The largest virtual reality conference and expo on the North American eastern seaboard took place at the Mattamy Athletic Centre (formerly the home of the Toronto Maple Leafs) June 25th through 27th, 2016.

Produced by VRTO (Virtual Reality, Toronto) – one of the diverse city’s largest Virtual Reality Meetup groups, the inaugural show consisted of hacker workshops, intensive training and exhibitors from the across the spectrum of the immersive technologies industry. A milestone meeting of CEOs, PhD professors, scientists, inventors, entrepreneurs, and technologists joined more than 800 attendees from around the world to learn about the creative production, business and societal implications of this rapidly growing industry, of which VR is a part.

Among the most impactful activities launched at the VRTO Virtual and Augmented Reality World Conference and Expo, was the drafting and ratification of the Code of Ethics on Human Augmentation. Led by award-winning scientist, academic, artist and father of “wearable technology”, Steve Mann, authors of the Code of Ethics of Human Augmentation also included Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author David Brin (“The Postman”,) KOBO co-founder Ken Nickerson, founder of CG Blockchain Mir Adnan Ali, Graeme Moffat –  founder of Muse, Hollywood filmmaker Brett Leonard (“Lawnmower Man”), VRTO Executive Director Keram Malicki-Sanchez, Canadian Film Centre (CFC) Chief Digital Officer Ana Serrano, CEO of Venn.Agency Samantha Mathews, programmer Zack Harris, CEO of Ingle Insurance Robin Ingle, Ryan Janzen (ieee) and others.

“As technology moves from theory and prototyping into the marketplace, we encourage and support the development of a living document to safeguard against possible future abuses and the recommendation of accountability and safety standards for this incredibly powerful and transformative media,” VRTO Executive Director Keram Malicki-Sanchez said. “The Toronto Code – the colloquial title for the Code of Ethics in Human Augmentation – is the cumulative result of 42 years of work by Professor Mann, and those with whom he has prepared the discussion to this point.”

Mann – a professor at the University of Toronto who also founded the Wearable Technology Lab at MIT – followed his opening keynote, panel discussion, and town hall during VRTO, commenting: “We have spent years developing the Code of Ethics on Human Augmentation to craft its three fundamental principles:

i.) the right to know when and how you are being monitored in the real and virtual world;
ii.) the right to monitor the systems or people monitoring you and use that information in crafting your own digital identity;
iii.) the user should be able to understand the world they are in immediately – feedback delayed is feedback denied

The conference also featured a pavilion previewing the 2016 FIVARS VR stories festival selections including several world premieres, over 60 speakers and panelists, many from the bustling California VR scene, and a special panel comprising luminaries from the hot Montreal VR scene.

There were also special tracks dedicated to the conceptualization, authoring, production, post (stitching and stereoscopy) and even distribution and DRM for 360 video content and another on VR game design sponsored by Indie Game Reviewer and moderated by Alex Davies featuring some of Canada (and the world’s) finest virtual reality game designers.

On the augmented and mediated reality side, the panel titled “Mixed & Augmented Reality – The Holographic Future” featured leaders from such frontrunner visionary companies as HTML Fusion, AWE Company, SULON and ARHT.

The next phase is aggregating signatures of support from the public, standards committees and policy makers so that this inescapable new wave of technology can be extrapolated from a position of conscientiousness, accountability and responsibility!

The Code of Ethics on Human Augmentation is at: www.eyetap.org/hacode

For more information about VRTO visit: conference.virtualreality.to.

Event Stats:

• 800+ attendees
• 4 separate tracks (Conference Room 1 & 2, Intensive Training and Hacker’s Guide to the Metaverse)
• Delegates from all over the world including Canada, China, France, Mexico, Spain, Sweden, UK, US
• Over 50 speakers, panelists and presenters including Prof Steve Mann, Dir Brett Leonard, CFC Chief Digital Officer Ana Serrano and USC VR Head Phil Lelyveld
• 20+ interactive exhibitors and dozens of instructors

Major sponsors
Bell Fund, Samsung, CFC, DEEP Inc/Liquid Cinema, Mettle, Dashwood, Cream 360, Pandor Productions, Sulon

A complete list of Associate Sponsors and Community Partners listed at the main conference site)

Exhibitors
Canadian Film Centre, Cream 360, Dashwood Cinema Solutions, Deep Inc/Liquid, Cinema, Eye-Live, Game Pill, Globacore, HTML Fusion, Metavrse, Mettle, Nirvaniq Labs, Realtra VR, VR Co-op, Vrvana Inc., Minority Media, Foundry

FIVARS (Festival of International Virtual & Augmented Reality Stories)
Debuted 15 films including various World Premieres and Canadian Premieres

