©LACMA
In collaboration with LACMA, the centerpiece of this year’s show floor will be Mezo, a 20-foot tall futuristic temple equipped with synchronized LED panels, lasers and spatial music.
VRLA is the largest – and most accessible – conference and exhibition in the industry. The 5th annual event takes place on May 4th & 5th at the sprawling Los Angeles convention center in the beating heart of the entertainment industry. The not-for-profit event is organized by John Root of the Technicolor Experience Center, who represents the more established wing of the nascent industry, and Cosmo Scharf, creator of popular VR experience “Mindshow”.
The two connected on Reddit in 2014, when then USC student Scharf suggested an LA VR meetup and Root offered the Digital Domain motion capture stage, thinking of a more conventional industry gathering. They met in a Vietnamese noodle shop and conceived a unique event somewhere in the middle, what Root calls “The peoples VR conference.
A platform for everyone to stand and be heard.” He elaborated further in an email earlier this week. “There were two visions. Mine, which was to gather all the C level executives, hot content creators, decision makers and big money fat cats to talk about VR. And then Cosmo’s, which was to geek out about VR in a coffee shop with his college friends.”
Industry-leading companies sponsoring this year’s expo include Intel, Dell, Qualcomm, Viveport, Microsoft, Neur, gaming and OptiTrack, help subsidize dozens of indie developers who are able to exhibit for free. “The combination creates a kind of very open, exuberant event,” Root explained. Indeed, over 10,000 people attended VRLA last year.
Unlike industry events, which charge as much as $1,000 for a ticket, not including hotels and airfares, VRLA tickets are as low as $30. “We love that it’s a bottom-up event, celebrating the excitement everyone feels, that attracts so many people that the leaders like Intel, HTC, and Oculus have to be part of it. We keep prices low, but the scale of it allows us to do big things.”
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Source: Forbes