Improving The Virtual Event User Experience

Improving The Virtual Event User Experience
by Dennis Shiao of It's All Virtual

The Airport Experience

To get to your flight, one embarks on a journey through the airport.  First, you park your car (or arrive via mass transportation).  Then you take an elevator, walkway or escalator and arrive at your terminal.  From there, you use a self service kiosk to check in to your flight and receive your boarding pass.  Perhaps you check in an item of luggage or two.  Then, you enter the security checkpoint line and have your carry-on items (and yourself) screened.

Once through, you walk towards your assigned gate, while stopping (if needed) to use the restroom, purchase a snack or pick up some reading material for the flight.  Once that’s all done, you may sit at the gate and relax for a bit before your flight takes off.  All in all, quite a complex journey – and, you’re no closer to your destination!  Believe it or not, however, the airport has provided subtle “tools” to make this journey a bit more efficient.

In the midst of one such journey (on a recent business trip), I drew comparisons between the airport experience and the virtual event experience.  Here are some tactics used at the airport that may improve the user experience for virtual events:

READ THE FULL ARTICLE on IT'S ALL VIRTUAL

Ballet Pixelle Performs The Nutcracker - Monday December 28th - 5pm SLT

Monday 12/28 at 5pm - Ballet Pixelle Performs The Nutcracker
Via Chestnut's Choices on New World Notes


Ballet Pixelle performs its version of the Nutcracker for those of you who have not yet seen this seasonal classic. You will be entertained by mysterious dancers on magic carpets, a Russian cossack stamping out a dance, a Chinese Empresses moving about the stage on delicate feet and Spanish senoritas throwing themselves flamboyantly.  In IBM 10.  [SLurl teleport at this link]

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About:
Ballet Pixelle

Ballet Pixelle produces professional works that creatively enhance the viewer’s experience while attending a ballet performance. Audience members can see classical, neoclassical, contemporary, and novel ballets that cannot be seen elsewhere.  New ballets are premiered with original stories, choreography, and music with dancers from around the world all dancing together in one space.
Unlike other ballet companies, Ballet Pixelle uses new technology to take the art form into a unique environment to new and existing spectators - the first and only of its kind.  The company performs in and takes advantage of a 3D Internet virtual world called Second Life®. The company creatively utilizes unique aspects of the virtual reality, e.g., transforming from human into animal or growing old on stage.  The ballet uses a new breed of dancers and a new classical ballet vocabulary created to take advantage of the innovative medium.  The dancers are virtual representations of human beings (avatars). These avatars, or virtual dancers, are real people from around the globe – Bahrain, Chicago, Denmark, England, Germany, Hawaii, Holland, New York, Seattle, Scotland, and Washington DC – that come together to captivate audiences.  Many are real life professionals.

By performing in an Internet virtual space, it breaks geo-
graphical boundaries and time zones, and it allows new spectators to enjoy, in a unique way, a ballet performance that they may have not experienced otherwise. Ballet Pixelle drives further awareness and appreciation for the art form.

“By the end of the first act, I realized that the same emotional response that real life dance can evoke is possible in the virtual realm.”—Pixeleen Mistral of the "Second Life Herald".

Ballet Pixelle’s debut on February 7, 2007, was the world premiere of a new and unique ballet, Olmannen, an original 3-act story written, choreographed, directed and staged in the virtual world of Second Life® at the Ballet Pixelle's Theatre hosted by IBM (IBM 10 (12,191,21).

Doubledown Tandino - Available for your Holiday Event (inworld or in real life!)

Doubledown Tandino
Live Electronic Musician, Live remixer, and turntable DJ  

Hello friends
I am available for your holiday event!

Consider the possibilities,  including:
having a real life occasion and the music comes to you live,
or having a SL corporate event,
or having an art show or fashion show.
or having SL holiday winter wonderland party,
*All options are open, but shows are limited. Dates are limited.

Doubledown Note: Each performance will be a special individual unique audio experience, while also incorporating ANYTHING else into your event that needs to be, including promotions.
  
   ----DOUBLEDOWN'S 2009 Holiday / Winter Performance OPTIONS ARE BELOW----

= Perfect for Corporates, Expos, Promotional Events, Art Shows, & Fashion shows =

☮ 1 Hour Holiday/Winter retro classics remixed with modern beats - (Incl live remixing and live dj mixing) $5000L
   
☮ 1 Hour Holiday/Winter retro classics remixed with modern beats
- 30 mins before a live musician or speaker, and then 30 mins after (IE: preshow & post-show) - (Incl live remixing and live dj mixing) $5800L

☮ 2 Hour Holiday/Winter retro classics remixed with modern beats combined with other holiday originals - (Incl live remixing and DJ blending) $7000L

☮ 2 Hour Holiday/Winter retro classics remixed w/ modern beats into all around funky party tunes mix - (Incl live remixing & Live dj mixing) $8000L

☮ 2 Hour Winter Chillout, Deep House, and Nujazz Mix - (Incl live originals & live dj mixing)- $6500L
   
= Perfect for Hi-Energy & High Dancing  : Good for Clubs & Rave Events =

☮ 2 Hour Winter Breakbeats Mix - (Incl. live dj mixing)- $5000L
   
============================
Need more performers to build a show? ask me about that also  

- Doubledown Tandino
Ravelong Productions - 2009
email at DJDoubledown (at) Gmail (dot) com
or connect using any of the buttons to the right side of the blog.

