Avatars 97 Press Information

If you would like to attend Avatars 97 on a press pass, contact Wendy Sue Noah at wendysue@pacbell.net or conference coordinator Nancy Levidow at: nancyl@ccon.org. You may also leave a message at the conference hotline at (415) 621-2322. Please provide press credentials including a list of current and recent projects as well as references. Capacity for press is limited.

Press Release

Find the Avatars 97 press release below. It is also available here in Microsoft Word 6.0 format.


September 24, 1997

PRESS CONTACT:...............Wendy Sue Noah, 415/908-6744
wendysue@pacbell.net

GENERAL INFO:....................Nancy Levidow, 415/621-2322
nancyl@ccon.org

PRESS RELEASE - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

BEAM IN to Avatars ’97, the world's premier conference on online virtual worlds! Avatars put a human face on cyberspace, allowing users to see each other and interact inside 2D and 3D digital spaces. Find out what's happening in these new virtual communities at this three day event, held in San Francisco and inside Cyberspace.

Developers, artists, entrepreneurs, and cyberspace pioneers will gather on October 22 -24 at San Francisco State University's Multimedia Studies Program campus, located at 425 Market Street at Fremont in downtown San Francisco. The Contact Consortium (http://www.ccon.org),a non-profit association focused on human contact and culture in digital space, is producing Avatars ’97 with all of the momentum of last year’s wildly successful first-ever virtual worlds conference.

The four-track event features world class cyberspace visionaries and developers, including Linda Stone of Microsoft, who has been a leader in the effort to create both community and content in regards to human social interactions, Mark Pesce, an Internet visionary and co-creator of VRML, and Bruce Damer, a pioneer of avatar cyberspace and the founder of the Contact Consortium. Damer eloquently shares his vision, "the Human Race is entering Cyberspace as avatars and virtual worlds spread across the net creating a whole new interactive and social experience online."

Panels, workshops, demonstrations, and exhibits will appeal to a broad audience, including developers of virtual communities for training, collaboration or customer service, businesses interested in new forms of Internet marketing, game enthusiasts, educators, cyber-activists, 3D designers, anthropologists, core-technology engineers.

Several breaking news announcements will be made during the conference, including, Fujitsu’s WorldsAway launch on the Internet, and Electric Communities' new virtual worlds platform, the debut of VRML Humanoid Standards, and Bruce Damer's Avatars book launch from Peach Pit Press.

Featured presentations of special interest to cyber-citizens include tours of avatar cyberspace featuring innovative virtual worlds for commerce, education, entertainment and business collaboration; the Beam-In Avatar Teleport (an immersive room surrounding you with Avatar worlds); the Out-of-this-World Art Exhibition; tools for virtual world developers, VRML 2.0, Java 3D, voice chat technologies, and connecting 3D applications with 2D web pages.

In addition, the Contact Consortium will host several networking and social events open to the public: the Second Annual Avvy Awards, the Human Race in Cyberspace Party, and the Come As Your Own Avatar Halloween Party.

This year's conference is sponsored by Fujitsu’s WorldsAway, Electric Communities, Blaxxun and others. Conference fees are $150 per day or $350 for all three days, which includes all events, with discounts for educators and Consortium members. Space is limited; early registration is advised. For more information, visit http://www.ccon.org and follow the Avatars 97 link.

Come to Avatars ’97 and experience a whole new Cyberspace!

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