VRgezicht november 2024

Explore RAUM: Warm-up for the ENTERPRISES Track

Get ready for the ENTERPRISES track! In this interactive warm-up session, Sebastian Kühne and Michael Gairing from RAUM will guide you through the Social VR platform. Learn how to navigate, design your avatar and make the most of the immersive features. This is your chance to get hands-on experience and ensure a seamless start to the ENTERPRISES sessions. Whether you’re a first-time user or a seasoned pro, this session will help you prepare for an engaging and productive IMMERSIVE X journey.

Immersive X 2024 Warm-up: Music in the Metaverse

Join us for an exciting kickoff session designed especially for newcomers who want to dive right into IMMERSIVE X 2024! Organizer and Programming Lead Thomas Zorbach will give a brief overview of what’s hot over the next three days, highlighting the can’t-miss moments and key experiences ahead.

But what would an overture be without music? We’re delighted to welcome Lauren Michelle, aka Metadiva, who has created the first opera house in the Metaverse, and Carlos J. Ochoa, founder and advisor at ONE Digital Consulting and the visionary behind the Vivaldi 3.0 VR experience. Together with Thomas, they’ll take us on a journey into the future of music in the Metaverse. Don’t miss this rocking start to an unforgettable event!

BurnerSphere: Cultivating Burning Man Principles in a Social VR Experience

BRCvr presents BurnerSphere is a new social VR application built for the global Burning Man community to explore, learn about, and practice the guiding principles of Burning Man—radical self-expression, communal effort, decommodification, and self-reliance—in an immersive virtual setting. Following the closure of AltspaceVR, the journey led Athena Demos and Doug Jacobson to recognize the need for a dedicated platform to support and amplify the Burner community’s values and ethos in VR. In this session, they will share their story of finding a new digital “home” and the collaborative effort behind creating BurnerSphere from the ground up, built with burners in mind.

More than a social VR space, BurnerSphere is a living documentary experience, weaving together digital worlds and real-world footage from Black Rock City. Join Athena and Doug as they explore the challenges of bringing Burning Man’s principles into a virtual realm and the opportunities for meaningful, principle-driven engagement in a VR environment. Attendees will gain insight into the development process, the obstacles and solutions in creating such an experience, and tools for fostering sustainable, value-aligned virtual communities for creative collaboration.

The State of the Metaverse in 2025

2024 delivered several inflection points in the journey to consumer mass adoption of immersive technology. This was the end of the beginning. It’s time to assess where we are in the hype cycle as we enter a new era where AI is powering content creation. We’re far along, but still have a way to go before the transformation of the virtual revolution is complete. This talk will explore the role of standards and interoperability in unlocking investment, workforce development, and human creativity as 3D becomes a required skill. Join Ben Erwin, creator of The Polys, board member of Metaverse Standards Forum, and president of Academy of Immersive Arts & Sciences for a deep dive into considerations for building the experiential economy.

Cybersalon’s CyberiaXR Café

Step into CyberiaXR, a digital recreation of the iconic 39 Whitfield Street, London Cyberia internet café opened in 1994, and explore how this cultural institution has been reimagined in the Metaverse. From its role as the world’s first internet café to its rebirth in extended reality (XR), this session delves into the café’s cultural legacy and its persistent digital presence. After the presentation, browser participants and those with VR headsets will be invited to explore the CyberiaXR space in Spatial.io, interacting with its virtual elements and engaging in open discussion about Art and Culture in XR and the potential of extended reality for preserving cultural landmarks.

VIOLET: Missile of Love – IMMERSIVE X 2024 Opening Party

Celebrate the new trajectory of immersive parties in virtual reality! Come let loose, dance and de-stress together in VIOLET, a powerful space that inspires connection and networking, empowering us to imagine new possibilities in our realities. 

A combination of art and digital technology, VIOLET is a sensual Club like no other in VRChat with three rooms, chill space, dance bridge, audio-linked skybox and dance floor with pumping bass, strip pole and psychedelic shaders by Niko*.

Get pumped and primed for the conference with Live DJ sets to get you moving.

The Hypnotic Missile of Love is primed to be activated and released. Be seduced into an audio-visual shader experience that awakens your crown chakra, the Dream. 

Enter PlayRoomSX – the new digital community playground where we share respect, positivity and freedom of self-expression.

World Design by VRium Creative Team

Learnings from the First 3 ½ Years of Uni Münster’s XRLab@MCM

In the midst of the pandemic’s first winter, Björn Ognibeni invited Thorsten Hennig-Thurau, marketing professor at University of Münster, to attend an X Night social gathering. Half a year later, the eXperimental Reality Lab at Uni Münster’s Marketing Center was up and running. Since then, the XRLab@MCM (xrlab-mcm.space) has conducted extensive scientific experiments of and in the metaverse, published influential articles, ran seminars and lectures in various virtual apps, contributed to various events in virtuality, and built two, not one virtual headquarters. In this session, Sean Keogh from headroom will look back with Thorsten and Björn and some special guests at the XRLab@MCM’s first 3 and ½ years, their greatest metaverse moments as well as their biggest disappointments, and what will have to happen to realize the metaverse’s potential. At the end, attendants are invited for a very special “first look” experience.

