Augmented Reality Add on for Hybrid Events

I was looking at Esquire Magazine and it’s new augmented reality issue and started thinking about  the options for events and meeting.  Obviously it hits two of my mantras of educate, motivate.  Budget concerns aside lets talk about what augmented reality* is. It basically means to layer data like audio, graphics, and animation over live video.   So Esquire made its columns come alive.   This had never been done for a magazine before that I know of.  Since video cameras are in so many electronic devices — including the webcams in computers it is a perfect was to enhance a story with live action.

So Esquires newest issue with Robert Downey on the cover has a big Bar code type box on the front(see above pic)  You just need to tilt the magazine toward your webcam, and the already walking, talking Downey climbs on top of it to sing you a little song, He moves all around as you move the magazine and you get an introduction to the issue (plus a trailer for Sherlock Holmes)

So pretty cool right?  Think of the applications for combining event collateral with the web, promoting events with speakers, executives branding the events and getting the content conversation started well before the conference starts.  Talk about opportunities to educate and engage your audience, attendees or employees.   Also the options for conference sponsors to get more eyeballs is another bonus.

As I write this it boggles the mind the options with the addition of GPS and mobile phones so powerful and always in attendees hands.  Services are emerging that blend social networking and location awareness communities like Foursquare, Google Latitude ,Gowalla Keeping track of attendees if they opt in of course to a conference community with all sorts of options.

Okay, I have to stop now because my head is going to explode.

What are some things you can think of as good ways of using augmented reality, mixed reality, hybrid, virtual to enhance the experience of a event or meeting.

*Tom Caudell came up with this term in 1992 while working for Boeing, where factory workers used AR to sort parts.