What experience do you base that on?

From what I've seen, the attendees genuinely love visiting trade shows. Actually, it's one of the few examples of people voluntarily paying for ads to be shown to them.

Trade shows are like the adult "Disney World" with "toys" relevant to their professional area:

+ Interior designers like the annual Kitchen & Bath trades shows. They like the furniture trade shows.

+ Home builders like trade shows of new architectural products and construction materials

+ cabinet makers like the woodworking machinery trade shows to see what new technology can make their factory run better. Similar with machine shops attending annual CNC & metalworking trade shows.

+ music store employees enjoy visiting the annual NAMM show to see latest gear for making and recording music

+ security experts attend surveillance tech trade show showing latest cameras, locks, laser mics, etc

+ Not just working professionals but also end consumers pay to attend trade shows such as CES Consumer Electronics Show, and Home & Garden shows that are popular in big cities each Spring.

The trade show that may be boring to some is the enterprise software type where one booth is Oracle and the next booth is Xerox showing their document management solutions.

[Edit to reply] : >Most of the time though, the attendees would be bored. Walking around, not talking to anyone, waiting for time to pass

Understand that but that's also how people walking around at Disney's parks appear as well. People do look bored in between the 2 minute thrill of the rides. That's different from concluding that "nobody wants to be at Disney" or generalizing to "nobody really WANTS to be at a trade show". There are many interesting trade shows that attract attendees and they pay for their own tickets to be exposed to the latest developments in their areas of interest.

The type of trade show that would have bored disengaged attendees would be the ones where most of the tickets are paid by the employers. (E.g. enterprise software event.)

But there are other trade shows where people genuinely want to be there. E.g. the farm trade shows where farmers will drive 4 hours to see the latest tractors and farm equipment to make their lives easier. And yes, the farmers may look bored while they are walking the trade show floor. :-)

> What experience do you base that on?

I worked for years inside an exhibition hall (they had offices we rented) and there were constantly trade shows for all sorts of things. On breaks I'd wander around and look at whatever it was.

It was predictable what was popular and what wasn't. If you had a celebrity talking, that would be popular. Anyone else, it's free seats.

Canapés, aperitifs, anything consumable would be popular.

Most of the time though, the attendees would be bored. Walking around, not talking to anyone, waiting for time to pass between the one or two meetings they'd have for the day.

Tradeshows about new tech for example, such as CES, typically are interesting for people to discover what new things are being developed.

Venu is a virtual reality application that includes characters, also called avatars, controlled by each person who enters Venu via the Venu software application.

If I enter Venu using my Oculus Quest VR headset, I will be able to use my Quest controllers in my hands to move my arms and gesture with my hands, and raise my arms over my head. I can also enter Venu using my Windows or Mac computer, but I won't be able to move my arms or hands.

With my Quest VR headset, using my hand controllers, I can move my avatar around in Venu, so that my avatar can walk up to another avatar (manipulated by another human person) and start a conversation. Via the Quest hand controllers, I can use the left joystick (on my controller) to move my avatar forwards, backwards, or sideways and I can use the Y button to teleport my avatar to another location in Venu in my sight. I can also use the right controller joystick to pivot or turn my avatar to face different directions.

On the computer, I can use my mouse to point my avatar in the direction I'd like to walk to, then use the "W" key or the up arrow key to move my avatar forward, toward my destination.

Wearing headphones with a microphone while on the computer, will make my voice sound clearer to others in Venu from my avatar.

We have also meticulously worked on the spatial audio within Venu. When standing within conversation distance with other avatars, facing each other, our avatar group will be able to hear each other well. But, as I step away from my group, their voices will fade and eventually I won't be able to hear my group.

The Auditorium also has a special accommodation for audio coming from the stage. If I am a speaker on stage, I can be heard by every other avatar / person in the auditorium, but not outside the auditorium. The audience will also be muted during presentations or panelists discussion on the stage. There is a large screen behind the stage for the audience to see. On stage, there is a smaller presenter screen that is sync'd to the large screen. The presenter can upload Powerpoint presentations or movies (anything that can be played from a computer) to the team at Venu to serve up during the event.

Hope that answers your question. Don't hesitate to ask more questions. Thank you!

Serious question though, how do you handle moderation?

https://www.computerworld.com/article/2545037/the-top-eight-...

They died off shortly thereafter, partially as a result of the financial crisis, and partially as businesses realized there was very little real interest in "the company web site, except with crude 3D models".

