Virtual Events on a Gaming Platform – Effective or Just Fun?

Angie Kellen, Director, Client Services, Open Sky Communications

In my last blog, “Virtual Events – Good, Better, What’s Next?”, I wrote that I would review of The Connected Virtual Tech Event, which was held November 16-17, 2020. This is part three in my series covering virtual events. I can tell you that since my first blog in June, I have learned a lot and it is amazing how quickly the platforms are evolving. I was excited to attend The Connected Virtual Tech Event, presented by Connected Real Estate Magazine and the Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY), because they were using a different type of platform that’s based on gaming technology. It’s designed to change the entire virtual show experience so that attendees feel like they’re actually at a live show, but from the comfort of home or an office. Rich Berliner, producer of the Connected Virtual Tech Event said, “This will be the new standard for virtual shows that will keep people engaged and networking through the whole event.” Did it live up to this expectation? Let’s find out.

Connected Virtual Tech Event used an innovative new platform called Purple, which allowed attendees, speakers and sponsors to use voice communication to interact with one another. To get the “you’ll feel like you’re there” feeling, attendees can create their own avatar that can walk and even run throughout the conference. The avatar can sit in various rooms, including small and large conference and breakout rooms, classrooms, boardrooms as well as the auditoriums to view and listen to keynote speeches and panel discussions. To combat “virtual show fatigue”, if attendees need some “fresh air” or a break, they can take their avatar outside to a field to kick a soccer ball or spend some time on the beach or even jump on a speedboat and sail around! The event drew almost 1300 registrants compared to its previous in-person events that average 1776 registrants. Not bad attendance for their first virtual event.

So, was the draw the speakers and panelists or the lure of a new virtual platform to try out? I can say that the speakers were high-level, real estate leaders, and topics were wide-ranging including: “The Psychology of Making People feel safe as they Return to work”, “Where’s the Money? Creative Ideas for replacing Lost Retail Revenue”, “Digital Transformation: Game Changing strategies and Solutions for the Future of work”, and more. Darlene Pope, the event chair, moderated many of the panels herself, tapping her expertise in the digital transformation of real estate, the future of the office, integrated mobile apps, etc. As you can imagine, the main overarching topic that real estate leaders and attendees were interested in was how to get tenants back into buildings, safely and confidently. The conference, topics and delivery of information via panels and speakers was effective. But I suspect some of the registrants were equally interested in the gaming technology-based user interface. So, what was it like to attend this event? Let’s take a closer look. The following images are screen shots taken during the event. 

Starting out

First you needed to download the Purple Platform software to your computer. A replay of the entire day of conferences was available via You Tube if you couldn’t get the platform to work or didn’t want to download the software. This way, there were options for you to choose so that you didn’t miss anything.

Setting up your avatar

It’s important to know that my experience with gaming technology started with Pong, then advanced to PAC-MAN, and shortly after that, I dropped out of gaming. So, if I could figure out how to create my avatar for the event, it was simple to do.

 And I did – above is my digital avatar.

As shown above, this is what it looked like when I walked my avatar into the virtual event. You can see how everyone’s name is attached above their avatar. Keep in mind, this platform allows for voice communication to interact with one another. I had my mic turned off (see bottom left of the image). But I could turn it on and speak to anyone close to me. The closer someone’s avatar is to another, the louder their voices are. In fact, one of the avatars said, “Hello Angie.” You can hear someone talking to you even if you have your mic turned off. Unfortunately, I was still learning my walking controls and inadvertently sped away down the sidewalk before I could reply.

The next stop was my first panel. I entered the auditorium and chose to sit in the very back row. As you can see in the image above, the top left has a tally of the people in the entire virtual world and another number for how many are in the auditorium. This panel had 118 people in the virtual world and 57 of them were attending this panel. It also lists the names of those in the auditorium. As an attendee, you can sit, stand and raise your hand. Also, you can type in questions in an open chat box that the moderator will field to the panelists.

