Map of the Expo & How to Get Around

I’ve done a lot of live theatre in my time and the polish work we are doing now for the Expo reminds me a lot of the dress rehearsals and the excitement that comes just before opening night. The island is completely transformed from when we started. Both Phil, Damien and I have been having a wonderful time “dressing the set” and setting up signage to make it easy for everyone to get around. We solved a ticklish audio problem last Sunday that forced us to change the main programming area, but it’s a much better set up and should be very easy for people to enjoy screenings and panels at the same time, but without interfering with each other.

We’ve also had fun shopping for interesting additions to the island. There are some very cool things that I’m not going to tell you about so that they will be a surprise.  One thing I can tell you; Lainy Voom’s installation is a work of genius. I kid you not. She has outdone herself here by creating an environment for screening her films that is like being inside them at the same time. The installation is a large white globe (when viewed from the front) and is in one corner of the island right next to the Fallopian booth (a very cool design as well). You’ll see a large Alice-in-Wonderland type hole with a red arrow pointing. Just walk across the water (yes, you can) and enter. Wonder awaits you.

How to get around the Expo

The Expo is built on an island with the main building at it’s center. When you teleport in by using the Slurl on the far right column of this blog, you’ll be directly in front of the entrance to the main building and close to the information booth. The info booth has a large green question mark above it and, for the most part, will have someone manning it to help you. We will have a program available which will list the events and locations of the various screening rooms. You will also find a large bulletin board right next to the main building which will have the event schedule and times listed.

Numerous signs have been posted to guide you to wherever you want to go.  Look for them and you’ll be able to figure out where you are and what’s going on at any particular time.

Next to the main building is an old-fashioned theater where we will have the main screening room for 40 plus machinima films we feel were most interesting.  Inside of the main building on the first floor you’ll find the area where all of the panels, presentations and events will occur. As you enter, to your right will be a small stage and mic along with lots of seating. Feel free to sit or using the alt key and left clicking you can re-position your view to anywhere you’d like.

Just beyond the programming area and still on the first floor is the Jury screening room. Although it’s a separate area with no audio bleed, be sure to use only text in the screening rooms as voice chat will be a part of the sound of the screened films. The Jury reel consists of 17 jury nominated films and the UCS Student Reel (very well done, too).

Up on the 2nd floor you’ll find another screening room which has the same Jury playlist as the 1st floor, so if it’s too crowded downstairs just move up to the 2nd floor and you won’t miss a thing. Just off of the 2nd floor screening room is the Jury Gallery where we will have pix from the Jury films along with info on them.

Taking the stairs you’ll come to the 3rd floor lounge. Phil assures me that all of the free food and free booze will be up there, so it should be a lively place. There’s a nice open area on the 3rd floor which allows you to fly out onto the island, so you can use it as a launch pad if you like.

Out on the other end of the island you’ll see Lainy’s installation, the Fallopian booth and a grassy area where you can play with the sheep and giant birds. Keep it clean here, kids.

Across from this area is the Reallusion booth where you might catch John Martin for a chat about iClone 4 and perhaps a video overview of the program. Right next to Reallusion is the “What is Machinima?” booth where we feature 3 outstanding machinima documentaries about…er…machinima! If you have no idea what all the fuss is about, head over to the “What is Machinima” booth and learn.

Here is a small version of the map we are including in the program. Don’t worry there’s a download link underneath where you can get the larger version.

Next post: I’ll provide info on how to sign up for Second Life, how to transport yourself to the UCS island and the basics on how to get around using your avatar.

Download Large Version of the Expo Map