If you had a chance to attend our session during SXSW 17, you got to hear us talk about what VR was like back in the 90's, as well as some of the lessons learned from those days that we can be using today. We'll actually have a video of the full presentation available in a few weeks and I'll post it here when it's ready.
You also got see to Jacki Morie give a great overview of some of the artist work that was being done back then. She's put them together in the Powerpoint that you can download below, complete with links and additional information.
We had many great conversations after the session, further exploring how that early work in VR can impact where the industry is going today. We talked about the need to create experiences that engage all of our senses; that there should be fun and playfulness and that we should stop looking at the limitations. And, we all agreed that if your VR experience is giving people motion sickness, it's probably your fault.
All four of us will be continuing this exploration and discussion, so check back here and connect with all of us as we continue to use the lessons learned from the first VR boom to make this one as successful as it can be.
Next week, I'm moderating a great panel with Jacki Morie, Linda Jacobson and Chris Stapleton, talking about some of the key learnings from the first boom of VR back in the 90's. I thought I'd kick off that conversation here and get things started with one of my pet peeves.
I believe that one of the biggest challenges we face today with VR/AR is that people in the industry like to focus on the limitations, not the opportunities. Now, to be fair, we do that with lots of things, but in the case of VR, we're setting the story that will either help or hinder us in the future. I'm not suggesting that we hype things that can't be done, that's hurt VR in the past too. Just that we need to lead with the positive. Even Cirque du Soleil generally regards limitations as means to find their best creative solution (see link below for their book that discusses that issue.)
Yet, as I talk to people in the VR space today or attend VR events, I hear lots of discussions about the limitations of the technology. How people get motion sickness, how the headmounts aren't good enough or the computers are too slow to do the really creative things we want to do. Lots of talk about how when the tech gets to where it should be, we'll see really cool experiences being developed then.
But imagine where we were 25+ years ago. The computers were the size of small desks and not nearly as powerful as what we have today. Here's the first VR game system that was commercially available. Just look at those graphics from the game.
Yep, we needed this entire set up to play the games.
And yet, after doing tens of thousands of demos using that system, I had very few people complain about the tech. The vast majority came out of the game excited and enthusiastic about the promise of the tech. They could see the vision. Yes, they would sometimes ask about the graphics or technology, but mainly they were excited.
Here are my thoughts:
Let's stop making excuses about the tech. It is what it is and it will certainly get better as time goes on. It always does. But, if we keep saying that we can't make great content until the tech gets better, we're just pushing off the opportunity to engage. Think about what content you want to create and then shape it based on the tech that's available. Be creative in terms of how you deliver it.
Let's focus on making great content. Above anything else, that will drive need and adoption. As you can see by the Dactyl Nightmare image, we didn't have great visuals back then. But people enjoyed the game, especially since it involved other players. It was easy to understand and it was fun. It helped people to see the possibilities.
In all of the years that I have given demos of VR, I've never had anyone get sick. And that includes 18 months on the road for Cutty Sark and an installation at Pleasure Island at WDW in Orlando. Yes, a small percentage of the audience will get motion sickness. And badly done content will certainly have an impact on how people feel when they're in the experience. But as a whole, I've never experienced it as the problem I've heard people talk about. So, stop talking about it.
Bring in the other senses. I really loved what what they did with The Walk (see link below), adding some wind and making you walk on the wire. The more senses you can bring into the experience, the more real it becomes. Jackie is working on smell, talk to her about what she's doing and how the sense of smell creates a whole new layer to the experience.
One big thought that I have is this. While it's great to start with people who have a film background, we need to get outside that industry. For example, people who have come from the theme park industry have extensive experience in engaging the whole guest. The big arcade experience back then were the Virtual World Entertainment centers. While you went into a pod to play the actual game, they created full stories around their experience, before, during and after you played. Just bringing people into a space with lots of VR systems won't cut it in the very near future. Bring in set designers and folks from themed entertainment and see how they would change your experience.
The key is being open to all of the skills out there needed to create great experiences. Again, it's not about the limitations, it's about possibilities. I have absolutely no doubt that VR will be successful and I'm looking forward to seeing how we can start unlocking it's great potential!
