
Agenda
Agora RTE Startup Battleground Pitch Competition
For the past two months, startups have submitted their applications to the Startup Battleground competition in hopes of being selected to pitch to venture capitalists (VCs) in Silicon Valley. The eight finalists will pitch live to our panel of judges. Join us for this virtual-only session to see who you’d like to cast your vote for to win a part of the $25,000 cash prize pool and be crowned RTE2022 Startup Battleground Champion!

Todd Embley
Startup Program Director
Agora
Moderator

Sue Xu
Managing Partner
Amino Capital
Panelist

Ekta Dang
CEO
U First Capital
Panelist

Robert de Monts
Executive Advisor
Multiple
Panelist

Ethan Berg
Co-Founder & CEO
Agora World
Speaker

Roman Rodriguez
Co-Founder & CEO
The Coaching Market
Kristin Geer

Felisha Booker
Visionary, Founder & CEO
Breaker Nation
Speaker

Benji Brown
CEO
Tesuji Games Inc.
Speaker

Kevin Kachidza
Founder & CEO
Sarafin AI
Speaker

Nidhi Sharma
CEO & Co-Founder
Abby
Speaker

Young Jong Kim
Founder and CEO
blabla
Speaker
Inspiration Keynote: Building Connected New Worlds with Real-Time Engagement
Join Agora Founder and CEO Tony Zhao for an Out of This World presentation exploring how Agora and RTE are leading a sea change in ways we connect the most innovative technologies, tools, and people in this world – and beyond.

Tony Zhao
Co-Founder & CEO
Agora
Keynote

Stanley Wei
Chief Strategy Officer
Agora
Keynote

Tony Wang
Co-Founder & Chief Revenue Officer
Agora
Keynote

Casey Lau
Co-Host
Web Summit
Keynote
Product Keynote: Innovations Powering Out of This World Real-Time Engagement Experiences in Your App
Join Agora’s CXO, CSO, GM of App Builder, and VP of Product to learn about the latest innovations available to you today, which will power Out of This World real-time shared experiences in your app – elevating engagement, adoption, retention, and ensuring you achieve your target business outcomes.

Virginia Liu
Chief Experience Officer
Agora
Speaker

Roger Hale
Chief Security Officer
Agora
Speaker

Sid Sharma
General Manager, App Builder
Agora
Keynote

Patrick Ferriter
VP Product
Agora
Speaker
Agora RTE Startup Battleground Competition Awards Ceremony
For the past 2 months, startups have been submitting their pitches in hopes of being selected to pitch to VCs in the Startup Battleground competition. On October 3rd, the 8 finalists will pitch live to our panel of 3 Silicon Valley VCs. On October 10th join us in-person or virtually for a panel discussion with these same 3 Venture Capitalists, to discuss future trends in RTE and their individual investing strategies going into 2023, and the announcement of this years’ cash prize winners and find out who will be named RTE 2022 Startup Battleground Champion!

Todd Embley
Startup Program Director
Agora
Moderator

Sue Xu
Managing Partner
Amino Capital
Panelist

Ekta Dang
CEO
U First Capital
Panelist

Robert de Monts
Executive Advisor
Multiple
Panelist
Real-time Face and Body AR from Smartphone to Room-Scale on Multiple Devices.
Face and Body AR have become a part of our digital world. The computing power of mobile devices are increasingly used to create amazing effects and applications that engage users. We are seeing smartphones being enabled as inputs for living room-scale experiences such as AR tech into webcams and TVs. These innovations open up new worlds of immersive experiences. This session will cover some of the real-time AR use cases and applications.

George Berkowski
CEO / Cofounder
DeepAR
Speaker
The Emergence of New Hardware Technologies: Creating Immersive Experiences in a Virtual World
Hardware technologies allow the virtual world to flourish. From VR headsets and smart glasses to AR headbands and their applications - many newer devices enable us to render our physical environments in real-time. Our experts will discuss all the latest technologies that provide real-world experiences.

Nathan Pettyjohn
CEO
Immerse Growth Network
Moderator

Shen Ye
Global Head of Products
HTC
Panelist

Lisa Watts
VP Product Marketing & Developer Programs
Magic Leap
Panelist

Fraser Bowie
Chief Product Officer
NuEyes Technologies
Panelist
The Future of Edtech: Unlocking Access Through Advanced Technology
With the recent development of RTC, AI, big data, and VR/AR, deep technology has reshaped the online learning landscape and transformed the online learning experiences. How will the future of online learning unfold? Our industry experts will share their expertise on how to elevate student experiences with synchronous learning offerings, harness the power of AI-based analysis, and drive student engagement with cutting-edge VR/AR technology.