Game Developers
Minority Media, Game Pill, Alientrap, Globacore, Red Meat Games, FIVARS, IRIS VR, Quantum Capture – award winning game developers participated in a panel on game design hosted by IndieGameReviewer.com and also taught courses in intensive training and presentation rooms

About the VRTO Virtual and Augmented Reality World Conference and Expo
Founded in 2015, VRTO (Virtual Reality Toronto) is an organization whose mission is to explore, develop and promote the intersection of arts, culture, society, research and science through immersive technologies such as virtual reality, augmented reality, mixed reality, and wearable technology. Founders of VRTO host the widely known FIVARS (Festival of International Virtual and Augmented Reality Stories), an annual festival designed to push the boundaries and definitions of interactive and immersive media. Though VRTO successfully ran VAR in 2015, Ontario’s largest VR technologies showcase, FIVARS and several sold out events, 2016 is the inaugural year for the VRTO World Conference & Expo.

 

Special thanks to the VRTO Team and Volunteers!
VRTO/FIVARS Alpha Team Members: Meg White, Adam Fimio, Sarah Bradley, Rory Wicks, Michael Duhacek
Volunteers: Elizabeth Blazejewski, Bridget Carter, Alex Bulbeck, Toya Sanchez Jankowksi, Fenny Sanchez Kani, Elvira Sanchez de Malicki, Mietek Stitsky, Marek Malicki, Kyle Blaze, Mark Taylor, Barbra Trott, Ryan Dickey, Chyanne, Kalyna, Gary Calzada
Videographers and photogs: RJ Muloney, Jaime Espinoza, Ian Sun, Nai Sun, Hal Swann

Keynote Speakers, Presenters, Instructors, Moderators & Panelists VRTOC2016

1. Craig Alguire, Technical Director, Quantum Capture
2. Mir Adnan Ali, Founder, CG Blockchain
3. Alu, CTO and Co-Founder, Venn.Agency
4. Nick Bicanic, Founder, RVLVR
5. Ruth Birman, VR UX Designer, Secret Location
6. Chris Bobotis, Creative Director, Mettle
7. John Bolton, Creative Technologist, Globacore
8. David Brady, Co-Founder, Cream Productions
9. Dan Braverman, Founder, St. Anthony Capital Partners
10. Richard Broo, Founder and CEO, Wemersive
11. Edward Button, Cinematographer, “Invisible”
12. Slavica Ceperkovic, Professor, Seneca College, School of Media
13. Tristan Cezair, Co-Creative Director and VFX Supervisor, “Wild Things” – Cream 360
14. Adam Cosco, Virtual Reality Director, “Knives” – Making 360
15. Tim Dashwood, 360VR Post Solutions Developer, Dashwood 360VR
16. Alex Davies, Tech Writer and VR Advocate, UploadVR
17. Rick Dolishny, Founder and CEO, ardeeXYZ
18. Paul Duffy, President & CEO, ARHT
19. Nancy Eperjesy, Co-Founder, Mettle
20. Ian Forester, CCO & Co-founder, VR Playhouse
21. Pierre Friquet, Director, JetLag
22. Alexei Gavriline, President, Mobile Capital Network
23. Stefan Grambart, Creative Director, Secret Location
24. Frédéric Guarino, Founder, VR Valley
25. John Hamilton, CEO, Unlimited
26. Christina Heller, Co-Founder & CEO, VR Playhouse
27. Robin Ingle, CEO, Ingle Insurance
28. Nyla Innuksuk, Founder, Pinnguaq Productions
29. Awane Jones, Founder,Merchlar/5th Wall
30. Srinivas Krishna | AWE Company
31. Lucie Lalumiere, Founder, Lalumiere Media
32. Philip Lelyveld, Virtual Reality / Augmented Reality Initiative Program Manager, University of Southern California’s Entertainment Technology Center (ETC)
33. Brett Leonard, Director/Producer/Futurist
34. Philippe Lewicki, Captain, HTML Fusion
35. Andrew Macdonald, Creative Director, Cream360
36. Keith Makse, CEO, Red Meat Games
37. Josh Maldonado, Co-Founder, DISCOVR
38. Keram Malicki-Sanchez, Festival Director, FIVARS
39. Professor Steve Mann, Chief Scientist, Metavision.com
40. Samantha Mathews, Co-Founder and CEO, Venn.Agency
41. Murray McKercher, Co-Founder, EyeLIVE Media
42. Graeme Moffat, PhD, VP of Scientific & Regulatory Affairs, Muse
43. Ken Nickerson, Co-Founder, Kobo
44. Kibaya Njenga, Product and Project Manager, SULON
45. Philip Plough, President, Persistent Productions/TriggAR
46. Jeff Preyra, President, 360 Story Lab
47. Isaac Rayment, CEO, Four Eleven
48. Blair Renaud, CEO/Lead Designer, IRIS VR
49. Bernie Roehl, Founder, Virtual Escapes
50. Gareth Seltzer, Founding Investor and Director, RYOT
51. Ana Serrano, Chief Technology Officer, Canadian Film Centre
52. Alan Smithson, Co-Founder, MetaVRse
53. Jeff Tremblay, Lead Practice – AR/VR, Valtech Canada
54. Rose Troche, President, Alfrobel Inc.
55. Ian Tuason, VR Filmmaker, “The Closet” – Dimensiongate
56. Ben Unsworth, Co-Founder and President, Globacore
57. Lee Vermeulen, Co-Founder, Alientrap Games
58. Michaella Vu, VR Filmmaker, “Neural Path” – Vunous
59. Khayyam Wakil, Media & Technology Innovator, Live Planet
60. Thomas Wallner, CEO and Founder, DEEP Inc/Liquid Cinema
61. J Lee Williams, Preside, Occupied VR
62. Russell Wu, Creative Director, Dirtywork VR
63. Morgan Young, President, Quantum Capture
64. Michael Zaidan, Co-Founder and SVP Creative Affairs, Minority Media

