We must admit we arrived at the ARVR conference a little later than we would have liked but it was a Friday and deadlines must be met! However, better late than never, huh?!
ARVR INNOVATE is an international immersive conference and it was held in the RDS on Friday, May 10th. We didn’t know what to expect as this was our first time to attend such a conference. We did, however, have ourselves prepared as before we left the office, we got the technology insights from our very own tech team! With all the basics and info, we knew we wanted to learn more and off we went to ARVR INNOVATE in the RDS.
Immersive technologies are cool and as a business that looks after start-ups (amongst other clients) we know that going forward, technology is key. Here at Hear Me Roar Media, we want to be knowledgeable for clients and with the growth of AR and VR it is only natural that we need to know about how we can help businesses. There are a growing number of corroborated studies that demonstrate the impressive power of the technologies in improving worker productivity. The beauty of these latest technologies is that they facilitate training, remotely, allowing workers to integrate themselves into situations that are safe and secure, for example, fire training to name a few. What we learnt at the conference was that there are many ways that AR and VR can benefit a business, as illustrated by James Watson of Immerse, who told attendees about their solution for DHL to train their staff in how to lift boxes with the use of virtual reality. Then there was Sandra Whelan of Immersive VR Education that showed the power of storytelling and how training/educating can be better with VR. Not forgetting Niall O’Driscoll’s powered talk on how VR can benefit the healthcare sector.
We had a look at the exhibits and saw some incredible things from diverse businesses including, Utility AR who provide solutions to the workplace with their software, Octagon Studio who provide highly realistic 3D content for mixed and augmented reality experiences. Audi’s HoloLens experience was there, and it was met with excited faces – not that we are pointing at anyone, in particular (they know who they are!). The breaks were filled with light-hearted chats, tea/coffee and biscuits or cake which was delicious! The event had a good atmosphere, great speakers, good exhibits and everyone seemed to be in good spirits ahead of the weekend.
With thanks to Alex Gibson (Founder of ARVR Innovate) for organising the event and all the wonderful volunteers on the day who worked immensely hard. We will be back next year, and we would encourage others to go along too and see for themselves what AR and VR can do.