NAB and the Entertainment Technology Center at USC are coproducing a Virtual Reality Summit at the annual NAB Show on Wednesday, April 20, from 1:00-5:00 pm at the Las Vegas Convention Center. The half-day summit will address key concepts and lessons learned regarding VR production. Hands-on practitioners will discuss the technical and business aspects of producing content in this emerging marketplace, which some consider to be a new media type and art form. You can register for the Virtual Reality Summit and learn more about the NAB conference at the event’s website.

Virtual Reality is climbing the hype cycle. There are daily stories about the funding and star power behind a new VR experience — or the VR content development plans of an Internet company, equipment startup, gaming house or production studio.

The summit at NAB will provide important insights involving this compelling new space. Check out the schedule below.

1:00 pm — The Current State of VR: Market projections, recent hardware and software developments, and perspective on business opportunities for content creators.

Philip Lelyveld, VR/AR Initiative program lead, Entertainment Technology Center at USC

1:30 pm — Live Streaming VR: Producers with hands-on experience in a variety of live VR streaming situations will discuss their victories, pitfalls to avoid, and lessons learned.

Chris Blandy, EVP Technology Solutions, Fox (Moderator)
DJ Roller, Co-Founder, NextVR
Juan Santillan, Co-Founder and CEO, Vantage.tv
Mike Davies, SVP of Field and Technical Operations, Fox Sports Media Group
Jason Farkas, Executive Producer, CNN

2:30 pm — The Business of VR: Business people will have a lively discussion of market projections, company valuations, and how individuals expect to make money.

Scott Lenet, President, Touchdown Ventures (Moderator)
Tony Mugavero, CEO, LittlStar
Brandon Zamel, CEO, Springbok Entertainment
Marco DeMiroz, General Partner, The VR Fund

3:30 pm — VR Audio: We can only see what is in front of us, but we hear and can identify sounds from every direction. Audio is a key component of the emerging language of VR, with unique challenges impacting capture, production, and end-user experience. This panel will focus on this extremely important yet rarely covered topic.

Jacqueline Bosnjak, CEO & Partner, Q Department | Mach1 (Moderator)
Martin Walsh, Vice President, R&D, DTS, Inc.
Nicolas Tsingos, Director of E-media Technology, Dolby Laboratories
Jean-Pascal Beaudoin, President and Lead Creative Sound Director, Headspace Studio
Jyri Huopaniemi, Head of Formats and Platforms, Digital Media Business Unit, Nokia Technology
Tim Gedemer, President, CEO of Source Sound, Inc.