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Approximately 15 percent of the world’s population have a disability, according to the World Health Organization, which means that more than one billion people could face daily challenges when using digital products. When designers and developers think of their end user, do they have inclusive design in mind? Given that immersive technology faces its own adoption challenges, what should be considered when building inclusive experiences, and can accessibility actually enhance a customer’s experience?

Our panel will walk you through what to consider when building an XR experience with inclusive design in mind. They will guide attendees through a user’s journey and discuss a key element that Inclusive Design brings: Ease of Use. Inclusive design not only makes your product available to the accessibility community, but enhances the overall customer experience to make your product scale.

Host

Natascha French, President, LA-Chapter, VRAR-Association

Moderator

Joe Devon, Co-Founder Global Accessibility Awareness Day + Co-Founder, Diamond

Panelists

Matt King, Accessibility Specialist in UI Engineering at Facebook

Christopher Patnoe, Head of Accessibility Programs and Disability Inclusion, Google

Regine Gilbert, XR Access

Andreas Forsland, Founder, CEO, Cognixion

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Please join us Thursday, December 10th at 11:00am PST, as VRARA LA will host an online event exploring the transformative power of XR to shape the future of work. Leading industry experts will discuss how new immersion and collaboration solutions are poised to unleash the power of 3D across the enterprise.

Transform Workflows with Work From Anywhere Spatial Platforms

The global pandemic boldly demonstrated the need for and has accelerated the transition to a remote worker knowledge economy. Current video conference tools not only fail to provide a real sense of connection to our co-workers, partners and customers, they also don't address the workflow challenges and opportunities presented by not working side-by-side. Hear from technology leaders in software, hardware and solutions for proven strategies on how immersive XR drives change and value through an organization.

Introduction: Natascha French, LA Chapter President, VRARA-LA

Moderator: Loren Colin, VP, Product Management, Cavrnus, Inc.

Panelists:

Anthony Duca, CEO/Co-Founder, Cavrnus, Inc.

Frank Black, Director Enterprise, Magic Leap

Heidi Buck, Director, BEMR Mixed Reality Lab, Naval Information Warfare Center, Pacific

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As Los Angeles resumes production, and filmmakers look at new ways of producing, what new technologies are available to get us back to work and producing again? Is Los Angeles ready? Listen to our panel of experts as they discuss some of the latest innovative technologies and advancements that are paving the way in today’s real-time virtual production.

Introduction

Natascha French, Chapter President – LA, VR/AR Association

Moderator

Travis Cloyd, CEO, Worldwide XR and

Panelists 

John MacInnes, Founder, MacInnes Studios

Mariana Acuña, Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer, Glassbox Technologies

Harold Hayes, Co-Founder and Creative Director, Sunnyboy Entertainment

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The VRARA Orange County and Los Angeles Chapters are teaming up to bring you an exciting opportunity with our member Avatar Partners! Join us as Avatar Partners takes augmented reality to new heights!

Where: 7491 Talbert Ave Huntington Beach, CA 92648

Don’t miss this opportunity to pilot Avatar's products and learn how they are pioneering Extended Reality with our newest software platform SimplifyXR™.

See demos and enjoy food and refreshments with like-minded AR professionals. As a special offer to VRARA members only, we are offering a free trial copy of SimplifyXR for the first 100 members who qualify.

Registration is required. Please register for the event here

20% membership discounts for all new membership sign ups received at the event!

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Calling all students to submit projects by March 21st!

Sponsored by Oculus and Microsoft, and in partnership with VRARA, the Inter-Collegiate Mixed Reality organization (ICXR) is proud to present the 1st Annual Inter-Collegiate Student Festival hosted by XRSC at the University of Southern California. After years of hosting the VRSC student festival at USC, VRSC is proud to finally present ICXR's 1st Annual Inter-Collegiate Student Festival!

Come demo the best virtual, augmented, and mixed reality projects and network with other innovative student developers and industry professionals from across the nation. More information will be posted as the festival approaches!

Content Categories:
1) 360 Live Action / Animation
2) Augmented Reality
3) Interactive VR

Please apply early! To submit a project, please apply using the following link: https://goo.gl/forms/7YjYHQ5P0BvfIqLp2.

To attend the event as a general attendee, please register via Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/icxr-student-festival-2019-tickets-54273770308

Location: USC School of Cinematic Arts Courtyard (900 W 34th St, Los Angeles, CA 90007)

For discount, email josephine@thevrara.com

On May 8, 2018 join the most influential decision-makers in the digital media industry at Digital Media Wire's Annual LA Games Conference to network, do deals, and share ideas about the future of games and connected entertainment! As LA's local games event, LA Games Conference brings together LA's dynamic community of developers and game leaders for meaningful networking and meetings at the center of Silicon Beach and Hollywood. The event is held at the iconic W Hollywood and features fireside chats, roundtables, panels and presentations on digital game investment, creation, distribution, marketing and monetization and plenty of networking opportunities with many of the elite in the industry.

