ERGO digital.morning

To mark the 100th edition of its internal format digital.morning, ERGO Group AG held the event in an interactive, virtual 3D world for the first time. Developed and implemented by RAVE SPACE, it let 330 participants join from their smartphones, desktops or VR headsets, with no additional software.

The format is there to let employees try new technology, not only watch it. For over seven years, the digital.morning has introduced staff to emerging technologies and shown what they mean for daily work. For the 100th edition, ERGO’s Chief Digital Officer Mark Klein and Matthias Nawrocki, ERGO’s Head of Metaverse, wanted participants inside such a space rather than hearing about it.

An Immersive Event Experience

At the core of the experience was a virtual event location where participants could navigate freely using personalized avatars. Choosing an avatar made employees participants in a shared digital space rather than viewers of a stream. The browser-based platform needed no installation and no technical knowledge.

The event ran entirely in the browser on RAVE SPACE’s own RAVE ENGINE and was reachable from any current device. WebGL used the graphics power of each participant’s device to render the 3D content in real time.

Why the Metaverse?

Participants tried the technology in the same moment they were talking about it. Real-time interaction, voice chat and moving between groups produced conversations that a video call does not.

Employees moved between groups and met colleagues they would not have spoken to in a webinar.

Efficient and Scalable Execution

The whole project was finished within one and a half months. Participants were split into groups of 20, which kept performance and conversation workable in the room.

A Vision for the Future

For ERGO this milestone edition was a test run for further events in the browser, internal ones and customer-facing ones, with VR as a later step.

The edition ran without a venue, without travel and without an install.