Are we back to normal? Well virtually…
This year’s PSMG annual conference went fully online – avatars and all. And, whilst in no doubt we will return to physical gatherings at some point, David Garson says virtual is here to stay.
When you try to explain to people that you have an avatar-based world where people can collaborate, work and recreate the human feeling of togetherness, you generally get two reactions: 1. Do you mean like Simms or Second Life? Or 2. I don’t understand.
For those in camp number one, a quick tour around the world and they are keen to bring in their tech team as well as HR/CPOs to oversee and indeed work on an integration plan.
For those in camp two, once you explain you simply move around by using your arrow keys and they then see the human interaction and little things like spatial sounding, private areas where you can work with your colleagues on documents, just have informal conversations (which we seem to have lost the ability to do post zoom - I won’t mention zoom fatigue) and generally interact with people in a normal way, you can see people generally relax.
Though we can often be resistant to change or the adoption of new technology when barriers physically come down it’s so easy to use and the value proposition is there for all to see.
There’s no doubt in my mind that we will go back to physical conferencing when we can. I don’t have a crystal ball but hopefully we can have a pretty good winter 2021 and then people will begin to plan for the second half of 2022.
However, I do feel there will be more hybrid events going forward and people will not feel the necessity to travel as much, companies are also thinking more about the environment and financial costs.
As we discuss how we have adapted to the pandemic, what is clear is that the advancements we have had in technological adoption and the way and where we will work going forward be it from home an office or indeed the beach (we have one in the virtual world) have changed and accelerated faster than we would have predicted
We are yet to actually meet team PSMG in person and I think and picture them as their avatars as we have spent so much time together in the virtual world.
To say they embraced the virtual world and concept is an understatement. As we teleported from auditorium to expo hall and then via the beach on the way to the nightclub. I always believe in proof of concept and for those old enough to remember Jazzy Jeff (and the fresh prince!) I showed a video of 1000 avatars in the nightclub all dancing away (if you look carefully, you can find me!).
“There’s no doubt in my mind we will go back to physical conferencing when we can. However, I do feel there will be more hybrid events going forward and people will not feel the necessity to travel as much…companies are also thinking more about the environment and financial costs.”
We are firm believers at IDO that the customer experience should be enjoyable and that equipping people with tools is fine, but you must show them how to use them.
Training the speakers was in my view always going to be the ultimate proof of concept. They were on the whole all senior leaders in their field, very busy and time poor who needed to be able to feel as comfortable on a virtual platform as they would on a physical platform. I don’t think they were in the Simms or Second Life bracket.
What amazed me is that when we did the one-on-one training how quickly those that had seemingly never used a computer for more than email or producing a word document picked it up so quickly, from the basics of walking and talking to sharing video, slides, their own webcam to running surveys via an app in the world.
One of my lawyer friends said to me ahead of the conference if you can train lawyers to use this you can train anyone.
Interestingly, it was decided to replicate the regular format split over two days with a morning session on day one and an afternoon session the following day. Most online conferences would consolidate that into a day.
What’s great about the virtual world is that it is constantly evolving and with virtual real estate it’s easy to make the changes to the environment for the next event and really streamline it for the client’s needs.
There are hurdles that remain and thankfully we managed to resolve the issues like getting through firewalls to download the app and getting microphones working.
In all honesty by day two I could have taken myself off to the virtual beach or the rooftop bar as everyone was getting on with it and things were in full conference mode. People were telling me how normal it felt in the world to interact.
What has become clear to me over the last six months and post this conference is that the virtual world is here to stay, we are learning on how it fits into our work life post pandemic be it through virtual conferencing, meetings offices and indeed worlds.