Top Enterprise AR and VR Conferences of 2020

Live events transform your business forever. The value of connecting with customer audience, networking with key industry players and securing a synergistic partnership are priceless.

No wonder that marketing directors (CMO) spend almost a quarter of their budget on live events. The total spend on B2B live events stands at $512 billion every year. Across the board, marketing departments spend more on live events than any other form of marketing.

Image Credit: Stephan Sorkin

And what’s the reason?

Live events drive high (ROI) for businesses and attendees. It’s a win-win for everyone.

Businesses realize 300 to 500 percent return from investing in events.

If you’re wondering what XR events you should attend in 2020, we’ve curated a full year’s calendar just for you. These are events known as from January 2020 however bookmark this page or sign-up for our newsletter to be notified about future events.

UPDATE: Due to COVID-19 the majority of conferences have been either cancelled or postponed! But there are ways to connect with friends, business partners and customers in the metaverse.

A Full Year’s Calendar of XR Conferences

Here’s a list of all major XR conferences from January to December 2020. You may click to navigate straight to your preferred event.

I’ve written an overview for each of these events, and I’ve covered their pricing and registration, venue, date, and speakers.

1. January: CES
2. February: ICVR and Industrial VR/AR
3. March: SXSR, Realities360, and PBExpo
4. April: XRIntelligence
5. May: AWE
6. June: VRTO
7. July: SIGGRAPH
8. August: WoodTECH
9. September: IFA
10. October: EWTS
11. November: VR World
12. December: AWS re:Invent

Would you rather attend more conferences?

We’ve provided you with a list of more XR conferences you should attend in 2020.

January 2020 XR Conferences

CES by the Consumer Technology Association

CES is no doubt one of the biggest events on consumer tech and has been around for half a century. The Consumer Technology Association owns and produces this event.

In 2019, CES attracted more than 175,000 attendees, over 4,500 exhibitors, and more than 1,000 speakers. CES holds on 2.9 million net square feet of exhibit space. The event attracted 307 of the global 2018 Fortune 500 companies.

If you want to experience the latest innovations in VR and AR, this is your event. It features innovative XR shifts in health care, retail, agriculture, manufacturing, and more.

Website, Registration, and Price

Access the CES XR page on the CES website.

Conference price: CES attendees can register for the event at $100.00. When you register on their website, you’ll get a notification like the one below. Click on the green Activate Account button to verify your registration.

You may experience exclusive CES programs with any of the passes they offer.

• Starter Conference Pass Tracks for $700.00
• Deluxe Conference Pass Tracks for $1,400.00
• Specific conference tracks: prices vary.

Specific conference tracks include

• Travel and Tourism for $250.00
• Digital Hollywood for $400.00
• Digital Health Summit for $550
• HighTech Retailing for $400

Some XR programs are only accessible in the Deluxe Conference Pass Tracks.

Dates of Conference

CES has slated January 6th to 9th, 2020, for XR conferences and events. You may find specific schedules on the CES website using the filters on your left.

Monday, January 06

• AR/VR/XR: Top Technology and Entertainment Companies
• AI and VR in Travel
• The Augmented/Mixed Reality Experience
• The Immersive Media Leadership Think Tank: AR/VR/XR
• R/VR/XR as a Branding Strategy
• AR/VR/XR Everywhere: Live Events, Arcades, and Theme Parks

Wednesday, January 08.

• Medical Center’s Innovation Dilemma: Buy/Build/Partner?
• Enhancing Sales with AR, VR, and Video
• 21st Century Neurotech: All Synapses are Firing

Thursday, January 09.

• Mixing Up Realities: XR, AR, and VR

Venue of Conference

Events may hold in any of the specific locations listed below; all in Las Vegas. You should confirm an event’s venue on the CES events website to know the exact venue.

