UploadVR is marking the start of an 11 city international tour of VR enthusiast gatherings tonight with a VR World Tour Kickoff event in San Francisco. Can’t make it? The panel discussions will be livestreamed.

2015 is already primed to be a big year for virtual reality. CES 2015 started things off strong as virtual reality attracted a lot of media buzz during the conference. Now, just a few weeks later after CES, UploadVR is kicking off an 11 city world tour to help spread the VR movement even further.

See Also: At the End of 2014, Tech Giants Sony, Facebook, Google, Samsung, Apple, and Microsoft All Have a Hand in VR

UploadVR, as their website states, is a “community of pioneers inspiring people around the world to spread the magic of virtual reality.” They have been holding enthusiast gatherings centered around virtual reality and augmented reality since June 2014. The member base for their Upload SF Meetup group clocks in around 1,500. The organization says they expect as many at their VR World Tour Kickoff event which will be held at the Metreon in San Francisco, flanking the famous Yerba Buena Gardens, this evening (Friday, January 16th) at 5PM PST.

UploadVR World Tour Kickoff on Eventbrite

VR Panel Discussions

UploadVR says that 12 industry insiders will be part of three panel discussions, open to attendees with ‘VIP’ tickets, held toward the beginning of the event.

Panel 1 (5:30 – 6:00pm PST): Moderator – Andrew Dickerson, Samsung

Panelists:

Howard Rose. President, Firsthand Technology

James Blaha. CEO, Diplopia

Jeri Ellsworth. Co-Founder, Technical Illusions (CastAR)

David Chavez. CTO, zSpace

Panel 2 (6:05 – 6:35pm PST): Moderator – Ray Davis, Epic Games / Unreal Engine

Panelists:

Amir Rubin. CEO, Sixense

Joel Susal. Product, Dolby Laboratories

Jody Medich. Principal UX Designer, Leap Motion

Alexander Taussig. Partner, Highland Capital

Panel 3 (6:50 – 7:20pm PST): Moderator – Bruce Wooden, AltspaceVR

Panelists:

Joe Kraus. Partner, Google Ventures

DJ Roller. Co-Founder, NextVR

Dan Ferguson. VR Innovator and Digital Marketing Leader, Reel FX

Nick DiCarlo. VP/GM, Immersive Products & Virtual Reality, Samsung Telecommunications America

Livestream

If you can’t make it, you can also catch each panel on the UploadVR World Tour Kickoff livestream right here.

VR Exhibitors

The general admission starts 8pm, which is when the VR demos kick off. UploadVR has rounded up some 60 virtual reality exhibitors for the night. Some of those companies include the following:

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Cubicle Ninjas – “a full-service creative design agency powered by a team that transform ideas into effective campaigns for the world’s greatest brands.”

– “a full-service creative design agency powered by a team that transform ideas into effective campaigns for the world’s greatest brands.” DODOcase – makers of the affordable $25 Smartphone Virtual Reality cardboard toolkits.

– makers of the affordable $25 Smartphone Virtual Reality cardboard toolkits. dsky9 – “Digital Sky brings state-of-the-art Augmented Reality experiences to the Oculus Rift, Sony Morpheus, and Samsung GearVR HMDs.”

– “Digital Sky brings state-of-the-art Augmented Reality experiences to the Oculus Rift, Sony Morpheus, and Samsung GearVR HMDs.” FOVE, Inc – virtual reality headsets with integrated eye tracking

– virtual reality headsets with integrated eye tracking High Fidelity – “powers interconnected virtual worlds, using new hardware devices to catalyze entirely new kinds of interactions between avatars.”

– “powers interconnected virtual worlds, using new hardware devices to catalyze entirely new kinds of interactions between avatars.” I AM Cardboard – “offers one of the best reviewed Google Cardboard in the market.”

– “offers one of the best reviewed Google Cardboard in the market.” Matterport – “offers a major breakthrough in high-quality, rapid 3D visualization of physical spaces.”

– “offers a major breakthrough in high-quality, rapid 3D visualization of physical spaces.” Mixamo – “offers an unprecedented approach to high-quality 3D character creation.”

– “offers an unprecedented approach to high-quality 3D character creation.” Mozilla – “a free software community best known for producing the Firefox web browser. — launched MozVR.com to help foster the emerging virtual reality Web”

– “a free software community best known for producing the Firefox web browser. — launched MozVR.com to help foster the emerging virtual reality Web” NextVR – “a pioneer in capturing and delivering immersive, high-definition, live and recorded virtual reality experiences.”[/one-half-first][one-half]

– “a pioneer in capturing and delivering immersive, high-definition, live and recorded virtual reality experiences.”[/one-half-first][one-half] Otherworld Interactive – “creates worlds for virtual reality and digital media with the primary goal of delivering impactful games.”

– “creates worlds for virtual reality and digital media with the primary goal of delivering impactful games.” ReelFX – “is an award-winning creative studio where accomplished artists and preeminent technology converge to produce extraordinary creative solutions.”

– “is an award-winning creative studio where accomplished artists and preeminent technology converge to produce extraordinary creative solutions.” Rothenberg Ventures – “seed-stage capital firm founded by Mike Rothenberg in 2012 – launched an accelerator called the ‘River’ which is a 3-month that accelerates the world’s best virtual reality startups by supporting them with resources, mentorship and community.”

– “seed-stage capital firm founded by Mike Rothenberg in 2012 – launched an accelerator called the ‘River’ which is a 3-month that accelerates the world’s best virtual reality startups by supporting them with resources, mentorship and community.” Seebright – “Augmented reality pioneer that recently unveiled the Seebright Wave™ head mounted display (HMD) system with a unique optical design supporting a new generation of augmented and virtual reality applications on iOS & Android smart-phones.”

– “Augmented reality pioneer that recently unveiled the Seebright Wave™ head mounted display (HMD) system with a unique optical design supporting a new generation of augmented and virtual reality applications on iOS & Android smart-phones.” Sixense – “Motion tracking and software for gaming, VR, 3D printing and other 3D digital media.”

– “Motion tracking and software for gaming, VR, 3D printing and other 3D digital media.” Specular Theory – “a virtual reality studio based in Venice Beach and will be showing off their latest VR live-action work.”

– “a virtual reality studio based in Venice Beach and will be showing off their latest VR live-action work.” Tactical Haptics – “The company’s initial focus is on commercializing the use of Reactive Grip™ Tactile Shear Feedback for virtual reality and gaming, though the technology also has applications in the simulation/training and medical domains.”[/one-half][clear-line]

Sponsors of the event include Samsung, Razer, Sixense, DODOcase, Leap Motion, NextVR and other players in the consumer VR industry.

For those interested in attending this event, you can still RSVP on the UploadVR Eventbrite website. Use the code “UPLOAD” to receive 35% off of the final ticket purchase. General admission tickets will also be sold at the door.

The next cities on the world tour will be Seattle, LA, DC, Boston, New York, Vancouver, London, Amsterdam, Paris and Berlin. No dates for those stops have been released just yet, but we will be sure to share any additional information when it becomes available.