The first panel discussion on InfoComm’s Technology Innovation Stage covered a topic that will impact most professionals in the audiovisual, lighting, sound, and design space: How the metaverse will change marketing, training, entertainment, and work. Samantha Minish, AVIXA’s vice president for content delivery at AVIXA introduced the panelists: Sharath Abraham, digital workplace consultant at Accenture; Jessica Santiago, founder, CEO, and curator at ArtRepublic Global; and Ashley Bailey, director of product marketing, synthetics and metaverse at Veritone, Inc.
What Is The Metaverse?
Samantha asked what the metaverse means for brands. Each panelist reassured the audience that the metaverse was something that should be incorporated into a brand’s strategy, but not something to be intimidated by. Bailey said, “The metaverse is another channel, not something scary, just another way to reach out and communicate. It is like the cloud a few years ago, people were unsure of what it meant at first but now it is used by everyone. The metaverse is going to be the next iteration of doing business digitally.”
For Sharath Abraham, it was more about visualizing problems either for troubleshooting a technical problem by wearing a VR helmet and climbing inside schematics, or getting together with collaborators with realistic avatars interacting with presentations rather than sharing screens in two dimensions. “We all have collaboration software, Zoom etc, but we can make it immersive and more fun. Remember interactive visuals on Minority Report? Wouldn’t that be fun? Let’s push the boundaries on getting stuff done.”
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Business Trends To Watch
Minish asked the panelists whether the metaverse will go the way of the eight-track tape, but they were quick to point out that the metaverse provides tools that businesses and individuals will find too useful to ignore. Abraham said that this time next year there would be at least 30 booths with metaverse products and services and said the big trend to watch for are “digital twins.” “This is a virtual replica of you, your business, your data and analytics. This twin will keep track of things for you, so you can create a business venture or visualize data before committing in the real world. I’m I the process of building a digital twin of my house so I can plan out whether I can put another bathroom in the basement or maximize other spaces. It could be a place where you keep track of payments or data. According to Gartner, it will have a market opportunity of $700 billion.” He recommended that the audience Google Jamie Dimon’s comments about investing in the metaverse at Chase. “You don’t have to start big, you can start small. The metaverse is not one thing, it is a continuum that goes from hardware to art and currency and immersive experience.“
Santiago cautioned that any steps into the metaverse should be aligned with the company’s brand and those. She says, “It must be intentional, you can’t just go in to the metaverse without a strategy. The values of the artist from ArtRepublic must align with the values of the brand and the experience must make sense for the audience or consumer.”
In The Workplace
Abraham explained how Accenture is using the metaverse. The company has created its own enterprise metaverse nicknamed The Nth Floor recreating corporate offices and enabling avatars to interact. “Accenture has almost 700,000 employees around the world so this is where onboarding and training happens. Teams can meet up by the fountain in our metaverse and discuss things, it helps us connect better,” he said. Santiago agreed with that, “Everyone is so global now it is so important for creative projects that you get that human interaction.” Although Accenture purchased 60,000 Oculus headsets for its employees to facilitate these interactions, everyone on the panel agreed that equipment will progress quickly so that a helmet won’t always be necessary to collaborate and be seen. Since Gartner is predicting that in a few years 25% of everyone’s workday will take place in the metaverse and improvement in hardware will be a plus.
Minish asked where to find staff who are knowledgeable about the metaverse.
Abraham joked that companies should hire anyone who plays Roblox but then suggested looking for people who create content, artists and graphic designers and then partnering with them. Other suggestions included looking in Discord communities and looking among your own staff for enthusiasts who can talk about blockchain all day. The key to remember, according to Bailey and Abraham, is that no one is an expert yet because the platform is so new. Everyone is learning and adapting on the go.
Ethics
The panelists had fewer solutions when the discussion turned to ethics. Santiago described creating art installations using data from foot traffic and voice analytics and making sure that everything was anonymous to respect privacy, and Bailey assured everyone that if they create a custom voice or avatar they require consent, but Abraham pointed out that we are not doing such a great job of enforcing ethics in the Web 2.0 version. He said, “We have a problem with privacy and safety now, so perhaps we need to take guidelines from some social media platforms and take the pieces that apply and customize them for Web 3.0 but this time enforce them. But right now it is the wild, wild, west.”
Next Steps
When Minish asked what people should be doing to start using the metaverse all the panelists suggested starting small and focusing on what aligns with your brand or business. Abraham suggested getting a couple of interested people together at your company and giving them a small budget to explore what would work for you. Many companies have already started creating space or services in the metaverse but are not ready to go public yet.
Metaverse Challenges
Santiago and Bailey mentioned that copyright infringement and content misappropriation are problems, while blockchain can help with protecting some art there are still issues.
Santiago also mentioned that while tech can be empowering there are many different choices right now and it is not clear which, for example, crypto currencies will survive when things settle. There are many different types. However, she pointed out that companies like Time Magazine now allow subscribers to use crypto. It is another option, but they still accept checks and cards so companies can experiment.
Bailey also mentioned that the energy use required by blockchain which enables the metaverse will have to be addressed in the next three to five years.
Last Thoughts
Abraham suggested asking clients if they have a strategy for engaging with the metaverse, and gently push them to start exploring. But when working with them, he advises getting feedback at every stage. “Build something based on feedback. It’s like my marriage, I told my wife you have to tell me if I’m doing something wrong because I’m not going to be able to guess. Everyone should feel comfortable in the metaverse.”