The OpenSimulator Community Conference 2014 starts tomorrow! Are you ready?

Here are three things you can do to make sure you are ready for a great conference this weekend!

1. Log in to the OSCC Grid to make sure your account works! Do NOT use the OSCC Viewer from last year! We recommend the 32-bit Singularity viewer, but if you wish to use any other viewer, make sure it can support varregions, Media-On-A-Prim, mesh objects, and streaming media. See the Login Info page for more information.  Having trouble logging in? Check the FAQ page!

2. Customize your schedule with the online conference program! Click the “Add to my Sched” button at the top of any session to create your own personal schedule for the conference. Also be sure to check your timezones! With recent daylight savings time changes, it’s easy to get confused. The conference schedule times are all Pacific Standard Time (PST) (-8 UTC).

3. Fill out your profile in-world and get dressed! Adding information to your profile will make it easier for people to network with you, and you can customize your avatar at the Shopping Center region or by HyperGrid teleporting to other grids.

Conference Schedule

We have an exciting program lined up, with great keynote presentations, breakout sessions, social events, and plenty of Expo regions to explore over the next two days! Don’t miss the Keynote sessions, including the OpenSimulator Developer Panel on Saturday morning, Philip Rosedale from High Fidelity on Saturday afternoon, and Steve LaValle from Oculus VR on Sunday morning!

Conference Streams

We will be live streaming the conference through Ustream, this year with no ads thanks to our Crowdfunder contributors! See the online schedule to grab the streaming link from the top of any session description.

Connecting to the Conference Grid

The OSCC Grid Login URI is: http://cc.opensimulator.org:8002

See the Login Info page for instructions and more information about how to connect to the grid. If you have a Local Account and have forgotten your password, use the Forgot Your Password link to reset it.

Optimize Your Viewer

For the best experience, make sure to enable Streaming Media & Music, and turn on AUTOPLAY for Parcel and Prim media. We also recommend turning your Draw Distance settings down to a reasonable level. The lower your Draw Distance, the better your viewer performance will be. See the FAQs for more information.

OSCC Zone Groups Access

When you log in, you will land on your designated Landing Zone region 1, 2, 3, 4, or the HyperGrid (HG) Landing Zone. Check the rotating banner in your Landing Zone to see the corresponding Keynote region that you should use for keynote presentations. You will only be able to access the Keynote region that matches your Landing Zone unless you are a presenter. See the Online Map for an overhead view of the conference grid.

Attending Sessions

When you arrive at a Keynote region or Track region please sit in a chair ASAP during the sessions! The conference grid will perform best if everyone takes a seat in the presentation areas. All of the conference presentations will take place via parcel streaming media, so we recommend that you set your viewer to AUTOPLAY parcel and prim media. In-world voice will be disabled in those areas, so please use text chat for socializing, networking, and asking questions of the speakers.

Expo Zones

The conference would not have been possible without the financial support of our Sponsors and Crowdfunders, so please be sure to visit their exhibits and booths in the Expo Zones to thank them! Explore five regions of terrific booths and fun activities provided by our sponsors and Crowdfunders – and invite your friends who didn’t get a conference ticket! The Expo Zones are open to public HyperGrid visitors!

OpenMetaQuest Game

Play the OpenMetaQuest to test your knowledge about the open Metaverse – and have fun! Your mission, should you be brave enough to accept it, is to find 12 hexagon-shaped game tokens across 7 sims while matching your MetaKnowledge for prizes. Look for the Adventure Hippo to begin your journey and win terrific prizes!

Technical Difficulties

Although we hope everything goes smoothly, it is always possible for there to be technical difficulties during the conference program. If this happens, we appreciate your patience and understanding while we work to resolve the issue.

If you are disconnected from the grid, please wait a moment or two, check the conference Twitter stream @opensimcc for updated information, and then try to log back in. We will do our best to resolve issues quickly and stick to the conference schedule. No matter what happens, we’re sure the day will hold plenty of surprises!

