VenueGen CEO to speak at Virtual Edge Summit

VenueGen CEO, David Gardner will be speaking virtually at the physical conference in San Diego at 1:15 ET January 10^th.  He will be joined by two other virtual industry CEO’s discussing the value of greater online engagement, what audiences/use cases are the best fit for  immersive modalities and where online immersion creates the greatest ROI.

David Gardner, CEO of VenueGen

Although the VEW conference have been an annual physical event for years, this is the first time one of the presenters has presented virtually at the event.   “There’s certainly some irony in flying each year to a physical conference about meeting virtually”, Gardner states.   This milestone is yet another indicator that immersive technologies have matured and are ready for the enterprise.    Gardner will be using the VenueGen platform for his virtual appearance, content and audience interaction.

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Press Release: Immersive e-Classrooms Boost Engagement and ROI for ILT: VenueGen to Discuss at eLearning DEVCON and ICELW

VenueGen CEO and President will explore how virtual environments can make distance education as powerful as face-to-face instruction

(Research Triangle Park, NC: June 3, 2011) “Virtual instructor-led training (ILT) and distance education programs are only as powerful as their ability to truly engage dispersed teams,” says David Gardner, CEO and creator of VenueGen (www.VenueGen.com), an immersive virtual classroom and collaboration lab. “If learners are less involved, engaged, and present in the e-classroom than they are in the physical classroom, then where’s the ROI of going virtual? Even if you reduce travel and time out-of-field, a disengaged workforce is less effective and more costly over time.”

Gardner and VenueGen President Jeff Crown will explore this gap between face-to-face and virtual ILT, as well as the potential of new immersive e-classroom platforms to finally bridge it, with a presentation titled “Making Virtual Environments Work for Distance Education” at two June 2011 conferences.

Gardner will speak Thursday, June 9 at the International Conference for eLearning in the Workplace (ICELW) 2011, from 2 – 3 pm EDT at Columbia University in New York, NY. To learn more about the Conference or to register to attend, please visit www.icelw.org.

Crown’s presentation will take place at eLearning DEVCON 2011 in Salt Lake City, UT Wednesday, June 15 from 11:30 am – 12:15 pm as part of the conference’s Project Management track. Conference and registration information is available at www.elearningdevcon.com.

Making Virtual Environments Work for Distance Education will explore the following topics:

• The value of immersive virtual training environments—beyond simply reducing travel costs—to enterprise organizations;
• The strengths and weaknesses of currently available immersive technologies;
• How to utilize these technologies to demonstrate measurable impact on learning;
• Common mistakes and pitfalls encountered when adopting virtual environments for ILT;
• Risks and critical success factors that should be considered when planning online learning strategies.

For more information, or to schedule an interview or meeting with Gardner or Crown at the events, please contact Kate Hendrick by phone at 919-727-9089, by email at khendrick@venuegen.com, or via Twitter at www.twitter.com/venuegen.

Press Release: eTraining Experts O’Driscoll and Kapp To Host a Talk in VenueGen on Online Learning

Co-authors of the new book “Learning in 3D” will virtually join 40 attendees to explore the impact of the immersive Internet on the future of enterprise learning

(Research Triangle Park, NC: March 9, 2011) Two of the training industry’s most prominent figures, Dr. Tony O’Driscoll of Duke University and Karl Kapp of Bloomsburg University, are teaming up to share their immersive e-learning expertise in a free, limited-seat virtual event March 30 at 11 a.m. EDT in VenueGen. Online registration will open next week, and the 40 virtual seats will be filled on a first-come, first-serve basis. Those who would like to receive an email alert when registration opens can sign up here.

Dr. Tony O'Driscoll

According to O’Driscoll and Kapp—both of whom specialize in the intersection of learning, business and technology—the reason behind the event’s exclusivity is simple. “We want the audience to fully experience how engagement and learning can thrive in an immersive Internet environment,” said O’Driscoll. “By limiting the event to 40 people, every attendee will be able to actively interact, communicate, learn, and share ideas nearly as effectively as if we were in a physical room together, instead of in 40 different locations.”

Karl Kapp, Ed.D.

“Most business-specific Web3D environments are much more simple and natural-feeling to use than many people realize,” added Kapp. “We want to demonstrate that the immersive Internet has a very real value to enterprise training. By boosting user engagement, these environments make it possible to improve learning outcomes online and, ultimately, to increase ROI.”

