Abstract: Virtual educators know how difficult it is to maintain control over learners’ attention. Without the interpersonal cues and interactions we share when communicating face-to-face, the learning experience can feel unnatural and disengaging, extracting a heavy toll on knowledge transfer.
But why do virtual programs often seem less conducive to learning than ILT? The missing element is engagement. This session will examine:
The crucial nature of engagement to successful learning environments;
The four factors for creating engagement;
The ability of various online modalities to engage
How the immersive web can help simply and cost-effectively replicate the in-person experience.
Speaker Bio: David Gardner is a serial entrepreneur, technology investor and futurist with a proven track record of early identification of paradigm-shifting technologies. He is a trusted advisor concerning new technology trends who believes Web-3D is on the verge of dramatically transforming many web-based business models as we know them today.
Experienced in taking IT products and Internet-service model companies to market, Gardner has founded seven technology companies—including PeopleClick, the first hosted software-as-a-service enterprise application; and healthcare communications technology exchange ProviderLink, now owned by Compuware—without a single failure or loss of investor funds. He has served on several boards, spoken at multiple industry conferences, and published over twenty forward-thinking papers and articles on technical, business and managerial topics.
In 2007, Gardner founded VenueGen (www.VenueGen.com), a company dedicated to creating a new standard of in-browser web-conference platform for more engaging, productive and efficient online training, meetings and events. He currently serves as CEO.
For more information about how to catch the presentation, visit the VWBPE Conference website or contact Kate Hendrick, director of marketing at VenueGen.
Co-authors of the new book “Learning in 3D” will virtually join 40 attendees to explore the impact of the immersive Internet on the future of enterprise learning
(Research Triangle Park, NC: March 9, 2011) Two of the training industry’s most prominent figures, Dr. Tony O’Driscoll of Duke University and Karl Kapp of Bloomsburg University, are teaming up to share their immersive e-learning expertise in a free, limited-seat virtual event March 30 at 11 a.m. EDT in VenueGen. Online registration will open next week, and the 40 virtual seats will be filled on a first-come, first-serve basis. Those who would like to receive an email alert when registration opens can sign up here.
Dr. Tony O'Driscoll
According to O’Driscoll and Kapp—both of whom specialize in the intersection of learning, business and technology—the reason behind the event’s exclusivity is simple. “We want the audience to fully experience how engagement and learning can thrive in an immersive Internet environment,” said O’Driscoll. “By limiting the event to 40 people, every attendee will be able to actively interact, communicate, learn, and share ideas nearly as effectively as if we were in a physical room together, instead of in 40 different locations.”
Karl Kapp, Ed.D.
“Most business-specific Web3D environments are much more simple and natural-feeling to use than many people realize,” added Kapp. “We want to demonstrate that the immersive Internet has a very real value to enterprise training. By boosting user engagement, these environments make it possible to improve learning outcomes online and, ultimately, to increase ROI.”
The panel will be moderated by VenueGen CEO David Gardner.”We are extremely excited about partnering with Tony and Karl for this event,” said Gardner. “Anyone who is interested in training and learning in business environments will benefit immensely from their research.”
O’Driscoll and Kapp are co-authors of a new book titled Learning in 3D: Adding a New Dimension to Enterprise Learning and Collaboration, published by Pfeiffer, an imprint of Wiley. In support of the book, Pfeiffer will hold a drawing for three free copies. Those who sign up for the registration e-mail alert will be automatically entered to win, so the giveaway is not limited only to those who are able to attend.
For information about Learning in 3D, or to purchase a copy, visit the Pfeiffer website.
For more information about the event, please contact Kate Hendrick, director of marketing at VenueGen by phone at 919-228-4995, by email at khendrick@venuegen.com, or via Twitter at @VenueGen.
VenueGen, a leading 3-D Virtual Meeting and Training platform provider, has been named one of the Cool Vendors in Social Software and Collaboration in the April 6, 2010 research report published by Carol Rozwell of Gartner, Inc.
As stated in the Gartner report, “the five vendors profiled in this Cool Vendors research demonstrate the breadth of social-software tools. On one hand, they can use the social network to solve problems. In addition, they can provide a platform for engagement in virtual environments that’s superior to more traditional settings.”
Gartner, Inc. names VenueGen a "Cool Vendor" of 2010 for it's e-training app
VenueGen’s 3-D meeting and training platform is delivered as a browser-based software as a service. Users sign up just like a simple Web conferencing tool, and they instantly get a photorealistic avatar based on a picture of themselves. Unlike passive audio and Web conferencing, users are engaged, vocal, and actively participating, thanks to the virtual environment replication of a real conference environment. VenueGen starts at $90 per month, and free 30 day trials are available.
