How the Metaverse will Affect Meetings and Events

When Facebook changed its name to Meta in October 2021 to represent its emphasis on the metaverse, it caused quite a stir. Despite this, there is no question that investment in the metaverse will skyrocket in the next years, with Bloomberg forecasting that it will reach $800 million by 2024.

Corporate events are one of the areas where the metaverse is predicted to have a particularly large influence.

What exactly is the Metaverse?

In its most basic form, the metaverse is a permanent and immersive 3D world that extensively employs new and emerging technologies such as virtual and augmented reality. Its goal is to transport people away from the screen and into virtual worlds.

Contrary to common opinion, Mark Zuckerberg's Meta is neither the sole nor even the first participant in the metaverse. The idea has been around for around 20 years, with Linden Lab's Second Life online multimedia platform being one of the earliest.

Another prevalent misunderstanding about the metaverse is that it exists largely for immersive gaming and other sorts of entertainment. While it employs many of the same technology as the game industry, the metaverse goes far further. It promises to elevate hybrid and virtual events and meetings to a whole new level of immersion.

How Does the Metaverse Work?

The metaverse may take many different shapes. Older systems, such as Second Life, take place purely on the screen and do not include any virtual reality elements. Second Life has been utilized for virtual business meetings, and some large corporations have even purchased virtual real estate on the site.

Current ideas, such as Meta, which is still in the works, integrate virtual, augmented, and physical reality to provide a considerably more immersive experience. This process starts with the creation of an avatar, which is a person's representation in the virtual world, after which they will be allowed to participate.

Real Life Applications of the Metaverse

The metaverse has a wide range of applications that go well beyond games. A participant, for example, may utilize it to spend time with friends afar, visit virtual retail outlets, or attend virtual events. The metaverse promises to help bridge the gap between the real and virtual worlds for business events and meetings. This will provide a new degree of consistency and immersion to today's increasingly popular hybrid event structure.

Decentraland is another prominent metaverse implementation that enables companies and people to swap virtual real estate for bitcoin. Because of the increasing popularity of such platforms, many forward-thinking businesses have decided to invest in digital assets to expand their reach and even develop virtual office spaces. This has significant consequences for corporate meetings and other events, particularly in today's remote work contexts.

What Impact Will the Metaverse Have on Meetings and Events?

Perhaps the most significant aspect of the metaverse for the events industry is that it provides an infinite area for ideas. An office or conference room, on the other hand, can only house a certain number of displays, and monitors can only show a limited number of simultaneous video streams. There is no hard limit to the number of individuals who may participate in the metaverse.

The metaverse's extremely immersive and flexible nature allows it to hold events of almost any magnitude, including huge trade fairs and the like. A company, for example, may participate in a large virtual event by erecting a virtual booth that visitors can approach in the virtual world in the same manner that they would at a real event.

The metaverse may help reduce the distance from smaller-scale events like business meetings and conferences. Meetings through technologies like Zoom or Microsoft Teams cannot assist promote participation and business culture in the same manner.

The importance of interaction should not be overlooked. The metaverse considerably expands on the notion of gamification, which is now commonly used to engage both consumers and workers, as well as participants at events. This leads to more dynamic and connected workplaces, as well as enhanced self-expression and creativity. After all, the metaverse provides almost limitless opportunities for members to establish their virtual identities via the use of customizable avatars.

It also provides a fun and innovative method to communicate with consumers in the metaverse and marketing. In the end, the metaverse is a significant improvement over the virtual and hybrid occurrences that we've all been used to throughout the epidemic.

The influence on hybrid events is especially significant since the metaverse bridges the gap between those who attend in person and those who attend digitally. Attendees may have an equally interesting and high-quality experience in either circumstance.

What About the Metaverse's Drawbacks?

The metaverse is still in its infancy, at least in the form envisioned by Meta's Mark Zuckerberg. It also confronts substantial privacy problems, among other things. Furthermore, we must examine how much communication is exchanged by body language, whether unconsciously or deliberately. This, for the time being, is necessarily lost in a virtual environment.

In the Metaverse, a businesswoman wearing VR glasses enters a sophisticated workplace.

Despite the metaverse's demonstrated and prospective limitations, there is no disputing its potential to significantly disrupt the events industry. However, rather than perceiving it as a means to fundamentally transform and remake the event scene as it already exists, a more productive approach would be to realize how it may supplement existing hybrid event models.

The most important thing to remember is that face-to-face encounters are essential for creating trust, and although physical engagement will always be invaluable, it is not always possible. In certain circumstances, the metaverse may simply be the next best thing.