The panel will be moderated by VenueGen CEO David Gardner.”We are extremely excited about partnering with Tony and Karl for this event,” said Gardner. “Anyone who is interested in training and learning in business environments will benefit immensely from their research.”

O’Driscoll and Kapp are co-authors of a new book titled Learning in 3D: Adding a New Dimension to Enterprise Learning and Collaboration, published by Pfeiffer, an imprint of Wiley. In support of the book, Pfeiffer will hold a drawing for three free copies. Those who sign up for the registration e-mail alert will be automatically entered to win, so the giveaway is not limited only to those who are able to attend.

For information about Learning in 3D, or to purchase a copy, visit the Pfeiffer website.

For more information about the event, please contact Kate Hendrick, director of marketing at VenueGen by phone at 919-228-4995, by email at khendrick@venuegen.com, or via Twitter at @VenueGen.

Press Release: Web3D Technology Boosts User Engagement for eTraining & Corporate Events

David Gardner will explore the potential of new in-browser meeting environments to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of dispersed business teams

(Morrisville, NC: January 10, 2011) For business to truly recoup value by moving training, meetings and events online, they need a more engaging, natural-feeling solution than the web conferencing and screen sharing platforms that dominate today’s market, says David Gardner, CEO and creator of VenueGen, a subscription-based web application that enables business customers to more effectively engage teams on-line in fully immersive Web3D virtual conferencing environments.

Gardner will explore these solutions, as well as the implications of new technology on the future of corporate training and events, in two sessions at Virtual Edge Summit 2011, the industry’s largest gathering for virtual events, meetings, communities, and learning, held this year at the MGM Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, as well as virtually.

3D Immersive Worlds for Business Engagement will take place Wednesday, January 12, 11:00 – 11:45 PST. Gardner will join IT/IS expert and KohdSpace Chairman Terry Thorpe, along with John Jainschigg, virtual events expert and CEO of World2Worlds, Inc (www.world2worlds.com), to examine the proof and case experiences behind the capacity of fully immersive 3D online environments to drive engagement and improve results.

Virtual Environment Platforms: From Social Gaming to Social Media will take place Wednesday, January 12, 2:15 – 3:00 PST. The session will focus on how the convergence of social gaming and virtual environments is changing expectations for online business experiences. Other thought leaders participating in the session are Ken Hayward, digital media expert and CEO of Vcopious; Rahul Rankavat, director of software development at Vcopious; and Manu Gambhir, social gaming expert and CEO of Ryzing.

For more information, or to schedule an interview with Gardner at the event, please contact Kate Hendrick by phone at 919-228-4995, by email at khendrick@venuegen.com, or via Twitter at @VenueGen.

About David Gardner

David Gardner is a serial entrepreneur, technology investor and futurist with a proven track record of early identification of paradigm-shifting technologies. He is a trusted advisor concerning new technology trends who believes Web-3D is on the verge of dramatically transforming many web-based business models as we know them today.

David Gardner, CEO of VenueGen

Experienced in taking IT products and Internet-service model companies to market, Gardner has founded seven technology companies—including PeopleClick, the first hosted software-as-a-service enterprise application; and healthcare communications technology exchange ProviderLink, now owned by Compuware—without a single failure or loss of investor funds. He has served on several boards, spoken at multiple industry conferences, and published over twenty forward-thinking papers and articles on technical, business and managerial topics.

In 2007, Gardner founded VenueGen, a company dedicated to creating a new standard of in-browser web-conference platform for more engaging, productive and efficient online training, meetings and events. He currently serves as CEO.

About VenueGen

VenueGen is a subscription based Web3D conference application enabling business customers to efficiently and affordably train, collaborate, meet and share content online without sacrificing the engagement and productivity of face-to-face communication.

Compared to the web conferencing and screen sharing platforms currently on the market, VenueGen’s immersive 3D environments facilitate lifelike, natural-feeling interaction for improved learning, motivation and overall performance. VenueGen features fast, easy installation; a minimal usability learning curve; private, secure environments; and one-of-a-kind content sharing capabilities that use negligible bandwidth, allow multiple content windows to be shared simultaneously, and empower each user to control his or her personal view of content.

VenueGen is included in Gartner’s Five Coolest and Most Promising New Technologies, and has received accolades from USA Today, Business Week, CNBC and others. To learn more, please visit the company’s website at www.VenueGen.com or follow VenueGen on Twitter at twitter.com/venuegen.
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