On July 18th, 2024, we hosted our latest Arthur Roundtable, a cross-company event that brings together multiple Arthur clients for expert talks, success stories, and networking around a specific topic or use case. This edition showcased how Mondelēz is leveraging highly customized spaces in Arthur as part of their XR program. The session offered deep insights into the practicalities and benefits of innovative and customized VR-based collaboration initiatives, highlighting the immense potential of VR in fostering team connectivity, creativity, and productivity.
Welcoming Attendees
The event began with a warm welcome and an opportunity for attendees to explore the unique Oreo-torium environment. Participants were encouraged to post their avatar pictures from the mirror along with their name and company to the guestbook pinboard, which served as an opportunity to get active but also network with other guests to share their initial impressions and excitement about the event.
Attendees were impressed with the customized Oreotorium environment, designed meticulously around the Oreo brand. The space featured Oreos floating in milk, creatively used as stepping stones, and Oreos used as auditorium seats, adding a fun and immersive element to the environment. This thoughtful design choice was well received, with many guests commenting on the ingenuity and brand consistency it represented. The initial networking period allowed participants to meet and greet new faces, fostering a sense of togetherness before the main session began. This set the stage for an engaging and interactive event.
Mondelēz Keynote
Mondelēz kicked off the session with an engaging presentation in their Oreotorium. They shared their journey of incorporating Arthur into their global R&D collaboration, discussing the ideas behind their Simoja project and the use of custom-built environments. The presentation emphasized how these virtual spaces are transforming the way their global R&D teams come together, enhancing both innovation and efficiency.
Matt Tomlinson, Extended Reality and Metaverse Lead at Mondelēz and the lead for this session, highlighted, “Using Arthur, we've created environments that foster a sense of togetherness and innovation. These virtual spaces are not just about meetings; they're about creating an immersive experience that enhances our daily work and collaboration.”
Beccy Smith, Technical Lead for Digital R&D at Mondelēz, added, “When we bring everyone together in our virtual spaces, we ensure that all team members, regardless of their location, have equal access to resources and opportunities. This has truly democratized our collaborative processes.”
Exploring the Exhibition, Product Meeting, and Icebreaker spaces
After the presentation, attendees moved to the exhibition space showcasing Mondelēz's use of Arthur. This area, distinct from the Oreotorium, featured three booths demonstrating the benefits of VR for workshops, team building, and events. Participants saw a clear example of how they could host immersive exhibitions and conferences in VR, , promoting knowledge sharing and collaboration across the community - that too by bringing global distributed personnel together with zero travel costs.
The third space displayed a desert-themed product benchmarking meeting room detailed with cacti and boulders, giving it a look and feel entirely different from the previous environments. It featured a glass-walled meeting area, an outdoor discussion zone, a 3D chart of Mondelēz products for benchmarking, a project board for tracking tasks, and a pinboard for collecting insights. The environment also included a team photo area with props, providing a fun and engaging way to capture memories and wrap up showcase meetings.
The icebreaker space had a treat themed environment featuring jelly structures and was set up for a team-based treasure hunt. Participants were split into four teams, each tasked with finding hidden Mondelēz products using pink notes containing clues. This space demonstrated how customized VR spaces can be used to create an immersive, fun and interactive experience for team members to work together, build connections, and also get creativity flowing before moving on to more serious meetings.
Overall, the different spaces showcased how VR can facilitate a range of activities that transcend physical limitations and design experiences that create a sense of togetherness and enable top-notch collaboration for global teams.
Evening Networking and Q&A
The event concluded with an exciting Q&A session and further networking in the evening version of the Oreo-torium. This final segment allowed attendees to ask questions, share insights, and network with peers in a relaxed and immersive setting. The engaging discussions and interactions that continued in smaller dispersed groups and audio zones much beyond the stipulated event time underscored the value of VR in facilitating meaningful exchanges in global teams, organizations, and communities.
Key Takeaways
- Enhanced Collaboration: Customized virtual environments in Arthur significantly improve collaborative efforts by creating engaging spaces that resonate with team members and providing equal access to resources for globally distributed team members.
- Immersive Experiences: VR transforms traditional meeting formats into immersive and engaging experiences, fostering creativity and productivity. Custom environments like the Oreo-torium and desert space illustrate the impact of a thoughtfully designed on-brand virtual setting.
- Team Building: Interactive sessions such as icebreakers in VR environments effectively build stronger team connections and enhance overall engagement, offering unique activities in attractive spaces which go beyond physical limitations.
- Versatility Across Use Cases: The versatility of VR and Arthur use spans various business functions and use cases. The Arthur platform can cater to the diverse needs with the flexibility to have custom-built spaces that elevate the meeting experience.
- Future Potential: The success examples shared by Mondelēz underscore the growing importance of VR in various business functions, highlighting the transformative potential of VR technology in creating effective and innovative work environments in the digital realm.
The Arthur Roundtable featuring Mondelēz was a clear demonstration of the benefits available to those embracing VR technology for collaboration. As we continue to explore and innovate, we look forward to bringing you more valuable insights and success stories. Stay tuned on our LinkedIn page for regular and ineresting updates.
