Everybody
has already heard about holograms, especially thanks to the viral
video of Mister Mélenchon's hologram during one of his meeting
(http://www.lepoint.fr,
2017).
But
what is exactly a hologram?
A
hologram is a three-dimensional and free-standing image created with
photographic projection. People do not require screen nor glasses to
be able these see the 3D pictures (Rouse, 2005).
It
has been several years now, that some industries have understood the
potential of this kind of an appealing attraction: the television
industry, the movie industry, the marketing and digital retail
industries, as well as the advertisement and event industries have
adopt this new trend (Gazeau, 2013).
It
has now become common to attend events using holograms to entertain
customers. It is especially the case during music concerts, fashion
shows and product launches.
People
are fed up with conventional presentations and feel the need to
interact with the product, to observe it and to try it. Holograms
offer them the possibility to discover a more tactile interaction
with the product or show. This new kind of dynamic event can really
impress people and give them the will to buy the product
(http://www.sxsevents.co.uk,
2017).
Thanks
to this technology, companies can showcase their products in the
venue of their choice, while all attendees can go around the picture
and discover it in every shape and form !
(http://www.sxsevents.co.uk,
2017).
Holograms
programers can also make image of real people appear: imagine your
boss is not able to physically attend your massive event because he
is busy at the other side of the planet: instead of offering your
customer a 2D videoconference, why don't you make your boss appear on
stage, talking and moving, like the real thing? This could also be
done with celebrities!
However be careful ! Holograms cannot totally replace real people !
Even
better: in order to interact with your attendees, why not organising
a game to engage your attendees around holograms ?
Languages
would also not be a problem anymore as programers can decide which
language can be spoken (http://prsonas.com,
2016).
We
can say that holograms are THE event in the event: people are
attracted to this added-value technology and companies can be sure to
leave a big impression on their visitors (http://www.3demotion.net,
2015). Indeed, as this impressive technology is not well-know by
people yet (except in science-fiction movies), they do not know how
it is implemented and this mystery is extremely exciting.
We
understood that holograms can be a good tool to revive today's events
and provide to attendees a brand new experience they will talk about
for years !
Go
for it !
References:
L'hologramme
bluffant de Jean-Luc Mélenchon (2017). Retrieved from:
Virtual meetings and virtual teams have become more
and more popular over the last decade.
According to Julia Young, from Facilitate.com, a
virtual meeting is an event joined by attendees from multiple locations and which
is technology-based. Attendees run the meeting through video platforms from
their desk without travelling. It can be held in real-time or run by
several times due to jet lags of attendees or lack of coordination of their
schedules.
This new kind of corporate meeting is often considered
as time saving and more effective as a virtual meeting tends to be short - it
lasts in general around 90 minutes. When the meeting is planned, it is useful
to determine the level needed for interaction; it will then determine the
technological tools needed for this conference as technology must match
objectives. Technology needs to be easy to use and accessible for all
participants. Over the last decade, it has known some improvements:
better connection speed, high-definition monitors etc. The result: while it
remains very expensive (some video conference rooms cost until £300,000),
technology enables savings in travel budgets, boosts productivityby letting people collaborate with
one another from the comfort of their home offices.
According to CIO.com, several formats of virtual meetings exist
and each of them has its ‘event specialty’:
·Live Meeting: best format for a presentation where one person will speak to a group with occasional
participant questions using SLi.Do for example, i.e. live chats functionalities.
·Group Support System
(GSS): best format for problem solving or decision making where a
team of people will work on a difficulty and come to resolution.
·Collaborative
Document-Building Tools: tools such as
Google Docs are best for a work product execution meeting where a team will
work at developing a deliverable.
Rules of virtual meetings
Some rules for virtual and face-to-face meetings
remain the same. Some key questions have to be answered by the event planner
far ahead: What are the objectives of the meeting (communication, data gathering,
idea brainstorming, problem solving, networking, decision-making etc.) and how is
the event going to reach them? What are the technological tools needed for that
meeting? What are the obstacles likely to occur? How much time do the IT team
and the event planner need to prepare this meeting? Etc.
The audience needs to be kept interested and occupied
all along the event for face-to-face events as well as for virtual ones. Thus,
the event planner needs to vary the possibilities for the audience to
participate and has also to evaluate his event and Return On Investment.
In addition, the event planner still needs to have a
backup plan in case the technology fails.
According to
CIO.com, the ground rules for a virtual meeting might include: to log in at least 15 minutes before the beginning of the meeting due to downloading time, to avoid disturbance and attend the meeting in a quiet place, to avoid multitasking while attending the meeting, and to turn off cell phones, emails and PDAs during the meeting.
The VirtualFinFair
The VirtualFinFair is, for example, made to create a unique customer
experience thanks to the avatars, the virtual booths and even the scenery of the platform. Its
objective was to animate a network of asset managers and finance experts by
launching a professional fair where they can meet during a special day.
During this
event, the company staff has its avatars and appears on the booths to help
visitors. Concerning the communication of the event, the usual strategy is
used with social media posts, website news and invitations were sent along with
a user manual to help future participants.
The fair is
opened from 9AM to 10PM to allow visitors from all over the world to
participate to the event. Exhibitors and visitors can wander in the alleys and
exchange virtual business cards, interact with other participants and attend
live conferences just like a traditional fair. In a few clicks, participants
can download the documentation they are interested in, talk business in live
without leaving their desk. Thanks to special hashtags, they can also express their
feelings about the event on social media and share the experience with their
community.
Advantages and disadvantages of virtual meetings
According to us, there are many advantages for
companies to organize or attend virtual events:
It
is money saving: less HR and investments in venue, transportation &
accommodation.
Time-saving;
it reduces travel and time out of the office for participants.
Boost
of productivity.
It is an innovative product which makes the event more memorable and fun for participants.
It is
more environmental-friendly as only a computer is needed for the event.
It
allows a broader geographical audience as the hours of the event are more
flexible than a traditional one.
There
are also more detailed statistics in live time useful for event planners.
-Concerning the disadvantages, we consider:
Face-to-face
meetings preference remains as well as the human dimension.
Participants
tend to be less concentrated in front of their screens in the comfort of their
offices.
There
is less control possibilities over participation and success of the event
(passive participation).
This
type of meeting does not fit all industries. For example, for the agriculture/food
sectors, touching, trying in live and smelling products is essential for
purchase.
Finally,
technology guru, Corbin Ball declared to Succesful meetings webmagazine: "Webinars and
other virtual meetings are great for short information exchange," but "30 to 45 minutes is usually the maximum you can expect someone
to pay attention to a webinar while sitting in front of a monitor. Meetings, on
the other hand, take people to a more focused environment with fewer
distractions. As long as attendees are informed, entertained, and fed, event
hosts can keep them engaged for days. The opportunities for networking,
brainstorming, and relationship building are usually far greater at
face-to-face events than online."
To conclude this article, we can affirm that real face-to-face meetings are far from over. Hybrid
meetings might be the best alternative to them. Indeed, more and more companies choose hybrid
meetings, that is to say they create a virtual fair in addition to a
traditional one. The Paris Art Fair is an example of hybridation allowing the
visit of the exhibition online while the real one is taking place (source: leads-france.com).
