 Welcome to the wide world of eSports, a show devoted to all things eSports. I'm your host, Catherine Noor. Today, my guest is Leilani Perinas, the Executive Director of TRU. Our topic is TRU eSports, Creating Pathways to Accelerate Technology. Welcome, Leilani. Hi, thank you for having me. Okay, so tell us about TRU. Well, TRU is a nonprofit organization. It was started underneath the Hawaii Executive Collaborative as an umbrella program. It was started in 2019 as a response to looking at statewide and the needs. And there was a need to really look at our economy and looking at ways to diversify and sustain our economy. And so through that, one of the opportunities that was identified with TRU technology and as a result, TRU, which stands for technology readiness user evaluation, was launched as a nonprofit. And the sole mission of TRU is, and it's a broad mission, is to accelerate the adoption of technology in Hawaii. And so that's a little bit of a true. You started at a really interesting time in technology. In 2019, you had no idea that the following year that everyone would get on Zoom and our lives and our relationships with technology would change quite a bit. How did that impact this startup of this nonprofit? I actually have to give props to, there's a previous executive director before me. Her name is Michelle Chung. You might have known her. So most of the work and putting into action really what it means to accelerate technology, a lot of that occurred through webinars. And I know she did multiple webinars every month. And actually, it was great timing for that because everyone got used to Zoom. This was early on in the pandemic and webinars were very, very popular at the time. And we go through phases during the pandemic. And you can see on the early stages in terms of connecting people and really pushing content out, webinars were very popular. So I would say, at least within the first year and a half of TRU, a lot of the information that we shared was through webinars. And so we worked with various, you know, tech companies, organizations here in Hawaii to really share their journeys, demos, workshops through webinars. You know, I can really relate to that because when during the early stages of the pandemic as an attorney, I would end up doing all of these continuing education credits on webinars. And I would do it one an hour almost every morning because I, you know, had less to do. So I would bet that that would be that was fairly common for people to do to engage that way when they never had before. Absolutely. And, you know, just taking a few steps back on, you know, how it is that we're going to accelerate technology here in Hawaii. It's usually through sharing of use cases. And so, you know, we realize if an organization hasn't already tech enabled, then it's going to be really important for us to share use cases and examples of companies here in Hawaii that have tech enabled and sharing why is, you know, the why and the benefits of technology. So whether it be to improve business operations to, you know, know the consumer better through data analytics to create, you know, higher value job opportunities for people. So instead of doing things very manually, there are opportunities to automate certain tasks. Those are the things that we're highlighting to the various organizations here in Hawaii. And the reason we're doing that is because there's a lot of focus on workforce development and upscaling and training people, which is one aspect and we're in that space as well. But what we want to make sure is when people learn these tech skills, we want them to be able to have a job to go to. And so part of that is working with companies here in Hawaii and making sure that they can create the demand for that as well. So going back to that diverse and sustainable economy, we want to make sure that we're creating those types of jobs that our skilled workforce can go into. Have you encountered barriers to doing this in terms of like pushback from businesses at all? If anything, it's probably the perception that currently exists about technology. So, you know, for example, prior to the pandemic, you never would have thought that working remotely was a possibility. And now we see that it's entirely possible. You can absolutely collaborate and you could probably be even more productive. In fact, more productive. It's crazier working remotely because you actually have no excuse about, you know, scheduling in a meeting. You can meet from anywhere. So in reality, you can actually be more productive. So those are one of the that's a key barrier is actually a misperception that that it's hard to tech enable and it's not. Zoom is an example. A lot of the tech solutions are available as subscriptions as a service. So what you're doing is you're paying a monthly fee and you're able to try the technology. You're not committed. You're not it's not an enterprise level solution, necessarily. You can actually sample a lot of the products that are in the marketplace these days and see if it works for you. So that's kind of one of the major barriers, I would say, is initially going in. You think that it's a big investment, but not necessarily. You can actually try, you know, very basic things to try and test out to see how some of your business operations could be improved. And I think that that's one of the main things that I that I go out with is that you're not really dealing with, you know, creating something from scratch anymore. The good news is there's been 1020 years of development and a lot of the products out there right now have been as a result of the previous companies before us that have tried these products and developed over and over. And so now, you know, Hawaii has the opportunity to actually tech enable and adopt at a time when it's easy