Virtual World is a fully immersive and globally accessible virtual reality experience that magically captures the same landscape, spirit, culture, and ethos of the real world event in an interactive world that cultivates conversation, connection, and community. Everyone is welcome to participate from the comfort of their own home using a VR headset, PC, or Mac on the AltspaceVR platform. AltspaceVR is a social VR platform specializing in large scale events, like concerts, festivals, comedy shows, etc.
This is a game changer of a virtual event and the very first of its kind! It perfectly encompasses music, activism, film, Indigenous wisdom, health, art, ecology, spirituality, green crypto gamification, green/fair trade sponsorship, and vending!
Earthstockteaser2.mp4 from Greg Edwards on Vimeo.
Download and Install AltspaceVR to create and account before the event:
The AltspaceVR app is available on a wide variety of headsets including most Oculus devices, the HTC Vive, Windows Mixed Reality and even a 2D Mode on PC and MAC (similar controls to a first-person game).
Browse to AltspaceVR Beginner’s Guide and locate the download section that applies to your device. Click the corresponding button and you will be taken to the correct download page for your platform.
Instructions for entering AltspaceVR
Vending
Vendors can also be included in the virtual experience. We can import and place digital logos, photos, and/or QR codes into virtual vendor tents specific to an exhibit area, stage, or village. The QR codes can be photographed in the virtual world and accessed through AltspaceVR profile pages to drive traffic to websites from the virtual audience.
Sponsorship Packages
Sponsors have premium signage/QR code placement opportunities in the virtual experience. At the entrance/spawn point there will be ample area for sponsorship banners and signage. The element stages also offer more opportunities much like in the real world event. We can also add signage inside of the specifically themed vending areas if appropriate.
WHY EARTHSTOCK EXPO IS A HYBRID EVENT
As corporate event planners headed into 2021, the general consensus was that virtual will remain the status quo until a coronavirus vaccine is widely available or the pandemic subsides by other means.
The shift to hybrid started in 2021. A Global DMC Partners survey of event planners worldwide, released in November 2020, compared strategies for 2020 with those for 2021. While virtual events were the main touchpoint for most respondents in 2020, only 30% said they would execute virtual-only in lieu of in-person events in 2021, versus 42% who said a hybrid approach, which included a face-to-face program with a virtual element, would be their strategy.
A hybrid strategy allows event organizers to start exploring what future in-person events might look like, while also ensuring the digital component is still a focus. Hosting an event that involves a scaled-back faceto- face element with a virtual extension can also help organizers think about their contingency plans, as laws and restrictions on, as well as attendee comfort with, in-person gatherings change over time.
In anticipation of a hybrid future, venues like convention centers and hotels are looking to expand their digital capabilities to lure organizers back to booking in-person events. The Javits Convention Center in New York City, for example, is offering a control room with digital broadcasting capabilities, staffed with experts who can facilitate the virtual production of an in-person show.
Most sources anticipate that, by H2 2021, small-scale gatherings will commence, but even once companies allow employees to attend events and travel for work, it is not likely that events will return to their pre-pandemic glory.
Similar to our recommendations for crafting a virtual event plan, event organizers who move to hybrid executions must retool the playbook once again. The first step should be defining what the goals of a hybrid event would be and determining how an on-site experience would interplay with virtual elements.
THE PANDEMIC PUSHED XR USE BEYOND FUN AND GAMES
Extended reality (XR) technologies—including virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and mixed reality (MR)—are still in the early phases of adoption, but they are evolving quickly. While most use cases for VR and AR are still related to gaming, entertainment, and social media, the variety of applications is expanding as more consumers and businesses test out immersive experiences.
Because the pandemic has forced many people to work, socialize, study, and shop at home, they’re using XR experiences to replace in-person ones. This year, 58.9 million people in the US will use VR at least once per month, and 93.3 million will be monthly AR users. Though VR and AR are different technologies growing at different rates, the pandemic appears to have galvanized the market for both.
Established use cases have increased
VR and AR usage has grown as more people stay home and pursue activities aligned with crowd avoidance and social distancing, including playing video games, consuming entertainment, participating in social VR, using AR features on social networks, and experimenting with virtual try-ons, virtual shopping, and 360-degree travel videos. For example, June 2020 research by Ipsos and the Global Myopia Awareness Coalition (GMAC) found that 58% of US children and teens spent more time with smartphones, 53% spent more time with video game consoles, and 15% spent more time with VR headsets since the pandemic began. In general, people who owned VR headsets used them more; others
explored nonheadset options or considered buying headsets.
New use cases are attracting interest
The move to remote and virtual work, studying, and other home-based activities has created interest in new and more useful applications of VR
and AR beyond gaming. Virtual fitness, business collaboration, and distance learning are just three of many examples. With more development
and more demand, VR and AR are increasingly seen as viable replacements for in-person training, meetings, events, conventions, customer
service, healthcare, and other activities.
Big Tech sees big opportunity
The pandemic has turned XR into an even more important growth area for Big Tech. While Facebook is on its way to becoming the VR leader in
the US with its Oculus ecosystem, it is also investing in AR. Other heavy hitters, including Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Samsung, are all reportedly racing to introduce their own VR, AR, and/or MR solutions to grow the market and capitalize on increasing demand.
5G is becoming more available
XR developers are optimistic about the rollout of 5G wireless service— both in the US and around the world. Higher-speed 5G networks are expected to eliminate many persistent technical difficulties and boost XR’s viability. In an April 2020 survey conducted by Toluna and Advertiser
Perceptions on behalf of Verizon Media, 44% of US adults cited streaming VR content and 36% cited AR experiences as expected benefits of
5G technology.
Likewise, a majority of adults in South Korea, the UK, and the US found the idea of subscription-based VR and AR at least somewhat appealing, according to a January 2020 Nokia poll conducted by Parks Associates. Nearly three-quarters (73%) of respondents found a subscription to VR experiences appealing or very appealing, while 70% and 65% said the same for AR experiences and VR sports, respectively.