Regular listeners know that folks like Alan and his guests attend a number of XR-related conventions, events, and symposia. Well, one -- VR Days in Amsterdam -- is right around the corner! Festival director Benjamin de Wit drops in to talk a little bit about what there will be to see -- and what attendees can expect to take away -- from this year's lustrum shindig.

Alan: My name's Alan Smithson. In today's show, we speak with the one and only Benjamin De Wit, founder and co-producer of VR Days Amsterdam, celebrating their fifth anniversary. All this and more on the XR for Business Podcast. VR Days is a three-day conference and exhibition on virtual, augmented, and mixed reality content, creativity, and innovation, running from November 13th to 15th in Amsterdam. Today, we discuss the speakers, exhibitors, and festival that make up the most incredible event known as VR Days.

Benjamin, welcome to the show, my

friend.

Benjamin: Well, thanks for

having me, Alan.

Alan: It's my absolute pleasure

to have you and I'm super excited. VR Days is less than a month away.

And let's get into it. What can people expect from VR Days 2019?

Benjamin: So much, man. It's

gonna be an explosion of great things to do, great things to see,

great things to learn about, and great people to meet. We have so

many sessions where you can learn about business, you can learn about

art, about science. So let's just dive into it, right? We kick off

the first day, November 13, with the Vision and Impact Conference,

where we have a couple of amazing speakers like Ricardo Laganaro, who

was the creator of The Line, that won the prize for "best

immersive experience" in Venice. We have Brandon Harper, he's a

designer at Hololens at Microsoft, with an amazing story to tell.

Michel van der Aa, who's a Dutch composer, and now also great VR

maker. And we're gonna do a throwback panel, because we're five years

old now. It's also time to reflect a little bit on what happened over

the past couple of years, because it's been a hell of a ride -- you

know, ups and downs -- and to figure out where the hell we're going.

Alan: When you figure that out,

let me know, my friend.

Benjamin: [laughs] Yes!

Alan: So who's going to be on

the throwback panel?

Benjamin: Well... for sure,

Albert "Skip" Rizzo will be there, because he's been there

from year one. And I still recall the first day I-- first time I ever

met him via Skype, which was an amazing experience. And he has been

such a dedicated supporter of VR Days with his thought, with his

vision, and also with his presence. So he will be one, that's for

sure on that.

Alan: That's super exciting, I'm

looking through the program highlights, you've got the Vision and

Impact Conference on the first day, you've got the exhibition hall.

How many exhibitors do you have this year?

Benjamin: Well, we think we're about a hundred exhibitors. Plus we have-- within these, we have the startup zone, where we have a couple of cool startups. We have what we call the Revolution Pavilion, and this is for projects that aren't really commercial yet, projects that aren't purely artistic, but they are super exciting, technology or content-wise. So they may come from universities, they may come from artists, they may come from startups. But it's--

Alan: Awesome.

Benjamin: Yeah. That I'm really

excited about--

Alan: That part's the exciting

part. That's like the-- if anybody's been to CES, that's kind of like

Eureka Park, where all the cool hidden stuff is.

Benjamin: Yes, exactly. Exactly.

And then we have the Church, where