Travel Industry Seeks Socially Responsible Second Life

In 2007, I met with Management at Suntec Exhibition Centre in Singapore regarding virtual worlds and the opportunity for Real & Virtual World events to be run in Unison with each other. Singapore recently held the IT Show at Suntec, 770,000 people packed the centre and SGD58.5 million was spent in four days – how much more could have been spent if they held a virtual event for those unable to make it to Singapore over the 4 stipulated days – i wonder ?

Excerpt from Travel Industry Article below:

At the ITM’s 37th annual conference in Liverpool this week, the people responsible for spending an annual £34bn ferrying business executives and staff around the world will hear that physical attendance is not always the ideal way to convene conferences and confabs. Instead, the technology of online virtual worlds can bring delegates together in an equally productive, immersive, businesslike environment which is also socially responsible, greatly reducing the impact of corporate travel on the environment.

Alan Haymes, director of London-based New Business Horizons – which provides Second Life offices, meeting and conference facilities for other clients as diverse as Universal Music Group and the London Chamber of Commerce – will be leading the ‘Meeting in Cyberspace’ session at the ITM conference, explaining the business benefits of events that take place in a virtual world and comparing the experience not only to physical meetings but to the ‘traditional’ virtual option of teleconferencing.

Haymes comments: “Virtual world conferencing is a more complete experience than the webcam or teleconferencing suite, which means that the ITM’s initiative extends beyond saving money and improving CSR. In a virtual world, delegates can immerse themselves fully in the conference environment and truly feel part of a big event. Breakout and one to one sessions can be easily incorporated, there’s less pressure on performance and appearance … and it can be more fun.”

via Travel Industry Seeks Socially Responsible Second Life.

I also shared this idea with Twinity management….

Intel to serve Second Life to handheld devices – itsReal

Please see last minute edit below and i want to hear from anyone working on getting virtual worlds onto mobile devices – APLINK

Whilst skimming thru news about Virtual Worlds I picked up this gem – how soon this will become a stable consumer product from Intel (thinking that it will rely on wireless internet even if it is the 3G ?) who knows but if I ponder today at how many people on buses and trains have there faces and fingers engaged (super glued) in gaming devices or all kinds, it would be a great move to make virtual worlds available on handheld devices too… keep working on it Intel !

Intel are working on a new client/server model for their Mobile Internet Device (MID) platform, which would take advantage of high-speed wireless networking to make up for the relatively low-power processors fitted to the touchscreen devices themselves. Demonstrating the system with a mobile Second Lifeapp, Intel’s solution is to host its own servers on which the heavy processing work is done, funneling the data through 3G or WiMAX-style connections to the MID.

read more at Slashgear

Edit : I hate getting things wrong, have just re-read and the disappointment is that the handheld device acts as a server for faster delivery to another computer – hmmm – guess virtual worlds on mobile devices are very much in the future – does anyone know of companies/people working on solutions i would like to know about them ?

Secret Location – Secret Plans – Virtual Delivery – itsReal

Last evening at 2100hrs a secret meeting took place in a secret location in Second Life.