• ARIA
• LVCC
• Mandalay Bay
• Sands
• Venetian
• Westgate
  

Speakers

CES features high profile speakers, like the president and CEO of the Consumer Electronics Division of Samsung Electronics, Hyun-Suk Kim. But for its XR events, CES 2020 speakers would be

AR/VR/XR: Top Technology and Entertainment Companies

• Steven Masur
• Michael Ludden
• Kristina Serafim
• Sarah Vick
  

The Immersive Media Leadership Think Tank: AR/VR/XR

• Laura Martin
• Raffaella Camera
• James M. Carwana
• Patrick Costello
• Tony Parisi
• Ted Schilowitz
  

AR/VR/XR as a Branding Strategy

• John Canning
• Natascha French
• Elizabeth Kiehner
• Alasdair Lennox
• Ariella Lehrer, Ph.D.
  

AR/VR/XR Everywhere: Live Events, Arcades, and Theme Parks

• Mark Kapczynski
• Jennifer Chavarria
• Joanna Popper
• Andrew Shulkind
  

AI and VR in Travel

• Robert Patterson

The Augmented/Mixed Reality Experience

• Cathy Hackl
• Olivier Koelemij
• Jesse McCulloch
• Bill Newell
  

Medical Center’s Innovation Dilemma: Buy/Build/Partner

• Nitin Gujral
• Aaron Martin
• Lee Schwamm
• Eliza Shulman
  

Enhancing Sales with AR, VR, and Video

• Ulrich Clemens
• Greg Liberman
• Joanna Popper
  

21st Century Neurotech: All Synapses are Firing

• Michael Evers
• Ariel Garten
• Jonathan Kahl, PhD
• Justin Sanchez
  

Mixing Up Realities: XR, AR, and VR

• Dean Takahashi
• Jerome Dureau
• Vivek Goyal
• Tonda Bunge Sellers
• Valerie Vacante

February 2020 XR Conferences

International Conference on Virtual Reality

The International Conference on Virtual Reality, ICVR, has been held in four cities over the years. It’s held in Los Angeles in the USA, Chengdu in China, Hong Kong, and then in Singapore.

The coming ICVR 2020 focuses on new advances and developments in VR. It will involve stakeholders across multiple touchpoints,

• Researchers
• Technical professionals
• Subject matter experts
• Academics
• Industry players

The International Association of Computer Science and Information Technology is the sponsor for this event. More so, ICVR receives technical support from various institutions and universities, as well.

Website, Registration, and Price

The ICVR website is here.

Pricing ranges from $80 to $520, depending on your preferences. You can find pricing details on their registration page here.

Date of Conference

Notification Deadline: December 30, 2019

Registration Deadline: January 15, 2020

Event date: February 8 to 10, 2020

The Venue of The Event

Singapore: 11 Slim Barracks Rise, one-north Executive Centre #06-04, Singapore 138664

Speakers

As an event with significant slant to academics, this program features keynote speakers from academia.

Prof. Kai-Kuang Ma,
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

Prof. Giuliani Donatella,
University of Bologna, Italy

Prof. Zhigeng Pan
Hangzhou Normal University, China

Industrial VR/AR

At the Industrial VR/AR Forum, Immersive Tech leaders come together. They gather from industries like:

• Energy and engineering
• Wearables/exoskeleton platforms
• Software development, and
• XR systems

This forum allows these leaders to showcase how they've been using enhanced and mixed reality to meet their industry goals.

Some of these goals include:

• Increasing safety
• Decreasing costs and risks
• Training workers more efficiently with real-time compliance
• Reducing cost
• Knowledge transfer
• Speed and quality of information delivery
• Data Analytics and Visualization
• Spatial Computing
• Connected and Augmented Workforce
  

Industrial VR/AR aims to bridge the gap between business and the latest technologies. Topics will include how to transform business and remote inspection with XR. But most importantly, the event connects attendees with influential end users, solution providers, and investors.

Some of the participants of the 2019 forum include: 

• Circuit Stream 
• Chevron
• Deloitte
• Schlumberger
• NASA
• BASF
• KPMG
• Shell
  

And more.

You might want to attend this event because 96 percent of the attendees are likely to attend in 2020. And 91 percent of them would tell a colleague about it.

Website, Registration, and Price

You can get more information on the Industrial VR/AR website where you can download the prospectus or subscribe for updates.

