3D immersive event technology: game changer… or much ado about nothing?

The rise of event technology since Covid has been nothing short of remarkable. Remember the old days when conference calls (audio) were the big thing? Today, event organizers face a plethora (maze) of technology choices and learning curves. From the once simple skype call, we have entered the realm of entire virtual event platforms that do it all pushing one-to-many content.

And what comes next? Enter 3D immersive. Imagine combining a video game experience like Minecraft or many first person experiences with virtual reality, designed like an event space. This next frontier takes all the tech we have currently, and combines it into a fully immersive, interactive, avatar to avatar experience. From session and plenary rooms to expansive expo halls and networking areas, there are no limits to what 3D immersive CAN do. 

However, like when the first skype call arrived on scene, the question is not what the capabilities or limits of our imagination can render, but what an attendee is willing to do, or not do. 3D immersive impact on the event industry will be limited rather by event planners' time and efforts to adopt it, and to attendees' patience and interest in learning and adopting yet another new event technology system. 

Setting aside both zoom fatigue and accepting that no event technology can ever replace the human connection that live events offer, 3D immersive has some interesting upside worth paying attention to. For example, the age-old challenge of developing pre and post event content that attendees will actually even look at, is a space 3D immersive offers some hope on. 

By making the user experience more engaging, interactive and gamified, the precise benefits unique to 3D immersive, attending pre-event workshops or offering up digital replays and post-event recaps to those who missed the live event, presents legitimate business opportunities for event planners to capture today. Stale proceedings webpages or canned videos on your youtube channel, and the long forgotten members-only areas of your website, all could benefit from a 3D immersive makeover to drive more pre/post traffic!

While not the holy grail, it does offer an interesting solution to the problem of extending the ‘event lifecycle’ beyond those few dates per year when meeting in person. 3D immersive represents the next best chance in pre/post event technology, to deliver just that to the events industry. 

Walter is the founder of WW Consulting and BrandVenueAdvisors.