The document discusses lessons learned from early virtual conferences held in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. It describes the challenges of recreating hallway conversations and other informal networking opportunities virtually. It also provides examples of spatial designs for virtual conferences using platforms like VRChat, including dedicated areas for speaker sessions, question and answer sessions, poster sessions, and discussion groups. The document advocates for the strategic use of spatial positioning and audio controls to encourage interaction between participants.

1. The Art of Gathering Virtually
Experiential Design Lessons
from Virtual Conferences
of the 2020 Pandemic
@KentBye

3. ● Lessons from VR Confs 2020
● Brief Response to Civic Program +
My Experiential Design Approach
● Tech Architecture & Evolution
● Design Tradeoffs

4. 1st Wave of Virtual Confs in VR 2020
● Educators in VR International Summit (80% in AltSpace
VR), Feb 17-22, 2020
● HTC Ecosystem Conference (ENGAGE), March 18
● IEEE VR 2020 (Mozilla Hubs), March 22-26
● Laval Virtual (Virbella), April 22-24
● Mixed Reality Dev Days (AltSpace), May 21-22
● AWE & ARVR Association Global Summit
● VRTO (Hubs, Discord) June 6 - July 6
● Burning Man (AltSpaceVR) August 30 - September 8

5. My Phenomenological Twitter Threads
For IEEE VR, Laval Virtual, & Burning Man
https://twitter.com/kentbye/status/1241704882223992833 https://twitter.com/kentbye/status/1252891755596230657 https://twitter.com/kentbye/status/1302371727729504257

6. What is a Conference?
Planned talks
create a
shared context
Unplanned
collisions build
relationships

7. Using Zoom Works Great for Talks

8. The Hallway Conversations

10. Recreating the Hallway

11. Teleporting Eliminates Collisions

12. Threshold Spaces in Architecture

13. The Architecture of Spawn Points

14. Spawn Points & Permaculture Zones
Permaculture Zones (Birnbaum and Fox, 2014) https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Permaculture-Zones-Birnbaum-and-Fox-2014_fig11_331162801

15. Overview of Laval Virtual World

16. Put Talks at the Edges

17. Q&A After a Talk

18. Poster Sessions

19. Birds of a Feather Discussions

20. Birds of a Feather Schedule

21. Emergent Declaration of a Birds of a Feather

22. Emergent Context Declared with Signage

23. Audio Isolation Bubbles

24. Without Audio Spatialization:
Could Only Have One Conversation Per Bubble

25. No Audio Spatialization Meant Not
Enough Audio Isolation

26. Clustering around Audio Isolation

27. Audio Isolation Architecture (High Fidelity 2020)

28. Lurking Zones

29. Architecture for Context & Lurking

30. Contextual Bubbles

31. Open Problem:
Turn Taking & Balanced Convos

32. The Role of Culture at Burning Man
https://voicesofvr.com/960-how-burning-mans-10-principles-got-translated-into-vr-altspace-with-athena-demos/

33. ● Lessons from VR Confs 2020
● Brief Response to Civic Program +
My Experiential Design Approach
● Tech Architecture & Evolution
● Design Tradeoffs

34. https://www.twitch.tv/videos/801302799
Architectural Association's Civic Program Preliminary Report:
Distant Crowds: Architecture & Infrastructure of Virtual Gatherings 2020

35. https://www.civicprogram.com/home
Distant Crowds (Draft): Architecture &
Infrastructure of Virtual Gatherings 2020

36. Distant Crowds (Draft):
What are virtual gatherings?
https://www.civicprogram.com/what-are-virtual-gatherings

37. https://www.civicprogram.com/what-are-virtual-gatherings

38. New
Technology
Communications Medium as Process

39. New
Technology
Makers
Explore New
Affordances
Communications Medium as Process

40. New
Technology
Makers
Explore New
Affordances
Distribution
Channels
for the Work
Communications Medium as Process

41. Audience
Watches
Work
New
Technology
Makers
Explore New
Affordances
Distribution
Channels
for the Work
Communications Medium as Process

