Ready Player One! Get ready to explore new realities at our October augmented reality and virtual reality event. 

WORLD EXCLUSIVE: Sulon Technologies will be demoing its revolutionary untethered AR/VR device, Sulon Q, for the very first time ever at WWTO. 

JUST ADDED: Try out Sony's much anticipated PlayStation VR before its official release October 13!

Also featuring immersive demos using HoloLens, HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, Gear VR and Google Cardboard with participating organizations including: 

Secret Location, Globacore, Sulon Technologies, Quantum Capture, Sony, Proto3000, Super Ventures, Modiface, CFC/ideaBOOST, Eye-LIVE Media, ABB Robotics, MiaoMiao Games, itsme3D, Lucky VR, FIVARS Festival, VR Society, Ryerson University, OMERS Ventures and more.

Beer from Lake Wilcox Brewery, Wine and Pizza from Pizza Pizza will be served courtesy of Herscu & Goldsilver. 

Doors open at 6:30PM. Presentations start at 6:45PM. Demo area is open from 6:30-10PM.

Agenda

6:30-6:45PM: Doors open & networking

6:45-7:00PM: Opening Remarks by Tom Emrich - We Are Wearables & Super Ventures

7:00-7:10PM: Presenting the Sulon Q - Dhan Balachand - Founder & CEO, Sulon Technologies 

7:10-7:20PM: The VR Opportunity - Prashant Matta, Associate, OMERS Ventures

7:20-7:30PM: The AR Opportunity - Tom Emrich, Partner, Super Ventures

7:30-7:50PM: Panel - The "3D-ification" of computing

• Pete Forde - Founder & CEO, itsme
• Craig Alguire - Co-Founder & Technical Director, Quantum Capture
• Ramona Pringle - Director of the Transmedia Zone & Assistant Professor, Ryerson University
• John Frangella - Co-Fouder & Managing Partner, Proto3000
• Moderated by Tom Emrich, We Are Wearables & Super Ventures

7:50-8:10PM: Panel: VR's impact on media and entertainment

• Stefan Grambart - Creative Director, Secret Location 
• Laura Mingail - Senior Marketing Manager, Brand & Communications, Cineplex Entertainment
• Ana Serrano - Chief Digital Officer, CFC / Managing Director, IDEABOOST 
• Keram Malicki-Sanchez - Founder & Executive Director, VRTO & FIVARS Festival 
• Moderated by Tom Emrich - We Are Wearables, Super Ventures

8:10-10:00PM: Networking and demo area including: 

• Sulon Technologies - makers of the Sulon Q, a revolutionary untethered AR/VR device
• Secret Location - featuring "Blasters of the Universe" a first of its kind, bringing the bullet hell game genre into first-person VR and VR episodes of groundbreaking series, Halcyon
• Sony PlayStation VR - try out Sony's much anticipated VR system prior to its official launch October 13
• Globacore - a HoloLens experience you don't want to miss
• Quantum Capture - presenting Vega, a VR Sci-Fi exploration game that lets players interact with 3D scans
• MiaoMiao Games - makers of Whisper Dungeon 
• Lucky VR: virtual reality casino 
• VR Society - featuring a HoloLens demo
• Modiface - virtual makeover technology leader with unique anti-aging, skin care, cosmetics, and hair color try-on technology across all platforms
• FIVARS Festival of International Virtual and Augmented Reality Stories - showcasing the People's Choice and Grand Jury Prize winner's and runners-up from FIVARS 2016 Festival on Gear VR + Subpac 
• Proto3000 - rapid prototyping and 3D printing
• ABB Robotics - demoing its use of Occipital Structure sensor & HoloLens
• itsme3D - scanning rigs and software that turn you into an animateavatar
• Eye-LIVE Media - specializes in producing sports and immersive experiences during events, for display in HD, 3D and 360o surround video for Virtual Reality

A big thanks to MaRS Discovery District Centre, Super Ventures, Best Buy Canada, Proto3000, cognitiveVR, Extreme Innovations and Herscu & Goldsilver and our media partner BetaKit for making this event possible.