You get an early bird rate when you register by January 10, 2020. This knocks off $200 from the regular rate.

Plus, the payment is flexible as you can choose to register for just one day. Here, you can save $500 if you register early.

You can negotiate special pricing with Sean Guerre at seang@stonefortgroup.com or 713-489-6773 ext 700 if you fall under any of the following categories:

• Startup or early-stage company
• Full-time student
• Group booking with colleagues

Date of Conference

February 25 and 26

The Venue of this Event

The Westin Galleria Houston Hotel,

5060 West Alabama, Houston, Texas 77056 USA

713-960-8100

March 2020 XR Conferences

SXSW

For spatial technology attendees, SXSW focuses on current possibilities within the immersive experiences. The event hosts a Virtual Cinema. Its programs cover all aspects of XR — augmented, virtual and mixed realities.

The event features more than 30 XR sessions. It explores such topics as

• Mirrorworlds, Making The Physical World Clickable,
• Dealing with Real-World Problems in XR,
• Swipe Right to Like: Finding Immersive Funding,
• When Videogames and Tech Bring History to Life
• The Art of Volumetric - Transforming Immersive Content

Website, Registration, and Prices

SXSW lets you buy “badges” for their event. They offer the Platinum and Interactive badges. And you can compare these badges to know what access you can get from each badge.

Badge pricing

Platinum: $1,475

Interactive: $1,145

You can register for the event here.

Date of Conference

March 13 to 22, 2020.

Venue of Conference

The Austin Convention Center, Austin, Texas, USA

Speakers

SXSR attracts industry and thought leaders as its speakers. Some of the leading speakers for the coming 2020 event includes

• Tony Parisi, from Unity Technologies
• Rebecca Barkin, from Magic Leap
• Vik Parthiban, from MIT Hyperloop II
• Ashley Crowder, from VNTANA
• Dr. Poorna Kushalnagar, from Gallaudet University
• Avi Bar-Zeev, from RealityPrime
• Joanna Popper, from HP

Realities360

Realities360 Conference & Expo accommodates experts and novices alike. You'll get the opportunity to interact with the technologies during the workshops, hands-on sessions, and the Expo. Participants join in the popular Morning Buzz where they engage in casual conversations each morning.

The event would expose you to new skills, expertise and strategies in more than 50 sessions within the AR and VR ecosystem. Plus Realities360 Expo is a one-stop-shop for products and services, as well as partners that can broaden your learning strategies.

The 2019 event was well attended and 2020 won’t be any different.

You'll also enjoy special events like:

• How I Made This: gives ideas on how to use tools creatively
• Presentation Roulette: Most of the presenters are caught off guard with random slides, just for laughs
• Speed Project Reviews: Get quick feedback from a lot of  people in your field 
• Game Crawl: You play games and learn from the mechanics with fellow attendees while having fun

Website, Registration, and Price

As an eLearning Guild member, you get a discount of $200 on your conference registration. And if you have an Online Conference Subscription, you get $300 off. You can get further discounts when you pay before February 7, 2020.

Plus upon registration, you can enhance your experience by adding a variety of optional pre-conference activities like:

• Co-located Events
  

• 2-day Certificate Programs
  
  

• Pre-Conference Workshops
  
  

You can use the information below based on what applies to you:

• Organizational Discounts: Send a fax to +1.707.566.8963 or email service@eLearningGuild.com
• Group Discount: Call Steve Firpo at +1.707.387.1877 or send email to sfirpo@eLearningGuild.com
• Student Discount: send email to student@eLearningGuild.com or contact +1.707.566.8990

Visit the Realities360 website to get additional updates on the event.

Date of Conference

March 31 – April 2, 2020

The Venue of this Event

Rosen Centre Hotel, 

9840 International Drive

Orlando, FL 32819

United States

Speakers

The keynotes, Duff Goldman, Michelle Weise, and Jaimy Szymanski would show you innovative ways to explore:

• Technology
• Creativity, and 
• The future of work

PBExpo

PBExpo isn't just an aviation trade show, but an aviation marketplace to show off the latest technology. It's the only interactive event that integrates eCommerce solutions and technology into aerospace, aviation, and defense industries.

