Blogger Notes

This discussion shows you the first way to measure results on our operation : the classic statistic sensor that Kigh had put on the parcel where the booth was hosted on Champs Elysees.

Kigh considers there were about 453 serious visitors on the booth and that the discussions the sales forces had with the second life visitors were serious, and that many leaded to contact in real life after this, so to say many sales opportunities which was one of the goals.

We also conducted a small qualitative enquiry on the booth with some survey stands, that were showing a real interest from the visitors on that kind of communication and contact from the client. Some clients were really enthousiastic and even wrote to me or Kigh to ask more about Second Life and how they could develop their own project.

And most of all, the FrontRange people were really satisfied of this and it really brought a new spirit to some of the team showing them new path of developping relationships into a professionnal environment. 

I do not consider myself like a real "evangelist" as we used to say about the Apple people, but sometimes I feel this way. When we think we convince maybe about 400 people that were discovering Second Life thru this operation, and maybe some of those people will really develop their real life activity with it, and maybe returns to Second Life to create something that will also brings something useful to the resident community. We cannot really track this and measure it, but I am sure this small action is one of those small stones that grows the future of collaboration thru virtual worlds, and maybe for the best. And in some ways, I really feel proud to be an actor of this process....

First, I added some sculpted prim assistants to make the place more welcoming. OK it is not as if a regular avatar was there but it creates something different. The assistant is able to greet every customer with a personalized customizable message. She can also delivers gifts, notecards, or anything along with the greetings. They also keeps track of visitors and reports per email. The thing I like is that they have the ability to collect feedback, like how the visitor got to the booth, if they have a question or if they need a contact in real life.

For those business people who come to Second Life for collaborative practises, this is not so funny !! Because in general, once they have resolved the problem of uploading the viewer on their machine though firewalls etc.. , they have not so much time to dedicate to learning how to make the best of their Second Life visit. Except if they are geek or videogamers, most marketing or communication people are totally "noooobs" and keep excusing themselves to be... We just wanted to avoid this feeling by creating those accounts. They did not have  then to go thru the orientation island and see themselves in clothes or skins they would not like... Kigh was very talented on this and really felt concerned in order for each avatar to be customized according to their profile, marketers, sales people and clients whom did not own an sl account or did want to simplify the first access. On another type of budget, we sure would have like to develop a customized solution, viewer and avatar under second life API, but this budget did not allow us to do it. Maybe next time !

As I explained in the concept, a part of the goals was to have the international marketing people and the sale forces to meet in the booth before the show, and interact virtually on a business level but also on a personnal one. Some people knew each other, some did not. It was certainly a nice way to meet and prepare the show. I do think it really created a very nice stimulation, as it did for the sale forces.  

In the few business projects I was associated to in Second Life,  I have noticed how suddenly, those people act funny, a little bit like children or old friends making good jokes, fun of themselves. In a certain way, training in SL, put them back to school, but the fun part of school. The personnalities express differently than in real life, as if the avatar was like a protection that allow themselves to be more natural. They are allowed to be clumsy, slow, or exactly the opposite. One will wait a robot to answer chat or voice, this other one will get stuck behind a wall, or does not know how to stand up anymore. .. In some ways, training in SL is also like sharing a mountain trip .. OK, I can already hear you, .. without the sensations... the pure air... the beautiful view... yes sure, nothing to really do with this... but I mean the effect on the team can be very similar.. People share something and here they would share something really new : learning to work in virtual worlds....

And maybe become fan, like all of us !

I also had created a learning zone at the entrance with reading and audio messages to learn how to walk, zoom, chat or take an object. That was easy for some and more complicated for others...

 

The important thing for us was not to create any frustrations so people feel OK with Second life, and of course with the brand FrontRange. A lot of them were quite surprise and for some it was a real revelation ! 

Once the main operation was over, I left a few nice robots (not bots) on the booth that could help to understand the place. 

