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- “So Many Magical Moments” October 19, 2026
(Graphic courtesy of IMMERSIVE X.)
IMMERSIVE X Organizer/Curator Thomas Zorbach is about to do something amazing–again.
Thomas, who is the Founder and CEO of Berlin-based immersive branding agency vm-people, is working with his team to put the final touches on the sixth edition of the IMMERSIVE X annual Global XR Festival.
This completely-free, and all-virtual, three-day special event explores all the ways virtual reality can change the future for the better: in education, the arts, healthcare, the corporate world–and the list goes on, for a total of nine presentation tracks.
This year’s guiding theme, for the three days’ sessions: “Reclaim the Future”.
And not only are you invited, but Thomas would love to have your help, as a volunteer!
(Copyright: Victoria Tomaschko.) The experience
Now, what is IMMERSIVE X like?
Inspiring, fun–and unlike any other conference or festival we’ve ever attended.
Our 2025 experience spanned three days of highly imaginative and interactive events. World tours, virtual skating, a workshop that took place in the clouds and a very festive closing party were just a few aspects of three days that flew by too fast.
However, Thomas says, he and his team have added new elements to that experience.
“We decided to take a different path this year,” he says.
“We invited our community to take part in a workshop…in March, where we told (them) about that guiding theme and asked for their involvement, bringing their ideas on the content, on the whole journey (and) what they would like to take away from (it)…and based on (these insights) we created our sixth edition.”
Starting off creative
Accordingly, a look at the IMMERSIVE X website reveals a number of new workshops, world cafes, salons–and opportunities to create something new, all the way through.
“This year this is going to be much more experiential, even in this very first session…” Thomas says, previewing Day One of IMMERSIVE X 2026.
“Every participant in this session will have the chance to develop something which he or she can take away from it. And as this is the first session, this gives people direction for the three days that will follow.”
Here’s the link to register for IMMERSIVE X, if you haven’t already.
Opportunities inside the magic
If you’d like to help with the event, Thomas says he’d like to have some additional volunteers for the help desk, to welcome guests to the spawn points or, if you’re more technical, as stage managers. Here’s the link for volunteer information.
In addition, if you would like to support the Festival as a sponsor, here’s where to reach out to Thomas and his team.
And expect the second week of November to be incredible.
“During last IMMERSIVE X there were so many special moments, magical moments,” Thomas says.
“…That really stayed with me and motivated me to take on this journey again.”
Thomas offered a preview of this year’s IMMERSIVE X festival, talked about the ways he and his team are expanding on the experiential nature of the festival and explained ways participants can contribute to the immersive community.
On this edition of Over Coffee® we cover:
- What’s new for IMMERSIVE X 2026;
- The reason for the optimism reflected in this year’s theme, “Reclaim the Future”;
- The creative process behind the curation of this year’s festival;
- A preview of the positive content participants will see;
- What attendees get to create at IMMERSIVE X 2026, starting with the first session;
- Three aspects of the festival that everyone may not realize;
- Thomas’ suggestion for anyone who may have tried VR and been disappointed in it, in the past;
- One of his favorite experiences from last year’s festival;
- One “learning moment” that influenced what he and his team created for this year;
- How to register;
- A closer look at the upcoming session on the “sunrise” of Altspace;
- Ways to support the festival;
- What Thomas would like participants to give back to the immersive community in the coming year;
- How to be an active participant in the festival sessions.
- Footprints in the Stardust October 13, 2026
(Photograph courtesy of Melissa Marie Rolli, and used with permission.) Can you imagine a time when people thought spaceflight impossible–or at least, unlikely?
Just over seventy years ago, three teams of visionaries embarked on a major challenge: to prove that perception wrong.
Their stories are the subject of the book The First Space Race: Launching the World’s First Satellites.
Author, science writer, historian and naturalist Matt Bille, who co-wrote The First Space Race with Erika Lishock, takes readers behind the scenes of the dawn of the space age in the 1950s.
The First Space Race shares the stories behind the facts of the innovators, on both the Russian and U.S. teams, who put the world’s first satellites into orbit.
Mapping out the future
Interestingly, many of today’s space science concepts were part of the vision back then.
Readers get to meet Russian Chief Designer Sergey Korolev, who helmed the launch of Sputnik I, and who predicted, in 1946, that, “in about 30 years, a human will be on the moon.” And, on the U.S. side, The First Space Race offers a look at the brilliant and diplomatic Werner von Braun, who envisioned ultimately sending humans to Mars
The book also takes an unflinching look at the missteps and foibles along the way, and the lessons learned from them.
Matt shared the story of writing The First Space Race, offered a closer look at what was happening, in both the U.S. and the USSR as teams raced to get the first satellites into space, and discussed the ways those early satellites paved the ways for some of our twenty-first century technology.
On this edition of Over Coffee® we cover:
- How Matt first became interested in space travel and space science;
- His memories of a historic launch;
- How The First Space Race came about, as a book project;
- What was happening, in relation to satellite innovation, just after World War II;
- How Werner von Braun came to the U.S.;
- Why American rocket scientists took so long to launch a satellite;
- A closer look at Sergei Korolyov, the Russian counterpart to von Braun;
- Repercussions in the U.S., after the USSR’s successful launch of Sputnik;
- A closer look at Explorer I and the tasks it accomplished;
- The competition between the U.S. Army and Navy, to launch satellites;
- A near-humorous response to an early failure;
- What each country was doing, towards lunar exploration, after both the U.S. and the USSR had successfully launched satellites;
- Some of the “good mistakes” of the Vanguard program, that led to learning;
- How the descendants of those early satellites are in use today;
- What gave Matt a sense of awe and wonder, during the process of researching and writing The First Space Race;
- A closer look at Matt’s other books, and a preview of his new one, scheduled for release in February 2027;
- Matt’s advice to fellow writers.