TECHNOLOGY VIRTUAL REALITY
Child’s play for events organisers as virtual reality eases travel burden
‘Dollshouse views’ provides rich detail of venues from afar
BY KEVIN O’SULLIVAN V
irtual reality (VR) has been struggling to find its niche - both in con- sumer and business to business markets.
However, with the emergence of
VR as a platform to discover venues and experiences from afar, 2019 may provide that much-needed ‘breakthrough moment’. Edinburgh-headquarteed venue
finding agency ExecSpace has been finding its feet (sometimes literally) with VR googles and now offers clients a tour of bricks and mortar from wherever they may be. With building information mod-
elling (BIM) technologies providing rich, immersive detail, users can view 3D ‘dollshouse views’ to get a sense of the venue as a location for their events. Te ‘niche’, in this case, is the ability for the event organisers – who often have to conduct many venue showarounds, which is time-consuming and costly – to tour the destinations without the need to leave the office. As Emma Little, CEO and
Founder of ExecSpace, says: “We’ve been working with the venues and hotels for the best part of 10 years. At present, many are still using photos and videos as a way of pro- moting their venues. Of course nei- ther of which really gives the event booker a real feel for the space.” One of the venues to benefit has
been DoubleTree by Hilton Edin- burgh Queensferry Crossing, which rebranded as a Double Tree by Hilton in August of 2017 following a two- year new build and refurbishment project costing around £15 million. Te hotel had been a popular venue for weddings, events and meetings, but due to lack of investment and then a two-year build program had dropped off the map. Stuart Douglas, General Manager,
Double Tree by Hilton Queensferry Crossin, said: “Due to some recon- figuration of the layout, and the addi-
tion of a new event space we needed to get the message out there that things had changed, for the better. “Te use of the VR product has
enabled us to bring to life a flat hotel brochure, allow potential cli- ents to walk round the property in ‘real life’ without having to visit the hotel. It has certainly been of ben- efit, as many clients have used the VR tour and then decided to come and see it in real life and then made a booking. Te VR product is a great
40 | EVENTSBASE | SPRING 2019
to have in our sales tool box and will give us a competitive advantage over the competition.” Gail Rickett, Director, Captured
Realities, the platform developer, added: “Te great thing about our immersive VR experiences is that you can explore the whole space as if you were really there. So, unlike regular video or virtual tours, you are not limited to where you can go. Te dollhouse view makes it easy to navigate to any room on any floor,
as it provides a whole-building representation. Tis can be easily embedded into websites or for use in sales presentations or on social media channels.” Douglas adds: “We have a
Hyperlink to the VR in the email signatures of the sales team, so it goes external every time they send out an email. We also have a link on our website, both of which go a long way to support our successful marketing and sales efforts now.” n
Sophisticated 3D
‘dollshouse views’ provide event organisers with a detailed map of venues
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