Images from the original Virtual World Entertainment center
Keeping my schedule packed tightly at SXSW, joining the sessions at the Retail Innovation Lounge, speaking on Innovation: Brands & The New Media Future. I'll be joined by Lori Schwartz and Tiffanie Stanard. We're speaking on Sunday at 1:45, and we'll cover a broad range of new media and how they will impact brands. They have a lot of great content and some good parties planned, so join us if you're in Austin.
kwolia’s Retail Innovation Lounge event at SXSW, presented by Shopgate, is a unique event experience designed to showcase the future of retail convergence and disruption with technology, marketing, commerce, media, entertainment and social good. Attendees will have the opportunity to connect with their peers, network with industry influencers and learn about the latest innovations in retail technology.
This year’s Retail Innovation Lounge is proud to welcome film producer and actor Tanner Beard as one of the event’s keynote speakers. Tanner is premiering three films at SXSW, including the highly anticipated Terence Malick film Song to Song. The opening film for SXSW Film features A-list actors Michael Fassbender, Christian Bale, Natalie Portman, Ryan Gosling and Rooney Mara.
If you're in Austin for SXSW for just in Austin, I'm also speaking at the Converge program on the 10th and 11th of March. I'll be speaking on a panel about Converging: Immersive Experiences VR, AR, MR I'll be part of a discussion on how new technologies are impacting everyday lives. How are immersive technologies impacting how we engage with products, services and brands? And what are companies doing create content in ways that engage consumers?
Come join us for a great 2 days by clicking here for ticket information!
WHAT’S CONVERGE?
A complimentary, two-day event taking place during SXSW designed for business innovation leaders who want to learn about the evolving convergence of consumer experiences, emerging technologies, new media and what it means to business + culture.
Gain insight on how companies are creating positive change and accelerating growth by improving teams, culture and consumer experiences.
Learn about emerging tech + media and how it applies to business: Mixed Reality, Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Drones, AI, evolving social platforms Live-streaming and other new media technologies.
Experience hands on demos from emerging tech companies
I'll be speaking on March 15th at SXSW, talking about the lessons we learned from the first boom of VR back in the early 90's. Join Jacki Morie, Linda Jacobson, Chris Stapleton and me as we talk about what it was like in those early days and what we can learn today from our successes and failures back then.
If you're at SXSW, please join us!
VR IS a new medium; but we've been here before. Experts from the early days of VR will present lessons learned with their relevance to today’s more affordable and accessible VR. We’ll use our collective history and examples to look at the future. Today, VR is still being tied to old media - trying to be film, games and storytelling, when its strengths lie far beyond these older media forms. Even with more people creating VR, the gear is far more visible than the experiences enabled by it. VR creators must learn from the past, and build works to provide immersive experiences that bring us emotional resonance, and agency to form our own memories as a normal part of our everyday future lives.
We're very excited to be heading back to Norway next week to bring our Conversations with Digital Natives presentation to the Media Forum. They have a great line up of speakers, as well as some great evening events, so we're really excited to be invited to participate. Plus, we get to stay in both a cool resort in the mountains as well as spending the weekend in Oslo. Let me know if by chance, you'll be there too!
Media Forum is an industry organization that will work purposefully and visibly to display advertising and ad media's role in wealth creation and build an attractive venue for networking and professional development with a focus on marketing and communication. Media Forum will contribute to skills development and knowledge sharing that gives each individual member dividends and benefits in the workplace and in their careers.
We're still having some video issues, but here's the video for our presentation at SXSW 2015. We'll do more editing and break it down into smaller segments, but if you have an hour to spend, it'll be well worth your time!
Yes, the Panel Picker is now open for SXSW 2016 and we're getting together our proposal for Teens Talk 2, More Conversations with Digital Natives. We had a great session this year and we're looking to make 2016 even better. And we'd like your help!
We want to add 2-3 people to expand the panel beyond Sydney & WIlliam, to get better geographic and demographic diversity. So if you know someone under 18 who would be a good addition to the panel, please let me know. They don't need to be tech geeks, we're looking to really understand how teens of all kinds are using tech.
Any new participants will need to be prepared to put in the prep time if we get picked and help us expand the survey to their friends. And, of course, they will need to join us in Austin next March for the session! If you know anyone, please email me with why they would make a great addition to our team!
We would also love your input for additional topics to cover during the session. If you'd like to see what we covered in 2015, you can click here to download the full presentation or go to here to see a quick overview of what they talked about. What topics would be important to cover? What are the trends you'd like them to discuss? Please feel free to leave a comment here or again, email me with any ideas.