42. 1. Quality
2. Context
3. Character
4. Story
Four Dimensions of Experience

43. Mental & Social
Presence
Active
Presence
Emotional
Presence
Embodied &
Environmental
Presence

45. ThinkingIntuition
FeelingSensing

46. Making
Choices
Taking
Action
Emotional
Immersion
Sensory
Experience

47. Yang
Yin

48. Inward
Outward

49. Receiving
Giving

50. Listening
Talking

51. Shady Side
Sunny Side
Moon
Night Winter
Cold
Receiving
Connected to Whole
Sun
Day Summer
Hot
Giving
Individualized Self
Yang
Yin

52. Mental & Social
Presence
Active
Presence
Emotional
Presence
Embodied &
Environmental
Presence

53. Hot
Cold
WetDry

54. Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm, Ars Combinatoria. (1690)

55. AirFire
WaterEarth
Hot
Cold
WetDry

56. Hot
Cold
WetDry

57. Mental & Social
Presence
Active
Presence
Emotional
Presence
Embodied &
Environmental
Presence

58. Identity
Context
Community
Context
What are virtual gatherings like?
Mixes Context and Qualities of Presence
https://www.civicprogram.com/what-are-they-like

59. My take: virtual gatherings are also about feelings,
action, embodiment, & social exchange.
https://www.civicprogram.com/what-are-virtual-gatherings

60. Mental & Social
Presence
Active
Presence
Emotional
Presence
Embodied &
Environmental
Presence

61. 1. Quality
2. Context
3. Character
4. Story
Four Dimensions of Experience

62. https://www.civicprogram.com/what-are-virtual-gatherings

63. https://www.civicprogram.com/what-are-virtual-gatherings

64. https://ryanschultz.com/2020/05/11/version-2-1-of-the-infographic-social-vr-platforms-organized-by-primary-purposes/

65. https://www.civicprogram.com/what-is-a-good-gathering
What is a good virtual gathering?
Split into 4 contexts, but there’s many more

66. https://www.civicprogram.com/what-will-they-be-like
These predictions are split into contexts

68. Fashion Show

69. Merch Store at Roblox Concert

70. Early Education

71. https://www.deseret.com/indepth/2020/4/12/21200157/coronavirus-utah-covid-19-family-zoom-group-video-call-apple-facetime-technology

72. Virtual Concert in Fortnite
https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/news/general_music_news/rapper_travis_scott_had_a_virtual_concert_in_fortnite_over_12_million_people_attended_the_event.html

73. Telemedicine
https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/news/general_music_news/rapper_travis_scott_had_a_virtual_concert_in_fortnite_over_12_million_people_attended_the_event.html

74. Virtual Dates

75. Virtual Dia de los Meurtos

76. Higher Education / Conferences

77. Workplace Telepresence
https://twitter.com/DennyCloudhead/status/1324798554536378368

78. Hanging Out with Friends

79. duenos.net
Combating Isolation

81. Photo by

83. Public
Private
OtherSelf

85. My Assessment of College Majors Adopting XR

86. “Crossing the Chasm” into the Mainstream
Moore, Geoffrey. "Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and Selling High-Tech Products to Mainstream Customers" HarperBusiness, 1991
Graphic via https://blog.prototypr.io/design-for-crossing-the-chasm-1c4d4c68a3f1

87. My Assessment of College Majors Adopting XR

91. Expression of Identity

92. Biometric Data

93. Consciousness Hacking

94. Biofeedback Sensory
Immersion Vessel
https://sensync.net/science

95. Brain-Controlled Interfaces
& Neural Inputs

96. Haptic Suits & Gloves

97. Sensory Substitution

98. Sensory Addition

99. Self-Sovereign Identity

100. Verified Identities

101. Fashion Shows

104. Yang Yin
Competition
Walled Garden
Curated Content
Vertical-Integration
Proprietary
App Store
Cooperation
Open Ecosystem
No Gatekeepers
Horizontal Platform
Shared Source Code
Open Access

