In The Midst Of The Action

Video conferences are both a blessing and a curse. One thing is clear: in our work they are now indispensable – and are constantly evolving. For example, Virtual Reality (VR) headsets enable people to collaborate interactively and digitally in a way that we have long known only from science fiction movies.

‘Tomorrow I’ll be in a Zoom conference all morning, after that we have a team meeting scheduled, and at 16.00 hours we have a Skype call about the new project’ – a statement that many of us probably know all too well. Increasing digital processes means that we spend more and more time in online meetings and video conferences.

Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, they have even shaped our everyday work routine to such an extent that new terms are being coined to describe their impact: Zoom fatigue describes the tiredness and exhaustion caused by taking part in video conferences too often or for too long, with energy-sapping results.

Yet they also have a lot of benefits. Drees & Sommer, for example, has long been committed to the possibilities of digital tools and meetings. Saving time is only one of the reasons. Fewer business trips and the resulting reduction in environmental impact is another.

The next evolutionary stage is already just around the corner

But maybe in the near future we will just smile wearily about our present-day video conferences, because technological progress now makes it possible to hold meetings in virtual reality (VR). Virtual rooms make it possible to take a different perspective on topics, to conduct creative workshops and sketch ideas jointly in three-dimensional space.

Sounds futuristic – and yet it’s not a long way off. The partners in our innovation ecosystem Creators, for example, regularly use virtual meetings to share ideas on emerging issues in the construction and real estate industry. The video shows what this looks like.

How about you? Do you prefer meetings in person or in a digital format? And do you see potential for meetings in virtual space? Let us know in the comments!