Stephanie Riggs

Former Disney Imagineer and Refinery29/Vice Media Experiential Creative Director, Stephanie Riggs has bridged narrative, immersive, and interactive technology for over 25 years through ground-breaking projects across theatre, theme park, film, experiential, VR and AR, leading the VRAR Association to hail her as “truly the renaissance woman of the immersive era”. She is currently the CEO of Odeon Theatrical, a platform and creative studio integrating AR with live performance.

Stephanie’s collaborations have pushed the boundaries of technology and story across media companies such as Instagram and Google as well as start-ups, non-profits, and academia. Passionate about inspiring diverse, interdisciplinary teams, Stephanie frequently mentors and speaks around the world (TedX, SXSW, SIGGRAPH, Stereopsia, Media Tech Hub, BBC).

At Refinery29, she created and delivered multi-million dollar activations with clients such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, Amazon Fashion, Hulu, NBC, CBS, Reebok, Bonobos and Intuit. As a creative technologist, her XR accomplishments include setting world records, producing the first feature film in VR on the DK2, an invitation to film President Barack Obama in 360 VR, published research papers, and premieres around the world at festivals and conferences including Tribeca, SIGGRAPH, Stereopsia and Future of Storytelling. An international keynote speaker, she is the author of the acclaimed book “The End of Storytelling” (Chose as a Top 25 AR Books of All Time and Best Mixed Reality Books of All Time) and director and producer of award-winning films.

Co-Founder of the World Experience Organization, Women in Experience, 5th Wall Forum and Odeon Theatrical, she led research at Yale University’s Blended Reality Lab, Carnegie Mellon’s Entertainment Technology Center, and contributed to NYU’s Future Reality Lab and ITP programs. She earned simultaneous degrees from Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Drama (Directing) and School of Computer Science (Human-Computer Interaction), and is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and an Andrew Carnegie Society Scholar.

www.odeontheatrical.com
www.endofstorytelling.com
@immersiveriggs.com