Augmented Reality Event, June 2-3

I’m both ecstatic and humbled to be a part of Augmented Reality Event, especially in its inaugural year. I would have been enthusiastic simply to attend such an event in its first year — Being invited to speak felt somewhat like I would imagine one of the side-stage bands must have felt, being invited to play Lollapalooza in 1991. This is going to be an event that grows, and I expect people will talk about in the coming years.

The Keynote speaker lineup is worth traveling for — Bruce Sterling, Will Wright, Blaise Aguera y Arcas and Jesse Schell. The exhibitors and other industry speakers make the event every bit worth attending, but putting together a rock-star supergroup like that for the Keynote speakers lineup… and for a first year event at that. Amazing! Anyone of those four guys alone would be a speaker worth attending to see.

Above, I’ve edited together the video montage above of appearances by Bruce, Will, Blaise and Jesse, speaking at other events; to get an idea what is in store, have a look.

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Bruce Sterling
In the 1980s, Bruce, along with William Gibson and Rudy Rucker, was one of the writers who created the Cyberpunk Science Fiction sub-genre. Though his stock has always remained high, his mainstream profile has been rising, as a futurist cultural commentator. As a contributing editor to WIRED Magazine, he has become a vocal advocate, some might say an evangelist, for Augmented Reality. He has also served as Visionary in Residence at the Art Center College of Design, in Pasadena, California.

Will Wright
Legendary game developer, in 1989 Will created SimCity, both one of the top selling, and one of the most influential computer games of all time. So successful it bloomed into an entire franchise including SimCity 2000, SimCity Societies, SimEarth and many others; spawning a whole genre of simulation games. He later went on to create TheSims, and most recently Spore — each a legendary game in its own right. Today Wright runs an entertainment development studio called, “Stupid Fun Club.”

Blaise Agüera y Arcas
Blaise founded software company SeaDragon, acquired by Microsoft in 2006. Since then his star has been rising like a rocket. One of Fast Company’s 100 Most Creative People in Business, Newsweek’s multipage profile simply titles him “Super Hero”. Playing a leadership role at Microsoft LiveLabs, he has been one of the most popular speakers at TED. Blaise was recently promoted to Director of Bing Maps where many of the innovations developed at LiveLabs are now finding a home in shipped products.

Jesse Schell
Youthful diversions as a stand-up comic, and juggling circus clown groomed Jesse for his role as Creative Director for the Walt Disney Imagineering Virtual Reality Studio — seven years creating immersive visitor experiences for Walt Disney theme parks. In 2004 he left to start his own entertainment design firm, Schell Games, and was named one of the world’s top 100 young innovators by MIT Technology Review. Today Jesse also serves on the faculty of the Entertainment Technology Center at Carnegie Mellon University.

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My own Talk is titled: Mobile AR, OOH and the Mirror World. I will be speaking on Thursday morning, June 3, at 9:20 AM in Ballroom H (Business Track, B12). I look forward to meeting some of you there.

I would like to thank Ori, Tish, whurley and Sean for making this event happen, and particularly thank Ori & Tish for inviting me to speak (no, for insisting that I speak).

This is the sort of event worth traveling for. And anyone on the West Coast has no excuse not to attend. I look forward to seeing you all there (and if you’re a friend or GigantiCo reader, get in touch with me ASAP. I have some promotional code discounts to share).