The concept of “Metaverse” rose to fame in 2021 and soon established itself as the next level of social networking and virtual interactions. The metaverse is a 3D virtual simulated environment which can be accessed by a user by their own avatar. Once within the environment, the user can not only interact with their surroundings using their avatar but also with the avatars of other users. This feature makes the metaverse a social and immersive experience rather than a solitary virtual experience. Owing to this particular feature, metaverse live events became increasingly popular.

In a world which is constantly changing and evolving, challenges arise amongst businesses regarding employee engagement. Furthermore, with remote working becoming a choice made in many companies and employees being scattered across the globe, HR and L&D leaders find it increasingly difficult to host engaging and immersive employee wellness programs. Maintaining workplace wellness becomes all the more important and difficult since remote working takes out an element of human interaction and there develops an underlying stress that is tough to overcome.

There are several opportunities offered by the metaverse in Human Resources which provide the answers to many such challenges.

The LinkedIn Live, which featured the founders of ibentos, a pioneer in the metaverse development industry, along with Vikram Singh (CEO of EduRamp) and the team of Metaverse911, brought to viewers the way L&D and HR heads could conduct highly personalised, immersive and efficient Yoga Days for their employees on the metaverse, setting the context for events in metaverse.

How can Yoga Day in the Metaverse benefit businesses?

Yoga is a healing practice with ancient origins and benefits so widely and globally known and scientifically proven that in 2014, the United Nations officially declared the 21st of June as International Yoga Day.

In combination with disruptive metaverse technologies, what opportunities does this offer to businesses?

A bold statement

It offers a chance to companies to make a bold statement by hosting a yoga day on the metaverse. It would communicate that the company not only believes in the ancient wisdom of yoga but is also technologically advanced, making an effort at maintaining the better physical and mental health of their employees.

Establishing brand recall

Events in metaverse, such as a metaverse Yoga Day, also makes the presence of a business known in the minds of the generation of Gen Z employees who are on the lookout for companies that are technology-forward and are ready to take an innovative approach to traditional customs.

Nurturing health and team-building

Companies across the globe have teams working remotely and the lack of human interaction creates a workspace with underlying stress which ultimately impacts the mental health of employees. Being a shared, virtual platform, metaverse live events like a yoga day offers a chance at team-building and networking while also promoting good health. While a standard meeting platform would not keep employees engaged for a longer period of time, the immersiveness and personalised nature of the metaverse platform and events in metaverse ensure that each employee benefits from the experience.

Common questions surrounding Yoga Day on the metaverse

Despite the widespread popularity of the term ‘metaverse’, there are a few misconceptions and unclarified questions amongst businesses when it comes to the metaverse and how a metaverse yoga day could benefit them

Is a VR headset necessary to access the metaverse?

The answer is - not at all! Co-founder and CEO (ibentos), Harpreet Bhatia, stated “At ibentos, we create technology for the masses, not just for a set of classes.” The metaverse platform developed does not require a specific VR headset or device to be accessed. That said, the experience of events in metaverse can be further enhanced using VR.

If yoga is a physical activity, how effective would a virtual metaverse yoga day be?

Co-founder and CMO (ibentos) answers this query by stating that the avatar itself would not be performing yoga; rather, it would sit in front of AI avatars to learn and the user would observe and perform the yoga poses physically, uploading a video of them doing it. The avatar reflects and expresses the presence of the user during the metaverse live events, allowing them to see the avatars of others present too. She says “This is the best option to offer a gamified experience for remote employees.”

How is a metaverse yoga day different from a yoga day on current virtual platforms that are being used?

Virtual platforms lack a sense of immersiveness owing to their 2D nature. It also offers a less engaging experience due to a limitation in how much a user can explore on the platform. Traditional virtual platforms also offer only a solitary experience whereas the metaverse offers a shared, collaborative and social experience, encouraging the user to stay and explore for longer. The use of AI incorporates a human touch into the virtual experience and a sense of personalisation.

Is creating a metaverse costly and complicated?

Despite popular belief, creating your own metaverse platform and hosting events in metaverse is not high in terms of cost. Furthemore, with ibentos, the metaverse platform delivered is not only easy to customise but also easy to maintain, thus not requiring a complex IT team.

How does the ibentos Metaverse deliver an immersive Yoga Day experience?

At ibentos, a customer-driven approach is adopted while creating every experience, ensuring that their customers derive value from what they deliver.

Customisable landing page

The user registers or signs in at the landing page where the registration fields can be customised as per a business’s requirements or existing database and depending on whether the platform would be available for private or public use. The background image present at the landing page can also be easily changed or branded.

Personalised and Customisable Avatars

Users can build their own avatars within the “dressing room” which is accessed once the user logs into the metaverse platform. Owing to its multi-user interface, users can view the avatars of other users as well and interact with them virtually in real-time. Thus, the metaverse platform offers the perfect space for elevating team-building, team-bonding and team interactions, thus forging deeper connections amongst colleagues.

Furthermore, these avatars are used to explore yoga poses and attend meditation sessions that transport the user to realms of inner peace and mindfulness with a light meditation music in the background make the whole experience more engaging.

Ease of scalability

ibentos metaverse platforms are known to be able to host a large number of attendees and being a virtual platform, there is no physical restraint on the space available for activities. On the other hand, constraints on space available at physical venues is a common challenge faced during physical events.

Gamification

A gamified model offers not only a fun way to complete tasks on the yoga metaverse platform but also offers gratification in the form of rankings, points and rewards. Teams can take on team goals and foster friendly competition. The 3D immersive environment is used as an environment to host treasure hunts as well. The spinning wheel makes receiving tasks adventurous.

AI-Powered core and use of Gen AI

The platform is powered by AI to deliver a seamless and immersive experience.

The conversational chatbot AI avatar which is based on Generative AI (Gen AI) is vital in making the platform usable 24/7. HR representatives are not available round the clock, but a user could interact with the AI avatar to solve queries, learn more about Yoga Day and much more regardless of what time it is. This is an important feature of the uses of metaverse in HR - round-the-clock availability and functionality.

While commonly found AI bots are generic, the AI bots integrated into the metaverse yoga day platform are highly focused and organisation-centric.

The integration of AI is paramount to provide a personalised experience to each user. The AI avatars are capable of collecting data and indicate progress and adapt as per the personal preferences of the user.

Besides these, AI was used to create the immersive 3D environment of the metaverse which is vital in keeping the user engaged and interested for longer.

Conclusion

In a world where remote working conditions are famous and social networking needs to be interactive and innovative, events in metaverse like Yoga Day offer a brilliant opportunity for HR and L&D heads across the globe. Complete with interactive avatars and integration of AI, the ibentos Yoga Day metaverse platform ensures that every user reaps the benefits of the ancient practice of yoga and the humane interactions they share virtually with their colleagues.