In my last blog, I was keen to communicate the benefits of providing your VR enablement using stationary or seated experiences. Whilst these benefits are obvious, there is one detail that may have escaped your attention. I know it did mine the first time I ran a VR session.
We are all aware of how important it is to have a comfortable learning environment. Good lighting, correct room temperatures and even the comfort of the chairs are all part of ensuring effective learning.
The latter item, chairs, is something easily overlooked but they are subject of this blog.
So, whilst the comfort of the seat is obviously important, what is more important is that the seat swivels.
The reason why this is important enough to have its own blog is that whilst VR enablement sessions should be experienced seated, it doesn’t mean they should be static.
By their nature, VR experiences should involve 360-degree videos and environments and we can create great interest and engagement when you encourage the learners to explore those environments.
The challenge though, is that VR resets its ‘front view’ as the place where you put on the headset. Therefore, during an experience, you can end up turning around on a regular basis.
As a facilitator, this can be quite odd experience trying to deliver a program when half the people have their backs to you. But what I saw on my first delivery got me to start to ensure that everyone was sat on chairs that could rotate.
On that first delivery I witnessed my learners struggling to turn around as they were on fixed conference chairs, with one participant putting their back out as they spun round to explore the virtual environment. They didn’t learn much that day.
Effective Virtual Reality delivery requires more thought than normal delivery, and we need to consider not just 2-dimensional comfort, but 3-dimensional as well.
It may not seem like much, but trust me, insist on swivel chairs.
