From: Bruce Damer Subject: EVENT: Avatars 97 Date: September 26, 1997 =====================================================> 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 í97, 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 í97 with all of the momentum of last yearís wildly successful first-ever virtual worlds conference Earth to Avatars. 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 * 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, and core-technology engineers. 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 Fujitsuís WorldsAway, Electric Communities, Blaxxun, Cosmo Software 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. ** ++ The Contact Consortium ++ A Forum for Contact, Culture and Community in Digital Space Visit us at: http://www.ccon.org PO Box 66866, Scotts Valley CA USA 95067-6866 reach Bruce at work: (408) 338-9400 or at the Consortium by email at: bdamer@ccon.org /- Living, Learning and Working in Virtual Worlds -/