Virtual Reality takes centre stage for our first virtual Sales Kick-off

Last editedFeb 2021 3 min read
Creating a fun and purposeful environment in the sales team is important to us at GoCardless and we find success often runs downstream from culture.
Amid the global pandemic as the GoCardless team works remotely, we looked for an innovative way to engage, motivate and celebrate the achievements of our team. In January 2021 we hosted the first-ever virtual Sales Kick-off (SKO) using the Oculus Quest 2 Virtual Reality (VR) system and virtual meeting software, Spatial.

Why use Virtual Reality?
Traditionally pre-pandemic, our SKOs, like in many businesses, would feature the entire sales team gathering in-person for one or two days. With everyone working remotely, I felt that it was crucial to capture what makes our sales culture unique and change the format to keep our team engaged and the use of our time productive.
With Zoom fatigue setting in, a third lockdown in place and a dark and gloomy January for most of our teams, I thought how do we break out of that? How can I make the event special in the current environment? And how can I recreate the magic of our in-person SKOs?
That’s when VR first occurred to me. VR can help the team be in the same room without actually being there. A better alternative to Zoom and the next best thing to meeting in person. Primarily used for gaming, VR has a lot of fun and novel aspects that we can utilise. This way we can also recognise as a team, that there is an upside to achievement besides money.
Using VR was a big bonus for our new starters who joined remotely and have never had the chance to meet the rest of the team face-to-face.
“Being a remote new joiner, it’s quite hard meeting as many people as I would like to. The VR system really gave me the impression of being (almost) back to normal and having a meeting at the office. The experience was completely different from a “normal” Zoom meeting, and I believe it was 100% useful.” Felix Bernard, SDR, GoCardless.
How did the virtual SKO work?
Through VR and the Spatial software, we created realistic 3D avatars of each member of the team from photos. Once in the virtual space we could move around, interact with and even high five each other.
We built the virtual spaces with the intention to create a brand new experience for our sales team, transport them out of their homes and into an innovative and interactive place where we could collaborate and have fun.
To make the virtual meeting space as engaging and entertaining as possible we spent a lot of time preparing the space. From mountains to elephant herds strolling, from galaxies in the sky to a quintessential English pub, a DJ booth and an ‘Oscar gala’ style stage. Of course, everything was GoCardless branded and we even gave out virtual gifts of champagne and trophies to our award winners.

Our primary use of the virtual space was to host talks and workshops, an Oscar-style awards gala and team-building activities with games like Topgolf with Pro Putt to enable the team to wind down and socialise.
In order to keep the sessions fresh and relevant, we split them between VR, where we could interact with each other and Zoom, to include people outside the sales team, who didn’t have the Oculus Quest 2. We also decided to spread out the sessions and make specific ones optional so we could cater to the varying needs of the sales team and engage them in content relevant to their role.