So PartsBase brings buyers and sellers in these fields to meet face-to-face, knowing that it's the best way to forge a good relationship.

Since PartsBase educates and provides resources for over 30,000 clients globally, this Expo brings the virtual community of buyers and sellers to live. You'll hear experts discuss trends like

• The aftermarket use of Big Data
• Latest aviation B2B technologies and innovations
• The new and best practices for inventory optimization in the aviation industry
• E-Commerce
• Cyber Security
• Digital Marketing

There’s practically something for everyone.

Website, Registration, and Price

PBExpo is open to you if your company falls under any of the following categories:

• Manufacturers, repairers, sellers, or buyers of aircraft parts
• technology solutions, or
• B2B or B2C e-commerce

Albeit, as a PartBase member, you'll enjoy:

• Discounts when paying for booths
• Educational sessions, and
• Members-only events

You can visit the PBExpo website here for additional information.

Date of Conference

March 18 to 19

The Venue of this Event

Miami Beach Convention Center

1901 Convention Center Drive

Miami Beach, FL 33139

Speakers

The keynote speakers are:

• Steve Haro
  Global Vice President of Marketing and Strategy,
  Mitsubishi Aircraft Corporation

• Andrew Coleman
  Chief Commercial Officer GE Aviation,
  Digital Solutions

Some of the other speakers would treat the panel discussion topics. And if you are interested in speaking, you can fill the speaker request form here

April 2020 XR Conferences

XRIntelligence (XR Europe 2020)

This event would discuss the latest disruptive technologies and tackle the core challenges within the XR ecosystem.

The program would support over 20 exhibitions. Speakers, sponsors, exhibitors, and attendees can use their Brella networking app to have 15 minutes of facetime with prospective partners. Plus, you can expose your solution in the start-up exhibition arena.

XR Europe provides an opportunity to network with decision-makers and other senior executives from several industries.

The XR brands below made it to the event in Amsterdam.

Website, Registration, and Price

You can get more information on their website. The price plans are divided into three, as seen in the image below. Additionally, you can save £500 by registering before December 20, 2019.

Date of Conference

April 28 to 29, 2020

The Venue of this Event

London, UK

Speakers

The event boasts over 70 leading VR and AR experts from different industries. You won’t be wasting your time because they’ve gone through the vetting process to ensure that they offer the best. 

May 2020 XR Conferences

AWE USA, EU, and Asia

AWE USA attracted more than 7,000 attendees, had over 250 exhibitors, and over 300 speakers. The event held in a 100,000 square feet space. AWE Asia attracts over 40 speakers, more than 50 exhibitors, and over 1,000 XR professionals.

In Europe, AWE EU attracts more than 2,000 attendees, over 100 exhibitors, more than 125 speakers in over 100 sessions. The event targets audiences across all parts of the XR space,

• Creators,
• Developers,
• Investors,
• Startups,
• Press,
• Corporate buyers,
• Product leaders,
• Tech enthusiasts
  

AWE attracts top companies like Amazon, GE, Disney, Facebook, HTC, Snapchat, Unity, IBM, Google, Qualcomm, Johnson & Johnson, Intel, Walmart, and Oculus.

The media raves about this event. USA Today even calls it “the CES of the Future, the very near future.”

Website, Registration, and Price

You can access all event registrations here, for the USA, EU, and Asia.

AWE prices range based on location.

1. AWE USA tickets price for $249, $395, or $595
2. AWE Asia tickets price for $70 to $325 (early bird prices)
3. AWE Europe tickets price for €495

Date of Conference

Holds on different dates, depending on the city where you attend the event.

1. March 28 to 29, 2020 - Shenzhen, China
2. May 27 to 29, 2020 - Santa Clara, California, USA
3. October 15 to 16, 2020 - Munich, Germany

Venue of Conference

AWE USA holds in multiple cities across the globe.