See conference website here

For discounted passes, email josephine@thevrara.com

Working with leading developers and educational K-12 institutions, the summit is designed to identify challenges, create opportunities, promote collaborations, and build partnerships to bring VR, AR, and XR realities into K-12 classrooms.  More here https://www.immersed2018.com

Contact Josephine Munis at josephine@thevrara.com for more information.

Meet fellow C-suite leadership in the fast-growing world of Augmented Reality. From Entertainment to Enterprise, immersive technologies are changing the business landscape. 

Connect with fellow executives and enjoy some good food and drinks!

Date & Time: Wednesday, February 28th from 6:00pm - 9:00pm

This event is an invite-only event, but feel free to bring fellow C-suite partners from your company.

RSVP here

DESCRIPTION

Reserve your spot at our next class of the VRARA Training Program, taught by VR/AR Product Lead and VRARA Mentor Sami Ramly. Building Great VR/AR Products: the Art of Product Management for Emerging Technologies

About the Class:
This class dives deep into Product best practices for anyone looking to make VR or AR and hoping to get people actually using their products - after the demo novelty has worn off. Topics to be covered include Product-Market Fit, Product Strategy, Product Development, Design, Prototyping, Monetization, Customer Development, Growth, Analytics, and more. All examples will be focused on VR/AR but some parallels will be drawn with adjacent industries. There will also be valuable learnings and applications for startups and companies in emerging technologies in general.

The typical audience includes (but is not restricted to) professionals who identify as makers, creatives, builders, creators and anyone involved in the product development process (entrepreneurs, executives, engineers, designers, product managers, developers, producers, directors, etc). If you're a marketer, evangelist, sales wizard or promoter of a VR/AR product, you will find it useful to learn what makes competing products great, good or bad, why your product with high traction could suffer in retention, and why the VR/AR product cemetery is full of has-beens and could-haves.

About Sami Ramly:

Sami Ramly is a VR/AR Product Lead and member of the select Product Leaders group at Product That Counts in Silicon Valley. He is currently the VR Product Management Lead at Wevr, the renowned VR startup specializing in producing and distributing award-winning VR experiences (2 out of 10 Best VR of 2016, according to TechCrunch). Sami heads the Product efforts for Transport, the native network for VR creatives and their audience. Previously, he worked in Product on 3D Printing & 3D Scanning at Microsoft, where he shipped Microsoft's first 3D Scan app for Windows 10. He also held several other roles in engineering, business and product management at Silicon Valley startups and accelerators, including StartX. Sami is a VR/AR Mentor & Faculty at VRARA, as well as a Mentor at Stanford, UCLA, USC, SIGGRAPH, LIFE, LebNet and others. He has co-authored an IEEE publication and has spoken about VR & AR at CES, Digital Hollywood, Plug & Play, Hero City, UC Berkeley, UCLA Anderson, Otis, and many VRARA events. He also sits on the Executive Board of Predictera and the Advisory Board of Rabbit Hole VR, Stanford's VR/AR maker community, featured in Business Insider as a place where “the next big thing in VR could come”.

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Audio is perhaps the most important part of any immersive virtual reality experience. From binaural rendering to object sounds & ambisonics, join Brooklyn Earick (Director of Business Development at G’Audio Lab) as he explains why G’Audio created a new audio format designed specifically for VR.

For discounted passes, email josephine@thevrara.com 

Join the TechCouncil of Southern CA on August 23rd at Google’s offices in Irvine for an evening with virtual reality experts, thought leaders and peers.

Virtual reality technology is rapidly advancing and companies are starting to look beyond the hype to harness the business potential provided by VR. With the virtual world becoming more and more dominant in our everyday lives the business case for VR is more concrete than ever. Come and meet the rising stars of the VR universe as we discuss the value VR can inject into your business and what it takes to deliver on that potential.  Enjoy good food and drinks while we explore the rise of virtual reality.
 

Featured Speakers:

Fezyi Fatehi, CEO, Corent Technology

Fezyi is a Silicon Valley veteran of a Fortune 100 and multiple disruptive technology start-ups. He currently serves as the CEO of Corent Technology – that was named among the Top 10 Most Valuable Cloud Solution Providers in 2017.

Mats Johansson, Co-founder, President & CEO, EON Reality Inc. 
Mats W. Johansson is the Co-Founder, President and CEO of EON Reality Inc. which is the world’s leading interactive 3D software and simulations based learning provider for businesses and education based on Virtual Reality technology.

Robert Brown, Founder & CEO, MERIDIAN AR
Robert is the Founder & CEO of MERIDIAN AR, a Cognitive Mixed Reality (MR+) platform for enterprise. 

Adam Tuliper, Principal Software Engineer, Microsoft
Adam is a Principal Software Engineer for Microsoft working with local and worldwide developers. 

Guy Bendov, Founder & CEO, SidekickVR
Guy Bendov has more than 14 years experience as the founder, president and CEO of hi-tech companies in the interactive entertainment technologies market. 

Brad Spahr, VP, Head of Emerging Technology, Sony Music Entertainment
Brad oversees emerging technology strategy at Sony Music with an emphasis on virtual reality, mobile applications, games, and new venture incubation.