The Being Virtual Podcast - with Bob Cooney

Bob Cooney

We've turned Bob's Being Virtual Show and other events into podcasts, for those of you who prefer to listen while on the go. Join Bob as he explores the business of virtual reality in a series of live interviews. Each features a new, unique guest from the world of VR, with some augmented and mixed reality thrown in. Bob cuts through the virtual crap to find the real stories of people making, and losing, money in VR, so you can make better decisions about where to invest yours. For more information go to www.bobcooney.com

  1. Episode 143 VR Digital Marketing Masterclass (Part 2)

    10/13/2021

    Episode 143 VR Digital Marketing Masterclass (Part 2)

    Today’s podcast was a panel discussion about VR Digital Marketing Masterclass recorded at the 4th Annual VR Summit at Amusement Expo International held in Las Vegas on June 30, 2021. Learn how to increase sales through unique marketing tactics you can start immediately. Innovative operators and marketing consultants will share their go-to strategies to help you drive awareness, higher ticket sales, groups sales, and more. The panel was moderated by Eric Schwartzman, digital marketing guru and author of The Digital Pivot. The panelists were: Brad Marks, an innovative FEC operator from pole position Raceway, and marketing technology solution provider. Eric Keosky-Smith, Chief Growth Officer of Hownd, and from across the pond in Belgium Mark Lebouille, Chief Executive Officer at B&MI NV, home of SMS-Timing and BMI Leisure Let’s dive in! WHAT YOU’LL LEARN FROM THIS EPISODE: How to keep people getting into the website specific to VR? How do creators convert their website specifically to VR and what are their challenges in doing so? Bridging the gap to help the viewer to really experience that on the website. Customers feedback in their virtual reality experience on the website What is their integrating point of sale gathering information on a customer base into a digital marketing platform? How did they gather customer information at point of sale? The impact of selling tickets through other platforms outside their website and other  online ticket sites like Facebook and Google Eric Schwartzman Website: https://www.ericschwartzman.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/schwartzman/ Mark Lebouille Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marklebouille/?originalSubdomain=be Eric Keosky- Smith Linkedin:https://www.linkedin.com/in/erickeoskysmith/ Brad Mark Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brad-mark-a57b2010/ Receive insights directly in your inbox - Bob Cooney’s Blog: www.bobcooney.com/blog Listen to PART 1 here: https://anchor.fm/dashboard/episode/e18dbh2

    15 min
  2. Episode 142 VR Digital Marketing Masterclass (Part 1)

    10/06/2021

    Episode 142 VR Digital Marketing Masterclass (Part 1)

    Today’s podcast was a panel discussion about VR Digital Marketing Masterclass, recorded at the 4th Annual VR Summit at Amusement Expo International held in Las Vegas on June 30, 2021. Learn how to increase sales through unique marketing tactics you can start immediately. Innovative operators and marketing consultants will share their go-to strategies to help you drive awareness, higher ticket sales, groups sales, and more. The panel was moderated by Eric Schwartzman, digital marketing guru, and author of The Digital Pivot. The panelists were: Brad Marks, an innovative FEC operator from pole position Raceway, and marketing technology solution provider. Eric Keosky-Smith, Chief Growth Officer of Hownd, and from across the pond in Belgium Mark Lebouille, Chief Executive Officer at B&MI NV, home of SMS-Timing and BMI Leisure Let’s dive in! WHAT YOU’LL LEARN FROM THIS EPISODE: Getting to know our panelists, Brad Marks,  Eric Keosky-Smith, and Mark Lebouille as they share their experiences in getting found by customers building relationships, their go-to strategies for driving awareness, and their unique marketing tactics to bring an increasing sales How did Brad Marks use VR to get more people in the door at pole position Raceway? Learn about his  key defining moment, his fear in getting a race into pole position, and the strategies that led him to the success with VR Why Mark measures the incremental success of the additional activities and the activities on their own importance in generating segmented marketing to personalized marketing How did Eric maintain price integrity when selling through these third parties, and drive direct sales at the same time? How did Brad use OTAs (Online Travel Industry) to drive traffic at pole position Raceway What is Eric’s view of pre-sales as part of marketing strategy? Learn about the percentage sales of online selling for those new clients. What does that arc look like? What percentage gets attributed to pre-sales once they are in that game? How did they help them manage their sales during this pandemic? How do online sales end up in the systems? Eric Schwartzman Website: https://www.ericschwartzman.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/schwartzman/ Mark Lebouille Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marklebouille/?originalSubdomain=be Eric Keosky- Smith Linkedin:https://www.linkedin.com/in/erickeoskysmith/ Brad Mark Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brad-mark-a57b2010/ Receive insights directly in your inbox - Bob Cooney’s Blog: www.bobcooney.com/blog Learn More about Location-based VR: www.bobcooney.com Listen to PART 2 here: https://anchor.fm/dashboard/episode/e18ner5