1. Santa Clara Convention Center, Santa Clara, California, USA.
2. Hyatt Regency, Shenzhen, China
3. MOC Exhibition Center, Munich, Germany

Speakers

AWE doesn’t list its 2020 speakers. But past event speakers include the founder of AWE, Ori Inbar and others like

• Emil Alon, the CEO of Resonai,
• Bradley Weiers, Product Manager AR, Unity Technologies
• Shelley Peterson, Emerging Technologies Lead, Lockheed Martin
• Dave Goldman, Vice President of Marketing, Lumus
• Alisham Seam, Principal Engineer: Emerging Technology, AT&T Foundry
• Ali Daniali Principal Engineer, Systems Architecture, T-Mobile
• Anton Ebert, Technology Coordinator, Siemens Healthcare GmbH
• Austin McCasland AR Interaction DesignerGoogle

And many other industry leaders.

Return to the Table Of Content 

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June 2020 XR Conferences

VRTO

This event calls itself “The Human Summit for the Posthuman Age.” This is one of Canada’s most sought-after events on virtual and augmented reality. The event uses immersive technologies to explore the arts, science, culture, sciences, and more. 

VRTO has received big praise from industry experts and the media. According to VRTO, Forbes describes the event as “Still the Industry’s Weirdest, Most Relevant Conference.”

Brett Leonard, who directed  “Lawnmower Man” and “Virtuosity,” and co-founded Studio Lightship says of VRTO, “If you can only go to one VR conference, this is the ONE!”

Website, Registration, and Price

VRTO website is https://conference.virtualreality.to/

The event’s registration page is on Eventbrite here.

The ticket prices from CA$175 – CA$395

Date of Conference

June 06 to 08, 2020 

The Venue of this Event

Image Credit: VRTO

Toronto, Ontario

Toronto Media Arts Centre, 32 Lisgar Street, Toronto, Ontario M5B 2M7, Canada

Speakers

This event features exhibitors who mostly double as speakers.

• Tipatat Chennavasin
• Kent Bye
• Laura Mingail
• CJ Hervey
• Jonah Brotman
• Morgan Carlson
• Keisha Howard
• John Kyle Varley
• Christian Hurst
• Srinivas Krishna
• Jonathan Gagné
• Mary Sorrenti
• Tom Westerlin
• Galit Ariel
  

And many others. See the schedule page here.

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July 2020 XR Conferences

SIGGRAPH

SIGGRAPH brings together artists, technologists, and researchers. It prides itself as the biggest exhibition in computer graphics and interactive techniques.

Industries at SIGGRAPH include

• Aerospace and defense
• Automotive
• Consumer products
• Education
• Film & entertainment
• Games
• Hardware
• Healthcare
• Software
• Web interfaces & technologies
  

The event is also accepting submissions from interested exhibitors.

Website, Registration, and Price

SIGGRAPH website is https://s2020.siggraph.org/

You may register on for SIGGRAPH 2020 on their website here. This event prices from $50 to more $2000, depending on a variety of factors which you’ll find on their pricing page here.

Date of Conference

Conference Dates: July 19 to 23, 2020

Exhibition Dates: July 21 to 23, 2020

The Venue of this Event

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Washington, D.C.

Walter E. Washington Convention Center, 801 MT Vernon PL NW Washington, DC 20001, the United States of America.

Speakers

Kristy Pron is the chair for this event.

_____________________________________

August 2020 XR Conferences

WoodTECH

Why would would wood tech be on this list? Just like most industrial conferences even the WoodTech is going through digital transformation. WoodTECH is an industry event for wood tech professionals and stakeholders in Australia and New Zealand. Although this event focuses on wood technology and manufacturing, it features AR and VR. It covers the topic “Opportunities with VR and AR in a wood manufacturing environment.”

Website, Registration, and Price

The WoodTECH website is here: https://woodtech.events/wt20/

The event website has a contact form, phone number, and email address to reach the organizers, but they have not provided any information about their attendee pricing and registration.

Date of Conference

August 19 to 20, 2020, Rotorua, New Zealand

August 25 to 26 2020, Melbourne, Australia

The Venue of this Event

Melbourne, Australia

Bayview Eden, 6 Queens Road, Melbourne, Victoria 3004, Australia

Rotorua, New Zealand

Distinction Rotorua Hotel, 390 Fenton Street, Rotorua, New Zealand

Speakers

WoodTECH has not announced its speakers, but it welcomes interested persons to contact them if they wish to speak at the event.

