In the Spring of 2022, LEO Events hired XiteLabs to create content for Walmart’s Annual Shareholders Conference and Associate Celebration Show. Taking place in Walmart’s Arena, the hybrid event brought together an audience of 14,000 Walmart associates and shareholders while millions watched the live broadcast remotely. The conference celebrated Walmart’s continued growth and company spirit with all the power of Xite’s hybrid event workflows.

Xite was tasked with creating content to accompany Walmart President and CEO Doug McMillon’s keystone presentation, and built an immersive world to accompany the ‘movie magic’ theme of the presentation. The creative team designed a life-size, mixed-reality movie theatre which incorporated finishing touches such as photos of the founding Walton family and Walmart’s signature branding.

Shareholders Conference Incorporates Augmented Reality

Xite created a palette of specific AR elements for the live broadcast portion of the conference. Some of these included props that lived or floated above the stage and a virtual theater marquee that protruded over the stage. These items provided an immersive experience for those in the audience via large screens showing the AR magic, and at-home viewers who saw the full magic of Xite’s hybrid AR show. In addition, to start building on McMillon’s vision, the broadcast used augmented reality to display clips of his favorite movies, enhancing the narrative of the show. 

Highlights:

• A “Back to the Future” DeLorean rises from the stage and shoots out to orbit an enormous AR globe floating over the audience.
• Augmented reality charts materialize onstage next to Doug as he speaks on the continued growth Walmart has seen over the past few years.
• An AR drone launches from a tower, flies over the audience and delivers a package in a vibrant illustration of Walmart’s new drone delivery capabilities.
• A triumphant ending – stars appeared over the heads of associates receiving awards and recognition for their service. Their names were displayed across the movie theatre marquee. Furthermore, this brought to life the idea that McMillon sees his associates as bright shining stars worthy of being celebrated, much like celebrities, for their hard work and incredible spirit in Walmart’s movie. 

Technologies Employed

• Custom real-time rendering (8 UHD synced outputs) displayed on the massive 15,000 pixel-wide LED screen and floor using Unreal Engine.
• Additional augmented reality elements rendered live with StypeLand, for the thousands in the arena and millions of people watching worldwide.
  Red Spy was utilized for AR tracking while Blender was used to create 3D models.