“Billions of dollars are spent each year on business meeting travel, training, and distance learning. The 3-D meeting, collaboration and corporate training markets are accelerating. 3D meeting platforms are becoming mainstream applications,” said David Gardner, CEO VenueGen. “We believe Gartner has identified this trend and we are proud to have been included in the Gartner Cool Vendor report. At $90 per month, VenueGen becomes attractive to every company using audio, video and web conferencing. Our video shows how VenueGen is remarkably different.”
VenueGen features:
Automated setup - Sign-up is as fast as a Web conferencing tool. Users set their avatar profile and their avatar moves and acts like they would in the real world.
Photo realistic avatar – Users can upload a photo, it maps to the avatars face, and people can see you and identify you instantly in a meeting. Avatars look just like their owners. No cartoons, no game characters — you look businesslike, and you get business done.
Positional sound – Drag your mouse left, drag your mouse right, and you scan the room and will see and hear people exactly as they are positioned in the room. This dramatically reduces audio fatigue experienced in typical audio and Web conferences.
Integrated content – Share documents, PowerPoint, or browse the web while you are in the 3D room.
Ease-of-use – No menus, no keystrokes. Users simply right click their mouse, and options such as “sit in this chair,” “walk over here,” “point at this person” appear. Users are productive in minutes.
Replicate the real world – You can be in Paris, London, New York in the same afternoon. Without any video equipment, you can conduct lifelike 3-D meetings with colleagues and partners around the world. All you need is a laptop, and either voice over IP, or any telephone line (standard dial-in like Web conferencing)
Used for Corporate Training & Collaborative Meetings
Corporate training - Put dozens or hundreds of people in a virtual room, sharing content and ideas, and running productive virtual training classes that are truly engaging. Attendees learn more, retain more, and are more vested in the outcome. They leave training classes connected to their colleagues and revitalized, with high recall of information and ready for action.
Meetings – Every business line manager has staff meetings, project meetings, informational meetings and more. Team members are all over the country or the world. VenueGen is used for these applications in small to large companies from millions to billions in revenue.
ONE+ ‘s Jason Hensel talks with VenueGen CEO David Gardner about the usability and user-engagement advantages of immersive web technologies. “You recognize people on-site. You can see who’s talking. When everyone turns and looks at you, your energy level spikes. It feels just like being in a real meeting.”
In 2009, the Cisco Global Sales Experience demonstrated the power of games to engage audiences and impart learning. In this guest post by David Gardner, CEO of VenueGen, David highlights why gaming and business are a perfect match. David is also speaking on “3D Immersive Worlds for Business Engagement” on January 12, 2011 from 11:00 – 11:45 am.
David Gardner is a serial entrepreneur, technology investor and futurist. With a proven track record for early identification of paradigm-shifting technologies, Gardner has successfully built seven companies. He is a trusted advisor concerning new technology trends who believes the 3D web is on the verge of dramatically transforming many web-based business models as we know them today
David Gardner, CEO of VenueGen
To the average business person, the word “gaming” probably seems irrelevant, especially when used in the same sentence as “a more productive, innovative, strategically unified workforce.” But it makes perfect sense for business objectives and gaming to go hand-in-hand. Why? Because while most every company is looking to cut costs by moving training, meetings and events online, today’s 2D web conference solutions just can’t match the engagement we experience when we’re physically face-to-face. And without engagement, ideas don’t connect and information just doesn’t sink in.
Virtual games, on the other hand, have been engaging people from afar for years. So why not embrace their use for business? What business needs to understand is that it’s not just the high-speed car chases or alien massacres that engage people in virtual games. Rather, a game’s storyline is akin to a corporate meeting agenda, or content for a training course. Obviously, the material must be relevant and maybe even a little exciting to be engaging. But even the most popular courses and topics become lackluster when presented as flat slides accompanied by faceless voices. To further the metaphor, expecting engagement from a web conference is kind of like expecting it from a video of a stranger playing Halo.
So what else drives engagement beyond the ‘storyline’? The missing link is individual control. With gaming, each player has a sense of shaping his or her own virtual experience while (especially in team-player games) contributing to a common goal. Similarly, when we communicate face-to-face, we’re in control not only of what we say and when we speak, but also of our facial expressions, our body language, where we direct our attention, our perception of others and their perception of us, and countless other subtle, semi-conscious gestures whose maintenance keeps us alert, interested, and above all, engaged. Isn’t this exactly what’s missing from our virtual classrooms, events and meetings?
