When Brite Winter attendees walked up to our giant telescope, they got a taste of augmented reality: seeing drawn-out constellations in the sky. While not every event can have readily available augmented reality (AR) components, incorporating more of these experiences into your business space, events, and exhibits could help your team and customers process concepts, goals, and products.
AR or VR product displays promote comprehension.
Thinking about the Pokémon Go craze, users were able to see Pokémon within their line of vision that were not (and obviously could not be) real by the app’s employment of AR. Similarly, seeing a product within a space that’s not yet there builds excitement. Clients are able to actually see your products at their location and understand how they will look and function within that space.
This type of technology isn’t new but is really climbing toward its peak now. AR’s cousin, computer-aided design (CAD), has been in use for decades. But AR takes things a step further and actually projects 3D images into an area.
Seeing the product in action also helps for training purposes. For salespeople, a full-scale digital model of a product allows them to answer customers’ questions in a more in-depth way, cutting down on mistakes explaining how it functions. When AR and virtual reality (VR) are combined—otherwise known as mixed reality or MR—engineers can catch product mistakes before they even begin a project. Oftentimes, this can reduce product timelines, resulting in cost savings for companies and clients.
You can create a VR showroom to display your products as well. For customers in the discovery stage of purchasing, they might want to see all of your products at a glance prior to making a commitment. A VR showroom gives users a chance to “walk” through your space so they don’t have to physically come to your space.
You can gamify your business with AR and VR.
Gaming utilized AR and VR components in the past, and we’ve all taken direction from the industry in that regard. When you can gamify components of a museum exhibit, showroom, or business lobby, you encourage interactivity. And with increasingly shorter attention spans, this interactivity is key.
While these technologies can be cost-prohibitive, AR and VR are set to become more affordable within the next few years as they begin to flood the market. But for now, it offers something not everyone can give: a genuinely one-of-a-kind experience. And to be an early adopter shows your company is at the forefront of technology.
AR and VR components at events are showstoppers.
We’ve seen events and trade shows become more and more hybrid friendly; AR and VR have so much to offer for events in that way. When attendees visit and find something worth talking about because you can’t get it any other place (or very few places), they’re more likely to tell others about the experience.
Additionally, trade show exhibitors that offer a virtual component can expand their reach with VR. Attendees can even purchase entrance after the fact to view recorded content, creating a passive income stream.
The Festival of Literary Diversity created a virtual experience where attendees could see an entryway with a big screen TV announcing upcoming programs as well as people walking around, able to click into different areas within the virtual space and interact with other festival goers. This technology they used in 2021 can be repurposed in 2022 with minor upgrades, and the same can be said about anyone else using similar virtual techniques. As long as you have access to the technologies you’ve purchased, the cost is small for maintaining them.
While new technologies can be intimidating, find a partner who can walk you through each step in a way that makes sense to you and your business—and your bottom line.
