1/ THREAD
@lavalvirtual conference has started in virtual reality. Thousands of users in VR using the @VirBELA1 platform. They've had an overwhelming response & most of the rooms are too small & it's difficult to see the slides.
Buzzing! #LavalVirtualWorld
https://www.laval-virtual.com/ 

2/ Here's my avatar that I created for #LavalVirtualWorld.
Not a ton of options or variety, but enough to recognize familiar names. Ran into @laganaro when I first arrived in world. The avatar representations turn into 2D billboard outlines of people when there's many in a room.

3/ There's one main spawn point at #lavalvirtualworld, & you're immediately on top a group of 20 people. You're muted by default & there's not an obvious way to unmute if you're in VR. I had to configure audio settings after I had spawned, should it be part of onboarding & easier

4/ Here's the interface to teleport to different locations with lots of simultaneous #LavalVirtualWorld talks, which are also being livestreamed on YouTube.
You can also walk around the space to go to different events.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfphV8PEJwsF0KG997HokRA

5/ I checked out the press room, which is a room in a lighthouse on the bay. I suppose this would be a good meeting place, but not to do interviews as the audio floods the entire room. As a journalist, not sure what I'd use this room for beyond a meeting place to go somewhere.

6/ The top of the press room lighthouse has a really great overlook of the #LavalVirtualWorld conference, which is happening on this island. There's a map in the lower righthand corner, but you can also teleport around. Exploring the lay of the land while listening on YouTube

7/ People seem to be clustering on the beach here to hang out & chat. I'm noticing how people are actually aggregating around the virtual umbrellas with a circle projected onto the ground. #lavalVirtualWorld

8/ Another shot of the spawning line of shame, which shouldn't happen. The locomotion controls on the keyboard didn't work for me, & it's not clear or obvious how to move around. I had to go into VR in order to move around. It has a confusing onboarding UX with non-standard UI.

9/ Luckily dropped by the poster session in the hour it was happening, but also no time zone listed & so I'm guessing the time. Posters are too close to have conversations next to them so chatted with someone in audio isolation circle that was rearranged 3x while talking.

10/ It's hard to have more than 25 concurrent audio streams in the same room, & so @VirBELA1 has a neat solution of audio isolation circles for private conversations. But it's also uncannily dead silent if you're not in a circle, as if the room was empty. Desks get in the way.