Do you also think it’s a really silly idea to have cartoon characters talking to each other in a business meeting? Like, seriously?!!
On this post, we’re talking about Workrooms, since it’s a Facebook/Meta product and, for now, seems to be the most widely used. Here is the low-down:
Nice things about Workrooms:
It’s more conversational than video conferencing. With Zoom, everyone has to “take turns” to talk. Because VR has immersive sound, and you’re sitting in a round table, you can converse very similarly as you do in real life (e.g. obnoxiously interrupting each other, cutting across another person, taking over the conversation etc)
It’s less awkward than video conferencing. Seeing yourself on camera is weird, even though I always hide my camera after I’ve established that my hair is neat-ish and there’s no spinach on my teeth - it still feels uncomfortable. It’s not normal to stare straight ahead of you all the time. With VR, it’s more natural, you can look around the room and no need for non-stop eyeball to eyeball action
It’s totally immersive. You can’t “tab hop”, or just sit quietly at the back of the meeting with your mic on mute. You’re part of it, as you would be in real life.
Sucky things about workrooms:
The UX is in the toilet. There’s often trouble joining the meeting, and it’s not totally intuitive on setting up a meeting. On a few occasions, people had trouble getting into the meeting and none of us could figure out why.
Minimal customization available - brands need to be able to customize the meeting room more so that it can be a more heavily-branded sales experience for their sales calls.
Anger management tip:
If you’ve been invited to a Workrooms meeting, if possible, try to do a practice run the day before the time to make sure you can get into the meeting. You can enter the meeting if the host isn't there. Alternatively, leave at least 20-30 mins available before the meeting in case of technical issues.
Watch this short video that shows you exactly how to set up your own workrooms: