There have been a multitude of events around the world cancelled due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) and with countries continuing to report more cases that trend is likely to continue. HTC usually hosts its Vive Ecosystem Conference (HTC 2020 VEC) in Shenzhen, China but due to the current climate will entirely host the event in virtual reality (VR).
HTC Vive will be conducting the conference using VR Education’s ENGAGE platform, the first industry event to ever switch to a fully VR format. Speakers will attend virtually from across the world, from countries including China, Taiwan, France, the UK and the US, holding their various presentations using VR avatars. HTC 2020 VEC will also be used by teams from other cancelled or postponed events such as GSMA (Global System for Mobile Communications), Game Developers Conference (GDC), ESL (English as a Second Language) and GPU Technology Conference (GTC).
Panels will include members of HTC senior management including CEO, Yves Maitre, and HTC China President, Alvin Graylin. Confirmed external speakers include Peter Diamandis, founder and Chairman of The X PRIZE Foundation and Hugo Swart, Qualcomm’s VP and General Manager of XR.
“We have a close working relationship with HTC and so when they asked if we could assist in hosting HTC 2020 VEC via ENGAGE, we were delighted to help out. Coronavirus continues to impact us all and we feel that by hosting this conference virtually we can mitigate some of the disruption that it has and continues to cause businesses globally,” said David Whelan, CEO of VR Education, in a statement.
“Whilst there is no monetary value to this agreement, we believe that it marks the first time an official physical industry event is fully replaced by VR. It also provides us with an excellent opportunity to showcase the exciting capabilities of our ENGAGE platform to a truly global technology-led audience. We hope that this might, in turn, lead to further commercial opportunities for the Group going forward.”
HTC 2020 VEC will take place on 19th March 2020 at 1:30 am GMT (6:30 pm PT) with official registrations opening tomorrow on the ENGAGE website. For further updates keep reading VRFocus.