A tremendous thank you to all of our speakers, sponsors, crowdfundrs, volunteer staff, streaming team, and attendees! We hope you enjoy the conference program and we’ll look forward to seeing you in-world this weekend!

Sincerely,

The OpenSimulator Community Conference 2014 Team

Conference Chair
Chris Collins | Fleep Tuque

Steering Committee

Chris M. Collins | Avatar: Fleep Tuque
Crista Lopes | Avatar: Diva Canto
Joyce Bettencourt | Avatar: Rhiannon Chatnoir
Michael Cerquoni | Avatar: Nebadon Izumi
Melanie Thielker | Avatar: Melanie Milland

Organizing Committee

Chris M. Collins | Avatar: Fleep Tuque
Committee Chair

Michael Cerquoni | Avatar: Nebadon Izumi
Grid Administrator

Justin Clark-Casey | Avatar: Justin Clark-Casey
Developers & Open Source Track Leader

Maria Korolov | Avatar: Maria Korolov
Business & Enterprise Track Leader

Jeff Mefford | Avatar: Dan Banner
Content & Community Track Leader

Stephen Gasior | Avatar: Stephen Xootfly
Research & Education Track Leader

Cynthia Calongne | Avatar: Lyr Lobo
Learning Lab Manager

Joyce Bettencourt | Avatar: Rhiannon Chatnoir
Sponsorship Coordinator

Ken Grunke | Avatar: Key Gruin
Building & Scavenger Hunt Manager

Jane Haniefy | Sine Whatever
Volunteer Coordinator

David Oberholtzer | Avatar: Kai Arkright
Streaming Team Coordinator

Sponsorship Coordinator

Ken Grunke | Avatar: Key Gruin
Building & Scavenger Hunt Manager

Jane Haniefy | Sine Whatever
Volunteer Coordinator

David Oberholtzer | Avatar: Kai Arkright
Streaming Team Coordinator

Conference organizers expect the OpenSimulator Community Conference 2014 to be a sell out event this year. The conference will be held on November 8-9, 2014 on an OpenSimulator grid designed specifically for the event, and focuses on the developer and user community creating the OpenSimulator software.

“Registration has been brisk this year,” said conference organizer Chris Collins. “We have fewer than 100 general admission tickets remaining and they seem to be going quickly.”

High Profile Keynote Speakers

The conference features several high profile keynote speakers this year, including Philip Rosedale, CEO of High Fidelity, who will speak about the future of the Metaverse, and Steve LaValle from Oculus Rift, who will discuss the Oculus team’s race to deliver consumer grade virtual reality for mainstream adoption.

In addition, a keynote panel of core OpenSimulator developers will discuss the future of the platform, including the Hypergrid, content licensing and permissions, scalability, and project maturity. Keynote panelists include Justin Clark-Case, Crista Lopes, Mic Bowman, Oren Hurvitz, Michael Cerquoni, and Melanie Milland.

Volunteers, Content Donations Still Needed

Conference organizers have also asked members of the OpenSimulator community to consider volunteering for the conference or making donations of content to help showcase the features and possibilities of the OpenSimulator platform.

“We still need volunteers to help with audience assistance and greeting, so we encourage experienced OpenSimulator users to sign up to be a volunteer,” said Collins. “We also hope to give people more avatar choices this year, so we appreciate donations of avatar components or other content that can be shared with conference attendees.”

New Learning Lab Track Gives Hands-On Experience

The Learning Lab track is a new addition to the conference schedule this year, featuring hands-on learning sessions to help content developers, teachers, and others learn how to design and create engaging content in the OpenSimulator platform.
Topics in the Learning Lab include developing interactive fiction and gamification components for community building, importing and exporting content from other platforms, and using OpenSimulator for K-12 education.

“The conference is a great introduction to OpenSimulator for those who aren’t familiar with it,” said Collins, “and we hope experienced OpenSimulator users will come away with new tools and practical knowledge to continue to grow the platform.”

Registration for the virtual OpenSimulator Community Conference is free and open to the public. The conference will also be livestreamed through UStream.