At Convention 2021 we will be using Gather.town, a form of virtual interaction that was used and received a lot of positive feedback in our most recent virtual convention, FoldFest Spring 2021. Gather.town combines Zoom-like video conferencing with a virtual world that emulates the feeling of in-person origami events.
Gather.town is like a top-down 2D video game. Each user has an on-screen character they can control and move around the area. When two characters come close together, those two users can talk to each other in a video conference. This proximity-based connection allows hundreds of people to be in the same virtual meeting space, while still allowing small group interactions.
We’ve designed our Gather.town space to emulate the look and feel of a traditional OrigamiUSA Convention Hospitality Area: a big room with many tables for folders to congregate, chat, and fold together. Each table in the main room is a private space: any users sitting in chairs around the same table will be able to talk privately amongst themselves. We hope that event attendees will walk around this virtual world to find old friends and meet new ones. Attendees can use this space to organize their own mini classes, show off their models, organize folding competitions, or just fold in the company of others.
We know Gather.town may be a new way to virtually communicate for many attendees, so we’ve prepared a guide on Gather.town basics.
The Convention 2021 Gather.town room will be open from June 25, 2:00pm EDT to June 29, 11:00pm EDT. The password to join will only work within this time. Gather.Town works best using the Chrome web browser on a laptop or desktop computer. It works on a limited basis using a mobile device.
We will email the Gather.town link when we send the Zoom links for the event on June 23. You can also log in to Gather.town at the following link:
- The Gather.town room is now closed.
Here is the Gather.town map.
