topia

Community is on the rise. It was just a few episodes ago that I spoke with Anamaria Dorgo about facilitating communities, but in this episode I’m looking further into the future.

What do communities look like in the metaverse? Can we connect in digital spaces? What needs to change or emerge for us to find community in virtual or augmented reality?

Daniel Liebeskind is just the person to address this question, as the co-founder and CEO of Topia. In such a nascent industry, Daniel is as experienced as anybody. Topia launched in 2020 and is at the forefront of world-building and virtual communities.

Join us for a conversation that touches everything from facilitation and design to NFTs and decentralisation.

Find out about:

• Why every community builder is a facilitator, even if they don’t realise it
• How prioritising accessibility helps us build stronger communities
• How Topia combines play, co-creation, and purpose to create communities in the metaverse
• Why your members need to bond with your platform as well as each other
• Why the best virtual worlds prioritise form and function ahead of visual beauty
• What tutorials and onboarding look like in a metaverse space - and why they’re so important

Don’t miss the next episode: subscribe to the show with your favourite podcast player.

And download the free 1-page summary, so you can always have the key points of this episode to hand.

Questions and Answers

Part two 
[01:13] What's the perfect size for a space? Is there such a thing?
[04:28] What are the tech obstacles - especially around bandwidth - to platforms like Topia
[07:31] How far away do you think we are from your initial vision of virtual reality worlds
[11:13] How do you handle issues of overwhelm - as the builder of the tool and a user, too
[15:21] Can non-visual thinkers build worlds, too? 
[23:12] Would a world without constraints be a world that fails? 
[29:09] Do you have a favourite exercise on Topia? 
[31:29] Where do you see the opportunity with NFTs within online community building?

Links

Topia’s website

Connect to Daniel:

On LinkedIn

On Twitter

Check out the podcast map to see the overview of all podcast episodes: https://workshops.work/podcast-map

Community is on the rise. It was just a few episodes ago that I spoke with Anamaria Dorgo about facilitating communities, but in this episode I’m looking further into the future.

What do communities look like in the metaverse? Can we connect in digital spaces? What needs to change or emerge for us to find community in virtual or augmented reality?

Daniel Liebeskind is just the person to address this question, as the co-founder and CEO of Topia. In such a nascent industry, Daniel is as experienced as anybody. Topia launched in 2020 and is at the forefront of world-building and virtual communities.

Join us for a conversation that touches everything from facilitation and design to NFTs and decentralisation.

Find out about:

• Why every community builder is a facilitator, even if they don’t realise it
• How prioritising accessibility helps us build stronger communities
• How Topia combines play, co-creation, and purpose to create communities in the metaverse
• Why your members need to bond with your platform as well as each other
• Why the best virtual worlds prioritise form and function ahead of visual beauty
• What tutorials and onboarding look like in a metaverse space - and why they’re so important

Don’t miss the next episode: subscribe to the show with your favourite podcast player.

And download the free 1-page summary, so you can always have the key points of this episode to hand.

Questions and Answers

Part one
[01:20] When did you start calling yourself a facilitator - if you do? 
[02:05] What was the trigger that moved you to found Topia? 
[04:17] Did you learn anything from your family taking over summer camps that applies to your work now? 
[06:36] What challenges did you encounter when trying to create communities - or facilitate the creation of communities - online? 
[13:27] Can the space you've created facilitate itself, so new members don't get lost in the world you've built? 
[19:59] Would you agree that online communities that emerged since 2020 have been very centralised in terms of power? 
[23:00] How do you create a social contract- shared rules and behaviours - for communities? [24:48] Do you have any best or worst practice examples? 
[27:37] What have you built into the tool to facilitate the sense of occupying a world together? 
[32:40] What would you say are the minimum requirements for somebody to facilitate in a Topia space? Where should they start?

Links

Topia’s website

Connect to Daniel:

On LinkedIn

On Twitter

Check out the podcast map to see the overview of all podcast episodes: https://workshops.work/podcast-map

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Welcome to WeAreLATech's Los Angeles Tech Community Spotlight!   

“Daniel Liebeskind of Topia”

WeAreLATech Podcast is a WeAreTech.fm production.

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Host,

Espree Devora

https://twitter.com/espreedevora

https://www.linkedin.com/in/espree

Guest,

Daniel Liebeskind

https://www.linkedin.com/in/dliebeskind/

Listener Spotlight,

Dave Whelan

https://twitter.com/djwhelan

For a calendar of all LA Startup events go to, http://WeAreLATech.com

To further immerse yourself into the LA Tech community go to http://wearelatech.com/vip

Links Mentioned:

• Topia, https://topia.io
• Burning Man, https://www.laburningman.com
• RedBull, https://www.redbull.com/us-en/
• Slack, https://slack.com
• Seven Seven Six, https://sevensevensix.com
• Twitch, https://www.twitch.tv
• Zoom, https://zoom.us
• Great White, https://greatwhitevenice.com
• Bonfire Ventures, https://www.bonfirevc.com
• Product Hunt, https://www.producthunt.com

People Mentioned:

• Katelin Holloway, https://www.linkedin.com/in/katelinholloway/
• Alexis Ohanian, https://twitter.com/alexisohanian
• Brian Swichkow, https://www.linkedin.com/in/swichkow/
• Danny Miranda, https://dannymiranda.com

Credits:

• Produced and Hosted by Espree Devora, http://espreedevora.com
• Story Produced, Edited and Mastered by Cory Jennings, https://www.coryjennings.com/
• Production and Voiceover by Adam Carroll, http://www.ariacreative.ca/
• Team support by Janice Geronimo
• Music by Jay Huffman, https://soundcloud.com/jayhuffman

Short Title: Daniel Liebeskind

In this episode, Gabe talks with Maya Zuckerman, a regenerative entrepreneur, transmedia producer, story architect and author, and culture hacker. They discuss the regenerative narrative and how you can support the movement, Em’s Theory, a sci-fi/fantasy series that Maya is currently writing, and finally, the concept of “Topia” and what it means for us.

Follow The Artful Podcast for personal and professional development strategies.