About our Speakers

Stefan Grambart - Creative Director, Secret Location

Stefan is an award-winning creative thinker who has built a career on creating visual storytelling and interactive narrative experiences. With twenty years of combined experience across film & television animation, computer gaming, and digital media, Stefan has worked on projects for Warner Brothers, FOX, NBC, MTV, Family Channel, PBS Frontline, Syfy, HBO Family, Fisher-Price, Hasbro Interactive, Teletoon, History Channel Canada, YTV, and Shaw. He is currently a Creative Director at Secret Location and is the creator and conceptual lead of Halcyon. Focusing his attention on virtual reality, Stefan is exploring how this new medium will evolve our traditional narrative structures. 
He was the artistic lead on Secret Location’s VR experience for the hit FOX series Sleepy Hollow, which was awarded the first ever Emmy for a VR project (Outstanding User Experience & Visual Design). Stefan has also been honoured with several Canadian Screen Awards, Marketing Awards, Digi Awards, FITC Awards and FWA Awards. He has also had his work featured on Engadget, Mashable, The Verge, A.V. Club, and in the Hollywood Reporter.

Laura Mingail - Senior Marketing Manager, Brand & Communications, Cineplex Entertainment

Laura Mingail is senior marketer by day, and an advocate for VR in the Canadian entertainment space, supporting initiatives that boost VR education and trial, including TIFF’s POP VR summer series. Laura has been interviewed numerous times by Canada’s leading media outlets on marketing strategy, including The Globe & Mail, The National Post, The Montreal Gazette, CP24, and Global TV. She has also published several strategy articles in Marketing Magazine.

Ana Serrano - Chief Digital Officer, CFC / Managing Director, IDEABOOST

Ana Serrano is the Chief Digital Officer of the CFC and Founder of CFC Media Lab, the world-renowned institute for interactive storytelling created in 1997. Serrano is driving the digital transformation of the CFC into a unique blend of talent, product and company accelerator and creative production house. Most recently, she launched Canada's first digital entertainment accelerator IDEABOOST and serves as its Managing Director. To date, Serrano has directed the development of over 130 digital media projects, mentored over 70 start-ups, and produced some of Canada’s seminal works in interactive media. Such projects include tthe most recent award-winning Webby-Honouree Body/Mind/Change, starring David Cronenberg, an interactive narrative experience that generates a physical 3D printed object, and its VR extension Body/Mind/Change Redux, She has received numerous awards from the digital media, film, and theatre industries in both Canada and the U.S., including a Digital Media Trailblazing Award in 2015 from the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television.

Keram Malicki-Sanchez - Founder & Executive Director, VRTO & FIVARS Festival

Keram founded VRTO in spring 2015. He is also the editor-in-chief of IndieGameReviewer.com since 2008 and founder of FIVARS – the Festival of International Virtual and Augmented Reality Stories. A graduate of UCLA’s certification programs in Cinematography, Producing and Digital Media, respectively, Malicki-Sanchez is also an alumnus of Werner Herzog’s Rogue Film School – Los Angeles chapter and has 30 years of experience as an actor in over 65 films and television shows including American History X, John Q, True Blood and 24. He has been asked to speak about the intersection of technology and the arts at NXNE, Cinegear Expo (Los Angeles), the Toronto Star, Toronto Tech Week, CNE Innovation Garage, Digital Hollywood, NAB (Las Vegas) and many more. He is also the founder of Transportive Technology – a virtual reality production company and Constant Change Media Group – a 360 media company and disruptive media consultation firm.

Prashant Matta - Associate, OMERS Ventures

Prashant Matta is an Associate at OMERS Ventures where he is responsible for investing in technology companies. Prior to joining OMERS Ventures, Prashant worked in Samsung's Global Strategy Group. At Samsung, Prashant led strategic projects in mobile, digital media and emerging technologies like virtual reality. Before Samsung, Prashant was a Senior Consultant for Deloitte Consulting in Toronto, where he advised companies across various sectors on strategy, operations and performance improvement. Prashant holds an MBA from INSEAD and completed his BBA at the Schulich School of Business. He holds a Chartered Accountant designation.

Craig Alguire - Co-Founder & Technical Director, Quantum Capture

Craig Alguire is a technical artist and 3D developer with experience in both the indie and AAA sectors. Emerging technology and R&D are his primary passions. He was the Technical Director at 3Di Solutions for four years before joining the VFX team at Ubisoft Toronto. 3Di were pioneers in interactivity utilizing massive touchscreens and gesture technology for games, TV and installations. At Ubisoft, Craig has shipped Splinter Cell Blacklist, Far Cry 4 and an unannounced title. Since 2008 he has also been a Professor at Centennial College teaching the Unreal Engine in the Game Art and Design program to the next generation of game developers.

