VR World Congress gear vr1 jamie middletonVR World Congress, one of the biggest global celebrations of VR was held in Bristol just a few months back – in April 2016.

But what if you couldn’t make it – either virtually or in reality? Perhaps you thought you’d missed out for good. Except that the main talks from the day are now available to watch online!

Talking VR

A satisfying 23 talks were recorded over the day at VR World Congress from experts across the globe. So, to get you started, we’ve collated a selection of them in one place for your enjoyment:

Roy Taylor (AMD): The Race to Realism

AMD’s Roy Taylor opened VR World Congress with his keynote on ‘How VR will change everything and the opportunities it will create.’

Jason Lovell (Samsung): Gear VR and Beyond

Samsung’s Jason Lovell takes a look at the past, present and exciting future of Samsung’s Gear VR, as well as some of the other great products that they’ll be bringing to market in 2016.

Piers Harding-Rolls (IHS): Consumer VR – Bubble or Next Big Thing?

IHS’ Piers Harding-Rolls navigates the audience through the hype surrounding consumer VR and provides a realistic view of the adoption of VR technology, its likely challenges and its emerging opportunities in content.

David Corless (nDreams) The Commercial Reality of Self-Publishing VR Games

Making amazing VR content is only half the challenge. Independent developers need to face the very real issues that commercially releasing VR content presents. David talks the audience through the commercial reality of self-publishing VR games.

Katie Goode (Triangular Pixels): The Social VR Experience

Katie believes that social VR is of the utmost importance in order to allow VR to be accepted as a new medium. The Nintendo-of-America president, Reggie Fils-Aime has said of VR “…it’s not fun, and it’s not social. It’s just tech”. In her talk she argues that VR is already a social experience today; Reggie just hasn’t seen what’s possible.

Kim Majkut: Capturing Youth with VR

Kim discusses the accessibility of VR/AR as an educational tool for the younger generation in their own homes, and the importance of entertainment based narrative-led content to engage young minds.

Paul Deane (BBC): The Story of getting 5 million Views on a VR Film

What does ‘story’ mean in a VR production? What are the mistakes you make when you tell yourself stories, and how can this help your VR title reach a mass audience?

Paul talks about his experience in the making of the famous 360 degree VR film with David Attenborough and a giant dinosaur.

The Mill & The Guardian: A Virtual Experience of Solitary Confinement

A technical and creative discussion on the process of creating ‘6×9: A Virtual Experience of Solitary Confinement’.

Women in VR Panel

Samantha Kingston of Virtual Umbrella hosts Sarah Jones (Coventry University), Sophie Smart (Hammerhead VR), Liz Mercuri and Marisol Grandon (Dept. for Int. Development) for a panel on the rise of women in the virtual reality field.

Lukas Roper & Anil Glendinning (Opposable VR): Avoid a Cardboard Catastrophe

Opposable VR‘s Anil and Lukas detail the challenges of creating Cardboard content from the perspective of design and development. Anil discusses his challenges with design direction whilst Lukas Roper talks about development tips and tricks.

Sad you missed it? You can watch out for announcements on next year’s conference by following the VR World Congress Twitter feed: @VRWorldCongress. You can also see more talks from VR World Congress on the VR World Congress YouTube Page.