April 27thMoving Corporate Events into Virtual Reality
Christopher Kenton
In the shadow of the tremendous media hype over SecondLife–the popular virtual world where users can escape to a life of their own design–many businesses have been trying to figure out how this might impact real world commerce. A number of real world companies have jumped on the bandwagon by launching their brands in virtual worlds like SecondLife, and there have even been some real world products launched there. But while virtual worlds like SecondLife are fascinating, fun, and a tantalizing taste of how we might interact across time and space in the future without constantly moving human biological mass around the globe, they present a number of challenges for conducting real world business. There is a learning curve for navigating SecondLife, for example–you have to create an avatar, learn how navigate, and find your way through a universe of shiny distractions. And many of those distractions are, well, a little shocking for neophytes. Imagine holding your next business meeting in a conference room overlooking a raunchy red-light district where people are walking around in animal costumes.
A few companies are addressing these opportunities and challenges by launching virtual business worlds. It started with Webinars and Web conferences, which morphed into virtual events, and now virtual conference centers where businesses can conduct online virtual face-to-face meetings and events, without the learning curve or dubious distractions that come with the entertainment variety of virtual worlds. One of these companies, Unisfair, has just launched an enterprise class virtual event solution that allows businesses to create their own virtual worlds, where they can host both real-time and on-demand events. Another competitor in this growing space, InXPo, hosts their own virtual events for media companies, corporations and associations.
The advantages of virtual conferences for users is the ability to engage in an immersive environment with experts and peers, without the inconvenice or cost of travel. For event hosts, there is a significant reduction in the cost of the event, while at the same time increasing the potential engagement of the event by extending the availability of conference materials for much longer than the typical 3-day event. There’s little to suggest that virtual events will replace real events any time soon, but as an augmentation of existing events, an addition to bridge the time between events, or a new event for companies that currently don’t have the means to launch a real world event, these solutions hold tremendous promise.
So far, these business virtual worlds are largely mirror replications of the typical conference environment, with exhibit halls and booths, and screaming graphics and banners. Maybe with a little freedom and imagination they can reinvent the event experience online, and point the way to a better real-world experience as well. Having just navigated the gauntlet of the AdTech exhibit hall, I’d be happy to see some new ideas for staging real events.
In the shadow of the tremendous media hype over SecondLife–the popular virtual world where users can escape to a life of their own design–many businesses have been trying to figure out how this might impact real world commerce. A number of real world companies have jumped on the bandwagon by launching their brands in virtual worlds like SecondLife, and there have even been some real world products launched there. But while virtual worlds like SecondLife are fascinating, fun, and a tantalizing taste of how we might interact across time and space in the future without constantly moving human biological mass around the globe, they present a number of challenges for conducting real world business. There is a learning curve for navigating SecondLife, for example–you have to create an avatar, learn how navigate, and find your way through a universe of shiny distractions. And many of those distractions are, well, a little shocking for neophytes. Imagine holding your next business meeting in a conference room overlooking a raunchy red-light district where people are walking around in animal costumes.
A few companies are addressing these opportunities and challenges by launching virtual business worlds. It started with Webinars and Web conferences, which morphed into virtual events, and now virtual conference centers where businesses can conduct online virtual face-to-face meetings and events, without the learning curve or dubious distractions that come with the entertainment variety of virtual worlds. One of these companies, Unisfair, has just launched an enterprise class virtual event solution that allows businesses to create their own virtual worlds, where they can host both real-time and on-demand events. Another competitor in this growing space, InXPo, hosts their own virtual events for media companies, corporations and associations.
The advantages of virtual conferences for users is the ability to engage in an immersive environment with experts and peers, without the inconvenice or cost of travel. For event hosts, there is a significant reduction in the cost of the event, while at the same time increasing the potential engagement of the event by extending the availability of conference materials for much longer than the typical 3-day event. There’s little to suggest that virtual events will replace real events any time soon, but as an augmentation of existing events, an addition to bridge the time between events, or a new event for companies that currently don’t have the means to launch a real world event, these solutions hold tremendous promise.
So far, these business virtual worlds are largely mirror replications of the typical conference environment, with exhibit halls and booths, and screaming graphics and banners. Maybe with a little freedom and imagination they can reinvent the event experience online, and point the way to a better real-world experience as well. Having just navigated the gauntlet of the AdTech exhibit hall, I’d be happy to see some new ideas for staging real events.