Transforming Virtual Learning with Tangra's Immersive Experiences – with Nelly Tacheva | S3 E50

Nelly: 1:09

Maybe you know from the kind of learning that two weeks later we remember only 10% of what we've read, 30% of what we've seen, and 90% of what we've said and done.

Joeri: 1:28

Hello everyone and welcome to the Web3 CMO Stories Podcast. My name is Joeri Billast and I'm your podcast host, and today I welcome Nelly in the show. Hi, Nelly, how are you?

Nelly: 1:42

Joeri, so wonderful to be here. Thank you for having me.

Joeri: 1:47

Yeah, thank you too, Nelly, to come on the show Now. We meet each other on a podcast platform instead of in the Metaverse, so if you're now listening and you're wondering who is Nelly, Nelly Tacheva. She's the founder and the CEO of Tangra, and Tangra is transforming virtual learning and collaboration into immersive experiences. That sounds great, Nelly, but for our listeners, feel free to explain a bit more what Tangra is about and maybe, yeah, how you started Tangra.

Nelly: 2:23

Yeah, thank you. So what we wanted to do was to make meetings and team collaboration much more interactive, much more fun. So we started with that idea in mind that we are doing a better version of Zoom and that involved in the next year into a platform which is capable of hosting 1000 people, which is already ready for metaverse events. So that was our next iteration. Of course, there was a lot of interest at the time and many events were hosted in various metaverse worlds, so it only made sense and it was an easy way to get in front of people Right. And then we started noticing that most of the events and most of the themes around were around some sort of learning. So it was almost always some educational event with some educational content, like presentations or a workshop or a panel discussion, and that kind of made us think more around what we want to do. We want to focus and just to make it for all circle.

Nelly: 3:44

My first master's degree prepared me for a high school math feature, but then I fell in love with technology and databases and coding. So I spent my career in technology and out of a sudden, we've built this metaverse platform and we realized how impactful it could be as an educational tool. So just imagine everything and anything you can do in an immersive space like that. You can bring in species long extinct, you can select ancient cities, you can show objects in this space which are difficult or maybe expensive to bring in a real classroom. So all of that felt like coming full circle. So now I'm not only teaching myself of course I continue doing that but I'm also providing this platform for other people to host their educational events, to have their lectures or presentations in a much more immersive and much more interactive and much more fun way.

Joeri: 4:56

Yeah, I love how you explained already why you should use a platform like Tangra and because it's immersive and you can do some of the things, some of the education. It's easier to do it on a Tangra than in real life because it solves a couple of problems. But do you use a term, Metaverse for Tangra or do you use another term of how would you define your type of platform? You used the word immersive. Is that how you would call it, Immersive platform?

Nelly: 5:26

It started as the metaverse and we still name ourselves a metaverse platform, but then what we offer because the term has fell out to grace a little bit lately, which, honestly, it shouldn't matter like how we call it and what we call it, that's not important. What we can achieve with that technology is important, and making sure that we are solving real problems for real use cases, for real customers, for real people who can benefit from that, that's important. So, yes, we are a metaverse platform, but then to make it easier especially for people who have never tried or maybe have never even heard about it or, even worse, have heard wrong things I would like to make sure that I use words like immersive experiences, because that's much easier way to explain what the benefit is.

Joeri: 6:26

Yeah, and actually I read it on a post that Tangra made on LinkedIn and also my previous podcast guest said it that 2024 will be the year of virtual experiences, of VR, ar, metaverse and so on. That's the exciting things going on our way and so, yes, with Tangra you offer educational events or maybe events in general. Can you explain to our listeners how does it look like such an event on a Tangra platform?

Nelly: 7:00

Yeah, absolutely. So. We have this robust technology on the back end which allows us to talk, of course, to chat, to send messages and to have our photo realistic virtual spaces and to have our avatars in there. So that's the foundation of our platform and from that point on, we built beautiful 3D spaces for different use cases. So you might have an arena like space for 1000 people, but you will also have some smaller space for maybe 10 or 15 people. So, again, depending on the use case, depending on the audience, it would be a different one.

Nelly: 7:47

For example, we have immersive spaces built for nonprofits which are just galleries, because they want to showcase some maybe pictures or paintings, or flyers or information as a gallery. So that's how they prefer their spaces to be created and they are like distributing just the URL. Oh, forgot to mention that Tangry is a web-based platform. We have mobile as well, but we started on web. So, just sending out the URL, people can go in and learn about, let's say, the course of that nonprofit, right?