Leadership Development Reloaded

STMicroelectronics@AI Softskill Training

Immersive technologies and AI open up new opportunities for companies such as STMicroelectronics to develop their talent and leadership teams. AI-powered soft skills training in VR complements theoretical learning in the classroom or on e-learning platforms with highly scalable and customizable simulations in which newly acquired skills can be applied in realistic scenarios. Learners can benefit from individual learning paths, immediate feedback and repeatability – all in a psychologically safe environment.

Join this session to explore real-world examples of how immersive learning is transforming professional development and taking it to the next level.

Introducing the Metaverse to Financial Institutions

Onboarding at Commerzbank

Connecting and communicating with customers, training employees and working together. These are some of the areas where the Metaverse has significant potential for large financial institutions, but there are hurdles to overcome first. This session explores the journey of introducing this technology to Commerzbank AG and takes the audience on a deep dive into this HR project. Join the discussion on lessons learned and what the future may hold.

Insurance in the Metaverse

WWK Versicherungen already uses Enterprise Metaverse systems for various use cases in the company. As part of this session, the WWK Employer Branding Space will be presented in RAUM to show how innovative the insurance industry can be. Insurers are often seen as old-fashioned, but it is clear that an insurance company is also a tech company. WWK has existed for 140 years and is a pioneer in many areas. This example shows how the Metaverse is already changing the world of work today and the exciting prospects for tomorrow – join us on a journey into the digital future.

Art as Therapy in XR

Exploring the Therapeutic Applications of VR and AR

Join us for an insightful talk on neuro-aesthetics and its role in enhancing mental health through innovative technologies. Neuro-aesthetics explores the relationship between art, beauty and brain function, revealing how aesthetic experiences can impact our emotions and cognitive processes. This talk will explore how virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) serve as powerful therapeutic tools, creating immersive environments that facilitate emotional expression and healing.

 We’ll discuss how these technologies can transport individuals into engaging artistic landscapes, foster mindfulness and reduce anxiety. By integrating neuro-aesthetic principles with VR and AR, therapists can offer tailored experiences that promote mental wellbeing, allowing for deeper self-exploration and personal growth. Discover the future of mental health treatment at the intersection of art and technology!

Spatial Education: Medical Training in the Metaverse

The landscape of medical training is transforming rapidly. Traditional methods, often tied to travel and hotel stays, have shifted dramatically, with video conferencing taking center stage during the pandemic. But what comes next? Could immersive training in the Metaverse redefine how healthcare professionals learn and grow?

Join us for a journey into the future where two visionary pioneers in XR-based medical education share their groundbreaking insights.

The Secrets of Tantra

The Secrets of Tantra
Energy Gain

Presentation 1
Enemies : Interactive Workshop 

Presentation 2
Crystal Ship : Immersive Meditation

VenusSX is a somatic educator and coach providing pathways to freedom from social and cultural conditioning through educational events, intimate circles and workshops in the enchanted beauty and sensuality of Elysium, VR Tantric Meditation Space.

A tantric lifestyle cultivates awareness of our emotions, body, mind and spirit, leading to more health, more authenticity and greater emotional intelligence and resilience.

Blending a shamanic approach, we discover secrets within the seven Chakras that hold keys to our health. We look into the shadow to illuminate the Enemies of the Chakras – things that zap our life force energy.   

Gain awareness of how to combat your inner Enemy to stop energy loss. We learn how to build up our organic essential energy to rejuvenate our body.

During the second session, we slide onto the Crystal Ship where we breathe, submerge into a deep relaxation and fly… play with energy gain in this magical world of freedom. Immerse yourself in a live guided meditative space that transcends our physical limits, increases our energy and opens our hearts to connection and ecstasy.

World Design by VRium Creative Team

Meet the VR Family

How to Build a Thriving Community in the Metaverse

A real community that has been living in the Metaverse for 5 years. The VR family has almost 10,000 members and uses various platforms to meet regularly in the Metaverse. The family evening in the VR world Stonehenge on RAUM offers the opportunity to experience a community event live. Stonehenge was already part of the Metaverse exhibition at the Deutsche Museum in Nuremberg. Exciting connections to the world of work and the Metaverse can also be made. An interesting exchange of experiences is guaranteed – an ideal opportunity to experience the enthusiasm for the Metaverse and the VR Family Community first hand.

Spatial Branding

Transforming Brand Experiences through Immersive Technologies

In this eye-opening session, Kathrine Fremming, Arts and Sustainability Lead at Khora Virtual Reality, an award-winning XR studio based in Copenhagen, shares exclusive insights into the role of spatial branding in immersive technologies.

Discover how Extended Reality (XR), 360-degree storytelling and Augmented Reality (AR) transform brand interactions from passive to active. Find out how XR can create deeper emotional connections, boost brand loyalty and reshape the future of digital marketing.

The Making of You Destroy. We Create.