and easier than than on previous occasions and, you know, cost efficient as well. Sure. So how is true promoting e-sports in Hawaii? So actually, when I joined Truce, I joined in January. One of the things that was given communicated to me from our leadership and our leadership is really a committee of public and private companies coming together. And so the brief was that we'd like to put gaming in the library. The library was a fantastic platform because we're talking about equitable access and, you know, a facility that's available to the public free of charge. And so when I was looking at this project and developing it, gaming, it became clear is going to be the pathway that we tech enable our youth and as well as adults. So gaming is an entertaining medium that is familiar to many people that we can start to introduce, you know, tech skills. So on two fronts, we're looking at developing our own community here and our youth to be competitive gamers, you know, in that world. And secondly, also developing skill sets so that we can create talent that can go ahead and work in gaming companies, but even broader than that. Have the tech skills be introduced to, you know, something in tech and taking that skill set and showing them, you know, showing the community that the application is not only in gaming every single industry that's out there. Have you had any pushback from parents or from people who felt that gaming wasn't something that kids should be doing. That was definitely something that we focused on. When we launched the true e-sports and tech lab in the Waipahu Public Library, that actually was a perfect platform because parents are bringing their kids. We knew we had a big job of making sure and communicating to parents that gaming truly is a fantastic opportunity. And that the way that we were delivering it in the library was not necessarily free gaming for all. I mean, it's free gaming. It's available to the public, but attached to that is an adjacent to that is also free content that allows youth and adults alike to do software game development. Very foundational and, you know, people can see whether they have the aptitude or not. But in many, in many cases, this is probably their first introduction into software development. So we knew we had a big education around that and we wanted to make sure that there was safety around this experience. And that's why we partnered with the Hawaii e-sports alliance. We partnered with UH e-sports, which is super competitive in gaming, as well as HPU. So those are the key main partners that we had and stakeholders. And then around that we had a LLO partner with us as well and EMP live. So it was a beautiful partnership that we had when we were exploring all of this. And at the end of it all we wanted to make sure and let the community know that this is a safe space. And so where and when was this event for people who don't know about it. We actually have the event on July 14 in the Waipahu public library. And, you know, thanks to our leadership, we were able to have Governor Eday present to help launch it. We also had a scrimmage between mixed teams comprising of HPU and UH and the e-sports community. In sight, we were able to demonstrate to parents and people who attended that it was a legit business that e-sports is a huge industry. And on a very micro level, we were able to showcase what an e-sports game, you know, match looks like between the two teams. And the game that they played was League of Legends, which is, of course, you know, one of the more popular competitive games that are out there. And so we wanted to show the community what it looks like and how legitimate it really is. It's just like an athletic live sporting event, but on a very micro level, the way we did it in the library. And so I happened to be there and I happened to take those pictures. And so Team Amber and Team Lilac, those were mixed teams, is that right? They were mixed teams, comprising of UH and HPU players as well as friends, you know, of those schools in the gaming community. Do you recall who won? I think it was Team Amber. It was Team Amber. And the wonderful thing about it is, is we saw female representation. So there were actually two female players on Team Amber, if I remember, and one on Team Lilac, which is, you know, we, in terms of tech, you know, we're always looking for female representation. And it was a wonderful showing of that. You know, what I thought was impressive was that there were officials like Governor Ige and the head of the Hawaii State Library system and there were some other kind of local dignitaries who spoke. Tell us about about that, like who, who was there and who kind of raised the bar for this event. So, I would be remiss because, you know, two of our steering committee members, I'm part of the advisory board of true. And Kelly is our Paul Yonamine, who's the executive chairman of Central Pacific Bank, but he's also the chairman of true and Kelly Ueoka, who's president of PACSA. Both of these executives really champion this project. On the business side of things, Paul, well, both Paul and Kelly see the huge opportunity and gaming and what it could represent for Hawaii. Geographically speaking, Hawaii is in a fantastic location where in the middle between the mainland and Asia, which is where a lot of the, you know, activity isn't occurring in terms of eSports. ESports is representing almost $300 billion in revenue as we approach 2025. So that's a huge opportunity for us. We wanted to attract, you know, key business leaders, key decision makers here in Hawaii to let them know that it is a legitimate industry. And the second thing, of course, is Kelly Ueoka is a gamer at heart. And so actually it was his idea to do a scrimmage on site. And I was merely executing on that idea. So, his