Sure we have video chat and on-line meetings, but how about a full-on on-line conference? I'm imagining a second life sort of experience (do meetings exist in second life?) where everyone has an avatar and buzzes about a virtual conference hall, checking out booths, talking with people, going into rooms and watching presentations, etc. I'm imagining a proper conference fee (to weed out the weirdos), and a full real-time audio-visual experience. Following the trend of all things virtual, first it tries to replicate real life, making it as easy to talk with someone or ask about a product as it is in a real conference. Then if that works bring in the flying cars, pegasuses, etc.
Alternatively, my brain imagines a real-conference that is only attended by remotely controlled robots. So the only humans at the conference are organizers in charge of keeping the robots up-right. But likely this is just an art experiment (which doesn't mean I don't want to do it).
UPDATE
Re-visiting this as my brain is want to do.
Imagine a company that creates the ultimate virtual conference venue. Let's call it VirCon. With VirCon, select hotels in every major city in the world are equipped with VirCon rooms. In this room is the ultimate conference experience. You walk into the room and there are conference banners hanging up. A welcome desk with name tags. Agendas and background materials and free coffee. Around the room are these large video stations which look a little bit like a cross between a photo booth and a stand-up video game. You walk up to one and on the screen you can see someone talking to you. There's a joystick there* to control the camera and the thing has lights that make your face look great on camera. There are also speakers that are like the ones in the museums the jellyfish that you stand under, where you can hear clearly, but it doesn't make tons of noise. The collection is excellent with nearly no delay.
There are also big screens with projected views of the other rooms tied in with the conference. You are also issued a smartphone at the door which is yours to use for the conference. With it you can type in anyone at the conference's name and call them. Then you can either meet up at one of the communicating stations or just talk from a distance. There is a good buzz in the room of people talking and being talked at.
There are chairs in the middle of the room facing a big screen for the main presentations. The central screen shows a static wide shot of the stage as if it were in your room and on the sides there are other screens that show the close up of the speaker, cutting to other cameras etc. Again as if you were really there.
Basically VirCon does everything it can to make you feel like you're there without having to fly. And of course some conferences will be in the middle of the night for some. That's your jetlag. That's why it's held in a hotel, where you can go sack out when it's night for the conference venue time. And the thing is, there's no one central venue. The rooms are similar size so no one feels like they are at the "satellite" venue.
So it still costs to attend the conference and you still have to take time off (that's what makes this different from your regular video chat), but you save immensely on travel costs and sometimes hotel costs. You may think it's not the same as flying to another country, which is true, but flying to another country and staying the whole time in the hotel of that other country isn't so different which is always what ends up happening. Nothing's worse then going all the way to Rio and back just to find out that you never actually saw Rio.
* Even better, have a high definition projection of what the camera sees on a semicircle screen so that you can move your head around to see other parts of the room other than just what's in front of you.
Alternatively, my brain imagines a real-conference that is only attended by remotely controlled robots. So the only humans at the conference are organizers in charge of keeping the robots up-right. But likely this is just an art experiment (which doesn't mean I don't want to do it).
UPDATE
Re-visiting this as my brain is want to do.
Imagine a company that creates the ultimate virtual conference venue. Let's call it VirCon. With VirCon, select hotels in every major city in the world are equipped with VirCon rooms. In this room is the ultimate conference experience. You walk into the room and there are conference banners hanging up. A welcome desk with name tags. Agendas and background materials and free coffee. Around the room are these large video stations which look a little bit like a cross between a photo booth and a stand-up video game. You walk up to one and on the screen you can see someone talking to you. There's a joystick there* to control the camera and the thing has lights that make your face look great on camera. There are also speakers that are like the ones in the museums the jellyfish that you stand under, where you can hear clearly, but it doesn't make tons of noise. The collection is excellent with nearly no delay.
There are also big screens with projected views of the other rooms tied in with the conference. You are also issued a smartphone at the door which is yours to use for the conference. With it you can type in anyone at the conference's name and call them. Then you can either meet up at one of the communicating stations or just talk from a distance. There is a good buzz in the room of people talking and being talked at.
There are chairs in the middle of the room facing a big screen for the main presentations. The central screen shows a static wide shot of the stage as if it were in your room and on the sides there are other screens that show the close up of the speaker, cutting to other cameras etc. Again as if you were really there.
Basically VirCon does everything it can to make you feel like you're there without having to fly. And of course some conferences will be in the middle of the night for some. That's your jetlag. That's why it's held in a hotel, where you can go sack out when it's night for the conference venue time. And the thing is, there's no one central venue. The rooms are similar size so no one feels like they are at the "satellite" venue.
So it still costs to attend the conference and you still have to take time off (that's what makes this different from your regular video chat), but you save immensely on travel costs and sometimes hotel costs. You may think it's not the same as flying to another country, which is true, but flying to another country and staying the whole time in the hotel of that other country isn't so different which is always what ends up happening. Nothing's worse then going all the way to Rio and back just to find out that you never actually saw Rio.
* Even better, have a high definition projection of what the camera sees on a semicircle screen so that you can move your head around to see other parts of the room other than just what's in front of you.
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