ARI Virtual Meetings
Many groups have experimented with virtual meetings using existing web conferencing tools like WebEx or Centra. Some are experimenting with holding meetings in virtual worlds like Second Life. Web conferencing tools are good for delivering PowerPoint presentations and sharing typed comments, but the sense of physical place is missing. Second Life and other virtual worlds have held the promise of a much richer and dynamic environment, but have thus far failed to deliver on that promise because they have proven difficult for newcomers to navigate easily.
Having a truly effective meeting in a virtual world takes a lot more than just creating an attractive venue and inviting participants. Presenters need to know how to use tools and techniques to engage the audience and hold their interest. Attendees need to know how to navigate comfortably so they can naturally interact with others at the meeting. The venue, tools and agenda need to be carefully designed to take advantage of the possibilities of the virtual environment.
ARI Virtual Meetings address ALL the elements needed for success so your meeting will be well received and will meet your goals.
Components for Success
Components of the ARI Virtual Meetings are:
Venue Management—ARI will design a custom venue for your organization and set it up with appropriate assets (like computer screens and breakout rooms).
Attendee Management—We will give attendees the ability to choose and customize avatars as well as providing training for how to enter, navigate, and communicate in the virtual world. Our offering includes a practice area for attendees to get comfortable in the environment along with in-world mentors to help.
Content Management—Content will need to be tailored to this environment. ARI experts will work with organizers and speakers to create effective presentations that incorporate audience involvement and take advantage of virtual world capabilities that will make the presentations more innovative, exciting, participatory and effective. We will help select topics to be covered as well as determining the best way to get that topic across. Content management will include incorporating games and contests to keep people involved.
Speaker Management—Our experts will work with speakers and presenters to get them accustomed to presenting in the virtual world so they are comfortable and natural when the meeting happens. We will offer practice areas and recordings of practice sessions as well as tips for more effective and engaging presentations.
Support—The ARI offering includes providing help desk support for attendees, speakers, administrators, and managers so people get the help they need before they become frustrated. We will also provide logistical support as needed (e.g. shipping materials to attendees).
Recording and Reporting—ARI will record the sessions for future playback and review. We will deliver management reports on the meeting that show attendance, participation and scores for pop quizzes. These metrics will provide a gauge of the success of the meeting and ideas for improvements in the future.
Benefits
Your organization will benefit primarily by travel time and cost savings. But you will also benefit from having the ability to have more people attend and to have sessions recorded for people who couldn’t attend or who wanted to review a particular topic later. Once established, future meetings will be easier to produce because a lot of the assets will be in place and many people will be comfortable with meeting in-world and will not require training and coaching.