The event organizers used a Zoom meeting to broadcast the panel, which appeared in the center of the stage. Unfortunately, it had technical difficulties and had frequent Internet refreshes during critical comments by the panelists. No doubt this platform takes a lot of bandwidth. I did very much appreciate how the seated attendees moved slightly as if they were live sitting in their chairs and not stagnant images. It seems like a small detail, but it was very effective to me and made me feel like this was more of a live event than virtual. Another thing that I liked was that the event chair Darlene Pope was sitting a couple of rows ahead of me. It was a celebrity sighting! This was realistic to me as at in-person events you could see the next panel moderator sitting in the audience observing the other panels. I thought this was a nice touch to see the event chair in the audience! Also amusing was watching the avatars come into the auditorium and attempt to sit. You could tell who had this figured out and who was still learning the controls. One gentleman was really good, he made his avatar walk into the aisle, do a back flip and then sprint down the aisle out of the building. Hilarious!

I stayed for the next panel and saw Darlene Pope leave her seat. She was the next panel moderator and this again added to the realistic pieces that I liked that were built into this event. The same technical issues with the Zoom panel happened again with a lot of Internet refreshing and spinning wheels. It was definitely distracting from the great content, but in the end not many people left the auditorium during these issues. The virtual world is a forgiving and understanding group as event organizers pioneer these new virtual frontiers.

Time to visit the exhibits. As you can see above, all the booths look the same but have the company name above their video screen. As you walk up to a booth, you may encounter a sales person that will talk with you. Or if the booth is empty, your presence will trigger the introduction video from the company.

Another thing to mention is the blue lines and blue-dashed circles that appeared in various places within the virtual event environment. These are private areas where you can talk to another avatar and the public can’t listen in. See in the above picture, at the bottom left of the screen by the mic, how you can switch between the public and private tab to talk to other avatars. While in the current booth, the sales guy next to me was talking to me and inviting me to his booth. This is where the platform was most like others in that there was only so much you can do in a virtual booth. Other virtual capabilities included screen sharing so attendees can view Power Point presentations and other materials as well as access brochures from exhibitors. Where it excelled from other platforms was that you can actually talk to one another – so much less typing going on and it felt much more personal. Whew, I think I could use some fresh air – off to the soccer field!

See above for the soccer field. It had blue areas where you could have a private conversation if you wanted to meet a client or potential new customer on the field. I was still working on my controls on the field when two gentlemen showed up and asked if I wanted to play. I was a bit nervous but did my best to kick the ball around to them. It was actually super fun – just the fresh air I needed. One of the men kicked the ball high and somehow my avatar did a ‘header’ back to him. They were impressed, I was shocked and I have no idea what control I used to do that. The fact that you can talk live to another avatar really made this very personable. There is no lag time to type in a chat room to communicate with others. After this encounter, I still needed more fresh air and thought a trip to the beach would be good.

I found the beach and walked into a private area that had an umbrella and a couple of chairs. It’s nice in this virtual world, as I don’t need my sunscreen. Since I didn’t have a meeting with anyone, I decided a drive in the speed boat would be relaxing. But how do I get into the boat?

Clearly, I missed a control that launched me into the boat and ended up doing a quick swim in my business suit. I gave it another try after swimming back to the shore and voila! Like the header on the soccer field, I have no idea how I got into the boat, but I am here!

I landed in the driver seat and took off. These controls were very easy and I decided to buzz the lighthouse. I could almost feel the wind in my hair! It was great fun but then I remembered that I was here for a conference and panels were happening that I needed to attend. Good thing I can catch them all on YouTube later! So, I drove around for a bit more and then returned to the beach.

I returned to the auditorium to visit more booths and then called it a day and left the virtual world. I very much enjoyed my time at the conference and think the Purple platform is really great to create a more personal and interactive environment. In seeking out other reviews from attendees regarding the Purple platform, they felt this WAS the future of virtual events and the ability to use your own voice and talk live to others was the big differentiator making this extremely personal and interactive.

Clearly the Purple virtual platform was the star of the show among the many well-known industry speakers and panelists. If we go back to in-person events, what happens to the virtual platforms? In my opinion, I think we will see a hybrid approach that incorporates the best of the virtual events with the in-person events. Those of us spared the typical aching backs and feet due to our time in a booth are voting for the hybrid approach! I for one vote for the Purple platform for virtual tradeshows and conferences as it brings what is missing from the current virtual tradeshows – the interactivity in real time that allows effective networking and information gathering from exhibitors. Typing in chat rooms takes time and is not as personal, but with the live talking feature, conversations are much more natural. As you can see, I am a fan of the Purple platform. I look forward to attending other virtual conferences and learning more about how these platforms are evolving and improving the virtual experience. Whether the future holds in-person, virtual or hybrid approaches to tradeshows, I’ll keep my avatar ready!