The Imagine Cup is one way Microsoft is encouraging young people to apply their imagination, their passion and their creativity to technology innovations that can make a difference in the world – today. Now in its fifth year, the Imagine Cup has grown to be a truly global competition focused on finding solutions to real world issues. I’ve been assigned the very cool role to launch the Imagine Cup into Second Life, the virtual world.

Before you start nagging about Microsoft buying its way into Second Life: no we didn’t. One of the most precious things I’ve looked out for is that we didn’t hire a super deluxe building agency that would design everything custom from the plants you see to the chairs you sit on. Being part of this community for over a year now, I thought it would be very not-done to build just another island without contributing to the community. So every tree you see, every piece of furniture… we bought it all at in-world merchants and stores so we’d support them. For our launch event, I booked Natalie Moody, one of SL’s most precious live singers, for three performances.