Security Checks To Prevent Virtual World Event Disruption

10 Must-Do Security Checks To Prevent Virtual World Event Disruption
by JoelFoner of joelfoner.com

Virtual world event management is, in the large, similar to real life event management. You’ve got to make sure that guests and performers are lined up, that marketing and advertising is effective, and if it is a broadcast event, that the technical and support staff logistics have been completed. Security, however, requires some special handling in order to avoid enabling disruptive people to create chaos at your event. This post focuses on some specifics for Second Life™ security management, however the principles are similar for other virtual world platforms.

Event Disruption Categories

• Purposeful region crashes (exploiting a bug to cause the region to crash “on demand”)
• Littering (leaving objects in inconvenient places, placing them out during an event, or moving them around in the way of the event)
• Pollution (planting a particle generator that creates a spray of smoke, fog or distasteful imagery)
• Disruptive chat or voice participation

Must-Do Security Checks

[CLICK HERE TO READ JOEL FONER'S 10 SECURITY CHECKS]

Incorporate Gaming In Virtual Events

Incorporate Gaming In Virtual Events
by Dennis Shiao of It’s All Virtual

Virtual Worlds, Virtual Tradeshows, Virtual Meetings and more…

We’ve reached a point in the virtual events industry where users who have attended 1-5 events (or more) are starting to ask, “What’s next”?  If the industry doesn’t effectively answer that question, then users will eventually stop coming back and attendance will suffer.  One concept that makes a lot of sense is to introduce gaming into virtual events.  By doing so, you’ll achieve real results.  Why gaming?  It’s all about REEL:

Retention
Retention is a key objective of any virtual event – whether it’s a lead generation event (virtual tradeshow), partner education event or a virtual sales meeting, you want attendees to leave the event with a level of retention over the content you’ve provided (e.g. exhibitor product information, your own product and technology specifications or the the coming year’s sales priorities and initiatives).  Even in a virtual career fair, “retention” is about job candidates retaining information about your company and why they might want to work there.

With gaming, retention isn’t going to be achieved magically...

[READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE]

See also:

Virtual Trade Shows No Longer Novel at BtoBonline
Gaming and Virtual Reality at Cisco’s Annual Sales Meeting at Cisco

Doubledown Tandino - Available to DJ, Emcee, & Promote your Halloween Event

Hello ghouls, goblins, and ... avatars.  I (Doubledown Tandino) am available for Second Life Halloween bookings and events.  Halloween is my favorite time of year, and I cannot wait to perform at some of this year's inworld parties.

I am a professional real life and Second Life DJ, and do a live turntable mix of current modern spooky electronica (house and breakbeats), combined with live remixing of various classic Halloween jams.  I've done Halloween events for over a decade, yet always find ways to make the music fresh and unique each year.

Booking me means you'll get:
- Advanced promotion of the event; includes inworld marketing + internet & social media based.
- During event promotion; includes TPs, notices, group chat, twitter, facebook, status updates, etc.
- Live broadcast DJing & live mixing and remixing
- Live on-the-mic Emcee to promote goals of the event (products, freebies, giveaways, contests, venue info, people involved info, etc)
- The broadcast stream (if your venue does not have one)
- Any extra Halloween decorations if needed (I am able to provide a Halloween DJ booth & lighting)

October 28th, 29th, 30th, and 31st dates are available (pending time availability.)
Depending on your expectations, approximate rate is $5000L for one hour, $8000L for two hours.
(The time spent on advance promotion is included.  (If you would like a graphic flier designed for your event, the cost is $5000L.))
The cost is $3000L per hour if you JUST would like me to DJ, but not do any promotions or speak on the mic.

please contact me ASAP at DJDoubledown @ gmail.com to discuss your expectations and lock in the time.

Primer on Organizing a Mixed Reality Event

( Via Aliza Sherman via Dusan Writer )

Dusan Writer writes:

Primer on Organizing a Mixed Reality Event
Web Worker Daily recently published a nice summary of the key elements needed to set up a virtual world event intended to happen simultaneously with a real world event. Aliza Sherman, the author, is familiar only with Second Life, where she has held two events.

There are eight key points that Sherman recognizes:

1 - Get Virtual Help: Sherman suggests help from talent in both the real and virtual worlds

2 - Know the Lay of the Land: In other words, co-own an island in Second Life. This helps immensely when clients come to you lacking their own SL land.

3 - Think 3-D and Interactive: Offer 3D notecards (in addition to the standard billboards) that avatars can pick up and stick in their pocket. Er, inventory.

4 - Think Promo Items (Freebies): Give away things like virtual t-shirts, or, if the promo is for a food company, virtual food that the avatar can eat. Yay freebies!

5 - Show the Virtual Event in the Actual Conference Location: Self-explanatory, really. Set up a few laptops and if possible project onto a large screen.

6 - Stay on Message Virtually: As in the RW, staying on message applies virtually as well. Hosts can keep avatars from being distracted by the novelty of Second Life or other virtual worlds by communicating key messages.

7 - Hire Security: “It is so easy to build and create objects in Second Life, and it is just as easy for a troublemaker - or “griefer” - to do the same at your event,” writes Sherman. Security can eject griefers quickly and effectively.

8 - Spread the Virtual Word: Playing on the advent of SL bloggers, an event can attract decent word-of-mouth through SLers writing about it in-world.

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