Rev VR Podcast (Ep. 57): Discussing the First Los Angeles VR Meetup (VRLA), with Founder Cosmo Scharf

Apr 9, 2014

With almost 200 people from the Los Angeles area packing the motion capture stage of FX-house, Digital Domain, the first VRLA Meetup exceeded founder Cosmo Scharf’s vision to bring virtual reality to his city.

When Cosmo first told me about his source of inspiration, I was more than flattered. He had been listening to my podcast about planning VR meetups and was inspired to plan one himself. It has always been my opinion that every town should have a VR meetup available, and folks like Cosmo are making it happen.

Planning one of these meetups is not an easy task. Venue, food, parking, sponsors, all things necessary for success are not just going to fall into your lap. Luckily, Cosmo ended up getting most of these things set up with a bit of help and a load of enthusiasm.

Digital Domain, a well-known Hollywood digital effect company, provided one of their motion capture rooms for the meetup. This was a perfect fit for the large number of folks and the need for demonstration tables. Epson provided funding for food and also demoed their latest augmented reality headset, the Moverio BT-200.

Several presentations were delivered, including Cosmo’s take on the Facebook acquisition of Oculus VR. Philip Rosedale was there presenting his new High Fidelity system which has many people excited about the possibility of a new metaverse.

It sounds like the first VRLA Meetup went very well, and Cosmo is anxious to start planning the next one. We wish him the best and can’t wait to report about his next session.