Virtual reality innovators, industry leaders, and consumers are about to gather in actual reality for the VRLA Summer Expo.
A two-day summit of all things VR, it began with just 100 guests in 2014 but is expected to attract as many as 6,000 people to the Los Angeles Convention Center Aug. 5 and 6.
“The rise of our event has mirrored rising consumer interest in VR,” said expo co-founder Jessica Ward. “It’s become a real show, like a mini E3.”
The chance to try out the latest high-tech developments is a big lure to attendees at the event, which features more than 130 exhibitors and dozens of speakers.
Convention goers can party at a virtual rave, fly like a bird, and explore a giant arcade game – all via headsets.
“Our event is basically a pop-up theme park,” said Ward, 30, who works with various companies in VR business development.
Major players including Facebook’s Oculus VR and Sony Interactive Entertainment are due to demo their newest developments at the expo, which drew 3,000 attendees at its last event. VRLA moved to the Convention Center in 2015 after it outgrew the various offices and soundstages at which it had previously been held, including the headquarters of Playa Vista visual effects company Digital Domain.
The VRLA expo is about more than entertainment though. It is also an opportunity for networking in a field that has been notoriously difficult to monetize.
Exhibiting at VRLA has helped smaller companies and developers secure funding, Ward said, as investors and venture capitalists are always present to scope out the latest content. Faceshift, a Swiss company that exhibited at VRLA last year, was acquired by Apple Inc. just a few months after the event, she added.
The opportunity for virtual reality creators and investors to meet is a big draw of the event for Ikrima Elhassan, 31, who has attended the expo each year. “Those ingredients have made each VRLA an amazing thing to go to,” said Elhassan, the co-founder of Kite & Lightning, a Santa Monica cinematic virtual reality studio.
Virtual reality is at an exciting juncture, he added, because it’s a relatively level playing field with a lot of unknown territory to explore.
In addition to bringing together pillars of the entertainment and gaming world, the expo attracts attendees from a wide range of industries including the military and medicine. Looking forward, Ward believes virtual reality even has the potential to be used in therapy and the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder. “We really believe VR is going to touch every industry,” she said.
Panel discussions and presentations planned for the event range from the scientific, such as “How neurons react to virtual reality,” to the practical, “Planning for success: An overview of legal issues every entrepreneur needs to know.”