Rhys Spence
Head of Research
Brighteye Ventures
Moderator

Bing Chen
CEO
2BeLive Inc.
Panelist

Gur Arie Bittan
Founder & CEO
Mantis-Vision Ltd.
Panelist

Rachel Meisner
Director of Education and Engagement
ActiveClass
Panelist

Ben Chang
CEO
Upduo
Panelist
Customize and Embed a Production-Ready Video Calling Experience in Your Website Within Minutes
Learn how you can use the Agora App Builder, to embed a fully custom video-calling experience that’s ready to take to production. We’ll discuss the steps to customize the user interface and build custom features on top of App Builder with React.

Ekaansh Arora
Developer Advocate
Agora
Speaker
Digital Transformation of the Physical and Virtual Workplace
The working world is continuously changing - disruption is the norm. Work is now portable for many and it continues to evolve. What does the reimagined workforce in a digital world look like? Will this disruption become the norm and affect how employees choose to collaborate? Our panel of experts will address and provide insights on the current state of the enterprise digital transformation and their perspectives on the outlook for future working environments.

Ira Weinstein
Managing Partner
Recon Research
Moderator

Michael McCarthy
COO
Learning Design Network Inc.
Panelist

Duncan Bucknill
Global Business Manager
Wipro
Panelist

Sameer Mehta
Senior VP
JIO
Panelist

Jeremy Lam
CEO
Venu
Panelist
The Next Generation of Video Engagement Experiences in Social Environments and Platforms
The ever-increasing usage of online spaces has created a new wave of delicately balanced social interactions on a global scale. AI technologies are paramount in encouraging and fostering safe inclusive digital ecosystems along with determining who you are and how you want to be perceived.

Geoff Cook
Co-Founder & CEO
ParshipMeet Group
Moderator

Simon Lebsekal
Director of Business Development
Hive
Panelist

Xiaoyu Chen
Director of ML Solutions
ByteDance
Panelist

Zoe Liu
Co-Founder & CTO
Visionular Inc.
Panelist

Vadim Nekhai
Co-Founder and Managing Director
Banuba
Panelist
Sonic Identity in the Metaverse - The Importance of Real-Time Communication
Voice really matters when making a virtual environment come to life. Humans are social beings, and the metaverse as currently promoted is a social environment where participants create unique personas in both home and workplace settings. Avatars will allow players to express themselves the way they want to be seen as human, alien, animal, vegetable, cartoon, or myriad other options. Players can try on new looks temporarily, the way they try new outfits. Gender and species are fluid. A truly complete immersive experience requires a combination of 3D visuals and real-time audio to enable people to express themselves in the way they want to be heard. Participants want a sonic representation of themselves that is just as original and unique as their visual avatar, and they want the tools to customize their voice as meticulously as their appearance. There must be a harmonious marriage of both augmented audio and 3D video to keep the player immersed and engaged. Real-time audio defines how people can bring the ultimate individuality to their content, making audio the great equalizer of the metaverse.

Jaime Bosch
Co-Founder & CEO
Voicemod
Speaker
Startup Growth in a Fluctuating Market: How Founders Can Thrive
Startups do not only drive change; they should be able to adapt to both economic downturns and growth times. What is the inflection point for survival? Should you seek out funding from where and when?

Sara Rauchwerger
Senior Startup Advocate
Agora
Moderator

Justin Melillo
Co-Founder & CEO
Mona
Panelist

Jos van der Westhuizen
Co-Founder & CEO
Remio
Panelist

Themis Drakonakis
Co-Founder & CEO
Nup Technologies
Panelist

Bill Reichert
General Partner
Pegasus Tech Ventures
Panelist
The Retail Revolution: Experiential E-Commerce in the Physical and Digital World
We have already entered a new era of shopping; it is only a matter of time before the physical and digital worlds will be one. What are the latest revenue streams, types of technological engagements, and interactions in this new world?