Full List of Keynotes, Panels, Presentations & Intensive Training Sessions at VRTO Virtual & Augmented Reality Conference & Expo 2016

 

Keynotes:

• Steve Mann – Proposing A Code of Ethics on Virtuality, Robotics, and Human Augmentation
• Brett Leonard – The Mythic Story of VR: Transformation or Control?
• Philip Lelyveld – Hollywood’s Journey into VR
• Ana Serrano – Altogether Now: Designing VR with the past, present and future in mind

Panels:

• Ethics on Virtuality, Robotics, and Human Augmentation
• How To Choose and Create Great 360 Stories
• “Take My Point of View” – Creative vs Autonomous Control of Viewer’s Attention
• Super Session: OK, So We Can Shoot in 360. Can We Start Making it Interesting Now?
• Distribution and DRM For Immersive Content
• The 2016 FIVARS Festival Selections
• Finding Success in VR Game Development
• Mixed & Augmented Reality – The Holographic Future
• The Amazing Montreal VR Scene
• Producing Immersive Video in Canada – Where’s the Money?

Presentations:

• UX in VR: The Who What Where When and Why
• How VR Will Democratize Experiential Learning
• Exploring Mixed Reality: Merging Real & Virtual worlds with Hololens
• Social VR and Virtual Theater: Expression and Interaction Within Virtual Worlds
• Financing Options in Canada for VR/AR
• Extending Your Runway Before Takeoff: Intelligent Financial Planning For Your Startup
• The Power of Cinematic VR
• “The Beautifully Specific Mind” – Bringing Back the Frame in Cinematic VR
• The Toronto TimeWarp – Transforming Locations using AR Time Travel
• 15 Minutes To Fame – An Approach to An All In One 360 Solution
• Crossing the Valley: Exploring the Future of Digital Humans
• Room Scale VR: Going off leash
• The VR Headache – Best Practices for Creating Comfortable Stereoscopic VR
• Create, Connect, Elevate – How VR is Going to Disrupt Every Business
• Building the Next Web for the Coming Age of Mixed Reality

 

Intensive Training Sessions:

• 360 Video is Not An Easter Egg Hunt – Let’s Get Started
• The Upward Spiral of Virtual Reality: The Impact of VR on Consciousness & Society
• Johnny 6 – Production for 360 Immersive Video Projects From An Unorthodox POV
• 360VR Video Post-Production Tips & Tricks
• Professional Video Stitching Techniques
• Q&A With 360 Video Veterans
• Planning, Communicating and Testing the User Experience
• Creating Games for Gear VR – An Overview from Concept to Storefront
• I Can See Holograms: How to Work with the Microsoft Hololens
• Kit Bashing: Building Cohesive Worlds Out of Pillaged Assets
• Dreaming of Superman – Game Design Language & Philosophy in VR
• Room Scale VR: Latency’s a Bitch
• Physics in Room Scale VR: Creating Modbox for the HTC Vive
• Demystifying the Photogrammetry Pipeline for Real-time 3D
• Training: Pitching Interactive Animated Stories

Report created by Keram Malicki-Sanchez. Special thanks to Matthew Celestial, Chrissy Aitchison, Candace Steinberg, Steve Mann, Joseph Ellsworth, Ana Serrano and Jessy Blaze for contributing and their invaluable input to this report