Ramona Pringle - Assistant Professor & Director of Transmedia Zone, Ryerson University

Ramona Pringle is an Assistant Professor in the RTA School of Media at Ryerson University and Director of the Transmedia Zone, an incubator for innovation in media and storytelling. As a writer, producer and digital journalist, Ramona’s work examines the evolving relationship between humans and technology. She is a technology columnist with CBC, and the writer and director of the interactive documentary “Avatar Secrets.” Previously, she was the interactive producer of PBS Frontline’s “Digital Nation” and editor in chief of “Rdigitalife”. Ramona is a co-editor of the IEEE Potentials Magazine special edition, “Unintended Consequences: the Paradox of Technological Potential” (2016) and an associate editor of IEEE Technology and Society Magazine. Ramona’s projects have been featured at festivals and conferences including i-docs, Power to the Pixel, TFI Interactive, Sheffield Doc/Fest, Hot Docs, SXSW, NXNE, Social Media Week, TEDx, and in publications including the New York Times, Mashable, Cult of Mac and the Huffington Post. Ramona has a Master’s Degree from NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications Program.

Pete Forde - Founder & CEO, itsme

Pete is the CEO of itsme, a Toronto startup that turns people into realistic 3D virtual avatars that can be used from everything from VR to games to emojis. It's free to get captured, takes under a minute and requires no human intervention. With an avatar, you can Be Yourself, Do Anything, Go Anywhere and Live Forever. Pete believes that social VR will make Facebook seem like a training exercise for the real thing.

John Frangella - Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Proto3000

John Frangella is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Proto3000, the leading provider of 3D printing and 3D scanning products and services in Canada.  John got his start in the manufacturing world as an employee at the family cheese business (National Cheese Company Ltd). After the business was sold in 2004, after 44 years of a building a purely Canadian legacy in the cheese industry, John looked for the next opportunity to apply his business acumen and creativity. After coming across 3D Printing, it was love at first sight, and John saw the opportunity it presented to advance the scope of manufacturing and product development in Canada. 10 years later, Proto3000 stands as a leader in the space, offering a diverse set of solutions to enable companies to improve their manufacturing efficiency, to make better products, to have an ecosystem of innovation, and to have the freedom to design anything.

Dhan Balachand - Founder & CEO, Sulon Technologies

Dhan is the Founder of Sulon Technologies, a Toronto-based technology company with the goal of making virtual worlds as simple and intuitive to experience and explore as the real world.  In recent years, Dhan has been focused on conceptualizing and creating next-generation products, including immersive technologies that blend augmented and virtual reality into one seamless experience. This focus on innovation is embodied in Sulon’s latest product, the Sulon Q, the world’s first and only all-in-one, tether-free, “wear and play” headset for virtual reality, augmented reality and spatial computing.   Dhan’s passion and vision for reimagining and enhancing human experiences has led him to be recognized as a leader amongst those creating disruptive consumer products, regularly speaking and headlining conferences around the world. Dhan received his Bachelors of Electrical Engineering from the University of Ottawa, and at a young age went on to work in the renewable energy industry developing and commercializing disruptive technologies. His experience prior to Sulon includes overseeing products from conceptualization through to launch combined with a strong background in science, technology, and product development, allows him to engage audiences in discussion that spurs imagination and redefines what most thought is impossible. Dhan’s work has been featured in many journals and articles across the globe, with many of the systems he’s created currently being used by research labs at universities across Canada. He is also the author of a range of patents granted globally spanning multiple technologies and verticals, including Sulon Technologies’ initial product offers.

Tom Emrich - Partner, Super Ventures & Founder, We Are Wearables

Sometimes called the “man from the future” Tom Emrich is a leading voice in wearable technology committed to driving adoption and innovation in technology augmenting the human experience. He is an investor and partner at Super Ventures, the first fund and incubator dedicated to augmented reality and a community builder, founding We Are Wearables, the largest wearable tech community of its kind in the world with a reach of over 100,000 and chapters across North America. He is also co-producer of Augmented World Expo (AWE) the largest AR and VR conference now in California, Europe and Asia. Tom has been recognized as a global influencer for both wearable tech and virtual reality and has presented talks at major conferences such as TEDx, WT Conference, Wearable Technology Show, TOM*FW, and FITC and regularly appears in the media as a wearable tech expert including The New York Times, CNN, BBC, CBC, Readers Digest and FASHION magazine. His passion for this space is driven by his belief that wearable tech plays a critical role in our human evolution