Connie Chan
General Partner
Andreessen Horowitz (a16z)
Moderator

Ludo Antonov
VPE, Engineering
Whatnot
Panelist

Frost Li
Founder & CEO
Social Chat
Panelist

Sarah Williams
T3 Brand Spokesperson & Educator
T3 Micro, Inc
Panelist

Yuliang Yin
Engineering & Product Leader
Supergreat
Panelist
Immersive Real-Time Communication Beyond Avatars – Live Volumetric Calls In The Metaverse/XR
Experience a live telepresence talk with 3D participants from 3 continents joining by 3D full-body live-stream from Mantis Vision’s Volumetric Capture 3iosk and 3D faces from iPhone depth cameras. The RTE can be viewed through webAR using a mobile phone (AR) or PC (Virtual environment). Will cover bandwidth requirements, types of volumetric inputs, integration into existing video calls, and possibilities that go well beyond Avatars.

Gur Arie Bittan
Founder & CEO
Mantis-Vision Ltd.
Speaker
Powering Real-Time Collaboration in the Hybrid Workplace
The modern workplace is constantly evolving. We went from a fully remote work style in the wake of the pandemic to now embarking on a hybrid workplace. These changes in complexity bring about improved forms of interactions and collaboration. In this session, I will discuss how collaboration building blocks, such as Agora's very own Interactive Whiteboard, Chat, and Transcription, can help build a workplace that is more collaborative, engaging, and accessible.

William Chen
Director, Product Management
Agora Inc.
Speakerr
Influencer Economy: How Native Tools for Creators Unleash New Forms Of Revenue
Creator tools have remained the primary domain of social networks; however, direct fan and creator interactions around content are what really drive engagement and the corresponding revenue. Join us as we discuss how the implementation of native creator tools provides access for fans and creators to unleash their full potential, connect with one another, and tap into new revenue opportunities for native apps and websites.

Brad Altfest
Director, Media & Entertainment
Agora
Moderator

Brian Ring
Senior Director, News & Sports Solutions
Amagi
Panelist

Geremie Camara
Chief Creative Officer
Live Play Mobile
Panelist
Embracing the Core Technology of the Future: Real-Time Engagement as the Frontier of the Next Generation
We are in a new era where memorable experiences online are more valued. It has created a radical shift allowing web3 companies to empower their communities to interact in a more flexible and meaningful way. Our panelist will discuss how valuable RTE is vs. ASYNC interactions and how it changes the way we view the online community.

Vanessa Mullin
Business Development - Metaverse and Interactive Entertainment
Agora
Moderator

Burçin Gürbuz
Co-Founder & CEO
Atlas Space
Panelist

Tim Train
Co-Founder & CEO
Ronday
Panelist

Mathieu Nouzareth
CEO
The Sandbox US
Panelist
How to Power Real-Time Experiences with Conversation Intelligence
There are many different ways people and businesses can communicate today. The various modalities and volume make it challenging to identify actionable moments in their customer conversations. Conversation intelligence enables businesses to truly understand natural human conversations across all channels. From improving customer experience to identifying sales opportunities and enhancing internal workflows, real-time intelligence provides contextual feedback for business to unlock learnings. Join this panel discussion to learn how to apply conversation intelligence learnings to real-time applications.

Justina Nguyen
Director, Developer Ecosystem
Symbl.ai
Moderator

Shoaib Aslam
Co-founder & CEO
EventsX
Panelist

Daria Danilina
Co-Founder & CCO
Salesroom
Panelist
Evolving RTE Audio Technology: The Emerging Opportunities and Challenges for Immersive Experiences
In the last decades, the experience of real-time interactive audio over the internet has improved substantially. The expectation for real-time interactive audio experience has elevated from effective communication to immersive engagement. This paradigm shift has generated many opportunities in audio and speech technologies and imposed various new challenges. In this talk, I will share my views on the challenges and opportunities of RTE audio and provide some latest progress on Agora's practice in pursuing a more immersive RTE audio experience.

Raphael Chen
Director of Audio Technology
Agora
Speaker
Seeing Is Believing, But Is Hearing?
Generally, some of us are better listeners than others, but how does AI paired with machine language help in enhancing sound quality? From creating ideal audio landscapes to conversation intelligence, audio-based technologies have evolved in many ways in rendering improved user experience, usability, safety, and performance.

