vrdc meetup virtual reality-01

The virtual reality community is truly one of grassroots growth. Meetup groups for VR developers and enthusiasts are springing up around the world. A new group, VRDC, is bringing a VR meetup to the United States capital. The group’s first gathering will be held on September 8th at 6:30 PM.

Juan Pablo Risso is the organizer of VRDC along with Jason Ganz and Matt Thompson. VRDC will be the first VR Meetup in the area, according to Risso. Like any good Meetup, VRDC will have time for networking, VR demos, and host guest presentations from Social Tables and VisiSonics. Risso shares the full itinerary with Road to VR:


Hi VR Pioneers!

Thank you for joining! Our meetup covers one of the hottest new technologies that is destined to revolutionize VR, the ‘Oculus Rift’.

“I’ve seen five or six demos that made me think the world was about to change: Apple II, Netscape, Google, iPhone … then Oculus.”
– Chris Dixon

The idea for this first meetup is that, with help from VR pioneers with Oculus DK1 or/and DK2, we will set up a few demos and experiences to share with members that haven’t experienced it yet and talk about the present and future of VR.

Address:
1515 N Courthouse Rd, 7th Floor
Arlington, VA 22201 USA (map)

The parking garage in the building closes at 10PM. If they are unable to find space, here is a link to overflow parking options near the office
When you arrive – take the elevator to the 7th floor and an Oployee will be there to greet you.

Agenda:
6:30 – Meet & Greet + Snacks & Beer
6:45 – Welcome and introduction to #VRDC
7:00 – Demos:

Social Tables
Social Tables is the global leader of cloud-based hospitality software that positions venues to work more collaboratively and efficiently with their event and meeting customers.

More than 30,000 unique users rely on the desktop and mobile product line, which includes online sales and marketing solutions, 2D and 3D room diagramming, business intelligence for hotels, and event attendee management. Users have planned over 175,000 events within the company’s Venue Library, home to over 220-million square feet of meeting space.

Social Tables was founded in Washington, D.C. in 2011 by Dan Berger, and has received a total of $9.6 million in funding.

Sijie Tian will demostrate Social Table VR. It is an experimental new product inspired by Google Cardboard. This product uses the Social Tables API along with WebGL, phone sensors, and a Google Cardboard to let anyone explore physical meeting spaces in virtual reality.

VisiSonics
VisiSonics is a spinout from the University of Maryland’s Computer Science Department. They have created several technologies for gaming and VR. The most exciting one is their ability to create sound with pinpoint accuracy anywhere in space… with stereo headsets. It’s called “RealSpace 3D Audio” for VR and Gaming.

Gregg Wilkes and team will be on hand to give us a brief presentation on it’s origin as well as stick around to provide live demonstrations of the technology. It is available today for the Unity Gaming Engine for Windows, Mac, iOS and Android. Additionally, VisiSonics has a full 8” Spherical Array with 64 Microphones and 5 HD camera’s that can capture video and audio in 360 degrees simultaneously. They will be able to “demonstrate” Virtual Presence through an Oculus Rift DK1.

7:30 – Hands on with Oculus Rift (DK1 & DK2) and Google Cardboard. All the attendees will be able to try the devices and some experiences that we will have ready for you.

Opower’s engineering team is our host and sponsor this month. Special thanks to Chrissy Glover and John Crimmins for coordinating! You can learn all about Opower here.

Can’t wait to meet you!

Join the conversation on Twitter using #VRDC


To join the VRDC Meetup group and RSVR for their first gathering, see the VRDC Meetup page.

Road to VR is a proud media sponsor of VRDC.

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Ben is the world's most senior professional analyst solely dedicated to the XR industry, having founded Road to VR in 2011—a year before the Oculus Kickstarter sparked a resurgence that led to the modern XR landscape. He has authored more than 3,000 articles chronicling the evolution of the XR industry over more than a decade. With that unique perspective, Ben has been consistently recognized as one of the most influential voices in XR, giving keynotes and joining panel and podcast discussions at key industry events. He is a self-described "journalist and analyst, not evangelist."