Virtual Worlds 2008- New York

Once again, I 'embraced the ironic' and physically flew to a virtual worlds conference.  It always seems so amusing to do so.

The first day of the event was today (if you do not count the meet/greet at the bar last night) and it was excellent as usual.  Chris Sherman and his team have done an phenomenal job in setting up great content for the entertainment/advertising crowd that typically populates his NYC show (versus the more enterprise-centric left-coast show).  Each session appeared to be standing-room-only, and there was considerable hallway networking going on amongst the nearly 1200 participants.  According to Chris, there was nearly no overlap between the attendees of October's show (or for that matter, last year's NYC show) and this year's show, which leads one to believe that interest in this space is expanding at a rapid rate.

Hidden behind the stairs in room 4 is a small but militant enterprise contingent, which delved deeply into extracting social networks from within VW communities, as well as virtual datacenters.  I understand that the demonstrations there were mind-blowing.

Also concurrent with the VW show is the Virtual Legal track, with a number of distinguished speakers walking attendees through the finer points of virtual property, currencies, and so forth.  This track in particular has been well populated.

Tomorrow is more of the same, plus my participation in a panel discussion on virtual worlds in the enterprise.  Look for an update tomorrow evening on day 2 of the show.

Comments

[Rita Turkowski]

Christian, great meeting you finally! in NY. Everything you have blogged was my impression as well. The lack of overlap between the east/west venues is I believe somewhat intentional on Chris' part and not a bad idea. It was awesome for me to meet so many media and advertising types (typical NYers for sure) and all are going digital and VWs is something they see as a new medium to explore. Social networking sites all have some form of advertising on them you may have noticed, albeit subtle usually. To quote you:
"Hidden behind the stairs in room 4 is a small but militant enterprise contingent, which delved deeply into extracting social networks from within VW communities, as well as virtual datacenters. I understand that the demonstrations there were mind-blowing." Yes, all true, I stayed there most of Thursday it was so compelling in room 4! rita