input was absolutely instrumental and getting that concept on board. To the project, he really brought his expertise and, you know, years of gaming experience and also as a leader in the community and bringing this alive at the launch event. And you know what was surprising to me is that Governor Ege, he mentioned his gaming past and, you know, you find out that these people that are in very serious government positions, maybe prior gamers or actually gamers now. I thought I thought that was kind of interesting. This proves the point that gaming is absolutely one of those things where it's an entertaining medium, it's non-threatening, it's familiar to all. And these days, it's a much more popular medium than traditional media, than movies even. So, if we can take that and utilize it as an opportunity to push out the fact that there's actually learning opportunities and opportunities to actually build skill sets around it. It will not only necessarily apply to gaming, but potentially later on in your career, you could be a governor if you wanted to. So, or in other instances, you could become president of a company like PAXA, which is Kelly, as a true example of that. And that's actually, he spoke about it a little bit. That is how he ended up in his role and career choice is his background in gaming and his interest in technology at an early age. Sure. And what is going on with the library system? Are they going to be having gaming technology in other libraries besides Waipahu? Well, Stacy Aldrich, who's the state librarian, was also already on the path to digital adoption in terms of the libraries and moving it towards the 21st century. So, it's an information center. So, books is the traditional of delivering that information, but now we know that there are other ways of sharing information with the community and it's moving in the digital space. So, this was perfect as a pilot to try in the Waipahu Public Library. A lot of focus right now to make sure that we're learning and iterating and making sure that we're delivering and improving the experience. And for the most part for me, the focus is driving users in that Waipahu library. However, like in looking at and talking to Stacy, a lot of things are happening in the other library branches. I know she's doing a lot of digital literacy opportunities and other branches. So, I think in terms of gaming, it's with this one branch, but you never know, it could lodge into other branches and other places as well. So, when we talk about eSports and gaming in Hawaii, we can't talk about it without talking about latency or ping. How does that impact the ability for Hawaii to grow in eSports? I think the good thing is I have two good use cases for you on that. That actually supports the fact that we can and it is entirely possible. We actually took the page out of the UH eSports program. So, Dr. Stai Kaveloa, who is the director of UH eSports, he was a key stakeholder and advisor to this project. But we learned from him that in 2021, the Overwatch League actually played their global championship tournament over at the UH iLab. And, you know, when you're bringing teams from Asia, which is what it was, teams from Korea, Japan, China, over to Hawaii, and also some were playing in country, in Asia, and then also teams coming from North America here in Hawaii and converging. You know, there were tests happening for latency, and it was proven that, you know, we absolutely hit the, we're able to, you know, fall within the threshold and the requirement for doing something like that on a global level. And so much so that in 2022, it happened again last month, I believe. So the same thing happened. So that's, those are two use cases already that actually that's what we're building on is we're saying, you know what, we can actually attract a global tournament here in Hawaii and more. So hopefully from a business side of things and building out the industry in terms of live events, hopefully we, you know, that could be a future for us here in the state of Hawaii. Now, UH West Oahu has an amazing new eSports facility. Are you working with them at all to use their facility? I have met with so many people and I have been, this is all my list to do is make my way around to West Oahu, UH, and with that team. And now we've made the introductions with the UH eSports team over in Manoa, so it'll just go from there. Sure. So what do you think the future of eSports is in Hawaii? I think that there's a lot of potential. I think the first opportunity of course would be, you know, looking at it, I think, I think that the critical mass will occur when it's recognized as a competitive sport and from a high school level. So there's a lot of opportunity there to, you know, the DOE and the Hawaii High School Athletic Association. I think there's a lot of work because in terms of building that framework and having it organized, I think that will, that will help and build critical mass here in Hawaii. And, you know, having it feed into UH eSports and HPU both organizing schools who are already very competitive and will continue to be competitive and hopefully shortly be able to offer scholarships. I think the opportunity is there. The potential is great. It's very bright. And I think it's just something that, you know, our youth here are just so keen on, I think, I think more than half of the youth today are playing games. And so I think the opportunity is there and it's very bright. Sure. And is true working on any other youth sports initiatives right now? Just, we're just being the sort of the advocate for it all. I think if we can get Waipahu Public Library, you know, promoted and getting the community in there on a regular basis. So at the moment I'm really focusing on building it out on the weekends as an opportunity for parents and their