Linden Lab/IBM case-study on virtual-environment meetings
by Tateru Nino 
Feb 27th 2009 at 9:00PM
Filed under: Business models, News items, Second Life, Virtual worlds
Linden Lab have published a case-study based on their strategic technology partner IBM's use of Second Life to save money on meetings and conferences. IBM's experience is quite unlike Australian Bank Westpac, which did not find such a compelling case, but the details of Westpac's findings are a bit vague.
In this case-study, IBM staffers talk about their experience with running a Conference and their Annual General Meeting in Second Life , though what seems a bit odd is that it is hard to shake the feeling that we've seen this particular case-study before. Nevertheless, feel free to take in the report, bearing in mind that it seems to be targeted towards those who have the least familiarity with virtual environments, only very carefully introducing concepts and tropes like presence, for those new to the notion.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
FlipperPA Peregrine said on 11:46AM 2-28-2009
Wow - a case study by two companies about the success those two companies have had?
This isn't a case study, it is a press release. :) That said, it isn't bad material to hand out to potential clients who think SL is all about sex.
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Dan Parks said on 1:52PM 2-28-2009
We are having similar results and ROI from our events as well - Not to mention the creative "Wow" factor. Check out this video of a recent event we created for Trend Micro in Virtualis: http://blip.tv/file/1391317/
I still think this platform has great potential...
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sigmund leominster said on 5:49PM 2-28-2009
At the real life conferences I attend, seeing people turn into giant rabbits usually only happens at the "apres-meet" in the bar, following the imbibing of large quantities of alcohol. However, on page 2 of the report, I see that the picture at the top of the page includes a large rabbit, paws on hips, seemingly chatting to someone holding a Bucks Fizz.
If Fotherington from Accounts in Zurich starts turning up to the virtual Strategic Planning Meeting as a small gerbil on a unicycle, and Miss Willingly, the temp from Hong Kong, insists on the dominatrix outfit complete with spanker, I for one will be lobbying for the return of the real world conference. My sanity is worth at least the $320K saved by IBM.
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Jaymin Carthage said on 1:21PM 3-02-2009
Thanks for posting this. I've been waiting for this to break so I could start talking publicly about it. I was one of the "army of volunteers" that helped make it happen. I've starting posting some of the info on it in my blog for those interested in the details.
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/blogs/page/roivw
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