What does it mean to be a street artist, a musician, or a museum when your city is bombed, and your country is under attack? Felix Gaedtke and Gayatri Parameswaran present a behind-the-scenes look at their immersive VR experience “You Destroy. We Create”, exploring the impact of war on Ukraine’s cultural heritage. This session dives into their creative process, from research to the technical challenges of bringing real stories to life, blending storytelling, technology, and activism to protect endangered cultural landmarks.

Bringing Progress to Employee Training

How BayernLB Risk Academy operates in the Metaverse

Gain practical insights from our journey into the Metaverse.

The Metaverse is neither utopia nor dystopia. It is here. Bayerische Landesbank has been gaining experience with Enterprise Metaverse platforms since last year and is bringing one of its classes from the tried-and-tested Risk Academy into virtual reality in 2024. Fully immersive with VR headsets, remote participants experience a new quality of content focus and team spirit.

In VR 4x more focused than in e-learning? 3.75x more emotionally connected in VR training than in classroom training? We want to check these promises. Experience the class „Country Rating“ of our BayernLB VR Risk Academy.

Banksy in VR: How to Preserve Ephemeral Art

Street Art is impermanent. Great work is painted over. Buildings are demolished. Sometimes, with luck or the right karma, street art is recorded and saved in the eternal Street View database. From there it can be mapped to a sphere in Unity and resurrected in virtual worlds.

Join us for an exhibition of eight works by Banksy on-location from different parts of England, including several from Bristol, where he grew up. The program will include a hosted discussion of Banksy’s art, private property, and changing the world.

The Elements of Humanity

VenusSX shares virtual reality experiences that lead to changes in our awareness, our attitude and our engagement with Life. Immersive media creates a shift in perception of what is possible and allows us to connect more viscerally with powerful personal growth.

Join us on a sensational tingling quest to discover and unlock the five elements of humanity within a famous virtual world that celebrates the boundless potential of technology in art.

Breathe. Listen. Open all your eyes and ears… The elements of humanity are the gifts that are always here, in all dimensions, as the basic building blocks of joyous human experience. With courage and imagination, we seek to touch them and return to true alignment and balance in all our aspects.

Together we consider how to have a proper attitude and approach to deal with any life situation, so that we increase our measure of self-deservement and… along the way… gain the gift of Humour. 

World Design by Niko* Lang

Hop Till You Drop: VRChat World-Tour

VRChat isn’t just an app—it’s a universe brimming with creativity, chaos, and connection. Home to one of the largest communities in the Metaverse, VRChat lets users bring their wildest imaginations to life with custom 3D avatars and fantastical virtual worlds. Every day, new spaces spring up, turning VRChat into an ever-expanding playground of discovery and adventure.

Join Klaus Lemm, a seasoned explorer of this digital frontier, on an unforgettable tour through the weird, wild, and wonderful worlds of VRChat. From gravity-defying landscapes to jaw-dropping creative spaces, this session dives deep into the heart of Social VR, showcasing what’s possible when imagination meets technology.

Ready to hop into the madness? Don’t miss this journey through the Metaverse’s most vibrant neighborhoods!

Bratwurst Wonderland: IMMERSIVE X 2024 Closing Party

Step into a winter wonderland to end all parties and get ready for the grand finale of IMMERSIVE X 2024 in a magical, snow-covered world filled with Christmas trees, snowmen, and steaming virtual mulled wine! Set against the cozy charm of a virtual Christmas market, this is more than just a party—it’s a celebration of creativity, community, and, of course, bratwursts!

Whether you’re fine, coarse, or spiced with VR magic, Bratwurst Wonderland is the place to connect, laugh, and close out IMMERSIVE X 2024 in style.

Don’t miss the last and most festive VR event of this year’s IMMERSIVE X!

De toekomst van werken en samenwerken

Deze conferentie heeft me aan het denken gezet over werken en samenwerken. Stel je voor dat we allemaal vanuit onze eigen virtuele kantooromgeving samenwerken aan projecten, ongeacht waar we ter wereld zijn. De technologie bestaat al en de mogelijkheden zijn eindeloos!

Een aanrader voor iedereen

Of je nu een ervaren professional bent op het gebied van virtual reality of gewoon nieuwsgierig bent naar deze technologie, Immersive X is een absolute aanrader. Het is een unieke kans om te ervaren hoe de toekomst eruit kan zien. Tussen de sessies door had ik een snelle digitale ontmoeting met Thorsten Hennig-Thurau, Academic Director van het XRLab@Munich Center of Marketing. Thorsten vond het erg grappig om samen even een selfie te schieten omdat we allebei op dat moment in een Star Wars avatar gehuld waren en dit op een LinkedIn post te delen. 

Poserend als Yoda met Thorsten Hennig-Thurau (Luke).

Wil je meer weten over mijn ervaringen?

Neem dan gerust contact met me op via Dirk Van Tienhoven | LinkedIn. Ik deel graag mijn bevindingen met je.

Keywords: Immersive X, Metaverse, virtual reality, augmented reality, conferentie, netwerken, innovatie, toekomst, technologie

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