Mirjana’s research and design practice utilizes biofeedback and neurofeedback as input for generating changes in the virtual environment. Architecturally, these installations combine physical and virtual space into an unified experience. 

After obtaining Barch and MArch, Mirjana joined iSpace Lab for Virtual Reality at the School of Interactive Arts and Technology, Vancouver, Canada, to continue developing this work as a PhD student and researcher.

Panel: Cinematic VR

Kevin Mack is an artist and Academy Award winning visual effects pioneer. He received the Oscar for Best Visual Effects for his work on What Dreams May Come.

Mack's art practice is inspired by transcendent visions, technology, and natural phenomena, and is informed by research in a wide range of fields from neuroscience to artificial life. Among the first to exploit the unique capabilities of 3D printing, Mack produces sculptural forms that cannot be achieved by any other means.

Kevin is now realizing his lifelong dream of sharing his artistic visions as immersive virtual reality experiences. Kevin brings decades of creative and technological innovation on his mission to create new dimensions of imagination and wonder for virtual reality.

Panel: Cinematic VR

As the Founder of Reverge VR, Kam spearheads Cinematic and Interactive VR campaigns across a variety of platforms. His company gets hired by studios, marketing and advertising agencies, filmmakers and businesses to create visually engaging and immersive brand experiences. A few of his entertainment clients include 20th Century Fox, Time Warner Cable, Focus Features, and Sony.

Prior to starting Reverge, he was the VP of Digital Marketing & Media for GSN (a Sony company), where he helped launch their highest-rated show of all time; and before that he was NBC Universal's Digital Creative Director, responsible for promoting the entire NBC Primetime slate year after year.

Panel: Cinematic VR

Chris is an accomplished Director of Photography with over 15 years experience in the TV, film, and advertising industries. He is a hybrid, where artist meets technical innovator. In 2012, he built one of the first moving time lapse robots for an experimental film called "In Motion." The makers of Oculus Rift contacted Chris after seeing this video and encouraged him to make content for their headsets. Chris attended the first ever Oculus Connect VR conference and demoed the Crescent Bay. Since then he has been pushing the technical and creative boundaries with custom VR camera rigs and production tools. He recently produced the "Canucks VR 360 Experience" and is currently in preproduction on the series "VR Wonders of the World." Considering his experience and vision, it is clear why Chris has generated a reputation as an innovator with a unique cinematic style.

Session: Creating for VR

Vincent McCurley is a Creative Technologist at the National Film Board of Canada's Digital Studio where he helps create socially-relevant interactive works that explore the creative application of technology and platform to story and form.

He works across a range of disciplines including virtual reality, mobile apps, websites, and installations; on projects including the award-winning interactive documentaries Bear 71, Welcome to Pine Point, The Last Hunt, and God's Lake Narrows.

Vincent's most recent project, Cardboard Crash, an examination of the ethics of artificial intelligence in self-driving cars, is the first to come out of the NFB's VR Lab and was an official selection at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival.

Session: Education in VR

Tom Swanson designs and implements programs and studies for foundry10, a research organization that studies learning, particularly in non-traditional settings.  Foundry10 has been working alongside major VR companies to bring the emerging tech into a handful of schools across the US and Canada to examine what is possible with VR in classrooms.  Encompassing both the consumption of existing content as well as having students create immersive experiences, foundry10's work in VR is only just beginning.  We collaborate directly with teachers to find the right solutions for their classrooms, and are asking the question: what really happens when you put VR in the hands of students and teachers?

Session: Education in VR

Colin Katagiri augments educational programs and classes at foundry10 by implementing new ideas through the use of VR. By collaborating with leaders in education, he helps to discover what creates an immersive VR experience for students and teachers. With his skills in technology and engineering, Colin has been instrumental in carrying out these first steps of introducing VR to education.  As foundry10 continues to explore VR, Colin hopes to learn more about the role immersion plays in learning and how technology can affect it.

Panel: Journalism in VR

Maria Lantin is the Director of the Intersections Digital Studio, a new research space at the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design. Prior to coming to Emily Carr, Dr. Lantin led the Visualization Lab within the Advanced Research Technology (ART) Labs at The Banff Centre. She was granted her PhD in Computing Science by Simon Fraser University (SFU) in 1999. Alternating between academia and industry for a number of years, she has worked as a senior developer at Mainframe Entertainment, an assistant professor at the Technical University of British Columbia (now SFU), and the Director of Research at IDELIX Software Inc.

Session: How VR Will Evolve the Human Race

Alexander is the Director of Developer Relations at Retinad.io-- the analytics platform for virtual reality. Originally from Montreal and now living in San Francisco, Alex is proud to be at the epicentre of the birth of the next great medium: virtual reality. Prior to Retinad, Alex was the Marketing & Ops manager the McGill Dobson Centre for Entrepreneurship, where he led 6 teams through an intensive accelerator program.