When starting to look at what a virtual meeting room it is worth considering what the future of work might be, and how we arrived at a point where virtual reality allows us to create virtual meeting rooms.

The Future Of Work

When it comes to the future of work, I think most of us would agree that we can anticipate a significant change in both the short and long term. When it comes to working, we are players in an increasingly global world, experiencing both the advantages and challenges of technological progress and demographic change.

At the best organisations, work has become more flexible. Many of us have experienced some form of remote working, with some reports suggesting that at least half of us spend at least some time working remotely. Technology fuels and drives this; collaboration tools are everywhere, and we are always on for better or for worse.

One of these technologies is now beginning to make people think differently about the future of work and work where remote teams need to collaborate more efficiently.

Virtual Reality has been around for many years; if you do a quick search, you will find that it was in 1996 that the first head-mounted virtual reality device was created. Since that time, it has many false dawns, with some very talented people working creatively to bring solutions to market. However, outside of some particular applications, it is only in the last few years that we have seen real movement again towards extensive spread usage outside of the gaming world.

Now we stand on the brink of a new phase in the future of work.

Several factors have contributed to organisations now beginning to think that virtual reality is a valid and beneficial element to an enhanced team working environment.

Oculus Quest Headset For Virtual Meeting Rooms

Oculus Quest

HTC Vive Focus Plus Headset for Virtual Meeting Rooms

HTC Vive Focus Plus
Features

The new generation of headsets is a significant step forward from an enterprise usability perspective. Firstly, you do not need a computer they are standalone. Secondly, they turn on instantly, and you are immersed in the chosen VR environment immediately. Finally, a vastly improved visual experience is a factor.

Cost

We are now seeing price points for these standalone headsets that make sense when you are buying hundreds or thousands of them. Costs will continue to improve.

Support

Manufacturers have realised that there is a market for virtual reality in the enterprise space, and they are finally offering solutions to assist organisations in the rollout and management of such devices.

Ubiquity

We are now approaching a time where many people have experienced virtual reality and understand what happens when immersed. It is no longer a surprise to the tech-savvy in an organisation.

Forward Thinking

So, we are in a place where most forward-thinking organisations are tasking internal teams to look into and investigate the possibilities and potential of virtual reality.

Here at meetingRoom, we are finding that many of these organisations are looking at how they improve collaboration with remote teams. When you look at activity within an organisation a significant proportion of it, for better or worse, is spent in meetings.

  • Decision making
  • Strategy
  • Progress
  • Idea generation
  • Introduction
  • Information sharing

Whichever way you classify your meetings, most organisations can identify those gatherings where the teams are remote and the tools they use to collaborate work best when everyone is in the same room.

For a productive meeting, teams need to

  • Be present
  • Contribute
  • Participate
  • Be action oriented
  • Document outcomes

Here is where a virtual meeting room can provide real benefits.

So, What is a Virtual Meeting Room

To join a meeting in a virtual meeting room, you put on your virtual reality headset, and you then get immersed into a new kind of collaborative environment.

First, you can see all of the participants. Each person has their avatar and can communicate, as we all do, in a non-verbal fashion — head nods, hand waves and moving around the room.

When you speak, it’s the same as speaking in a standard meeting room. Everyone knows who is talking as each person can hear from where the sound is coming. Everyone looks at the speaker.

When you point, people can see what you are looking at and more importantly, you can work with the tools in the virtual meeting room. Whiteboards and documents, along with other collaboration tools, are in the virtual environment with you. If you write on the whiteboard, everyone sees it; if you move a sticky note, everyone sees it; point to a picture or a diagram, and everyone follows along.

The benefit of a virtual meeting room is persistence. Project teams can come back to the room to add details, teams in different time zones can add information at any time; rooms can be saved and re-instated to see what happened.

However, the best way to understand a Virtual Meeting Room is to have a go yourself. Having a VR headset is the best way to participate, but the meetingRoom solution allows you to join from any device.

Get started now, click here to get your Virtual Meeting Room.

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