Spotlight on NZ

A screen within a screen

Frances | 2 April 2009 | 2 Comments

Isn't televsion a marvellous invention?  TV3's Nightline programme, did an item on our launch. The news item ended up with the TV presenter streaming live from within the virtual auditorium. How cool is that?

It was amazing to see our virtual world beaming into my living room - it was a truly futuristic moment - and, judging from the responses we've receive this morning, one that made an impact on many others. However futuristic, virtual events are firmly in more than the frame for TV3. According to a survey published in the USA last week by On24, there could be as many as 100,000 plus virtual events each year by as early as 2011. This is one dot com bubble that doesn't look like busting.

During the interview, TV3's presenter Tova O'Brien asked me what was my vision for the future. My answer wasn't included in the item, but I thought about the question a lot afterwards. We're right at the beginning of this emerging technology and it's a wave that's ready to be caught. The so-called immersive worlds like Second Life are still a bewilderment to most people and there's a long way to go before SL and it's like make an offer small and medium-sized businesses can't refuse. The technology we're working with is quite different. It's accessible, immediate, easy to use - no avatars and gaming controls required - and within reach financially. Most of all it feels like something that's anyone's can get into, just the geek community. My prediction is that people will find virtual events so appealing that they won't want to go back to all that unsustainable, costly and uproductive travel. Within the next five years, 'going virtual' will be as commonplace as sending an email.

You heard it here first!

Check out the nightline item here

Tags: virtual, virtual expo, nightline, virtual events, Second Life