Facebook Connect is the company’s AR/VR developer conference that often plays host to product reveals, industry insights, and plenty of talks to get developers on the right path towards building for the company’s existent and upcoming XR hardware. Here’s the top-down skinny on what, when and where.
You’ll be able to follow along with our coverage of Facebook Connect both via livestreams and in Oculus headsets through Venues. The keynote with be livestreamed on Facebook, starting at 10 AM PT today, October 28th. Click here to find out when it starts for you locally.
To catch the livestreams, you can either Watch on Facebook or Watch in Quest via Venues. On demand dev talks will be available with links via the Facebook link above. It seems the company is shying away from YouTube livestreams, although CNET is broadcasting the keynote on its channel.
Here’s the full agenda.
10:00 AM – Keynote with Mark Zuckerberg
After all of the supposed leaks and official statements surrounding the possibility of an Oculus Quest Pro headset, we’re expecting a lot from Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s keynote.
The company says Zuckerberg and other Facebook executives will “share the vision for the metaverse—a place of new immersive experiences and the next evolution of social technology, built by people like you.”
11:25 AM – On Demand Dev Sessions & FitXR Classes Unlock
A regular installment in Facebook (and Oculus) Connects in the past, developer sessions and FitXR classes will unlock as video on demand at the close of the keynote. All content will be available on the Facebook Reality Labs Facebook page for viewing after the keynote ends.
11:45 AM – Developer State of the Union
This talk takes us through the past, present, and future of Oculus, which sounds like it will be rich with insight into content, the metaverse and everything. This will include Chris Pruett, Tom Langan, Allison Lee, and Mari Kyle who are slated to give an overview of the VR ecosystem including the communities, programs and tools for developers around the world.
2:00 PM – Connect with John Carmack – Q&A
Arguably the best part of Connect is getting to hear the unfiltered, unscripted stream-of-thought from programing legend and Oculus Consulting CTO John Carmack, who often gives a peek into the company’s inner workings in a way the front-facing executives crew ever do (or can do). The talk will be followed by the traditional Q&A session, which hopefully won’t be cut too early.
5:00 PM – Spacewalk from the ISS
Award winning Felix & Paul Studios with TIME Studios are featuring 180-degree content from the series Space Explorers: The ISS Experience, which brought VR cameras to the International Space Station. We’ve seen other content captured inside ISS, but this will be the debut of the first spacewalk captured for virtual reality. Sounds like a trip.
You can also register for Connect 2021, which will give you updates on all the stuff happening today. We’ll be covering it live, so check back for all of the AR/VR news to come in today starting at 10 AM PT.
