4 ways in which Virtual Reality will revolutionize online meetings
Horizon Workrooms is a virtual reality (VR) space introduced by Meta. The introduction of Horizon Workrooms and the rebranding of Facebook to Meta creates a new buzz in the field, not because VR meetings are entirely new.
There have been providers around for some time now, like MeetinVR or AltspaceVR. Their solutions even use the Oculus VR headset, which is developed by the Meta corporation. What is so thrilling is that it is already the second tech giant that bets on the future of the multiverse.
In Spring, Microsoft announced its vision for collaboration in VR. Microsoft Mesh is a VR platform that uses the companies own mixed reality headset — the HoloLens — but will supposedly open up to other VR devices soon.
These new VR platforms enable a future that allows us to collaborate without being in the same physical space. After COVID, everyone, except Apple, knows the home office is here to stay.
The advantages are significant. We are way more efficient the before. We can meet with customers and partners in one meeting and present something to a large audience in the next meeting. And if we still have some coffee left, we slip in a team meeting and join a workshop in the afternoon. There is no longer a need to travel across the country to have a workshop or sprint down the aisle to be in the next meeting room on time. And that is just the efficiency gains at work.
In our personal lives, we benefit from less time commuting to work, we have lunch with the family, and we may even decide to work remotely on a Friday to spend a long weekend in nature.
Look, I know Home Office has not just its upsides. People blessed with large families or people that do not have the luxury of a personal office may not find the quietness in their homes to work concentrated. And then there are these endless virtual meetings, a blessing and a curse at the same time. Studies have revealed that virtual meetings are draining and take a toll on uns mentally for many different reasons. But VR promises to change this and many other things. So, here are ways in which VR will change and improve online meetings in the future.
#1 VR meetings are less tiring
“Zoom fatigue” describes the exhaustion we feel after a long day packed with online meetings. Studies have found that we feel drained for a couple of reasons. We humans naturally live in three-dimensional space. Looking at a flat-screen to have a conversation for a prolonged extend of time feels exhausting. We are simply missing the spaciousness of the real world. We miss body language as an essential mode of communication with others. We need to concentrate on staying in the video frame and keep eye contact with other people. All to show the other attendees we are paying attention. And sometimes it is too tempting to do something entirely different on the screen, like check our emails or do some online shopping. All of these things create a cognitive overload and take a mental toll on us. VR may change that.
VR meetings take us and put us in a 3D environment. It lets us move freely around a virtual room, gaze in the virtual distance, or look in the eyes of other participants. They are in the same space, shown as a virtual representation of themselves — an avatar. Most of the time, cartoonish-looking avatar mimics our body language or even our face impressions. There are prototypes of solutions that even simulate a real-looking representation of ourselves.
The liberty of three-dimensional space and the more natural way of looking at participants feel more natural and weaken the adverse effects an online meeting has on us.
#2 Better communication
A 3D avatar of us already allows for a more natural form of communication because so many pieces of information are transmitted subconsciously via our body language. This information may typically get lost when just looking at a face on the screen. But there is more.
I have to say; I hate to have larger online meetings with more than four participants. Effective online discussions always require some form of rules or norms about who is allowed to talk. Because online sessions make it impossible for more than one person to speak at the same time. You might say that’s how it should be anyways. But that’s not how humans work. Maybe we want to make a small comment. Or perhaps we did not quite catch something the presenter said, and we want to verify with our neighbor quickly. Maybe we want to have a break and chit-chat with a couple of people. In the real world, that is when we naturally turn to a small group of people. These groups then dynamically form and mix. Online meetings do not yet allow this dynamic perfectly, although some have tried (see Gathertown).
In a VR environment, we cannot only move around in a three-dimensional space. But our relative position to other people is used to change the loudness and direction of our voices accordingly. Thanks to technologies like spatial audio, we can jump from one conversation to another, just like in real life. This mimicking of the real world feels more natural and makes dialogue more accessible and practical.
#3 Limitless possibilities to visualize and collaborate
Already today, VR gives product designers tools to visualize objects and present designs to stakeholders. A virtual model can be more efficient than a classic clay model but keeps the advantages of a three-dimensional representation. The capability of having three-dimensional spaces and objects that everyone can see and interact with also enriches other kinds of meetings.
A digital whiteboard is probably the most relatable obvious way to collaborate in a virtual environment. That is why during the global pandemic, digital whiteboard solutions like Miro or Mural became so popular. In a VR environment, every participant can dynamically create new whiteboards, scribble out ideas using their own hands, present them or collaboratively work together. But VR does not end here.
The time is over in which just one participant can share one screen at a time. Instead, you can arrange whatever you want to present in a limitless environment. A virtual room allows presenting complex information that is superior to sharing a single PPT slide. You can look at 3D objects at different angles, enhance small things, and arrange complex or extensive information in a more easily consumable way.
#4 Escape reality to inspire or focus
Let’s have our next meeting on the top floor of a futuristic skyscraper, in the mids of a relaxing natural environment full of plants and trees or some sci-fi settings. The possibilities for virtual environments are endless and only limited by our creativity. With technological progress and more resources focused on creating these environments, the virtual world will look better and offer many possibilities.
These rooms and surroundings can have different purposes. They can help us focus on the meeting by fading out distraction or inspiring by putting us into a diverse and new setting. A VR meeting takes all participants and creates an immersive space that makes a shared experience. Something that is even supposed to help us remember a conversation better by giving us a better association through the surrounding.
Look, it is still early days for VR meetings. Some solutions work already. But they still have their hiccups, and the virtual worlds are more similar to the first 3D games in the early 2000s. However, it’s exciting to see where things are going, and that big tech is investing in the space.
Further reading on “zoom fatigue”:
