Here are our current Over Coffee® podcasts!
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- VRAR Chicago: New Frontiers March 31, 2025
“The point here is not to have a lot of people just talking about (VR),” comments VRAR Chicago Founder Matthew Wren, of the upcoming Chicago XR Summit.
“…We want them to come into the space, put the headsets on and actually try this.”
VRAR Chicago’s XR Summit, happening on June 4th at Illinois Institute of Technology and virtually, in Frame VR, will be unique in several ways.
Breaking new ground, hands-on
Unlike many other technology-related events, admission to Chicago XR Summit is free to attend. (However, attendees MUST have tickets; here’s the link to sign up.) The focus: the applications of virtual reality in various industries–including education, design and workforce development.
In addition, no speakers will be featured. Attendees get to explore exhibitors’ innovations in immersive technology through hands-on demonstrations.
Also, Matthew says, exhibitors will not be charged for exhibiting their products and services! While they’ll pay a deposit to reserve the space, that deposit will be returned after their appearance at the Chicago XR Summit.
And last–but absolutely not least–Matthew and his team are exploring a new way for virtual attendees to experience the Chicago XR Summit!
“We are experimenting with technology that, frankly, I haven’t seen anyone do before,” Matthew says.
The overall goal: to educate and involve Chicago industries–and individuals–in the uses of immersive technology in day-to-day life in the workplace, education and creative disciplines.
A mission of exploration
VRAR Chicago, which Matthew founded in 2017, supports individuals and organizations in implementing virtual and immersive technologies into their products and services. For the past eight years, they’ve hosted their free hybrid monthly event series, The Next Evolution, where attendees explore the ways new immersive technologies can become valuable tools in their industries and future employment opportunities.
In other words, they’re showing people the ways immersive technologies’ capabilities extend far beyond the “gaming” applications with which many people associate them.
And Chicago XR Summit supports this goal by introducing attendees to some of the uses of immersive technology which they may never have imagined.
Matthew shared the story of creating VRAR Chicago, talked about some of the exhibitors during last year’s Chicago XR Summit, and offered some guidelines for successful virtual events.
And, be sure to reserve your tickets for Chicago XR Summit. Matthew warns that this is going to sell out!
On this issue of Over Coffee® we cover:
- How Matthew was first introduced to virtual reality and augmented reality;
- How he came to create VRAR Chicago;
- How The Next Evolution events led to the creation of Chicago XR Summit;
- What’s going to be happening at the Chicago XR Summit;
- Some of the exhibitors who participated in last year’s event;
- How the virtual-attendee element might work, as a new innovation this year;
- How new users might get started creating virtual spaces;
- Some of the recent innovations in immersive technologies which Matthew finds most exciting;
- A look behind the scenes, at the preparations for June 4th;
- How to help support these all-volunteer events;
- “do’s” and “don’t’s” of creating successful virtual events;
- How Matt and his team plan for “backups”, in case anything goes wrong technically;
- The partnerships with which they’re working;
- What he considers most fun, in his work on Chicago XR Summit;
- Where he’d most like to grow VRAR Chicago, in the future
- A Human-Centered Future March 24, 2025
Can we work in tandem with AI to craft a future world in which we’ll want to live?
Futurist, AI ethicist. anthropologist and educator Dr. Lollie Mancey says we can–and must.
The infusion of artificial intelligence, into all sectors, is inevitable, she continues.
“We can’t just shut our eyes to it and say, ‘it’s not going to happen. It’s already happened,” she says.
“And actually there are some amazing, incredible benefits, as well as some not-so-good things, coming.”
A proactive approach
As Programme Director at University College Dublin’s Innovation Academy, Dr. Mancey’s expertise is based on her experience in multiple areas.
In addition to her background in anthropology, she is an entrepreneur who has. so far, founded and directed three businesses. She is a broadcaster, whose most recent work included co-hosting RTE’s “Futureville Ireland” and her radio show on Dublin South FM. Dr. Mancey also hosts a podcast, “An Entrepreneur Like You”, on Spotify.
An award-winning storyteller and keynote speaker, Dr. Mancey likes to challenge her listeners to explore new ideas–and specifically, to imagine the ways they can have “a place at the table” as artificial intelligence evolves into all aspects and industries of the future. Her research and exploration of the challenges of AI focuses on the ethics of its use, for a human-centered approach to a rapidly-changing world.
Dr. Mancey talked about her background, some of her research in AI and the directions she recommends everyone take, to stay proactive and collaborative with artificial intelligence in education and the future workplace.
On this edition of Over Coffee® we cover:
- The learning journey that led to her current career;
- Some of the current factors that could have a negative effect as AI permeates all sectors;
- Ways to prepare for the future workplace, to give everyone a voice amid the spread of AI;
- Some of the benefits of AI for the educational sector and future workplace;
- One of her favorite experience, learning from her students, in a collaborative, as opposed to traditional, “lecture” approach to learning;
- How arts-oriented people can stay “the human in the loop”;
- How educators could reach students who may not currently have access to technology;
- Some of Dr. Mancey’s favorite current resources;
- Some of the “fun tricks” she uses, in her own interactions with AI;
- One of her more surprising interactions, during her research, with her “AI companion”;
- An intriguing fact about the way we start our days and how those first actions of the day can affect our creativity!;
- How to get past “imposter syndrome” with AI;
- Where “robot rights” might come in, in the future.