Article written by Nicky Godding, Editor, Business & Innovation Magazine
A young Stroud events company is harnessing the metaverse to create business and corporate events which are securing astonishing levels of client and staff engagement.
Twist Events, led by events professional Kate Brown, is using the metaverse – a network of 3D virtual worlds focused on social connection, to deliver conferences and staff training, most notably for global healthcare company Johnson & Johnson.
Kate explained: “Effective product training for healthcare professionals is essential, but the pandemic drove Johnson & Johnson’s conferences and training online. Zoom was the early answer, but its engagement tools were limited.”
Kate worked with Johnson & Johnson Vision, the company’s eye care division, developing online digital training for its Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) group, consisting of professionals from around 40 countries.
“Their Professional Education Development Team comprises scientists, biologists, surgeons and other professionals at the top of their game,” she said. “They challenged us to develop innovative and engaging online tools to help them train eye-care professionals in opticians, hospitals and other relevant eyecare settings.”
Twist Events built an immersive digital environment – a metaverse. Participants logged on via their computer to a short video introducing them to the digital environment and welcoming them into the metaverse. Participants were guided to interactive points where “play” buttons delivered specially created content.
Individual photographs of the Professional Education Development Team hung in the space, and participants could click on each one to reveal short videos (filmed prior to the event).
Kate explained: “Despite being in different countries, we wanted people to know each other better, to help bridge geographical gaps. Developing the sense of community was a key part of our response to the brief. We wanted to make the event as personal as possible and incorporate as much real life ‘back home’ content as we could. All with a view to celebrating the rich cultural diversity of the team.”
She added: “We also ran a globetrotter’s quiz to get people mixing online and having a bit of fun in teams. Some contributed home photographs which were incorporated into the questions. This proved a big hit and did wonders for strengthening existing bonds.”
But Twist didn’t abandon participants in this 3D world.
The event was professionally hosted and offered a real time live stream. The host engaged with participants, guiding them around the 3D environment.
Twist also built a 3D “wellness dome”, offering opportunities such as a 20-minute yoga session and a three-minute meditation.
Johnson & Johnson’s Professional Education Development Team can now use the technology to run individual training sessions.
Kate secured the digital engagement metaverse project after delivering Johnson & Johnson Vison’s national sales meeting last year, achieving a 90 per cent engagement success rate – one of the best results the healthcare company has ever had.
Kate added: “We’ve all missed physical events, but in an increasingly global world, getting people together is more difficult.”
What Twist achieved for Johnson & Johnson Vision is just the start, said Kate. “Our technology can now build interactive experiences on a new level.”