Virtual Presentations in Second Life
We presented our businesses to our fellow classmates through Second Life this week. My team, The Awesome Group (name change pending) was able to overcome our lack technical skills to create a six-screen theater with multi-level seating.
The first pic shows Flo Quida during our presentation. Unfortunately, we were co-located during the presentation due to class scheduling preventing us from reaching more dispersed locations. I will have to say that talking to a computer screen was certainly a different experience. The presenter is unable to “read” the audience and loses the ability to dynamically adjust their topics. I did find myself still using gestures while I was speaking even though they were useless in the virtual setting.
Still, the experience was interesting. Each team created a unique presentation. The stores were recreated to reflect the directions of the businesses that each group had decided upon. The “dating service” group created an interesting avatar that would serve as the mascot. It’s interesting that they chose a female to be their representative. I would have thought that they would have a both male and female mascots. It is possible that they don’t need it depending on the gender makeup of Second Life.
Overall, I see that the businesses have promise. They have good plans and good analysis to follow. I am glad to see something interesting for once. The academic environment is blasé and full of boring subjects with little creativity. The out of the box ideas are so refreshing and the wondrous environments are a sight to see.
Second Life is definitely a world where real-life assumptions should not be automatically applied. I do think that many did struggle with that in the beginning and possibly resisted the appeal of Second Life—I am guilty of this. I had difficulty creating a vision for something I had so little knowledge of. I truly hope that I have been able to overcome such myopic vision as the others have done. It has been a great learning experience so far.
Tags: business, presentation, Second Life