To find out, creators of a new breed of in-browser 3D environments are enabling high levels of personal control for online business communications. These applications feature simple, intuitive usability, and are meant to “disappear” once a user becomes accustomed to them, so that he or she can become fully immersed in a virtual world of natural-esque business collaboration and learning. So far, there’s evidence that gaming and business are a great match. Happy users report improved collaboration, communication, retention and long-term transfer of learning.
Attendees at one of the seminars at this year’s Virtual Edge Summit in Las Vegas were amazed at the 3D technology that’s now on the market for virtual meetings and events.
Comments such as: “I’ve never seen anything like this before,” were uttered during the demonstration by David Gardner, chief executive of VenueGen – and this was despite a technology malfunction that meant it had to be cut short.
What delegates saw were 3D virtual meetings populated by avatars, but more life like than people are used to seeing in environments such as Second Life. What’s more, the avatars had the faces of the people they were representing, with the 3D immersive technology creating a real feeling of the presence of others in the meeting.
What was clear to Gardner’s audience was how much more engaging an environment VenueGen’s 3D event was compared to the two dimensional versions that are becoming increasingly widespread. And it is this increased level of engagement that Gardner believes makes meetings held in a 3D environment much more effective.
“Analysts Gartner and Forrester both predicted the rise and widespread adoption of Web3D by 2010,” said Gardner. “This was the hype cycle, and what people found was that the technology was difficult to build, couldn’t negotiate firewalls easily or be downloaded quickly enough. Plus it was complex to use and expensive. But now we’ve hit the five-year point, I believe all these issues have been resolved.
“But one key issue remains – we have failed to make the case for how important engagement is to online meetings. It’s very hard to measure, but last year $350 billion dollars was lost through disengaged staff, according to research.
“Why would people spend so much on Telepresence, when WebEx was so cheap? Because it is engaging and 2D screen sharing is not.”
So what about the cost of 3D immersive meetings technology? Well Gardner was keen to point out that is has become very affordable.
“Web3D can be installed in under a minute, learned in 30 seconds and is cheaper that WebEx,” he said.
So after a five-year wait, perhaps Gardner may well see his vision for the future of corporate meetings come to fruition in 2011.
David Gardner will explore the potential of new in-browser meeting environments to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of dispersed business teams
(Morrisville, NC: January 10, 2011) For business to truly recoup value by moving training, meetings and events online, they need a more engaging, natural-feeling solution than the web conferencing and screen sharing platforms that dominate today’s market, says David Gardner, CEO and creator of VenueGen, a subscription-based web application that enables business customers to more effectively engage teams on-line in fully immersive Web3D virtual conferencing environments.
Gardner will explore these solutions, as well as the implications of new technology on the future of corporate training and events, in two sessions at Virtual Edge Summit 2011, the industry’s largest gathering for virtual events, meetings, communities, and learning, held this year at the MGM Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, as well as virtually.
3D Immersive Worlds for Business Engagement will take place Wednesday, January 12, 11:00 – 11:45 PST. Gardner will join IT/IS expert and KohdSpace Chairman Terry Thorpe, along with John Jainschigg, virtual events expert and CEO of World2Worlds, Inc (www.world2worlds.com), to examine the proof and case experiences behind the capacity of fully immersive 3D online environments to drive engagement and improve results.
Virtual Environment Platforms: From Social Gaming to Social Mediawill take place Wednesday, January 12, 2:15 – 3:00 PST. The session will focus on how the convergence of social gaming and virtual environments is changing expectations for online business experiences. Other thought leaders participating in the session are Ken Hayward, digital media expert and CEO of Vcopious; Rahul Rankavat, director of software development at Vcopious; and Manu Gambhir, social gaming expert and CEO of Ryzing.
For more information, or to schedule an interview with Gardner at the event, please contact Kate Hendrick by phone at 919-228-4995, by email at khendrick@venuegen.com, or via Twitter at @VenueGen.
About David Gardner
David Gardner is a serial entrepreneur, technology investor and futurist with a proven track record of early identification of paradigm-shifting technologies. He is a trusted advisor concerning new technology trends who believes Web-3D is on the verge of dramatically transforming many web-based business models as we know them today.