    16 min
  3. EP 141 Virtual Adventures - Adventure Based Hyperreality Experiences in VR, Presented by Paradrop VR

    09/08/2021

    EP 141 Virtual Adventures - Adventure Based Hyperreality Experiences in VR, Presented by Paradrop VR

    Featuring Matt Wells, co-founder, and CEO of Frontgrid Today’s podcast is a recording from the 4th Annual VR Summit at Amusement Expo International held in Las Vegas on June 30, 2021. Adventure used to require risking life and limb. Now virtual reality enables anyone to push their limits, face their fears, and challenge their beliefs.  Matt Wells, a former paratrooper, and founder of an expedition company share his real and virtual first ascents – culminating in a blueprint for venues to offer the next generation of immersion and experience for customers craving transformational experiences. WHAT YOU’LL LEARN FROM THIS EPISODE: The future blueprint for VR How Paradrop VR was born Getting to Know Matt Wells Experiences on his Outdoor Adventures Journey led him to become one of the biggest contributors to the VR Project. Parachuting and Paragliding in a Virtual Reality Element What is the experience like in Paradrop VR? What makes it interesting and fun? What are its limitations on the hardware, operators, and commercial perspective? How they found solutions to these? How do operators compete with the home play market with the famous video games online to bring the same level of excitement and interest in younger generations? The future of VR transformational experiences and gamification Consume Price of Project VR How much of a community is there that operators could tap into Paradrop VR Frontgrid: https://www.frontgrid.co.uk/paradrop-vr Matt Wells Linkedin:https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-wells-frontgrid/?originalSubdomain=uk Watch the video of Matt’s talk here: https://youtu.be/HnhJ1UFq3B8 Receive insights directly in your inbox - Bob Cooney’s Blog: www.bobcooney.com/blog Learn More about Location-based VR: www.bobcooney.com

    18 min
  4. EP140: VR Arcade 2.0: Beyond the Novelty of Consumer VR – Presented by Springboard VR by Vertigo Games (Part 3)

    09/03/2021

    EP140: VR Arcade 2.0: Beyond the Novelty of Consumer VR – Presented by Springboard VR by Vertigo Games (Part 3)

