CEO Maria Hellström acknowledges:
- We were skeptical from the beginning and thought: No, we want to be seen for real.
Conference via video call did not attractPutting on hundreds of conference attendees VR glasses and meeting in a virtual programmed reality felt scary.
- We can bring down 300 people to South Africa - no problem. But this? It will be a threshold that one must cross, says Maria Hellström.
But the corona pandemic made physical hits impossible and a conference via video call did not attract. So when robot developer Fredrik Löfgren, who was booked to lecture at the conference, suggested that the consulting firm Kvadrat should arrange the entire conference in VR, Maria Hellström said yes.
"Teleported us to after work"- It gives completely different possibilities. We had our conference in a hall in daylight and afterwards everyone could teleport to a rooftop in the evening light where we could shoot virtual fireworks. It was so wonderful to hear everything giggling. You don't get it the same way when you have video calls, ”says Maria Hellström.
As VR glasses become cheaper and technology better, this will be something that more and more people use, believes Fredrik Löfgren.
- Over time, there will certainly be better glasses that are not as heavy, and there is also research with smart lenses that have a small display in the eye. So it will be easier, he says.
"Brand new labor market"After the conference with the company Kvadrat, many interested event agencies - which lost customers during the corona pandemic - have inquired.
- There are many people who want to be hooked, but no event agencies have worked with this technology before. So here is a whole new labor market where many who have become unemployed may be able to work, says Fredrik Löfgren.
VIDEON: Join the VR world where SVT's reporters interview Fredrik Löfgren and Maria Hellström as avatars and get an insight into how a conference can go.