A growing number of broadcasters, independent filmmakers, educators and AV integrators are using virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR) in innovative ways, such as for behind-the-scenes tours, storytelling for stand-alone segments or for improving learning in educational settings.

Yes, technology is powering this new entity. But keep in mind that the real engine propelling it all remains storytelling. These free sessions will tell you more.

You can get a glimpse of the power of immersive storytelling during the session “Story First: A Toolkit for Every Platform” on Wednesday from 11:20 a.m.–12 p.m. The head of the production firm ModernEpic will showcase the educational and health features it has created such as the vignette “The Boy Inside,” a profile of a young man with Tourette’s Syndrome, as well the use of virtual reality for creating music and experiencing extreme sporting events. The recipe that ModernEpic CEO Aaron Lewis will discuss combines modern storytelling insights with interdisciplinary production tools like animation and VR.

[Read: Tom Foreman: Tech Must Always Serve Storytelling]

Hold up — first of all, do you know the actual difference between virtual and augmented reality? In the session “Augmented Reality: The Basics, Case Studies and How the Market is Expanding” on Wednesday at 3 p.m., the CEO of custom AR development company BundlAR CEO and co-founder John Martin will take a deep dive into the mechanics of the growing augmented reality market and learn how video is being used to enhance user experiences.

Martin will talk about the ways that AR is already being used for real estate, for advertising, on trade show floors and for tours. He will also touch on real-world examples for industries like education, which can use AR for everything from campus tours to in-class educational enhancements.

The message on Thursday will be all about the messaging.

On Thursday, Nov. 29, a creator of digital interactive experiences explores how VR and AR are revolutionizing the ways in which consumers absorb information.

In the session “How Virtual and Augmented Reality Are Quickly Becoming the Most Effective Mediums of Communication” on Thursday at 1:40, the CEO of the technology company Brightline Interactive will look at the ways in which virtual and augmented reality are being used to effectively communicate and increase brand awareness with consumers. Erik Muendel, CEO and CCO of Brightline, will discuss the key differences between virtual and augmented reality and how government entities are taking advantage of these new tools.

[Read: Low-Cost VR/360 Headsets Are a Game-Changer, Director Says]

Immediately following Muendel’s keynote, a need-to know session titled “Welcome to the World of VR/360!” on Thursday at 2:20 will give GV Expo attendees an overview of the latest developments in VR. As director and VFX supervisor for the technology firm VArtisans, Mark Lambert has created 360 video and VR experiences on endangered species and for tourism sites by filming in a mix of monoscopic and stereo 360 video.

One of the firm’s more compelling projects is the VR Bus, a 360 video production that takes viewers on locations as diverse as a rickshaw ride in Asia to the base of the coliseum in Rome to the streets of Washington, D.C., to create a series of family-friend VR experiences. Riders hop on a modified tour bus, sit in specialized rumbling seats, and place on a VR headset to take a guided VR tour of famous cities and sites.

Lambert will also discuss the VR Zoo, a virtual exhibit that tells the stories of African elephants, cheetahs, sea lions and more at the Dubai Aquarium. Visitors enter custom pods, select animals on a touch screen and then watch a three-minute VR experience for each animal. Directed by Lambert, the project filmed 360 video on land and underwater in Uganda, Tanzania, Egypt, South Africa, Maldives and Australia.

The complete schedule for the 2018 GV Expo can be found here.

Now that headsets can be purchased for less than $200, virtual reality and 360 video will become much more accessible tools — both for consumers and for enterprises that wish to put high-tech dimensional video to work.

That’s according to director and VFX supervisor Mark Lambert of VArtisans, who cites the launch of Oculus Go as an important development. “It becomes much easier for traditional consumers or companies to buy a bunch of these,” he said. “You’re not setting up complicated pieces of hardware — $800 headsets and $2,000 computers — to watch 360 video. You can buy an all-in-one $200 headset and watch Discovery VR or 360 training content easily.”

Lambert has joined the featured speaker lineup of Government Video Expo, to be held Nov. 27–29 in Washington.

Despite ample news coverage, Lambert said, we are in the early days for formats that are coming to be known under the umbrella term “extended reality” or XR. Whatever you call it, enterprises are just starting to learn how to use the tools. “People are experimenting, finding out what works, using it in training, in medicine — things are being discovered every day. There’s some amazing research being done for pain distraction, for instance. That whole area of medicine is amazing and expanding for VR and 360 video.”

Lambert said that video creators are being challenged to learn new techniques. “There is no ‘behind the camera’ in 360,” he said. “It becomes a strange thing for everybody on set. You’re used to sitting behind the camera, having video villages all on one side of the camera and the subject on the other. That’s no longer the case.” Now, he said, you’re seeing everything, the whole world including cast, crew, lighting, sound, director.

He said the workflows required by 360 video differ from those around traditional video. For one thing, Lambert said, VR and 360 place new demands on a creator’s storage and hardware. “I’m from the day when everyone was starting to film in HD. Well, I’m posting 8K video right now, which is four times 4K and 16 times HD. The strains and the stress on the hardware, your storage needs, are massive.” He said his current system has 128 TB of content for current projects, with another 50 backed up.

“The whole VR medium itself needs the best, fastest, biggest hardware that’s available to accomplish.” It also requires newer approaches such as “proxy” workflows that are becoming more familiar to 4K producers as well.

Lambert will present “Welcome to the World of VR/360!,” which is part of the “Need to Know” session series at GV Expo on Nov. 28. He is founder of VArtisans, a Richmond, Va.-based company that brings together 360 video and VR artists, programmers and cinematographers exploring new ways of immersive storytelling through major projects, art and experimental pieces.

Having led the teams that created Harry Potter’s first Quidditch field and the visual development of “The Polar Express” at Sony Pictures, Lambert has been at the leading edge of visual effects technology. His team’s recent VR projects have taken them to 14 countries over 18 months. VR Bus and VR Balloon are major international, location-based entertainment projects in Dubai’s VRPark. The attractions take visitors to the streets of Rome, Paris, Tokyo, Washington, and the plains of Africa. The team’s VR Zoo undertaking involved the recording of 12 separate endangered species and development of a kiosk app to tell the conservation stories of these animals. The project filmed 360 video on land and underwater in Uganda, Tanzania, Egypt, South Africa, Maldives and Australia.

Lambert will give Government Video Expo attendees an overview of developments in the VR field, then share examples and “how he did it” stories from projects such as the VR Bus and VR Zoo; “A Letter Home,” a narrative 360 video for the PBS series “Mercy Street”; “The Killing Pits of Ponar,” an award-winning 360 film exploring a little-known story of the origins of the Nazi genocide, created with Lone Wolf Media and NOVA/PBS; and more. He also will discuss the potential for using 3D animation and VFX in 360 video.

Key Takeaways

Who?Mark Lambert, founder, director and VFX supervisor of VArtisans, will deliver a “Need to Know” session at the 2018 Government Video Expo

Why?Lambert will discuss the state of VR and 360 video and discuss how their workflows differ from those in traditional video.

Now What?Sign up to meet and learn from Lambert and other top speakers from “PBS NewsHour,” DC Visionaries, BundlAR, Creative Media Matters and more.

Lambert joins a speaker lineup at Government Video Expo that includes Judy Woodruff, anchor and managing editor of “PBS NewsHour”; Shane Yeager, CEO and Celene DiStasio, COO and creative director of DC Visionaries; John Martin, CEO of BundlAR; and Gail McCabe, executive director of CreativeMediaMatters.

Reserve your spot at the2018 Government Video Expo.

Terry Scutt contributed to this report.