Nelly: 8:29

While in other cases, the space is especially built around hosting an event. In it, it will have the stage, it will have the big screen, it will have the chairs for the audience and so many other things. As you remember, yurii, we've added some fun elements. We helped host an event together on a tropical island with that sunny ambience and ocean and all of that, and there we had some fun. We had a DJ networking booths there, we had our avatars can enter the ocean, they can go on a boat ride or hop on a yacht, so all sorts of interactive elements which make the experience much more interesting for people. We've added also music, so our DJ can play music, and I'm super excited to share with you, yurii, that now our DJ can AI generate music as well.

Nelly: 9:30

So we are continuing adding new and new features, but it is all around how we can make this matter-first experience. Again, it is primarily events and educational sessions how we can bridge that gap between the physical and the virtual world. So on one hand, it is as close to the real world as possible. On the other hand, it is not like empty black squares on the screen as on Zoom. So what can we bring from the physical world as experiences yeah, tropical island, dj 40 and then a Polt ride.

Nelly: 10:13

But also what can we bring from the digital world, like an easy way for asking the audience and giving them polls and quizzes. So that's on the fly, you can poll your audience and while you're speaking and figure out, maybe, how they're grasping a concept you're talking about or how much experience they have with the concept. So our goal is to bring together as many technologies as possible and provide that experience, which is again a much better one than we currently have on platforms like Zoom, for example, and as close to the physical world as possible. That means that we're not replacing in-person events, let me make that clear. I still imagine that most weddings will be replaced in person. But what we can do, and what we have been doing is offer our platform, tangra, so that you can host an event with a global audience.

Joeri: 11:33

Exactly, and it's less people feel less exposed to because they can use their avatar and they don't need to look at the screen all the time.

Joeri: 11:42

Also, it I felt like it has an impact on your mood too, because if you are on a tropical island, that's a certain atmosphere that you have comparing to, I don't know, in a wood or on a planet, somewhere where there is not so much sunshine. So actually it's as an impact on your mood. The fact that you compare with other platforms 1000 people, that's amazing looking at that, if that's a lot, of course, but even a few hundreds having them, that's another experience to do that in a metaverse than on Zoom, because then you know, it's a bit overwhelming. You mentioned the wedding, and this actually made me think that you can imagine situations where a couple is marrying somewhere and they live in the US, for instance, and they have family in Australia, for instance, or in Europe, and those people maybe cannot travel. Maybe there is a way to also involve them with the kind of Metaverse. I'm just thinking now, but there are a lot of possibilities, right, so it's endless.

Nelly: 12:51

Absolutely. Thank you for mentioning that we are happy to have a very strong and knowledgeable technical team. That's what made it possible to build such a robust platform and the only platform which can host 1000 avatars. Really, and what you were saying about, yes, I guess there might be situations and use cases for each and every person you want to be hosted in the metaverse, but we need to focus and right now we are at this stage after the initial hype and now this illusion, now we are at the stage where we actually build products who serve real, tangible use cases.

Nelly: 13:37

What we are doing is identifying those use cases which make all sense and for us, this is educational, like learning in general, whether it is an education we went again panel discussion, presentation whether it is a course or a workshop, but we revolve all around education because I strongly believe, as an educator myself and as a clock life learner myself, I believe that we have to continue learning throughout our lives. It's no longer Okay I've graduated, I've got my diploma, I'm done all the way, and two, we can do so much better than what we had our students go through during the pandemic.

Nelly: 14:23

Of course we weren't ready. No one was prepared for global event disaster like that.

Nelly: 14:29

But what we had at the moment wasn't good enough. So that kind of drives me to every day. What can we do to improve that? What can we do to make it better? What can we do for people to learn while having fun and while retaining information and while learning in an easy and natural way? Maybe you know from the call of learning that two weeks later we remember only 10% of what we've read, 30% of what we've seen and 90% of what we've said and done.

Nelly: 15:12

So my goal with our platform is to provide the tool to educators so that students can easily participate in the learning process and learn by doing, learn by saying, learn, by moving around and being active participants in that whole experience. And again, when you think about it, just attending a webinar, okay, maybe you're interested the first five or so minutes and then you switch to another time, you switch to your email or maybe text messages. That's that. That's that, While what we want to achieve here is get you in, get your focus and attention and make you be actively participating in whatever is going on, and that's the whole point, that's the whole premise of the tools.

Joeri: 16:09

Yeah, I love the positivity that you show and all the possibilities that we have in the metaverse. And actually I gave a talk at the marketing congress in Brussels and I mentioned the event we did together on Tangra, and then I got one question from the audience and he said are we living our lives then in the metaverse? And already mentioned, no, it's. I just say some of things are maybe better organized in the metaverse, but other things you just continue to do them in real life and then it's good to have these different options. Now, probably because that's my audience, are also a number of marketers for listening to that and those people are enthusiastic because we are in the same community also and we did events in the Metaverse where marketers came and they like to, of course, obviously to showcase their products or services or creatives. How would you say, as a good use case for marketers now listening to this show, this podcast, to do in the Metaverse?