    Today’s podcast was a panel discussion about VR arcades, recorded at the 4th Annual VR Summit at Amusement Expo International held in Las Vegas on June 30, 2021. VR Arcades started with enthusiasts renting consumer equipment by the minute or hour. Hear from the leading minds in the industry how experienced developers and operators are creating destination attractions and innovative experiences people cannot replicate at home. With our panel of experts, we’ll take a look at the future innovations of VR Arcade 2.0. The panel was moderated by Bryan Severance. The panelists were: Tommy Goodkin, consultant in the lb VR space and former head of content at VR World in New York City who is in charge of programming one of the best arcade 1.5 models. Chuck Taylor, VP of entertainment for Main Event in Dallas. He was out here in Vegas working for Caesars Entertainment, running experiential entertainment, development, testing technology work across the enterprise. Brooke Chapman, consultant in the virtual production and Location-Based Entertainment (LBE) spaces. She’s from nomadic and has been at junk VR; spent a couple of lifetimes and Industrial Light and Magic years ago. Hunter Lane, Director of Business Development from Resolution Games, is one of the best VR games on the plane.  He was one of the innovators of 1.0 VR Arcade, the first arcade in Oklahoma. Let’s dive in! WHAT YOU’LL LEARN FROM THIS EPISODE: ● Spectators involvement ● How FECs are selling socially shared experiences ● How VR is going to compete with the market from other developments? ● What is the future of Location-Based FPC VR? ● What are the strategies involved for the different age groups to make it more engaging? ● Marketing a VR attraction at your FEC. Listen to PART 1 and 2 here: https://anchor.fm/dashboard/episode/e16hh9u/EP138: VR Arcade 2.0: Beyond the Novelty of Consumer VR – Presented by Springboard VR by Vertigo Games (Part 1) https://anchor.fm/dashboard/episode/e16oki7/EP138: VR Arcade 2.0: Beyond the Novelty of Consumer VR – Presented by Springboard VR by Vertigo Games (Part 2) Our Sponsor: Springboard VR: https://springboardvr.com/ Bryan Severance: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryan-severance-91768718/ Tommy Goodkin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tommy-goodkin-28245a79/ Chuck Taylor: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chuckinator/ Main Event: https://www.mainevent.com/ Brooke Chapman: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brookechapman/ Nomadic: https://blurtheline.com/ Hunter Lane: https://www.linkedin.com/in/f-hunter-lane-b7897613b/ Resolution Games: https://www.resolutiongames.com/ Learn More at www.bobcooney.com

    15 min
  5. EP139: VR Arcade 2.0: Beyond the Novelty of Consumer VR – Presented by Springboard VR by Vertigo Games (Part 2)

    09/01/2021

    EP139: VR Arcade 2.0: Beyond the Novelty of Consumer VR – Presented by Springboard VR by Vertigo Games (Part 2)

    Today’s podcast was a panel discussion about VR arcades, recorded at the 4th Annual VR Summit at Amusement Expo International held in Las Vegas on June 30, 2021. VR Arcades started with enthusiasts renting consumer equipment by the minute or hour. Hear from the leading minds in the industry how experienced developers and operators are creating destination attractions and innovative experiences people cannot replicate at home. With our panel of experts, we’ll take a look at the future innovations of VR Arcade 2.0. The panel was moderated by Bryan Severance. The panelists were: Tommy Goodkin, consultant in the lb VR space and former head of content at VR World in New York City who is in charge of programming one of the best arcade 1.5 models. Chuck Taylor, VP of entertainment for Main Event in Dallas. He was out here in Vegas working for Caesars Entertainment, running experiential entertainment, development, testing technology work across the enterprise. Brooke Chapman, consultant in the virtual production and Location-Based Entertainment (LBE) spaces. She’s from nomadic and has been at junk VR; spent a couple of lifetimes and Industrial Light and Magic years ago. Hunter Lane, Director of Business Development from Resolution Games, is one of the best VR games on the plane.  He was one of the innovators of 1.0 VR Arcade, the first arcade in Oklahoma. Let’s dive in! WHAT YOU’LL LEARN FROM THIS EPISODE: ● How take-homes and social media social sharing is imperative to creating repeat customers? ● What is the future of VR Arcades? ● What are they going to offer to users for a better experience? ● What are the advantages of using intellectual property (IP) in VR? ● Experiences in the Virtual Reality Arcades ●  Dealing with the Hardware shelf life and its issues. ● The lifespan of IP and some mobile games. ● View of VR in the next 5 years. ● How to make it more sustainable in the market. ● “The future of VR would be like a place where there's just one game where everyone goes to compete against each other. And I think that could be a realistic possibility.” ● What’s likely in eSports and VR. Listen to PART 1 here: https://anchor.fm/dashboard/episode/e16hh9u/EP138: VR Arcade 2.0: Beyond the Novelty of Consumer VR – Presented by Springboard VR by Vertigo Games (Part 1) Our Sponsor: Springboard VR: https://springboardvr.com/ Bryan Severance: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryan-severance-91768718/ Tommy Goodkin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tommy-goodkin-28245a79/ Chuck Taylor: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chuckinator/ Main Event: https://www.mainevent.com/ Brooke Chapman: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brookechapman/ Nomadic: https://blurtheline.com/ Hunter Lane: https://www.linkedin.com/in/f-hunter-lane-b7897613b/ Resolution Games: https://www.resolutiongames.com/ Learn More at www.bobcooney.com

