Next week I’ll fly again to the US, and in particular to Silicon Valley to attend AWE again. It’s a good occasion to meet there or to do something together for the possible launch of the Apple headset.
AWE US
It’s again the time of the year when I attend the Augmented World Expo (AWE) in Santa Clara, California. It will be my third time in a row at that event.
This year I haven’t been selected as a speaker, so I will just go there as part of the press. This is not good because I won’t be able to steal food from the speakers’ lounge any more. I’ll have to steal double of it from the press lounge, then. Sorry Road To VR people.
Anyway, many signs point to the fact that this year’s event is going to be amazing. Many important companies in the field are going there. I’m already seeing also some side events being organized, like breakfasts and dinners. I’ve already set up some cool meetings, and my agenda is filling up pretty quickly. And the icing on the cake is Neal Stephenson as the keynote speaker! I’m sure that on the opportunities side will be one of the best AWEs I’ve ever been to! I’m already feeling the air being electric in the ecosystem…
I have great plans for this AWE. These are a few interesting things I’m planning to do:
- Try innovative XR hardware and software solutions and talk about them on my blog
- Look for partners for VRROOM, the company I’m working with to create a platform for virtual reality events,
- Look for collaborations for the XR event On|Metaverse Summit I’m advising here in Italy
- Tell everyone about the fitness game HitMotion: Reloaded
- Chase Neal Stephenson screaming “Neal, Neal” as soon as he gets off the stage, looking like a poor idiot like I did last year with John Riccitiello
- Blame Neal Stephenson because the word he invented led to the existence of the “Metaverse Experts” on Linkedin
- Eat American Food and say that Italian one would have been better
- Become a homeless guy for the thousands of dollars I will spend in Lyft on those days
- Hug at least 50 people
- Say the word “Awesome” and “Amazing” at whatever thing I will see. With the exception of the convention center food
- Create some embarrassing situations by using my sarcasm with people that don’t understand it
- Be confused about what to do on June, 1st when AWE opens its showroom while at the same time, Meta is doing its Gaming Showcase where it may tease something about Quest 3
- Do meetings during the day, parties during the evening. Realize I’m too old for the parties, and that after 30 years old, life is all about having back pain
- Write articles at night about what I tried during the day
- Cry the day after because no one is reading my articles because all my readers are busy at AWE, too
- Meet lots of people with whom to say “Let’s collaborate for sure”. Then never meet them again for the rest of my life
- Give people business or technical advice that doesn’t work
- Distribute business cards to people that will make paper planes out of them
- Give a very bad look to whoever says the word “metaverse”
- Give an even worse look to whoever says the word “metaverses”
- Organize a funeral for the metaverse, which is dying every day
- Meet lots of friends like Charlie, Eloi, Cecilia, Tony, Ori, Gabs, etc… (the list is too long to mention them all)
- … and of course, meet you!
My agenda is already pretty tight, but please reach out to me to see if there is an opportunity to meet, chat, or try some innovative product! You can contact me on your favorite channel among the ones listed on this page. I’m always open to meeting with other people that have a passion for immersive realities!
I will stay in the Valley from May, 29th evening to June, 7th. Since I’m making this long trip from Italy, I’m staying some extra days to have the opportunity to do something cool. So if we don’t meet at AWE, maybe we can still do something the days after. And talking about this, let’s talk also about one more thing…
Apple Park storming
It’s highly probable that on June, 5th, Apple will announce its first mixed-reality headset. It will be a super important event for immersive realities… and of course, I’ve not been invited to the launch, like many other people in our ecosystem. But that day, I’m still there in the Valley, so… what can I do?
On Twitter, jokingly, I said that we should all storm Apple Park like some people promised to storm Area 51 some years ago