I personnaly thought the integration of human being was making the environment more friendly, and balancing the coldness of the media, but when we integrated it with a lot of images of real people around and the usual traffic that you can have in this kind of show, it really looked like a bit messy. Maybe in the future, that will be like choosing the skin of your website... you woud be able to choose to make business in the environment you like the best !

This is why the second line seemed to work much better, being just pure and dynamic lines that would really enhanced the booth, and do not raise the cognitive charge of the visitor. And honestly, that worked perfectly in second life as in real life.

It would also work with the brand itself that also value other brands that are in their group, like Enteo, NetInstall etc.. Actually this design line was helping to read the text and messages that were scattered on all the walls of the booth.

The furniture were very contemporary, so not so complicate to reproduce with normals linked prims. I just included some sitting animations and scripts to adjust to SL, and added some furniture in the same idea, like the PDF displays, and there we are. We were ready to concentrate on the welcome area and integrate videos and sounds.

As I told earlier, the SL booth had to be exactly the same dimensions and proportions than the real one, which meant for me to really figure correctly the heigth of the avatars so the general impression at the end would be the exactly same that in the real booth.

The first benefit of this experience was to forced me to work with coordinates which I am naturally not so fanatic. I guess this is a question of brain preferences ! I admit the exercice was really interesting and grateful, because building was going quick, and modifications were easy.

When I finally designed the main structure, I could concentrate on the details and furnitures, and I used for this a super presentation in 3D, I could manipulate from anywhere to see the angles, the corners, and all the views people could have depending on where they stand or sit. I could zoom on the details and re-create exactly any objects at the exact position where they would be.  

That was really fantastic and I really appreciated that Kigh helped me a lot on that because it made the work much more simpler and gave me the opportunity to concentrate on the functionnalities and interactions.

When the basic building work was done for the booth and the furnitures, Kigh and his agency started to test different creation concepts for the dressing of the booth. They finally choose to keep 2 main concepts that they would present to the client to help selling the project. I completed this by a small machimina movie that also convinced the final client that it was a really good project ! And it was definitely !!

They had include in the global project the creation of a booth in Second Life which had to be the exact copy of the real booth made for the CEBIT Hanover show in order to meet 3 goals :

- Train and educate the Marketing and international booth Staff from UK, Austria, Germany and US, for the real Event, without visiting the real booth before
- Prepare the sales force to rehearse in a real 3D virtual environment
- Propose clients and prospects who couldnt come to the CEBIT to meet with the sale force in the virtual booth.

The idea of C2B was that to optimize the investment of the presence of the company around and during the CEBIT show, by prolonging the use of the real material in virtual world. In a second row it was to validate for the company the use of virtual worlds in the go green process and especially in meetings online that they could eventually reproduce on a long term.
The project aimed to :
- recreate the booth exactly as it was for the CEBIT
- put in perspective the solutions offered by FrontRange Inc to its clients and prospects
- offer an interactivity related with the rest of the webmarketing
It was a marketing oriented project, and the target was techno-oriented people.

The creation of the FrontRange Inc site in Second Life would have to be an exact replica of the real one and should reflects the brand, concepts, products and values of the FrontRange Inc. thru the use of a virtual world, technology, & interactivity.
The building was made by the architecture 2D and 3D plans which allows me to build by the pixel , the exterior as the interior of the booth.

The virtual booth once it was built was also a way to validate the reality before the production was made of the real one, and train the international marketing staff.

The sale force would rehearse in it as it would be real, finding the best position for the discussions, materializing the possible points of contacts. It also leaded to a better team building before the show creating a team spirit.

The complexity of the project was not on the booth itself but on the obstacles linked to a B to B operation inworld :
- the downloading of an exterior application inside a company system (network restrictions)
- the first apprehension of the SL viewer to newcomers who come for a business reason in SL

The bridge to the real world during and after the show was built thru url links that visitors could call from all informations objects, uploading PDF also, or buzzing a contact in SL. Many contacts were achieved thru the Front Range booth in Second Life.