{"id":19315,"date":"2026-06-05T09:14:58","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T07:14:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.laval-virtual.com\/xr-france-behind-the-scenes-of-a-growing-network\/"},"modified":"2026-06-05T09:24:39","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T07:24:39","slug":"xr-france-behind-the-scenes-of-a-growing-network","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.laval-virtual.com\/en\/xr-france-behind-the-scenes-of-a-growing-network\/","title":{"rendered":"XR France: Behind the Scenes of a Growing Network"},"content":{"rendered":"

They have no budget, no legal status, and yet they bring together hundreds of professionals, students and enthusiasts around a technology that is still struggling to find its place with the general public. Barbara Schiavi (Bordeaux XR), Thomas Boggini (Rennes XR) and Vincent Guigui (Paris XR) took the floor at a roundtable to explain how, over the course of a year or two, they turned a desire to share into something that looks, almost in spite of themselves, like a movement.<\/h4>\n\n

Communities born in bars<\/h2>\n\n

The story of each of these groups begins the same way: someone tired of being alone with their passion. Thomas Boggini recalls: “I wanted to share that with the people around me. We talked about the metaverse in a bar with a few people, and since they were just as enthusiastic, we said: let’s do it again.” Rennes XR was born. Two conferences a year, between 30 and 50 attendees, and one absolute rule: it’s free, and it always will be. Over three years, six meetups organised, 120 different participants, zero euros spent.<\/p>\n\n

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In Paris, Vincent Guigui relaunched a group that had existed before Covid and vanished with it. “People were so grateful. They said: finally, I’m not alone in caring about XR.” Today, Paris XR welcomes 50 people every month (the maximum the venue can hold) and evenings regularly stretch past 11pm.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>
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Bordeaux XR is the newest addition, launched in the wake of last year’s Laval Virtual, directly inspired by the Rennes and Paris model. “We wanted to see whether the momentum existed in Bordeaux too,” explains Barbara Schiavi. The answer was unambiguous: 40 people at the first event, and an unexpected success story (including a meeting between a student and an Inria research lab that turned into an internship).<\/p>\n\n