Nelly: 17:12

As I mentioned, any educational event. So basically, replace the well in ours we can't get with an immersive experience. That's one and that's an easy thing to do right away. And then we can have, of course, showrooms. So, as marketers, obviously we want to build that brand awareness, develop our brands, showcase our products in services. So we can do that in an easy way.

Nelly: 17:42

Metaverse experience, right, and we can also, in a much easier way, connect with our clients. We can have, of course, metaverse events to supplement in person conferences, but, even better, make the virtual ones so much more engaging and fun. So, instead of those webinars we currently host, we have metaverse event where our audiences are engaged. And first we can. Companies can also build their own branded metaverse basis, whether as a showcase room, whether as a virtual extension to their physical store or office or campus, which will be another avenue for customers to find them. And events they have, they host, can help brands increase, obviously, brand awareness and to boost engagement and loyalty of their clients, as well as showcase them as innovative and creative brands. Right, as we know, it's also many digital fashion shows, luxury brands events there were new car models, reviews, product demos, you name it concerts, you name it and they were held in various Metaburse worlds. We've also, as I mentioned, had no profits, requesting an immersive space to showcase their calls and their work and by that they hope to attract visibility and assistance to help them with their causes. So these are all great use cases.

Nelly: 19:27

But if we are thinking about as marketers, if you are thinking about the stages of the buyer's journey as they go from the awareness, consideration, decision and delight phases, all of those can greatly benefit from the Metaburse experience. So in the awareness stage, the buyer is having a problem they want to alleviate and they are looking for information. Right, they want to better understand their problem. So a wonderful way for us to showcase and to educate our clients through creating some content, some demos, faqs, how-tos, in a format that is immersive, that is fun, that is easy to grasp, easy to understand and which means the buyers are better educated. And throughout the consideration stage, when they are actively researching solutions, we can again have showrooms or product demos again to give them a better understanding of potential solutions. Next, when they are about to make a decision, we can help them evaluate different solutions and vendors by creating that, making that feature comparison matrix alive. If you remember, it's on the features listed alongside from different products or vendors and with checkmarks, usually most in our favor.

Nelly: 21:04

So just imagine if buyers were able to actually see the products, to actually compare the features, so we are able to show them what it looks like, how it works in that 3D environment. We can look at it, they can open the drawer, they can look at it back, they can position it in a room. And to illustrate this better, let's say our company is in ourselves a hotel furniture, right? What we can do is to set up a 3D showroom and invite decision makers to our virtual showroom. They see the 3D dimensional pieces of furniture in the room, they see the covers, they see the materials. Actually, they can touch pieces via haptic devices, right. They can get their art seated, they can play with open drawers, rearrange pieces of furniture in the room and even play with some covers, change materials, maybe play with different food or house to the materials, and all of that while they are collaborating with coworkers or discussing with the vendor, right. So it makes it a showroom but also a workshop in a way, because when in the real world can you actually go to the manufacturer and play with different materials and sizes and heights, and woods and all of that.

Nelly: 22:45

So just imagine what an impactful way that would be for us as marketers for that selling hotel furniture in our case to actually showcase our products and to give the buyer all the tools they need to go through all the stages and to make the decision.

Nelly: 23:09

And a stage which is usually oftentimes overlooked, but it is super important, is the stage after purchase, which is called the light stage.

Nelly: 23:21

Right, we want to return customers, absolutely no question there. But we also know that customers, when they love our products or services, they become brand investors. So there is each and every intention it should be our intention to try and delight them and then keep in touch with our customers post-purchase as well. If we were to use this example again, we can invite our clients to and include them in a decision-making workshop or some focus group to discuss a new product, right? So maybe they get together in this immersive space and they are to choose the color and fabric of our new sofas, right? That way, they feel engaged, they feel valued, we get their feedback. Maybe send them a PULO or a blanket or a digital asset as a token of gratitude for their help and they keep and they remain engaged with our brand even post their purchase. So just think about how many opportunities we have to improve and interact with and delight our prospects and clients throughout their journey.

Joeri: 24:50

I love how I compare the customer journey with the Metaverse and then every phase of the metaverse can play a role. It gives me a bit more inspiration for the book that I'm writing, the metaverse too, which, of course, I will also talk about Tangra in there. So now I already mentioned that in 2024 it will be an exciting year, but what are you at this moment the most excited about with the things that you are doing with Tangra or Evolutions that you see in the market this year?