James Meier
CTO
Synervoz
Moderator

Marko Stamenovic
Principal ML Engineer
Bose
Panelist

Klemen Simonic
CEO
Soniox
Panelist

Akira Tsukahara
Business Producer
Sony Corporation
Panelist
Transforming Organizational Excellence with Interactive Corporate Training
Corporate training has been essential for companies to strengthen their employees' performance and increase employee retention. A large influx of capital has also stimulated the growth of various vendors aiming to re-skill the workforce and create viable career pathways for them. How should a player navigate in this space? In this panel formed with a diverse group of corporate training providers, we will discuss the trend in the marketplace, best practices to effectively engage workforces via live sessions, and unveil the future of online corporate training.

Ben Wirz
Partner
Brighteye Ventures
Moderator

Jason Bedford
SVP of Education
Class Technologies Inc.
Panelist

Mahmoud El Gabry
Strategic Partnerships Manager
Classera Inc.
Panelist

Samuel Sungsoo Lim
CEO
Grepp, Inc.
Panelist

Rana Hazarika
Vice President, Product Management
upGrad
Panelist
A Sense of Place: How RTE Enables Spatial Interactivity Beyond Our Physical World
How do spatial relationships affect online interactions? Games and interactive media have grappled with this question for many years. Now, as visions of the metaverse emerge throughout the industry, experts from across the globe are coming together to learn from these pioneers and evolve their solutions for the internet of tomorrow.

Jonathan Barcelo
Senior Product Manager, Gaming & Metaverse
Agora
Moderator

David Lucatch
CEO & Chair
Liquid Avatar Technologies Inc.
Panelist

Artur Sychov
Founder & CEO
Somnium Space
Panelist

Ian Nott
CTO & Co-Founder
Aetho LLC
Panelist
Diversity, Entrepreneurship, And Innovation - Expanding the Opportunities for Founders
Women are creating new companies that allow them to thrive, self-focus, and stay resilient while also committing to improving society. With the proliferation of the digital world women are more easily able to create environments that embrace inclusivity and positivity that are imperative to a successful founders ecosystem that thrives. How do we together raise the profile of women founders?

Virginia Liu
Chief Experience Officer
Agora
Moderator

Taly Matiteyahu
Founder & CEO
Blink Date
Panelist

Karen Harris
Founder
StoriBoard
Panelist

Lisa Furfine
CEO
Linkroom, LLC
Panelist

Lily Hagen
Founder & CEO
Lingo Plaza
Panelist
The Adoption, Challenges, and Opportunities of XR Technologies Software Utilization Across Industries
Immersive technologies can take many forms and uses in creating fully simulated environments where users can interact and experience at scale. But is the world ready to embrace a future where extended reality (XR) software applications will become commonplace for consumers and enterprises? What are the most promising use cases that will be the biggest drivers of adoption? Let’s discuss the existing gaps and innovative ideas that will help shape future applications.

Shirley Lin
Chief Business Development Officer, Founder
RunAppRun
Moderator

Muhsinah Morris
Metaversity Director
Morehouse College
Panelist

Anshul Agarwal
Founder & Director
XR Central
Panelist

Jad Boniface
Head of Community Expansion
Roblox
Panelist

Masaru Ohnogi
Co-Founder & CBO
ThirdVerse
Panelist
What's New in SDK 4.0
Join us to learn about Agora's next generation Voice and Video SDK provides the flexibility, simplicity, and power needed to build amazing interactive experiences.

Ekaansh Arora
Developer Advocate
Agora
Speaker

Meherdeep Thakur
Developer Advocate
Agora
Panelist
Reimagining Sports Fan Engagement with New Real-Time Experiences
Learn new ways to attract Gen Z, so fan experiences are engaging by fostering gamification, daily fantasy, free-to-play games, and sports betting.

Peter Schoenke
President & Co-Founder
RotoWire
Moderator

Tolu Arogunmati
Product Manager
Meta
Panelist

Matt Deutsch
Founder
Bettor Sports Network
Panelist

Lacy Pack
Executive Vice President & Chief Technology Officer
iNDEMAND
Panelist

Sean Green
Co-Founder
SGPN (Sports Gambling Podcast Network)
Panelist
The Concept of Presence: Reducing Carbon Footprints Through Hybrid and Virtual Immersive Experiences
Events always bring people together with a shared purpose. Online events have seen a tremendous uptick since the pandemic and continue to provide impactful value-added immersive experiences. Our experts will share insights on how virtual platforms provide innovative digital interactions for everyone.

