Liberty Global was contemplating introducing a VR experience to their Retreat Event for Senior Leaders in Boca Resort in late April 2022. A total of 120 personnel (participants) were predicted.
It did not appear to be a simple assignment because there were so many obstacles to overcome. Since they only required the VR headsets for a few days, the Liberty Global team had to rent nearly 140 of them. Virtual reality is a new technology, and everyone, even the organizing team, had a lot to learn about it. Starting an event with 120 participants utilizing VRs at the same time needed a lot of organization and experience.
Liberty Global contacted and trusted IGIVU, a pioneering VR headset renting startup which is founded by Shahzaib Azhar, a Babson Alum, to resolve all of the obstacles and make this event one of a kind with a powerful and remarkable effect.
JP, Liberty Global’s VP of Global Leadership and Development, was in charge of the event. The plan was to use Virtual Reality to allow people to experience compassion, empathy, and understanding. JP chose the Oculus store experience “The Key” to fulfill the goals of this event, and it was decided that all 120 attendees will be given a 30-minute time period for this activity.
HOW WAS IGIVU ABLE TO TACKLE ALL OBSTACLES AND MAKE THIS EVENT A SUCCESS?
“Everyone was incredibly pleased to throw such a major VR Event as a benchmark, yet anxious as all parts had to follow perfectly in just 30 minutes to make it successful!” remarked Shahzaib, CEO of IGIVU, recalling discussions with Liberty Global and Encore Global.
IGIVU supplied on-site technical assistance to ensure that all VRs were set up and ready to use. The on-site staff spent three days preparing 140 VRs for the event.
An Additional hurdle was that not all attendees were acquainted with virtual reality, particularly how Meta/Oculus Quest 2 works. The IGIVU and Liberty Global teams devised the idea of delivering live demonstrations via the broadcasting capability, which allows VR screen sharing to the projector. It assisted all attendees in learning the fundamentals and understanding what they needed to do to initiate the immersive experience.
The on-site staff also assisted attendees one-on-one if they had any queries or required assistance putting on the VR headset.
“Seeing 120 individuals try the VR at the same time was captivating,” said Marc Fortich, IGIVU On-site team lead. Everyone felt completely immersed. They had an entirely different learning experience and engagement time. Many people expressed amazement that they had misjudged the potential of virtual reality.
THE INESCAPABLE VR FUTURE:
The use of virtual reality at gatherings and events is only the beginning. IGIVU and Liberty Global have effectively demonstrated the feasibility of launching this in large-scale events. We also realized that VR technology is not just for the technologically adept; rather, anybody can rapidly fit in and experience and enjoy the thrill.
Envision the possibilities of virtual reality if more organizations begin incorporating spectacular virtual reality experiences into their next corporate events, such as conventions, workshops, team building events, trade shows/expos, executive getaways, business/corporate lunches, product activations, shareholder/corporate board meetings, and year-end celebrations.
We are seeing an explosion of virtual reality content makers in virtually every discipline. It implies that there is always a wide range of stuff to choose from. Some examples include team-building exercises, mindfulness, games, compassion and diversification training, digital immersive art experiences, interactive virtual tours, and captivating videos and movies.
