Looking over the trends of recent years, Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) have became an essential part of the events industry.

And maybe not only from the events industry, because there are blog articles, newsletters, e-books, video-blogs and almost everything around us has adopted VR and AR the These are among the most innovative technology trends of the last decade.

Before we see how the two can be integrated into your next event, let’s go back to basics.

Virtual Reality (VR)

As he defines it Oxford Dictionary:

The computer-generated simulation of a three-dimensional image or environment that can be interacted with in a seemingly real or physical way by a person using special electronic equipment, such as a helmet with a screen inside or gloves fitted with sensors.

This starts from the idea of creating something “almost real”. VR is used in events to create an interaction without limits and is often used in hybrid events or predominantly in virtual events.

Augmented Reality (AR)

It is similar to VR, but it does not create an alternative to reality, but complements it. You must have played, or at least heard about Pokemon Go. The magic of that game was created with the help of AR.

In Oxford Dictionary, AR is defined as:

A technology that superimposes a computer-generated image on a user’s view of the real world, thus providing a composite view.

Like VR, augmented reality is often used in hybrid events.

Here are some ideas caught on the fly from colleagues in the MICE team to approach AR or VR in your next event:

1. Twist it up with a bit of gamification

I kept talking about gamification, clearly becoming a strong component of events and especially of team development. You give an interesting and fun twist to a serious event.

Combining the useful with the pleasant – you help the participants to communicate with each other, you can collect feedback, promote the partners of an event and all this with the help of gamification. And, of course, you can do this with the help of VR or AR.

2. Product display

And here we refer to the products that are perhaps more complicated to bring to an event – we have the well-known example of those from Volskwagen, when they developed an application for the Golf Cabriolet. The application uses AR and VR and gives you the opportunity to discover the car only with the help of a smartphone.

3. Creating a hybrid event

Before creating a virtual event, you can try organizing a hybrid event. That is, in addition to the participants who come to a conventional location (or not), you can also have those who participate online from various parts of the world.

And here we are not referring to the live streaming of the event, but to living the experience of the event with the help of Virtual Reality. An example at hand is the Olympic Games in Rio in 2016.

4. Stands with VR

We live in an era where information means power. And brands want to convey, that’s why more and more are starting to offer information in various formats. Among these we call VR.

Here we have the example of colleagues from Internet & Mobile World and Bucharest Technology Week, in one of our events – Inspiration Day – presented their events through an application and some VR glasses.

5. Offers virtual tours

Unprecedented experiences with the help of an application and a pair of VR glasses. We can talk about how interactive the event is for colleagues from Imobiliarium, or rather we invite you to enjoy the experience Real estate on October 12-14.

6. Interactive presentations

The content of an event is in the top 3 reasons for participants choosing to attend an event. The presentations and information delivered by the speakers can also be offered in the form of AR.

A very good example is Bill Chang’s speech:

Conclusion

Both Virtual and Augmented Reality take your event experience to the next level. And if your audience is tech savvy… bingo!