Nelly: 25:22

I'm so super excited, yuri, what I mentioned earlier. We are already getting out of that disillusionable deep and we are starting to build a real product for real customers and real use cases, and that's fantastic. Honestly, the hype was just hype Too many people, too many unrealistic expectations and too much noise. Now, right now, focusing on where we can make a real impact, where this technology can actually help. What are the industries, what are the use cases that are either important or even possible to start with right now? Right, what I was using as an example earlier.

Nelly: 26:13

This is something which we will absolutely have, but we are not there yet just because of how assets are created and how manual and difficult processing still is labor-intensive, manual, time consuming to create and position the right asset in the right place. So we are getting there, but what you are asking, what I'm most excited about is the Metaverse brings together so many technologies and the fascinating part is that it will benefit and we people building other platforms or using the Metaverse we will all benefit from enhancements and innovation in all sorts of other technologies. So, when you think about hardware, for example VR headsets, smart glasses, haptic walls all of those are getting better and better Hopefully less expensive as well, but the technology is getting much, much better. So that's one on the side of the hardware. And then, when you think about the software, we have these GPU power computers now that can render real-time photo, realistic virtual worlds, avatars as well. So that is also something I look forward. It isn't as process-intensive, it isn't that time consuming tool to download a virtual space.

Nelly: 28:02

The Internet infrastructure again improving alongside what we are building, and then the experiences themselves, what we built right now and how we make sure that we serve the right audience, that we help the right industry and build around the right use case these are all elements which I'm super excited about. We also have even digital scent technology already existing. So in this digitally created virtual world we will be able to smell, and these advancements are fascinating, and there isn't even a single day when there isn't an article or a sub-announcement about something new. I cannot imagine a better time to be living in or to be innovating in or to be part of technology in general, because, again, each and every part of the puzzle is surely, if sometimes slowly, coming together and they are all moving the whole metaverse space, nice.

Joeri: 29:24

It was so great to have you here, Nelly, with your enthusiasm, and people are listening and have not checked out Tangra yet. Tangra, they should really do that. I even have my personal link, udlink slash tangra. Be sure to check it out. It will be in the show notes, like every time there is an article that read our show notes, and I will also put some information in there how people can reach you, Nelly, and to what you like to say to them.

Nelly: 29:54

Thank you, Joeri. Just give it a try and know that it's only getting better from now. So, yeah, reach out. If you need to better understand how that technology works, please reach out. I know that you, Joeri, have classes. I also teach classes.

Nelly: 30:14

Whether you are a marketer or someone, an enthusiast or someone just curious about the technology, reach out to Joeri or myself. We can help you out with the educational content for you or for your organization. So, basically, try to educate yourself or your employees. Try to identify the essence among all the nonsense. Really Try to realize what the real benefit for you personally, for your tea or for your company, what your grant would be, and then start experimenting.

Nelly: 30:52

Right, it's not just staying at the sidelines and waiting for this technology to be perfect, and I know, Joeri, you've been playing with it from the very beginning. There is a lot yet to be built, a lot more to be achieved, of course, but we can start playing and start putting together our strategies as marketers right now. So this is super important. The metaverse is already here. It is only growing. It would be a trillions dollars, a trillion US dollars worth, but it is critical to understand that it provides another marketing channel for brand development and promotion.

Nelly: 31:44

And what I mentioned earlier, it will fully transform the customer journey by adding new touch points, with all the customization options which are available in the metaverse, with all the different data points which we can collect and analyze, and with all the AI, which will, one, enhance the metaverse but, two, also help us as marketers. So, yeah, educate yourself and your team. Start playing around, hop on different metaverse events, metaverse platforms, learn as much as you can, try them yourselves and start putting together your immersive marketing strategies, because if you don't, there will be others who you do.

Joeri: 32:41

Exactly, Nelly. I'm sure we could talk for hours about all these possibilities, but thank you so much. It was such a pleasure to have you on the show.

Nelly: 32:51

Thank you so much. It's a pleasure.

Joeri: 32:54

So you see, guys, what all the possibilities are that you can do, or you can really experience yourself in the metaverse. It's just a small part that we have been discussing, and so if you're thinking this is really interesting, try it out. Go to uridotlinktangra and check out Tangra. If you think that this podcast episode is useful for people around you, be sure to share this episode with them so that they can also learn about Tangra and the metaverse. If you're not yet subscribed to the show, this is a really good moment to do this and, of course, I would like to see you back next time. Take care.