The 2017 Virtual Worlds Best Practice in Education (VWBPE) conference will be taking place between Wednesday, March 29th and Saturday April 1st, 2017 inclusive. A grass-roots community event focusing on education in immersive virtual environments, VWBPE attracts 2200-3500 educational professionals from around the world each year.
On February 27th, the VWBPE team issued information of the event’s social programme. The announcement reads in part:
This year the VWBPE social activities offer creative, fun events that take advantage of what is not possible in real life but is easy in a virtual world. For example, you will have a chance to swim as a mermaid or merman, fly off a mountain top on a hang glider, visit the Octopus’s Garden Palladium under the sea, jump on the Legacy Party Barge and tour the conference venue from a different perspective. You will not want to miss our opening and closing Lightning Productions Legacy tribute concert performances of the music of Bob Dylan with The Band, and the Beatles.
Activities will start with the Grand Opening ceremony, featuring the classical piano of Ari (arisia.vita). Throughout the four days of the conference there will be opportunities to appreciate some of SL’s best performers, including the The ChangHigh Sisters Fireshow Circus and the renowned Ballet Pixelle.
The full conference schedule is available here. The social events line-up is as follows (all times SLT and correct at the time of writing):
| Wednesday, March 29th | |
| 11:00 |
Exhibit Grand Opening Ribbon Cutting Ceremony with pPiano music provided by Ari (arisia.vita) – Exhibits open! |
| 15:00 |
The Freewheelin’ Electric Tambourine Man Parade from the lighthouse across a bridge to the social sim. “Be sure to check your swag bag for your tie dye t-shirt!” |
| 15:30 |
Lightning Production’s Bob Dylan and The Band Tribute Concert at the Social Building |
| Thursday, March 30th | |
| 05:00 |
“Good Morning, VWBPE!” – an exploration of the social sim. |
| 12:00 Noon |
Machinima with Gridjumper (tanya.smedley) at the fish pond. A chance to learn more about the art of making movies in virtual and digital game environments. |
| 16:00 |
VWBPE Legacy Party Barge Excursion – relax and tour the whole VWBPE Conference by water. |
| Friday, March 31st | |
| 06:00 |
“Good Morning, VWBPE!” – another chance to explore the social sim. |
| 12:00 |
Lunchtime Concert with Telima (Diamond Spiritor) in the Social Building. |
| 14:00 |
Under The Sea – graba snorkel, become one of the merfolk for an underwater event (free outfits provided). |
| 18:00 |
Ballet Pixelle Second Performance of Phylogeny. |
| Saturday, April 1st | |
| 07:00 | “Good Morning, VWBPE!” – a final chance to play on the social sim and swim like a mermaid. |
| 13:00 | The ChangHigh Sisters Fireshow Circus |
| 17:00 |
KJJeff Kohn Pre-Closing Concert in the Main Auditorium. |
| 18:00 |
VWBPE Legacy 2017 Closing Ceremony. |
| 19:00 |
The Beatles Tribute Concert in The Octopus’s Garden Palladium – complete with a Yellow Submarine! |
| 20:00 |
Dance The Night Away with DJ Coz OKelly |
Volunteers Still Sought
The VWBPE organisers are still looking for volunteers in the following roles: hosts, technical support and stream team. Please visit the VWBPE Volunteers page for more information and to apply.
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