Project: Virtual Policy - a conference on innovation and governance in virtual worlds

Client: Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

Virtual Policy 08 was a landmark event bringing leading speakers together to debate the needs, opportunities and threats facing the global virtual worlds industry. The two day conference, held in July 2008 in London, was also streamed live into Second Life.

BIS were let down by their events management company just 4 weeks before the event was due to take place, and asked Junction K to step in to take on the organisation at the last minute. Never shy of a challenge, we jumped in with both feet to successfully pull together the logistics for all the venue management, audio visual production, speaker liaison, marketing and on-site management.

125 delegates attended including key players from across the virtual worlds industry. Leading bloggers at Eightbar noted “a very intense and informative time…there has been a meeting of minds from all sorts of places – companies, government bodies, lawyers, regulators, standards bodies, games companies and educators.” Organisations represented included BIS, Channel 4, CISCO, IBM, Intel, Linden Lab, OECD, OFCOM, Oxford Internet Institute, Jagex, NCSoft, UKTI and the universities of Cardiff, Edinburgh, Essex, London, and Southampton.

Leigh Jackson, BIS, said:
“Thanks to Junction K for being mad enough to take on the event management contract at such short notice, and for their very capable and professional handling of so many disparate variables and headaches.”

The event was created by the Virtual Policy Network and jointly sponsored by BIS and UK IPO (UK Intellectual Property Office). The event forms a key role in shaping future UK policy regarding virtual worlds.