Philly New Technology Meetup #23 - March 2016 - w/ PANMA: VR + Design

Third Wednesday of the month, as always! We're partnering with the Philadelphia Area New Media Association - PANMA - to talk about Virtual Reality and Design. This is going to be an amazing program that will keep both your left and right brains engaged for the evening!

5:45 Networking and food
6:15 Welcome and sponsors
6:25 Demo: BrickSimple
6:40 Spotlight: PANMA
6:45 Demo: Dream Machine
7:00 Guest speaker: Fredric Freeman
7:30 Community discussion followed by Networking
7:45 Happy Hour

Sponsored by Duane Morris (http://www.duanemorris.com/attorneys/richardlcohen.html), EisnerAmper (http://www.eisneramper.com/), Kopelman Foundation, TriNet (https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikenolen1trinet), Chariot Solutions (http://chariotsolutions.com/).

Demo - BrickSimple (http://www.bricksimple.com/), Stephen Buerkle (https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevebuerkle)

BrickSimple is a leading developer of virtual and augmented reality infrastructure software and content for many years, across a number of vertical markets such as health care, entertainment, marketing and advertising. Stephen Buerkle leads their Strategic Development effort. Steve is a serial software entrepreneur with numerous startups and exits in his personal portfolio. Some of Steve's accomplishments include the “Most Valuable Product” award at Comdex and the “Most Innovative Software” award at CES. One of Steve's software products, Taxi, the first digital personal navigation application, was showcased in the Intel Museum in Santa Clara for several years. Two of Steve's companies have been bought by Fortune 100 companies and RealNetworks, of which Steve was one the founders, went public.

Spotlight on PANMA (http://panma.org/)

PANMA hosts networking and educational events, where they encourage the connections among members, offer business opportunities and enjoy good times with friends. They are designers, artists, developers, programmers, content strategists, information architects, marketers and everything in between supporting one another and our innovative community.

Demo - Dream Machine (http://www.weareyourdreams.com/), Georgia Spangenberg (https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgia-spangenberg-a5a2498)

Dream Machine will be premiering an exclusive 360 VR Experience filmed at the Divine Lorraine in Philadelphia. If you've got 'em, please bring your cardboard viewer to the event and explore one of Philadelphia's most enchanting and mysterious landmarks.

Guest Speaker - Fredric Freeman (https://www.linkedin.com/in/smartfred), Dream Machine (http://www.weareyourdreams.com/)

Designing Beyond the Screen With VR

The phrase virtual reality has taken a beating over the past 2 decades as it wasn’t within reach based on previous technologies, costs and implementation. At this point, VR often brings to mind some 90’s post-apocalyptic image, people living outside of society wanting to escape life, or gamers or Star Trek HoloDeck. But the future may actually be upon us as over half the US adult population now has a smartphone powerful enough to connect and create virtual experiences. Will we finally be able to close the door on vaporware and broken virtual promises? Join Frederic and Georgia has they explore and provide a overview of the VR landscape, how its evolving and exciting new possibilities just around the corner.

Fredric “Fresh” Freeman is an Interactive Art Director & Designer and has been on a journey fueled by creativity and innovation, initially sparked by a Packard Bell 486DX 33mhz, a Das EFX CD and floppy disk copy of Doom. Along the way, he has reshaped the image of the largest banks in America, helped transition one of the nation’s most recognizable brands into the world of mobile, toured the nation as a DJ and became a professor of Interactive Design and Animation. His award winning tours of duty include stints at Razorfish, Tierney, Bristol Myers Squibb, Philadelphia University, Ultra Records, and Lombardi’s Original Brick Oven Pizza in Philadelphia.

Community Announcements

Hiring? Looking for a job? Promoting an event? Need to ask for help? Share your 30-second (not sales-oriented) announcement at our community meetup.

At least two companies present each month after our guest speaker. Apply here (https://phillynewtech.seamlessdocs.com/f/ApplyToDemo) to demo at Philly New Tech Meetup.