Frank Poon
Co-Founder & COO
Venue.live
Panelist

Vedha Sayyaparaju
Co-Founder & CTO
Zuddl
Panelist

Vincent Bruneau
Founder & CEO
Sparkup
Panelist

Alon Alroy
Co-Founder & CMO
Bizzabo
Panelist
Get Started Fast with UI Kits
Agora's Video UI Kits are built on-top of the core SDKs. Video UI Kits give you high-level control over the inner workings of Agora's engine while maintaining full control and flexibility. Come learn how you can enhance your website or app, have video calls, or enable live streaming experiences using the video UI Kit.

Max Cobb
Developer Advocate
Agora
Speaker
Go Beyond with Extension Marketplace
Learn how you can easily add interactive features and tools to your iOS and Android app with the Agora Extensions Marketplace. Explore and integrate fun face filters, image background remover, conversation intelligence tools and much more.

Brad Mortensen
Partnerships
Agora
Speaker
Building the Backbone of the Metaverse
Agora’s metaverse solutions give you the building blocks to create branded virtual worlds at any scale, with a diverse toolset that works reliably across the globe and across any industry vertical such as gaming, enterprise, collaboration, education, and many more.

Rick Cheng
Sr. Developer Evangelist
Agora
Speaker
UX Design for Metaverse - Best Practices for Designing Virtual Experiences
Virtual reality lets you explore new worlds and share experiences in Metaverse. What are the things you should know when designing your VR experience? How do you design different input modalities like controller, hand-tracking, and voice input? This talk shares the best practices and building blocks for designing your immersive VR app.

Tiantian Xu
Product Designer
Meta
Speaker
Agora Developer AMA Hour
Showcase and demos of the new Agora 4.0 SDK, Video UIKits, Extension Marketplace, and Metaverse. These are not only huge upgrades to Audio and Video but also take you way beyond.

Tadas Petra
Developer Advocate
Agora
Moderator

Rick Cheng
Sr. Developer Evangelist
Agora
Panelist

Max Cobb
Developer Advocate
Agora
Panelist

Meherdeep Thakur
Developer Advocate
Agora
Panelist

Ekaansh Arora
Developer Advocate
Agora
Panelist

Dennis Ivanov
Developer Advocate
Agora
Panelist

Brad Mortensen
Partnerships
Agora
Panelist
From Content Creation to Social Engagement: The Intersection of Technology Platforms and Digital Economy
The internet has grown exponentially and cultivated a phenomenon for content creators and influencers to pave their path. For a boom to happen, a mix of niche brand identity, audience engagement, timing, algorithm, and great content are needed to go viral. Can it be sustainable without tech platforms, user engagement, and other unseen factors? There’s more than meets the eye to success.

Anne Lee Skates
Partner
Andreessen Horowitz
Moderator

Shiva Kumar Balakrishnan
LinkedIn Partnerships Lead - Live Events
Panelist

Matt Ao
Senior Engineering Manager
Spotify
Panelist

Arthur Wang
Co-Founder and CEO
Fud, Inc.
Panelist
Executive Fireside Chat: Scaling Digital Commerce Through Livestreaming
Shoppable videos across all segments, including retailers, D2C companies, brands, and media publishers have been on the rise with the aid of increasing engagement and conversion rates. Join Michael Zung from Coresight Research and Anand Vidyanand, Chief Customer and Commercial Officer, at Fireworks for a fireside chat on what it takes to build and run the world's leading video commerce platform.

Michael Zung
Sr. Consultant
Coresight Research
Moderator

Anand Vidyanand
Chief Customer and Commercial Officer, Firework
Firework
Panelist
Delivering Exceptional Care and Wellness Virtually
Mental health and physical wellness have become increasingly important, especially with the growing challenges we all face. New modes of social, community, and wellness support groups have sprung up to help give people a safe space to belong. Let's bring to light the efforts and solutions companies are providing as we adjust to a new normal.

Rui Ma
Owner
Tech Buzz China
Moderator

Caleth Jones
Founder & CEO
MŌN
Panelist

Aaron Albert
Co-Founder & CEO
Mine'd
Panelist

Bo Lopker
Co-Founder & Exective Director
Totem
Panelist

Pat Owens
Head of Engineering
GetSetUp
Panelist