    20 min
  6. EP138: VR Arcade 2.0: Beyond the Novelty of Consumer VR – Presented by Springboard VR by Vertigo Games (Part 1)

    08/27/2021

    EP138: VR Arcade 2.0: Beyond the Novelty of Consumer VR – Presented by Springboard VR by Vertigo Games (Part 1)

    Today’s podcast was a panel discussion about VR arcades, recorded at the 4th Annual VR Summit at Amusement Expo International held in Las Vegas on June 30, 2021. VR Arcades started with enthusiasts renting consumer equipment by the minute or hour. Hear from the leading minds in the industry how experienced developers and operators are creating destination attractions and innovative experiences people cannot replicate at home. With our panel of experts, we’ll take a look at the future innovations of VR Arcade 2.0. The panel was moderated by Bryan Severance. The panelists were: Tommy Goodkin, consultant in the lb VR space and former head of content at VR World in New York City who is in charge of programming one of the best arcade 1.5 models. Chuck Taylor, VP of entertainment for Main Event in Dallas. He was out here in Vegas working for Caesars Entertainment, running experiential entertainment, development, testing technology work across the enterprise. Brooke Chapman, consultant in the virtual production and Location-Based Entertainment (LBE) spaces. She’s from nomadic and has been at junk VR; spent a couple of lifetimes and Industrial Light and Magic years ago. Hunter Lane, Director of Business Development from Resolution Games, is one of the best VR games on the plane.  He was one of the innovators of 1.0 VR Arcade, the first arcade in Oklahoma. Let’s dive in! WHAT YOU’LL LEARN FROM THIS EPISODE: ● What is Springboard VR and how it was acquired by Vertigo Games ● Getting to know the panelist Tommy Goodkin, Chuck Taylor, Brooke    Chapman, and Hunter Lane. What are their contributions to VR Arcade? ● What are LBE, VR, AR, and FEC VR mean? ● What's the difference between the VR 1.0 arcade and nomadic. ● Distinguishing Location-Based VR from Home-Based VR to make it more of a social experience ● Utilizing VR, out of home or in-home experiences big free room space, and small individual space; its pros and cons ● How to develop accessibility, get better experiences and get diverse people coming into FECs. ● Setting up, conflict and the resolution, and how it is being totally ignored as a way to increase the user experience. Listen to Part 2 here: https://anchor.fm/dashboard/episode/e16oki7/EP138: VR Arcade 2.0: Beyond the Novelty of Consumer VR – Presented by Springboard VR by Vertigo Games (Part 2) Our Sponsor: Springboard VR: https://springboardvr.com/ Bryan Severance: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryan-severance-91768718/ Tommy Goodkin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tommy-goodkin-28245a79/ Chuck Taylor: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chuckinator/ Main Event: https://www.mainevent.com/ Brooke Chapman: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brookechapman/ Nomadic: https://blurtheline.com/ Hunter Lane: https://www.linkedin.com/in/f-hunter-lane-b7897613b/ Resolution Games: https://www.resolutiongames.com/ Learn More at www.bobcooney.com

    20 min
  7. 08/24/2021

    EP 137- Lessons from Launching Star Wars During a Pandemic – Presented by Lightsaber Dojo

