How Virtual Reality Can Help Retailers And Retail Workers

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As other pieces on this site outline, the near future of retail is certainly going to be exciting. But even in the present, there are simple technical innovations that can change not only the retail experience but the lives of some of our most marginalized and vulnerable populations — not as sexy as robots gliding around to bring you a perfectly coordinated ensemble, but powerful nonetheless.

Read the full piece here

New research shows that VR training has an 80% retention rate as opposed to 20% for traditional training

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Last week, we spent two days at the R Lab Well event, where MaryKate Mahoney, the head of VR for healthcare at HP, presented the stat in the subject line. In fact, it seems like every other week we're sharing some excellent data about the benefits of training in VR, and it's only a matter of time before everyone catches up and start producing VR training content.

But maybe your organization is a little behind the curve. Your boss, or your boss's boss, still thinks videos that no one watches are just fine for employee training. Well, fear not -- our workshops are the absolute perfect first step to engaging with us and arming your team with all the knowledge and data they need to sell in the concept of VR training. We'd love to help you get up to speed so that your company doesn't get left behind.

Cortney also presented a session about user design and VR at the event, and in honor of Rick Owens winning the CFDA award for best menswear designer, dressed like him for the occasion. 

VR TRAINING AND RETAIL

We were very excited to contribute a piece to an amazing new Medium blog called the Near Future of Retail. Helmed by two of our absolute favorites, Tony Parisi and Neil Redding, the site is a fascinating deep dive into how we'll shop in the next several years. We wrote about using VR for job screening in customer service roles, and how that can help marginalized communities find their way back into the job market. We're actively looking for a partner to help us build this vision -- if that's you, let us know. 

WHAT WE'RE UP TO NEXT

On Tuesday, we're shooting an amazing new project, with more details to come in due time. This weekend, Cortney will be judging the XR Brain Jam at XR for Change; she'll also being speaking there next Monday and AvenueS, our project with Accenture, will be demoed throughout the event. 

If you are interested in booking a member of our team to speak at an event, please feel free to drop us a line. And as always, we're looking for great partners to work with us to create amazing immersive experiences. We've already worked with Accenture, Verizon, Coke, the Air Force, DDI, and Unity -- let's add your name to the list next. 

"As a result of your experience, I call on women in meetings more often now"

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Last week, the piece we built with DDI premiered at the ATD conference in Washington, DC. There were reports of at least two people crying because the piece stuck such a nerve, but beyond that, it was a follow-up report that made us happiest. A few months ago, when we were user-testing the piece, a manager came in skeptical and walked out a convert, saying "that wasn't a conversation, that was an emotional experience." While we've so far resisted the urge to get that made into a t-shirt, we might have to in the wake of the following story. A few weeks later he came back, and said that as a result of the piece, he made sure to call on the same number of men and women in meetings he led, and pay close attention to who was speaking more and give women the opportunity to speak if he felt they weren't being heard. 

Now, this is just one manager, but this still thrilled us. There are tons of stats about how effective VR is for training and changing behavior, but it is stories like this that really move the needle. Imagine this type of change at scale, and the profound impact it could have on making the workplace a more equitable and caring place. 

If you want to start making a difference, let us know. We're looking for partners so we can make amazing work together

In the meantime, we're heads down on a massive project we'll be able to share later this fall, so that means fewer public speaking engagements. Our fantastic sales lead Louisa Spring will be at Augmented World Expo this week -- let us know if you'd like to meet with her for a demo or a chat. Cortney will be at R Lab Well  in Brooklyn June 4 and 5, and will be leading a session on user design in VR. We are also offering a limited number of workshops for clients who need some help getting started in the space; feel free to reach out for more info. 

Facebook just released research that found VR training resulted in 40% shorter training time and 70% performance improvement.

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Greetings from Dublin, where we had a fabulous time speaking at ARVR Innovate. There are a lot of updates to get to, but the biggest news of the last two weeks is definitely the release of the data you see in the subject line. These numbers come from an Oculus presentation at Facebook's F8 conference, and really bear out what we've been saying for ages now -- VR training works. 

Think of the cost savings of having a workforce that needed 40% less training time to be ready to do great work. Think of the benefits of employees who are 70% better at their jobs. Coupled with the release of the Oculus Quest, a wireless headset with a lower price point, and the already affordable Oculus Go headset, this is set to push VR training into the mainstream. 

Perhaps you're interested but a little unsure where to begin. Lucky for you, we've redesigned and rereleased our workshop offering. We start with the basics and then dig deep into the most pressing problems your organization faces and how VR can solve them. Drop us a line to find out more. 



In other news, we got the best team in the business back together to kick off chapter two of our award winning Accenture project. Superstar executive producer Pamela Jaber and Emmy-nominated director Kevin Cornish are back, along with a new team member, writer and subject area expert (and Harvard PhD) Holly Wood. The first chapter has moved people to tears, sparked fierce debates, and been honored at Mobile World Congress and SXSW -- who knows where we'll go with the next one?

We'll also be in Washington, DC next week for the premiere of our piece for DDI at the ATD summit, which bills itself as the world's largest talent development conference. Cortney will be holding meetings May 19-21, so please let us know if you're in the area and would like a demo. 

As always, we're happy to schedule a capabilities call if you'd like to find out more.