When Are Virtual Reality Systems the Right Choice?

IImagine a world that allows you to mix realities from anyplace, at any time. Mixed realities, or sometimes called extended realities are all about improved relevance. In many cases they allow you to become a better communicator, persuader and teacher.

I think we have all become emersed in a new cinema reality – the movies we see are much more imaginative and so real; The TV we watch includes mixed reality (like on Weather Channel and ESPN); the corporate presentations have virtual reality backgrounds; we seek entertainment even during mundane tasks; and we demand to be impressed with every presentation we see – social post we scan – and training we attend. The bar is now so high that the average person won’t engage unless they see the latest wizardry – and to motivate them is turning us all into media companies and storytellers.

Mixed realities have been possible to simulate for many years using a variety of techniques. CGI in movies, chromakey techniques and even photoshop type programs have all allowed us to bend reality with something different. What has now changed is that the capability to bend reality has become cheaper, much faster and much more realistic.   

Post production techniques of the past are no longer necessary. We now use real time chroma keying with the green screen. (Keying is a video word for ‘cut and paste’). We can cut and paste anything into anything. And the lighting and realism is uncanny. No kidding. No example is impossible. It may sound a bit complicated, but it’s so simple we taught some machines to do this.   

So far, we are seeing these types of requests come in for using virtual reality systems:

·         Townhalls with remote and distributed employees

·         Onboarding, training, certification

·         Pre-doctrination training for the military

·         Virtual, super realistic tradeshow exhibits with products that are hard to transport to the show floor

·         Gamifying the learning experience – creating easter eggs and interactive, competitive environments

·         Management coaching, development and growth programs using real world examples

·         Proactive messaging to reduce issues with unionizing and labor management

·         Motivational messaging about vision, mission, strategies and company values

·         Information and fielded examples of customers using the product or service, issues they may encounter and post sales service

·         Investor virtual pitch book presentations using high quality virtual sets

·         Internal and external live product launch events (Steve Jobs would have loved this technology when he mainstreamed the launch event approach)

All these things can be made live, virtual and/or recorded for repeated use and distribution. Come to the home of virtual reality systems. Come to BockTech and let’s have a discussion about your needs. We can help you jump over that higher bar.