OSFest is a celebration of the Hypergrid community on grids running OpenSimulator software or any of its derivatives. Come experience the chemistry of community with our Jazz Blues Era theme this year! It's exciting we only have a month until opening performances! There are some changes and answers to questions we need to share:
1) If you had a local avatar at OSFest 2022, you can use it this year too. You can also use your home grid av via the Hypergrid. The regions are the same "chemistry of community" names and are in the same places as last year - but the content and parcel layout within the regions is new! The grid URI is the same as last year in your grid manager as OSFest 2022 or put this in your world map to HG in http://grid.opensimfest.com:8022:hg-welcome
2) New This Year: Parcels will be rentable to individual avatars this year instead of dedicated parcel groups we used last year. Other grid-based groups will continue to be used for staff, community, and performers. Anyone who gets a parcel can create their own groups for their parcel so others can help build within their parcel. If you need help with parcel settings or permissions, contact an Estate Manager. Permission experiments continue!
3) New This Year: Each parcel has a flat ground prim that tells you what type of parcel it is and there are walkway/road prims for easy walking around. Here is where you find the parcels in different layouts and types surrounded by water:
a) For Themed Exhibits, small parcels are found in Oxygen, Fluorine, and Quantium regions. All large, themed exhibit parcels are found in the Quantium region.
b) For Merchant stores, small parcels are found in the Sulfur and Chlorine regions. All large merchant store parcels are found in the Chlorine region.
c) For Sponsors, check your email for more information about your parcels!
NOTE: Grid build work is ongoing. If you land in the water when arriving in a region, go to About Land, Options tab, then use the teleport button to the landing point.
4) New This Year: If you reserved a spot via ticket registration (it’s how we keep track), please login or arrive via HG to get your parcel. Each has a table you can optionally use for freebies, LM givers, etc, and the sign near it shows instructions to get your parcel. In a nutshell this is how it works:
A newly scripted prim, along with a mesh table, has been placed in each parcel set aside for sponsors, exhibitors, and merchants.
a) You can choose your parcel from any based on what you reserved or your sponsor level. Find a parcel you want (in the above regions) with a sign that indicates it is available from Grid Builder and touch it.
b) Once you see your name as owner on that sign, step into the parcel if not already there, then select About Land in the viewer. As the sign instructs, edit the parcel name and description you want for your parcel, click ok, then touch the sign again. It will display that information on the sign for your visitors to see (like a plaque seen at museum or show exhibits and stores that provides information). Verify you can build in your parcel then get started! Contact an estate manager if you need help!
c) New This Year: For sponsors, exhibitors, and merchants, each can also have an Event Table Parcel in one of the Event Regions. These surround the stages and are accessible to visitors. Once you get your sponsor, exhibit, or merchant parcel, go to Event1, Event2, Event3, or Event4 regions to get one Event Table Parcel where you can share info, freebies, and TP prims to your sponsor, exhibitor, or merchant parcel. On days when users are attending performances, they can visit event tables, so this is your marketing tool - like every offline outdoor event has around their stages.
5) IMA Parcel Visitor Boards will again be available free to participants. These show who visits, how often they visit, and how long they dwell. Owners can get a notecard of visitors to follow up. These can be configured to only scan the parcel unlike traditional visitor boards used for region scanning.
6) Simulcasting: Any stream set by a performer or staff, in any event region's stage monitor prim, is simulcast to all four event regions and the landing areas of Welcome, HG-Welcome, Oxygen, Sulfur, Fluorine, Chlorine, Quantium, and Unobtanium regions automatically via the prims in those regions. These must stay in place but may be moved within the landing areas as grid build work continues. This way, avatars walking around in other regions during performance times can hear the stream.
7) Teleporting: A general region teleport destination object donated last year is in place in all 18 OSFest regions to assist users with the map to get around. This also may be moved as grid build work continues. Beacons to assist HG avatars will be added soon via the OSFest OpenSimWorld account.
8) Coming Soon: A TP board system and a LM giver for parcels will be added as participants provide us with LMs and landing points for their parcels. We also would like to have images of the exhibits and stores for the participants page on the website. A popup shop of avatar freebies can be found in Welcome and HG-Welcome regions. More freebies can be found in the VIP region.
9) Performers:
a) Ruth/Roth avatar items are behind Stage 4 in the Event4 region.
b) Music instruments and equipment etc are behind Stage 2 in the Event2 region.
c) Venue GB and PP tip jars in the regions are copiable if you need your own tip jars – please leave the venue tip jars in place.
d) Set stream prims, usable only by performers and staff, are the stage monitor prims at the front of each stage. Please do not move them so everyone knows where they are.
e) You can move the checkered stage floors and DJ Booths out of the way when you setup your stage props etc before your session starts. You can optionally prebuild in the region corner areas outside where the event table parcels are. Please move anything you do move before your session, back to the stages at the end of your session.
f) Stage rotations will be added to the sheet soon.
g) Please contact Rosa or an Estate Manager to be added to the performers group if you were not performing last year (or if using a different avatar from another grid). Then login, or HG in, to be certain you can use the stage monitors to set your stream.
10) R&R for Everyone: Please remember to take breaks and have fun as you build, create, and participate in OSFest! For those who like games, we've placed Greedy Zilch by Seth in Welcome, HG-Welcome, Event1, Event2, Event3, and Event4 regions. For those wanting to relax, meditate, do yoga, or engage in Tai Chi, these activity parcels are all available in the Zen region.
11) New This Year: We will conduct scheduled tours of parcels on Mondays and Wednesdays when there are no performances during OSFest to be sure each one gets visited. Participants should plan to be in their parcels if possible. For those needing meeting or presentation space, these are in the VIP region. Anyone who wants to add their own events, (demos, presentations, sales, parties, tours, etc happening on their parcels), to the schedule please get in touch. Merchants held joint sales events last year which accounted for half the traffic in the second week! OSFest 2023 Schedule is at https://www.opensimfest.com/schedule/osfest-2023
12) New This Year: We encourage co-promotion of events happening around the HG during OSFest from September 15-30, 2023. We have time slots open before and after our scheduled events that we are happy to promote in exchange for co-promotion of OSFest. Contact Rosa Alekseev or Shelenn Ayres to get a slot.
Go forth, explore, create, and build! Tell your friends after you've gotten your own parcel. They too can have their own parcel even if they did not pre-register to reserve a spot. We added more space this year so let's make it bigger and better together. Welcome to OSFest 2023!