Plymouth’s quarterly meeting for digital sector professionals is returning as a physical meeting after months of online only gatherings - and at the city’s new £7.6m digital hub.
Digital Plymouth, the organisation which brings together people working in the city’s growing digital sector, is to stage its next meetup at the Market Hall, in Devonport.
The Grade II listed Victorian edifice was reopened this summer after an extensive redevelopment Government-backed programme which has seen the first immersive video dome of its kind in Europe installed in the extension to the building.
The meeting is at 6.30pm on Thursday, September 2, and a spokesperson for Digital Plymouth said: “It's going to be a bit different to our usual face-to-face events as a couple of our speakers are going to be speaking in the 360-degree immersive dome.”
The event will feature three speakers, but tickets are limited so prospective attendees are urged to book in advance with details at www.digitalplymouth.com
The speakers are:
- Seth White - an ex-programmer/web designer/eLearning developer/web-game creator/project manager who has been leading an experienced team building high-quality XR for more than six years now. At London-based digital marketing company Volume the team focuses on helping organisations to improve performance with immersive learning experiences, and also sales and events-based experiences that deliver a clear return on investment for clients.
- Dr Hannah Wood - founder and creative director of Story Juice, a Plymouth-based narrative experience design studio that “pushes the boundaries of storytelling form and process”. Story Juice makes its own narrative games and works on large-scale immersive experiences with clients including Natural History Museum, Eden Project and Almeida Theatre. Story Juice is currently recruiting for two young games developers/artists via the Government’s Kickstarter campaign.
- Gareth Allen - a media professional with a career spanning a quarter of a century as a radio and television news journalist, producer and director for the BBC and ITV. Mr Allen founded Soundview which has emerged as one of the leading video production houses in Plymouth. He leads a talented team of media professionals who are at the cutting edge of immersive video production.
Digital Plymouth was set up in 2015 and runs a meetup for the digital people of the South West to get together, “chat, drink and be inspired” eerie three months.
The evening events run in December, March and June with the fourth usually being a full day conference and evening meetup in September.
Each event has speakers covering a variety of topics within the digital industry as well as the opportunity to meet new people and get to know the South West digital community.
Since the July 2020 meetup the events have been held virtually due to the Covid pandemic.
But a Digital Plymouth spokesperson said the September 2021 event will be “the first face-to-face Digital Plymouth event in what feels like forever” and added: “We can't wait to see you all.”
Plymouth’s immersive dome was created in an extension to the Victorian Market Hall, originally built as a fruit and veg market in 1852, but transformed by Real Ideas Organisation into a tech business and education hub.
It now encases the immersive dome, which needs just two projectors to cover the full surface of the dome and create a seamless shared virtual reality experience without the need for a headset. The bespoke sound system boasts 19 channels of audio.
The dome was designed by Gaianova and built/constructed by Alchemy International (formerly known as WNY). The only other like it in the world can be found at SAT in Montreal, Canada. Architecture firm Le Page, was responsible for the historic building refurb and the new extension, which contains the dome.
But the Market Hall project is more far reaching than education and entertainment, providing work and collaboration space for tech firms, from start-ups to multinational companies, and educational institutions such as the University of Plymouth and Plymouth College of Art.
For six years Real Ideas, which is also responsible for the rejuvenation of the nearby Devonport Guildhall and also runs Ocean Studios in the Grade I listed Royal William Yard, has been completely re-imagining and transforming the formerly disused building as the new, globally significant dedicated centre for the rapidly-emerging immersive sector.