kids to come in together and play. I think if we can make that as a successful youth case and a successful template, then I think it will, it will just grow from there. I think what we need to be is a great example and a good demonstration and I think people will start to see, you know, what the opportunities are. So I've had over 100 shows of the wide world of esports and I've interviewed people from all over the world. And one person that I interviewed was Heather Blair, who is involved with Cinema Esports Association. And one thing that I think that Hawaii would benefit from is using some of these movie theaters that are not really that kind of closed down with COVID for, you know, for gaming or esports. Have you considered that possibility? No, but I would love to hear more. We continue to build and iterate on what we've established. So, you know, some of the things we're thinking about would be, as an example is build your own computer, build your own gaming unit. So, for example, I don't think a lot of the youth know what it takes and how easy it is to do that. So that's one of the demos that we're working on. We'd love to have speakers come through. People with Hawaii ties that now have careers in gaming, whether it be at Blizzard or any one of the big gaming companies out there, we'd love to have them come and speak. So there's just such a wide ability to build on the programming that we have in the Waipahu Library including this application that you just mentioned. So I'd love to talk to you about it offline, but that sounds super interesting. Sure. Yeah, because, you know, it's such an interesting thing because like Senator Wakai was an early guest of mine and I should have him on again because it has been a few years. And, you know, we are trying to grow technology in Hawaii and eSports and gaming is definitely one way to do it. And are you talking to anyone about the use of Aloha Stadium, like the future Aloha Stadium in terms of technology and your initiatives? So I'm not speaking directly, but we are working with Senator Wakai. I mean, I think one of the key things that we wanted to show as an example was that micro live event we had in Waipahu Library and in attendance where some of the people associated with Aloha Stadium and potentially developing the facility out to accommodate for eSports. And so I just wanted to make sure that we could show it as an example and as a small demo to see how it comes to life. And I think by doing those things, little by little we can advocate and get people really seeing how big of an opportunity it is. But we are definitely working with Senator Wakai. So one of the recurring themes of this show is the eSports ecosystem and in that jobs in eSports and gaming are so widespread in every industry. And so, have you worked with like Hawaii Tourism Authority or any kind of jobs kind of organization to address this issue regarding the expansion of Hawaii's ecosystem to include gaming and eSports jobs? I think this project can hopefully attract more of that. I certainly am a big proponent of that. You know, true is in a place where we're trying to tech enable all of Hawaii. I'd love to focus on that. I haven't been the point person to necessarily talk to the HTA about that, although I'd love to support Senator Wakai and anybody else that may need that help. But one of the things that we are doing is the learning curriculum that is available on the gaming units in the Waipahu Library is called Game Dev HQ. It's foundational software development and the use case there is, there have been three or four individuals here in Hawaii who have gone through this program successfully because it was offered during the pandemic through, I think it was called Aloha Connects was the program, but three or four individuals that worked in hospitality as servers, as waitresses, they're now gameware software developers, game software developers, and they're working remotely. So I spoke to two of them and they're working for international companies, and they're still able to live in Hawaii and earn obviously way above the wage that they were earning hourly as a bartender. So that's an example there, but the CEO of Game Dev HQ, his name is Jonathan Weinberger. We're working together to figure out how we can scale this because it absolutely is an opportunity and part of that program is there is, you know, opportunity and resource replacement within gaming companies. So, you know, I think the more immediate when is you can get a company where you can get a job working remotely, but I think that will just be the start of attracting the gaming industry here and gaming companies because we do know that a lot of those executives spend a lot of time in Hawaii, which is the case with every single one of those tech companies whether it be Oracle or Facebook or whatever. And the same is true for all the gaming CEOs that you may or may not necessarily know, but they spend a lot of time here in Hawaii, and part of it too is making sure that we're making sure that we're visible and that they're investing as well. That's fantastic. And I'm a member of the eSports Trade Association and the eSports Bar Association I actually don't know of any other Hawaii members, but there are a lot of terrific organizations that are people in our state can, you know, do and coordinate with. But anyway, our time is up. And thank you, Leilani. I really appreciate you being a guest today. Thanks, Katherine. All right, so thank you to our viewers. And in two weeks time, my guest will be Adam Dynarski to discuss eSports leagues and more. See you then. If you like what we do, please like us and click the subscribe button on YouTube and the follow button on Vimeo. You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn, and donate to us at thinktecawaii.com. Mahalo.