David Gardner, CEO of VenueGen
Experienced in taking IT products and Internet-service model companies to market, Gardner has founded seven technology companies—including PeopleClick, the first hosted software-as-a-service enterprise application; and healthcare communications technology exchange ProviderLink, now owned by Compuware—without a single failure or loss of investor funds. He has served on several boards, spoken at multiple industry conferences, and published over twenty forward-thinking papers and articles on technical, business and managerial topics.
In 2007, Gardner founded VenueGen, a company dedicated to creating a new standard of in-browser web-conference platform for more engaging, productive and efficient online training, meetings and events. He currently serves as CEO.
About VenueGen
VenueGen is a subscription based Web3D conference application enabling business customers to efficiently and affordably train, collaborate, meet and share content online without sacrificing the engagement and productivity of face-to-face communication.
Compared to the web conferencing and screen sharing platforms currently on the market, VenueGen’s immersive 3D environments facilitate lifelike, natural-feeling interaction for improved learning, motivation and overall performance. VenueGen features fast, easy installation; a minimal usability learning curve; private, secure environments; and one-of-a-kind content sharing capabilities that use negligible bandwidth, allow multiple content windows to be shared simultaneously, and empower each user to control his or her personal view of content.
VenueGen is included in Gartner’s Five Coolest and Most Promising New Technologies, and has received accolades from USA Today, Business Week, CNBC and others. To learn more, please visit the company’s website at www.VenueGen.com or follow VenueGen on Twitter at twitter.com/venuegen.
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Many businesses are looking for ways to save time and money. One area that tends to get a lot of attention is travel expenses. For businesses that require frequent collaboration between workers, VenueGen’s virtual meetings can provide cost-effective solutions without losing the benefits of face-to-face communication.
VenueGen makes expensive transportation costs and travel time a thing of the past. The virtual 3D web conferencing platform provides an effective means of communication as effective as a 500,000 telepresence room—it’s that sense of actually being “there” with your colleagues. Featuring photo-created avatars, realistic meeting rooms, VoIP technology, surround sound, and content sharing, it’s the all in one program that’s easy to use and simple to install. No telepresence equipment or cameras required.
The effective communication produces better results for both business and customer relationships. Meeting attendees are able to see people’s facial expressions and read their body language which can greatly facilitate communications. Sharing documents and presentation slides enables worker collaboration over the internet.
The browser-based software loads in just seconds, allowing remote workers to come together in real-time over the internet. VenueGen makes it possible to hold meetings, lead training sessions, and service clients right from your desktop.
People are driven by an inherent need to develop meaningful relationships and to connect with one another. And with social networking websites popping up every day, we are discovering new ways to communicate. But when engaging in social interaction, scientific research tells us up to 80% of our communication actually comes from nonverbal language. With that kind of figure, it’s no wonder so much information is lost through other web conferencing methods!
It is with this understanding that the creators of VenueGen are revolutionizing virtual meetings and distance learning with the totally immersive, 3D software platform that helps you to connect with others that is as close to being “there” as you can get. It’s the web conferencing platform that allows you to have both the audio and the visual focus of others in the room.
When you can see all of the other attendees while focusing on the speaker, you actually feel as though you’re part of something real. When other users speak, their names display in pop-ups above their heads so you can identify exactly who’s got the floor so you can adjust your avatar’s focus. This is not video with boxes of talking heads. This is a true 3D virtual room you are participating in. To supplement these unique visual cues, VenueGen features positional audio, meaning the volumes of others’ voices will vary depending on where they are located in the room in relation to you.
Beyond natural interaction, VenueGen allows users to control and share documents too. Your content is integrated on the screen in the virtual room (emulating a real conference). Content can be shared 3 ways: 1) distributed before the meeting to all attendees when they sign up, 2) added on the fly during a meeting, and 3) your entire screen can be shared on the fly. And get this -multiple users can share their screens at the same time! Imagine sharing multiple financials, sales forecasts, powerpoints. Everyone in the room has the option to enlarge and interact with the document on their own computer screen.
Ultimately as a speaker, being able to share a common visual focus will ensure you to have greater command over your virtual audience and as a result create a shared understanding of the information. This results in faster learning, insights and retention of information. Because VenueGen saves time and enhances productivity in meetings for long-term success, we are confident that you will find our software suitable for almost any virtual meeting need.
engagement. This session will examine:
People are driven by an inherent need to develop meaningful relationships and to connect with one another. And with social networking websites popping up every day, we are discovering new ways to communicate. But when engaging in social interaction, scientific research tells us up to 80% of our communication actually comes from nonverbal language. With that kind of figure, it’s no wonder so much information is lost through other 