200 days to go...

Wait, what? Two hundred days from now? That's forever! 

Well, kinda... but time is like a train, chugging along with a regular rhythm but moving much faster than you think until it's suddenly right there, on top of you! So we're already planning ahead for the next HIE event, which will be from April 4 to April 6,  2025. Scroll to the end of this post to find out how you can stay informed about the event via the Socials.

What is HIE, or Hypergrid International Expo? 

It is an Opensim conference, party, expo, and art performance extravaganza, experienced live and archived on our Youtube Channel - please help people find it more easily by giving a Like and Subscribe! 

HIE gives Opensim people of any and all grids, whose first language is not English, the opportunity to speak about the projects, experiments, sims, and builds that they are proud of. They get to tell their stories in their own languages, and we provide a sort of Subtitle system that allows you to follow what's being said in English, or any one of the major languages of Opensim.

In the past, HIE has been held on Craft Grid, with the kind assistance of the lovely Licu Rau.

This year, we have a new home, a 3x3 space on the new HG Safari grid - address at the end of the page. This will resolve a few logistical issues, and means we have a brand new playground for all the HIE activities.

Nazirah Avro speaking in Spanish, HIE23

Why aren't the talks in English?

Simple - there already is a very big annual event for Opensim, where all presentations are given in English. It's called the OSCC  the Opensimulator Community Conference and this year the 12th annual event will be held on December 7 - 8, 2024. However, not everyone's comfortable giving a lecture in English, so the Hypergrid International Expo is a space for these other voices, a sister convention, if you like.

Art presentation about the Guggenheim, Bilbao, by Tosha Tyran in 2023

If the talks aren't in English, and I only speak English, is there any point in me showing up?

 Yes! 

First of all, the entire program will have a simultaneous English transcript provided in Group Chat, you simply join the HIE English group, and you can read along to follow the speaker. 

Secondly, every talk involves a lot of visual aids, to make it more interesting. 

Thirdly, in each section of the conference, there are two 20 minute talks, and one art performance, which we all can understand - art is a language all its own! 

Marlon Wayne during the German session HIE 23

Lastly, come join us, you'll have the opportunity to make new friends, and see perhaps a new side to Opensim. The event opens on Friday April 4 with a big dance party, which again, requires no special language abilities!

If you like the GIFs in this post, remember you can watch the full videos of each presentation on our Youtube channel. 

Zeno Voxel concert, HIE 2024

How can I to be part of this event? 

There are several ways you can do that.

 1.  Attend the Live Event. If you're able to come along to the live event - the opening party on Friday April 4, or the sessions on the following Saturday and Sunday, it would be a great way to support the speakers and art performers. The Art shows are particularly outstanding to witness in person, and you will encourage and inspire our hard working presenters if you can be there inworld to cheer them along.

 2.  Invite your friends! You can enjoy hearing our speakers in their native languages, and you can follow what they are saying in English (or the language of your choice) thanks to the inworld subtitles system.

Kelso Uxlay demonstrating interesting scripts, French session, HIE 23

 3.  Be a Presenter If your first language isn't English, maybe you would like to participate as a speaker at the event - or  you have a friend who would be good at doing that. We want to hear from you about your Opensim experience. Talks vary in theme from technical matters to philosophical ways to see the virtual world, to practical demonstrations and informative talks about specific grids.  For each language session, we generally have two speaking presentations, each one lasting  20 minute. Too shy to talk? That's OK, simply come and listen, we welcome your presence!

Moderator Loru Destiny introducing the German session of HIE 2023

 4.  Be a Moderator. For each section of the event, we have a Moderator who introduces each speaker, in their own language. If you don't feel you can give a 20 minute talk, then perhaps you'd like to introduce the speakers, and thus be an essential part of the event on stage.

Terra Mehryem's Shamanka, 2024

 

5.  Be an Art Performer For each language session, we have at least one art performance, usually by someone who speaks the language of the session (for example, Terra Merhyem did the art performance during French session last year).

 6.  Volunteer during the event.  You can help out at the event in multiple ways. If you have filming experience, you could find out about joining our video team, or as one of the Subtitle team during the presentations, or as a Greeter. Being there to cheer on the speakers is also  a great help!

Lorenza Colicigno of Craft, talking about her project La Città delle Donne" in 2023

 

7.  Help with the translations. Before the event, the main points of each talk are translated, so that we can provide subtitles in English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish. While AI can help with some of this work, everything has to be checked by a real person to make sure that it makes sense.  If you know two or more languages, maybe you'd like to help out in the Translation department, contact Thirza Ember on OSGrid to find out more.

 8.  Build an Expo Booth The live presentations are just one aspect of the Hypergrid International Expo. The parkland around the auditorium is a space where you can have a publicity booth, letting other opensim residents know all about your grid, region, project or passion. These booths are not limited to foreign language residents of opensim. Anyone can have one. The period for building the Expo booths is typically several months before the event, giving your grid weeks of exposure as people visit the HIE sim. Contact Thirza Ember about getting your booth, we will begin the Booth part of this project in December.

 9.  Share this post with people, so that even more people can be made aware of this opportunity to come together as a multi language, creative community. 

HIE 2024 Cherry Manga's Audience-immersive 
"Variations monochromes autour d'une coordonnée "

10.  Join us on social media. Like, Subscribe, Follow, Comment, Bookmark, and Share. 

When you do these things, you make it easier for yourself to learn about updates, and you raise the event's profile, making it easier for others to find.

https://hieopensim.blogspot.com/

https://sites.google.com/view/hieopensim/home

https://www.facebook.com/groups/128147601188211

https://discord.gg/zVd8VXjwR2

https://opensimworld.com/user/HIExpo

https://www.youtube.com/@hieexpo

https://mewe.com/group/63a8301a94c92d0059d800b8

HG Address of our new home

grid,hgsafari.org:58002:HIE

Nyx Breen put on an EEP display for the closing party for HIE 2024
on HIE Welcome, Craft Grid