Many brands and companies have already experimented with (or at least considered) some kind of virtual space or metaverse. But how many of them use their online worlds on a regular basis? JLL is one of them.
JLL came to us at Space Makers for a way to make their online work more engaging, and now they have successfully managed to integrate their dynamic virtual world into the fabric of their everyday work life. Their team was looking for a solution that would be highly interactive and attractive to participants, yet eco-friendly and cost efficient.
Get inspired by this interview we had recently with Luke Wynne (Sustainability – Director Learning and Development) on their approach and experience in building their internal online education training metaverse.
1) What inspired you to choose this online solution for your internal education training?
We were launching a global Sustainability Early Careers learning programme and needed to deliver the training virtually due to environmental (carbon emissions) and cost constraints. We wanted to find a way to make some of the virtual engagement more interactive and interesting and thought that the metaverse would be a great way of doing this.
2) What was the participants’ feedback on the JLL Metaverse space and overall event on the Gather platform?
Feedback from participants, both younger early-career team members and older more experienced colleagues, was resoundingly positive. This included many people who were initially sceptical about the concept and once they spent time in the metaverse thought it was a great learning and engagement tool. We now have plans to roll out the metaverse more widely in the organisation and to support other learning needs.
3) What would you suggest for others who are preparing similar activities & events? What would you like to have known before this experience?
Really just to go for it. People are always in virtual learning environments these days, and it can be easy to switch off and/or get distracted when you’re on a Zoom or a Teams call. The metaverse helps to bridge the gap between standard virtual communication, learning tools and what you get from an in-person event. As a result, it can be a great way to increase your audience’s enjoyment, engagement and participation levels.
4) What were some concerns you had that weren’t important in the end?
I had never seen or been in a metaverse before, so I was unsure whether it would be all it was cracked up to be. I was also worried that for many users it was a new ‘technology’ and that they may have difficulty with some of the functions, etc. This was, in the end, easily mitigated with some short briefing calls with them beforehand to enable them to spend some time in the metaverse before the sessions.
5) Did you get any competitive advantage with this type of online event in the eyes of your current employees and prospective employees?
Yes, I think we did. It adds a new and interesting element to our learning offering and is also a memorable experience for our participants, who provided a lot of positive feedback regarding the metaverse and also strong positive responses when asked whether they would recommend our learning programme to other prospective graduates. The metaverse also contributed to our team being shortlisted for one award and winning two other Industry Learning Awards.
6) Considering the time and budget you invested in the project, how did it pay off compared to a traditional online call or offline event?
I feel that it has been a very worthwhile investment. We now have a fully functioning and engaging metaverse at our disposal, only needing to update our subscription if we plan to take a larger number of people through the space. The cost per user of the metaverse over time is very affordable.
If you want to try something similar and upgrade your overall online experience just like JLL has done, get in touch with Space Makers or just shoot a message to Vaclav Zamrazil to craft a functional, yet extraordinary online space with us. We promise you will be well taken care of well.
