Due to circumstances beyond our control, we're postponing this event until further notice. Sorry for any inconvenience

Fully immersive 3D virtual worlds such as Second Life are seriously entertaining. They also represent a serious business opportunity. Over 85 major brands - in categories ranging from automotive to tourism - have staked out their territory in Second Life. Innovative corporations, universities, politicians and not-for-profits are using the medium to achieve real-world objectives. The big picture: over 9 million global residents conducting transactions averaging $1.5 million per day. Information about Second Life can be found at http://secondlife.com/whatis/

Is Second Life a playground or new reality? Bring your questions for our panel of digerati and join us for an exploration of how organizations are using virtual worlds for branding, collaboration, recruiting and research.

About Our Speaker(s)

Linda Zimmer, CEO, MarCom:Interactive (Moderator)
MarCom:Interactive is a social and emerging media consultancy serving an international clientele of corporate, non-profit and public brands. Linda is a recognized expert at innovating marketing, communications and branding for contemporary audiences and social trends. She is spearheading the formation of the Modern Media Institute, a professional development institute focused on uses of new media in branding practices. Linda is among a cadre of innovators employing virtual worlds for branding, training, and marketing communications and writes a popular blog on the topic, Business Communicators of Second Life.

Jeanette Gibson, Director New Media & Corporate Communications, Cisco Systems
Jeanette is responsible for extending Cisco's leadership and innovation with new media and overseeing the vision and direction of Cisco's award winning online newsroom, News@Cisco. She is responsible for developing and communicating the direction of Cisco's corporate blogging and podcasting initiatives and driving its web strategy for communications websites, News@Cisco and the Investor Relations and Analyst Relations Websites. In addition, Gibson manages operations for corporate communications involving strategy and planning, budget management and training programs.

Mary Ellen Gordon, Founder & Managing Director, Market Truths
Mary Ellen has conducted proprietary market research for a wide variety of organizations in the United States and New Zealand and taught business courses for multiple universities and colleges. Her academic research has been presented at many international conferences, and published in textbooks and peer-reviewed journals including Psychology and Marketing, the Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, Managerial Issues, the Journal of Marketing Education, and the Journal of Interactive Marketing. Mary Ellen is a member of the American Marketing Association, the Marketing Research Association (with Expert Professional Researcher Certification) and Mensa.

Crista Lopes, Associate Professor of Information & Computer Science, UCI
Dr. Lopes is an expert in programming and in pervasive computing systems, with both academic and industrial experience. She is co-inventor of Aspect Oriented Programming (AOP), a programming technology featured in the MIT Technology Review (2001) as "one of the 10 emergent technologies that will change the world." Recently, she has been applying advanced computer science techniques to explore applications in 3D virtual worlds. Her work there focus on two main interests: search and modeling of complex engineering systems. In one project, she has developed a search engine for Second Life (SLBrowser) that is already deployed and in use by SL residents. In another project, she is modeling and simulating a transportation system called SkyTran, according its real-world specifications. At UCI she teaches courses on programming and pervasive computing. She has a long list of academic publications as well as several patents.

Ian Teapoot, Chief Creative Officer, Involve, Inc.
As a designer and illustrator for over ten years, Ian has a passion for creating rich, immersive experiences in the Metaverse. He brings an illustrator's eye for high-fidelity detail to his virtual creations. In fact, his builds have been selected as among only ten sites featured on Linden Lab's in-world guide ("Pathfinder's Picks") and they have maintained that position through one year and two updates. In addition, Ian lends a hand to the next generation by instructing game art, interactive media, animation and design students at the Art Institute of California. He is also a member of the Instructor volunteer program in Second Life.

Event Date and Venue

This event will be held from 5:30 PM on Thursday, October 11, 2007 at:

Calit2
University of California - Irvine, 4100 Calit2 Building
Irvine, California 92697
Map

http://www.calit2.net/events/ignitingtechnology/files/Calit2Map.pdf

Schedule

5:30-6:00P Registration & Networking (Refreshments served)
6:00-7:30P Panel & Q&A
7:30-8:30P Networking (Refreshments served)

Pre-registration for this event is closed and on-site registrations will not be accepted.

Contact Us

For more info regarding registration or event details, please contact Nina Burokas ([email protected]).

For more details about pre-registration, contact Tech Support.