105. Surveillance Capitalism

106. Virtual Gift Economies

107. Selling of Crypto Art

108. Merch Store at Roblox Concert

109. https://www.economist.com/open-future/2019/01/21/we-need-to-own-our-data-as-a-human-right-and-be-compensated-for-it

110. Hyperreality Risks
Hyper-Reality, Keiichi Matsuda (2016), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJg02ivYzSs

113. Early Education

114. Early Education in Minecraft

115. Memory Palaces

116. Telepresence

117. duenos.net
Data Visualization

118. Spatial Language

120. Metaphoric Communication

121. Spatialized Emojis

123. Home & Family

124. Volumetric Memories

125. Spatial Mapping via
Computer Vision

126. duenos.net
Architecture

127. Sci-Fi World Building

129. Entertainment

130. Immersive Storytelling

131. The Holodeck

132. Flow States

133. Creativity & Art

134. Virtual Concert in Fortnite
https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/news/general_music_news/rapper_travis_scott_had_a_virtual_concert_in_fortnite_over_12_million_people_attended_the_event.html

135. Adult Entertainment

137. Medicine

138. http://differenttruths.com/science-technology/rewiring-the-brain/
Neuroplasticity

139. Ownership of Health

140. Telemedicine

141. Healing Trauma

142. https://www.slideshare.net/waltergreenleaf/walter-greenleaf-keynote-presentation-stanford-university-virtual-reality-innovations-conference
Greenleaf’s Medical Applications of VR

145. Virtual Harassment

146. Virtual Being Influencers

147. Deep Fakes

148. Empathy + Truth &
Reconciliation

149. Virtual Dates

152. https://www.roadtovr.com/mother-meets-recreation-of-deceased-child-in-vr/

153. https://www.economist.com/1843/2020/04/09/zoom-funerals-mourning-in-a-pandemic

154. Grief Rituals

155. Virtual Dia de los Meurtos

156. Image Rights After Death

157. Virtual Violence

158. Bans & Suspensions

161. Breaking Down Academic Silos

162. Skill Acquisition

163. Higher Education / Conferences

164. Comprehend Complexity

165. Capturing Deep Patterns with AI

166. Virtual Travel

167. Wonder & Awe

170. Workplace Telepresence
https://twitter.com/DennyCloudhead/status/1324798554536378368

171. Virtual Screens for Productivity

172. Professional Use Cases

174. Community

175. Hanging Out with Friends

176. Algorithmic Bias

177. Implicit Social Scores

179. duenos.net
Combating Isolation

180. Prison Rehabilitation

181. Accessibility

182. Distraction of XR
https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-pokemon-go-players-stabbed-fall-off-cliff-20160714-snap-story.html

184. 1. Quality
2. Context
3. Character
4. Story
Four Dimensions of Experience

185. What’s a good virtual gathering?
Perhaps it’s the development
or revealing of character
https://www.civicprogram.com/what-is-a-good-gathering

186. “True character is revealed in the choices
a human being makes under pressure -
the greater the pressure, the deeper the
revelation, the truer the choice to the
character's essential nature.”
― Robert McKee

187. Protagonist
Placed in a
Context with
Pressure
Make
Choices &
Take Action
Essential
Character is
Revealed
+ =

188. https://thesyncmovie.com/2015/09/synchronicity-and-the-story-of-our-lives/

189. Moral Virtue as Character

190. Virtue Continuum

192. Character Temperament
Isidore de Séville, De Natura Rerum (On the Nature of Things)

193. Big Five Personality Characteristics

194. Sacharin, V., Schlegel K., & Scherer K. R. (2012). Geneva Emotion
Wheel Rating Study. Swiss Center for Affective Sciences
Feelings Needs

195. Protagonist
Placed in a
Context with
Pressure
Make
Choices &
Take Action
Essential
Character is
Revealed
+ =

196. 1. Quality
2. Context
3. Character
4. Story
Four Dimensions of Experience

197. What’s a good virtual gathering?
As seen from the lens of storytelling
https://www.civicprogram.com/what-is-a-good-gathering

198. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hero%27s_journey
Joseph Campbell Hero’s Journey

199. https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/downloads/story-circle-template/
Dan Harmon’s Story Circle

200. Authored
Narrative
Generative
Narrative
http://ffden-2.phys.uaf.edu/webproj/212_spring_2014/Abdel_Abouhaib/101559128653564b3256663/uploads/2/8/6/1/28617611/1047737_orig.jpg
Story Authorship

201. Lebowitz, Josiah and Klug, Chris. "Interactive Storytelling for Video Games." Focal Press. 2011
Authored
Narrative
Generative
Narrative
Lebowitz & Klug’s Interactive Storytelling Spectrum

202. Authored
Narrative
Generative
Narrativehttp://www.kateforsyth.com.au/images/Blog%20January%202013/ThreeActStructureFlat.jpg
Fully Traditional Stories

203. Authored
Narrative
Generative
NarrativeRiedl, Mark. "Incorporating Authorial Intent into Generative Narrative Systems," Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence, 2009.
Interactive Traditional Story

204. Authored
Narrative
Generative
NarrativeChooseco LLC, Journey Under the Sea
Branching Path Stories

205. Authored
Narrative
Generative
NarrativeMateas, Michael. "Interactive Drama, Art, and Artificial Intelligence." PhD Thesis. Technical Report CMU-CS-02-206. School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, December 2002.
Interactive Drama Manager

206. Authored
Narrative
Generative
Narrativehttps://i0.wp.com/www.raphkoster.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/CASlide7.jpg
Open-Ended Stories

207. Authored
Narrative
Generative
NarrativeEmily Short, Spirit AI, Game Developers Conference “Narrative Innovation Showcase” 2017.
Fully Player-Driven Stories

208. Lebowitz, Josiah and Klug, Chris. "Interactive Storytelling for Video Games." Focal Press. 2011
Authored
Narrative
Generative
Narrative
Lebowitz & Klug’s Interactive Storytelling Spectrum

209. Authored
Narrative
Generative
Narrative
Whose Character is Revealed?
Character of an Event,
Person, Culture, or Place
Your Character

210. Are You a Ghost or an Embodied Character?
Does You Have Impact on the Story?
https://voicesofvr.com/292-the-four-different-types-of-stories-in-vr/

211. What’s a good virtual gathering?
As seen through Aristotelian Final Causation
https://www.civicprogram.com/what-is-a-good-gathering

212. Blueprint,
Math Structure,
Design, Shape
https://historeo.com/web/?p=3918
Formal Cause
Aristotle’s Four Causes

213. Blueprint,
Math Structure,
Design, Shape
https://historeo.com/web/?p=3918
Material Cause
Formal Cause
Aristotle’s Four Causes
Source Material
out of which
it’s made

214. Blueprint,
Math Structure,
Design, Shape
Agents &
Manifestation of
Knowledge
https://historeo.com/web/?p=3918
Material Cause Efficient Cause
Formal Cause
Aristotle’s Four Causes
Source Material
out of which
it’s made

215. Purpose,
Teleological Impulse,
Intention
Blueprint,
Math Structure,
Design, Shape
Agents &
Manifestation of
Knowledge
https://historeo.com/web/?p=3918
Material Cause Efficient Cause
Formal CauseFinal Cause
Aristotle’s Four Causes
Source Material
out of which
it’s made

216. `
Purpose,
Motivation,
Teleological Impulse,
Intention
Final Cause and
Purpose is a Key
Catalyst for Learning
Interact & Play
Explore & Create
Chase Curiosity
Find Motivation & Purpose
Embodied Movement
Error Correction Dopamine
Novelty & Surprise
Answer Questions
Fail Fast & Adapt

217. `
Active Learning
Approaches
Project-Based Learning
Inquiry-Based Learning
Action-Based Learning
Connectivist Learning
Flipped Classroom
Regio Emilia Schools
Montessori Schools
Waldorf Schools