We need the ability to function completely online more than ever. The current COVID-19 (Coronavirus) situation has literally brought the world economy to a halt and put companies in a position where they can only operate from a home office environment.
It is imperative to realize that the situation is really serious and even at the cost of huge losses, we all need to adapt. The Czech Republic has declared a state of emergency, banning events or closing shops. It can jump in 3 weeks or 2 months, we have to be ready for everything.
But what is positive is that we live in an age of technology that allows us to learn, work, and manage our business or our team completely online. Tools like Microsoft Teams, Slack, and Hubspot allow hundreds of thousands of businesses around the world to operate entirely online every day.
Thanks to the fact that we educate companies in VR, we have had online meetings only in virtual reality since the beginning of our operation.
Today, we see it as our duty to spread awareness of new ways for businesses to operate even more from the home office environment and use VR technology to improve efficiency in the home office environment.
VR is a way to stay socially active and make your event or meeting happen without risking your health or the health of your loved ones.
Virtual reality allows us to combine the convenience of online meetings with the interactivity of in-person meetings. When you meet colleagues in VR, you feel like you’re together in the same spatial environment, which can be an office or the open, persistent world of VR.
In the virtual environment, you can then see, hear, and interact with each other. You can use the environment to share objects, files, screens, or notes.
For someone who has never tried virtual reality, it’s hard to imagine but the level of experience of meeting in VR really matches the in-person one.
Today, virtual reality is showing us its great uses, allowing us to really live online meetings and offer tools and experiences that an online call or Skype simply cannot deliver.
Here are a few examples of platforms worth checking out if you’re looking for a simple way to make a VR meeting happen.
Mozilla Hubs
Open source web platform for VR meetings
Mozilla Hubs is an open-source, web-based VR platform where you can create a meeting room for your business or friends with one click. With only a browser required for entry, you don’t need to install any client.
Mozilla hubs can be accessed using a VR headset browser, a traditional PC, or a mobile/tablet. It doesn’t matter if someone in the team doesn’t have a VR headset with them, as they can easily connect from their mobile or PC.
In the meeting room, you can easily share any files (pdf, excel) or even a 3D object
An attractive feature is that you can hold your meeting on the beach, on the marsh or in your customized meeting room.
Somnium Space
A new virtual world with its own economy
Somnium Space is more than just a VR meeting platform. It’s a whole VR world where anyone can participate in the whole economy, buy a piece of land and build something on it or build a whole functional business in a VR world. So Somnium offers a much broader use than just meetings.
Our VR Education team believes that Somnium Space is the future of VR activities such as conferences, meetings, e-commerce, but also sports, live performances, education and showrooms.
We have built a conference/meeting room ourselves at Somnium Space and it is available to anyone who wants to organize an event or meeting. You can connect either with a VR headset (still need a PC for now) or from a computer in a 2D platform.
Somnium Space seems to be the place where individuals and companies alike will find that they can have not only meetings but even entire conferences in this VR world.
There are already a number of events taking place at Somnium. Would you like to go bowling with colleagues on the other side of the globe, would you like to take a hike up a mountain or perhaps visit a planetarium? Somnium Space has the solution.
Altspace VR
Platform for VR Meetings
Altspace VR is one of the VR worlds that, like Somnium Space, offers a huge range of uses beyond just meetings or conferences. We have already seen many events and community gatherings taking place in Altspace.
Altspace is now available with VR headsets but also from a web browser. The platform allows you to create different environments for your meetings or conferences. The world is now very popular among the VR community and hosts a lot of events like poker, lectures on various topics and so on.
Summary
VR is a substitute for face-to-face meetings
The pandemic situation around Covid-19 shows us how we can lose physical contact, appointments or scheduled events in a matter of days.
Virtual reality is now at a level where it can serve as an alternative to physical meetings and events, and we can have peace of mind that we can deal with everything from the comfort of our homes.
We use VR meetings ourselves on a weekly basis and it’s something that works great for us and effectively replaces physical meetings while allowing us to address all the processes in the company. We also have a few clients who have expressed interest in VR meetings and use them as one of their tools for creative meetings, brainstorming sessions or specific training.
Today there are already a number of platforms that allow the use of VR meetings. Some of the most well-known include Rumii, VRChat, Engage, MeetinVR, MeetingRoom, Spatial, Dream and NeosVR.
If you’re interested in hosting a meeting or conference in VR, feel free to contact us at info@vreducation.cz and we’ll be happy to help.
