On Friday, August 26th, The Interactive & Immersive HQ partnered with Ottomata Studio to host an in-person community meetup in Montreal, Canada. The meetup was a public and free event where people in the interactive and immersive field could come hang out with other like-minded folks. The event was scheduled the same week as Mutek, a Montreal festival dedicated to promoting electronic music and the digital arts, so people visiting Mutek could attend.
Ottomato’s studio is the ideal setting for the TouchDesigner Meetup. Ottomato is a Montreal-based experimental design studio specializing in interactive installations and immersive journeys.
More relaxed than your typical tech meetup, the event’s main aim wasn’t to showcase individuals’ works, but instead to provide an opportunity for people to get to know one another over food and drinks. The open format of the studio allowed guests to mingle with others and have conversations flow organically. Elburz has spoken and written extensively about the benefits of being active in the community as a great way to develop your career and practice, and events like this focused on the social side of the community are all about that!
Almost 100 people RSVPed for the Montreal meetup. We had guests from all over North America, including Derivative’s Greg Hermanovic, Isabelle Rousset, Markus Heckmann, and Michel Didier, and our very own co-founders of The Interactive & Immersive HQ Elburz Sorkhabi & Colin Gibson. The three-hour-long event had people excited to meet people in the community face-to-face. The meetup included icebreaker games where three winners won free three-month memberships to the Interactive & Immersive HQ PRO.
Get Our 7 Core TouchDesigner Templates, FREE
We’re making our 7 core project file templates available – for free.
These templates shed light into the most useful and sometimes obtuse features of TouchDesigner.
They’re designed to be immediately applicable for the complete TouchDesigner beginner, while also providing inspiration for the advanced user.
The Interactive & Immersive HQ aims to aid spaces to support people who are already in the field and those who are curious about becoming part of this expanding community. One guest was discussing their excitement about the new Vulkan builds of TouchDesigner and the use of point clouds in projects becoming more common and flexible. As the community grows, many people agree that learning TouchDesigner has never been better than now with all the different materials available for folks online.
Do you want a meetup in your town?
Let The HQ know! Send us an email to tell us what is the closest major city to you, and we will have it on our radar!
You can email us at crystal@interactiveimmersive.io
We’re excited to see you at the next Interactive & Immersive HQ Meetup!!
Wrap up
We’re so glad we’re able to hold in-person meetups for the community. There are so many benefits to being able to see each other face to face. The business benefits and artistic benefits are endless for folks getting to know each other and talk about upcoming opportunities. If you haven’t been attending community meetups, I strongly suggest keeping your eyes open for events coming nearby to you as they’re so valuable and fun for everyone involved. See you soon!