We got a really great response to our session this year and want to make our 2016 even better. We appreciate your help and thoughts and hopefully we'll see you in Austin again next year!
What a great day we had! A full house, an attentive audience and lots of questions! We got a lot of great feedback on Twitter and through email and we've already been invited to do the presentation again this fall in Norway!
Some of the key take-aways include:
When it comes to content, Gen Z snacks and eats full meals. Yes, they like short form content to keep them occupied, but they also enjoy long form content as well. They just don't always have time for it, but that doesn't mean they don't want it. As Sydney said during the session, she's read two books in the last three days.
William made some excellent points about paid vs free content. The most important is that if theexperience of free is better than the experience of paid, then they won't be paying!
As I wrote about here, they are creating their own social media. Neither really uses Facebook, although William has an account so he can log into other sites. The do use smaller social networks like Google Hangouts, but the key is being where their friends are.
Both agreed that the actual technology that they used didn't matter, as long as it gave them access to the internet and everything else they wanted.
As you know, they put together a survey that they sent out to friends and posted on various newsgroups and talked about the results during the sessions. We're still looking to continue the survey as we update the presentation, so if you can share with people under 25, please send them to this link.
Some key points from their survey:
No surprises here!
It was surprising to see how their talk about privacy issues contrasted with with their actions.
While it was expected that they would say they didn't like ads, it was more surprising how few people paid attention to ads.
Very surprised to see how high their awareness was about their data being monetized.
And while they love to say they'd prefer to not have their data monetized, close to 80% said they wouldn't pay for things instead.
And here's their final list of the best ways to connect with them.
Over 200 people stayed through the entire presentation to hear William & Sydney talk about their views on technology, privacy, content and other topics. Of course, they ended with some key do's and don'ts, but you'll have to download the full presentation to see those! You can click here to download the full presentation.
In all, it was a great SXSW experience for Sydney & William and the audience and we were thrilled by the response we got -- you can see some of the feedback below. We'd like to thank everyone who attended and please let us know if you'd like to be updated on the survey as we get more responses. Email me to receive those updates.
Some of the great comments we received:
I work in a Norwegian bank and had the pleasure of listening to you, your daughter and her classmate at SXSW. To be totally honest, this was without doubt the best, most interesting, insightful and fun presentation at SXSW. - Sven-Erik Bergman
Anyone think these 13 year olds are better public speakers than some of the executive panelists? Nicole Emerick #sxsw #teentalk
Loving this #Teentalk so many brilliant insights from two very smart kids and a fantastic facilitator. Sarah Stovold #sxsw.
Great #TeenTalk panel with an utterly terrified audience of adult marketers. Simon Jones
#TeenTalk= surprise hit of SXSW. Kristine Smith
I was skeptical about this two-person teen panel. But these "kids" are terrific. Scott Hess #teentalk #SXSpark #SXSW #PostGeneration
The line to hear Millennials talk is about a mile long. Erica Schuckies #teentalk #SXSW
As you know, Sydney and her classmate William, will be speaking at their first SXSW next month and they're pretty excited about it. They've been interviewing their friends and classmates about a variety of topics and now they want to expand the discussion to see how other Gen Z members feel about these topics.
If you're under 25, could you take a few minutes to take the Teens Talk at SXSW Survey. And please feel free to share this survey with anyone else who could help! We'd really appreciate it! This is their first big speaking gig and we really want to make sure it's a great session!
Conversations with Digital Natives - Teens Talk
Gen Z is set to be one of the largest segments of the population and is very different than previous generations. They’ve grown up with tech & a very different media world. They’ve come off a recession, changing their view of work & money. They’re more connected than ever before, but in smaller circles. They are the DIY generation, coding, using 3D printers and not afraid of what tech can do.
Sydney & William, two 13 year olds from the NY Metro area, have been interviewing their peers to get a better view into how they live and their relationships with tech & media. You’ll hear first-hand what this generation, of teens, is doing, thinking and making. What are the trends they're seeing and what do they think the future holds? How do they feel about the pressing tech issues of the day? Do they share the same concerns of tech that older generations have? In addition, they will share video interviews with other students from their school, to show a broader range of thinking and opinion.