    Episode 137- Lessons from Launching Star Wars During a Pandemic – Presented by Lightsaber Dojo Speaker: Sean Griffin, CEO Nomadic Today’s podcast is a keynote presentation, recorded at the 4th Annual VR Summit at Amusement Expo International held in Las Vegas on June 30, 2021. What happens when you launch a new VR game into the teeth of a global pandemic? How do you observe, test, iterate, learn, and improve to take a game from good to great when locations are shuttered? This session will take you behind the scenes of the development, release, and improvement of Vader Immortal: Lightsaber Dojo, the world’s first Star Wars VR arcade game. Let’s dive in! WHAT YOU’LL LEARN FROM THIS EPISODE: ● Who is Sean Griffin and Nomadic? ● How did they develop and launched Star Wars Games during the pandemic? ● What are the challenges they encountered developing this game remotely? And how did they cope up with these challenges? ● What is Vader Immortal Lightsaber Dojo? How to play it for a better experience? ● Getting to know customers to learn how they experience games to improve the design. ● What is Project New Hope and how does it work? ● How does the level of engagement increase for the Empire Strikes Back Project? ● Learn what is the benefit of products like the VRsenal, cabinet and how that might play out. ● How to bring VR and IP into out-of-home entertainment. ● Understanding Hollywood and the IP holders on economics fair and equitable share. Bob’s Blog: www.bobcooney.com/blog Sean Griffin Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sean-griffin/ Nomadic: https://blurtheline.com/ VRsenal: https://www.vrsenal.com/ Sean Griffin @ Nomadic: https://www.arounddeal.com/profile/sean-griffin/t3epyqovkr/

    24 min
  8. 08/10/2021

    EP136 – VR Summit 2021 - Introduction and Keynote: Virtual Reality’s iPhone Moment and What it Means to You

    EP136 – VR Summit 2021 - Introduction and Keynote: Virtual Reality’s iPhone Moment and What it Means to You Today’s podcast is the first in a series of recordings from the 4th Annual VR Summit at Amusement Expo International held in Las Vegas on June 30 2021. Bob Cooney introduces the VR Summit, providing an overview of the sessions, before delivering his welcome keynote. Oculus Quest 2 was VR’s iPhone moment. A cheap, easy, portable VR system with great, curated content. And the market responded.  With VR now finally taking off in the home, what do operators need to do to stay ahead of the market? Bob Cooney will deliver an overview of the VR market, why VR makes more sense than ever, and explain exactly what you should consider when mapping out your VR strategy. Let’s dive in! WHAT YOU’LL LEARN FROM THIS EPISODE: Why are people calling the Oculus Quest an Iphone Moment to the Art Virtual Reality? What is Steam’s growth over the last year? Why is the VR market exploding today? How did Virtual Reality Industry grow in the last couple of years? How are some industries react to VR gaming market? John Richard Telo, CEO of unity & former      CEO of Electronics Arts sees VR as the next consumer gaming platform. Is Oculus a Facebook product? Why did Facebook use their cash coffers and billions of dollars in profit to bring the cost of the quest headset down? How does the movie industry use virtual reality and how much did it earn? What is the future of Virtual Reality? What does it mean to us? Why did Bob say that the future is a good predictor of the past? What are hyperreality effects? How is location-based VR the next phase of      Immersive Entertainment? Is HTC Vive Focus Three better than oculus quest? Bob provide an overview of the      upcoming episodes from the VR Summit Bob’s Blog: www.bobcooney.com/blog Watch the video recording of this podcast on Youtube: https://youtu.be/Z-2rPQqnS-0 Join Bob’s VR Mentoring Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/BCVRMG

    22 min

About

We've turned Bob's Being Virtual Show and other events into podcasts, for those of you who prefer to listen while on the go. Join Bob as he explores the business of virtual reality in a series of live interviews. Each features a new, unique guest from the world of VR, with some augmented and mixed reality thrown in. Bob cuts through the virtual crap to find the real stories of people making, and losing, money in VR, so you can make better decisions about where to invest yours. For more information go to www.bobcooney.com