Ian McKenna: The reality of virtual reality, or VR, conferences – Money Marketing

I recently went to Morningstars Investment Conference in Chicago, but, of course, due to travel restrictions I couldnt be there physically. So I attended virtually.This was achieved using an Oculus Quest 2 VRheadset and theGatheringsVRsoftware created by London based specialist financial services virtual reality developers, Mesmerise.

Using the software, delegates could watch live presentations, visit sponsors booths and enjoy pre-recorded content. And if they missed a session they simply went back and watched the recording.

This gave me with a fascinating insight into not just the future of conferences, but also the potential for immersive technologies, likeVRand augmented reality (AR) services to change the way we work and how financial advice is delivered.

VR certainly gives you the ability to capture someones attention more completely that other forms of remote conferencing as it blocks out distractions, but how do you take notes when you are in a VR session?

In my experience one of the big challenges in attending conferences remotely is there is far less opportunity to interact with exhibitors. The VR technology goes some way at least to addressing this via virtual booths, although it not the same as being able to go and have a full conversation on a booth with an exhibitor on-site. The ability to meet dozens of technology firms in a single location is one of the main things I get from conferences.

As someone who, pre-Covid,typically visited the USon a monthly basisto attend conferences, the VR experience does add some things more traditional remote technology cant.

Over the past 18 months I have remotely attended several conferences in the US. I find the biggest challenge is the time difference. If a conference is effectively taking place between five to eight hours later than in the UK than, it can become tiring to say the least. This is difficult for conferences on the east coast, virtually impossible for the west coast.

Who wants to join a conference at 9am PCT which is actually starting at 5pm GMT. I certainly dont want to be at that event at 5pm PCT, or 3am GMT. Lots of people are predicting a major reduction in international travel as a result of increased video conferencing capabilities.They have not properly considered the time difference issues.

While it was really interesting to watch the views given by Morningstars director of product management Jason Stipp, director of behavioural science Sarah Newcombe, and director of financial planning methodology Shawn Brayman, it wasnt the same as being there in person. After their sessions in 2019, I was able to wander up and ask them questions directly.

It would be helpful to be able to pose questions to pre-recorded presenters and receive answers by email or chat subsequently.

Livesessionarepresented as if you are in a theatre surrounded by other virtual guests, this is an interesting experience and you can potentially have conversations with other virtual delegates but I did not find a way to do this with people actually there in person.It would be helpful to add a do not disturb setting as other virtual guests next to you talking can distract from the main speaker.

There are still considerable challenges to attending a conference via VR and based on this experience the technology has not yet evolved to the state where its as good as attending in person.There must also be questions to ask about ability to support multiple platforms, how interoperable are different VR systems. This is fascinating technology but at this stage its probably more about the state of the possible rather than actually using it in a day-to-day environment.

That said I think there is a good case or conferences to explore virtual reality options but for now I think this is probably a solution to use to attend conferences in the same country remotely rather than internationally.

Ian McKenna is director at the Financial Technology Research Centre

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Ian McKenna: The reality of virtual reality, or VR, conferences - Money Marketing