_____________________________________

September 2020 XR Conferences

IFA

IFA is a consumer tech innovative event.

Looking at the figures from the 2019 event, you can tell that the event would be grand. With 238,721 visitors, 1,939 exhibitors, and 1,800 keynote attendees, the event had 1.5 million meetings. Also, the order volume reached €4.7 billion and attracted 5,361 media representatives.

Website, Registration, and Price

For more information on the IFA-Berlin event, check out their website.

Date of Conference

September 4 - 9, 2020

The Venue of this Event

Image Credit: Messe Berlin

Messegelände Berlin ExpoCenter City

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October 2020 XR Conferences

Enterprise Wearable Technology Summit (EWTS)

The Enterprise Wearable Technology Summit (EWTS) prides itself as the longest-running event that focuses on business and industrial VR and AR applications.

The event covers topics like

• Virtual reality
• Mixed reality
• Augmented reality
• Wrist wearables
• HMDs
• Body-worn sensors
• Exoskeletons
  

This event attracts more than 1000 attendees, over 85 presenters, and more than 100 enterprise presenters. EWTS holds over 70 educational sessions during the event.

Website, Registration, and Price

Register on the EWTS event website here.

You can start your registration here. The event has two types of tickets: End-User and Non-End-User tickets.

End-User tickets

End-user tickets range from $199 to $399.

Non-End-User tickets

Non-End-User tickets range from $3,500 to $5,000.

Date of Conference

October 20 to 22, 2020

The Venue of this Event

San Diego, California, USA

Speakers

This event features more than 100 speakers from leading companies across the globe. Some of them include

• Allison Yanites, Arcadis
• Amanda Clarida, Volvo
• Anasol Pena-Rios, BT
• Andreas Oeder, Airbus
• Andrew Warren, Bridgestone

And lots of others.

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November 2020 XR Conferences

VR World

The VR World event focuses on all aspects of XR, Virtual Reality, Mixed Reality, and Augmented Reality, and how they influence the world beyond gaming.

Website, Registration, and Price

The VR World website is here: https://www.vrworldevent.com/

Registration is currently "down" but check the main website once the date draws closer. .

Date of Conference

November 10 - 11, 2020

The Venue of this Event

Image Credit: Trip Advisor

London, UK

Olympia Conference Centre, Hammersmith Road, London, W14 8UX, United Kingdom

Speakers

VR World attracts speakers from top organizations. The 2020 event will feature

• Martin Enthed, IKEA
• Christina Bechhold Russ, Samsung
• Hervé Fontaine, VIVE
• Gary Radburn, Dell
• Jan Pflueger, Audi
• Nicola Rosa, Accenture 

And many more.

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December 2020 XR Conferences

AWS re:Invent

By 2020, Amazon Web Services (AWS) re:Invent would be nine years. In 2019, the number of attendees reached 65,000. And you can exhibit your products or solution in a 500,000square feet space.

This AWS event is for attendees in the XR space with interest in machine learning and artificial intelligence. The event features academics, researchers, and entrepreneurs in those spaces.

The types of organizations that attend AWS re:Invent

Website, Registration, and Price

The AWS re:Invent website: https://reinvent.awsevents.com/ 

The registration fee for this event is $1,799

Date of Conference

November 30 to December 2020

The Venue of this Event

Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.

Speakers

The speakers for this event in 2019 include

Peter DeSantis, VP of AWS Global Infrastructure and Customer Support

Andy Jassy, CEO of AWS

Doug Yeum, Head of AWS Worldwide Channels and Alliances

Dr. Werner Vogels, CTO of Amazon.com

These speakers are likely to come on stage again in 2020.

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Make the Most of XR Conferences in 2020

Except you have a lot of time and resources, you’re probably going to attend only a few of these XR events and conferences. That’s normal.

However, you want to attend those that benefit your career, goals, and business the most. Hence, we have provided an extra resource featuring even more 2020 XR conferences.

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