We are creating a virtual reality "venue" space for trade shows and conferences. We are the "virtual venue", like the Las Vegas Convention Center or SF Moscone Center. And, you can join via windows, Mac, or VR headset to walk around Venu , in first person view.

With a VR headset like Oculus Quest, you can use the hand controllers to move the avatar's hands & arms, in addition, to navigating your avatar forwards, backwards, & sidestepping, With Mac and Windows, your hands and arms on your avatar won't move.

Thanks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LP0B3e49U3g

1. What are the capabilities for the presentations? Can you present video, screen share (code), etc? What about showing the video of the presenter?

2. Can you choose the layout of the exhibition hall if you only have i.e. 6 sponsors, so it doesn't look too empty?

3. Is audio spatial, so you don't hear people that are further away? I would hope so, otherwise with hundreds of people it would become out of hand quickly :-)

4. I appreciate that some "enterprise" pricing might be "contact us," but can you share a rough ballpark of what the pricing looks like for smaller events?

5. Is there a plan to lower the system requirements and/or add a streaming option? 2GB of graphics memory may be excluding a lot of people. Fine for a gamer's expo, but tough for people using business laptops.

6. How are Q&As done for presentations?

Thanks, and looking forward to checking out the demo.

1. Yes to all. It's just a screenshare, so you can share anything, slides, video, webcam.

2. Yes, everything you see is customizable to the event organizer's needs.

3. Yes, we have 3D spatial audio meticulously tuned to allow you to speak with those around you but not be bothered by background noise from the next group over.

4. We work with event organizers with an annual budget ranging from $10K-$150K+. We understand each event organizers' needs are different, and we match our level of service and custom requests for each customer.

5. Yes, system requirements will be lowered in the upcoming months to allow more users with different computers to have a smoother experience.

6. Attendees with Q&A questions line up and walk up on stage for questions. In the upcoming months, we will also have a built-in Q&A chat as requested by one of our customers.

Would love to meet you in the demo and connect over email and get more of your feedback on some other things around user experience. If you're interested in chatting, feel free to shoot me an email at jeremy@virtualworldarcade.com. We appreciate the help and feedback!

Thank you.

The reason people go to Trade Shows is to network, and see all the latest products from ALL of the vendors. If you're not inclusive enough, it rapidly loses value.

The beauty of Venu is networking. Our customers (event organizer) come to us because they realize that Venu provides the trade show space for attendee-avatar to walk up to a booth and talk one on one to the exhibitor's avatar. The vendor-avatar can also talk to a group of attendee-avatars in his booth.

For example, when I enter Venu from my computer, as an attendee of the event, I will not see myself since I am in in first person view, looking out. I can "walk up" (by using my "W" key to move my avatar forward) to another avatar, see that person's name tag and email above his/her head, and organically start a conversation; and, I can move my mouse over the other avatar's head to click on the email to instantaneously send him/her an email.

In the booth, 4 marketing pictures depict the vendor's latest product or solution, and a video that self plays when the attendee-avatar walks into the booth, showcasing the vendor's latest product or solution. The booth also contains a clickable link to the vendor's website or store, and a contact card with the vendor's email can be clicked on to start a follow-up email after conversing.

So, we are definitely inclusive. We are providing the virtual trade show and convention space to the event organizers. The event organizer is the one who will be inviting their vendors, customers, attendees, etc.

Thank you.

Venu is a business trade fair event platform, accessed via a virtual reality client, created for use in devices like the wireless Oculus Quest VR headset or the PC wired VR headsets like HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, Valve Index, or Windows Mixed Reality. In addition, we have made this available as a Windows or Mac client.

Venu also allows me, as an end-user, to go into the trade show platform, in first-person view. So, I do not see my own avatar, but I meet other avatars in face-face conversations. I can walk up to another avatar (with name tag/email above the head), see that this is someone I would like to conduct business with and start a conversation. I can also move my mouse over the other avatar's head, to the email address, where a cursor will appear for me to send an email to this person in real time.

Our competitors in the 2D grid of faces space, in conferences and events are: Zoom, Hopin, and SpotMe.

Our pseudo competitors in the 3D space are a bit fuzzy. From what I can tell, vFairs has animation and people navigate to the booth image, click on it, and connect to the exhibitor via a webcam. But, they have not created their conference / exhibit in virtual reality. And, there are a few out there like vFairs.

Thanks again for your question.