Harvard MBA alumni hosted class reunion in the Metaverse

The Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program of 2017 held their quinquennial class reunion through VR platform Mesmerise. The unique plan took into consideration their fellow old classmates’ difficulty in taking time off work, travel restrictions imposed by COVID-19, among other logistics besetting the global alumni base from meeting in-person. 

To resolve the above issues, Sean West, an alumnus who sat on the Board of Mesmerise organized the event. He said that opting for the Metaverse saves money and time and also prevents fatigue caused by traveling by air. 

According to an interview with Business Insider, West said that VR technology provided the alumni with a unique opportunity to reconnect without the need to travel. ‘Nobody had to miss work. Nobody got stuck because they couldn’t get a visa, and no COVID,’ West also said the added perks of the VR-powered event is that alumni avoided having to deal with jet lag and pay for travel expenses.  

To make the event happen in the Metaverse, Mesmerise delivered Meta Quest 2 VR headsets to 90 alumni dispersed in 28 countries to enable them to gather in a shared virtual space for a limited time period of 90 minutes. 

What’s more, the attendees attended their former professor, Ranjay Gulati’s book launch, before coming together again at a virtual plaza for a catch up and party. 

The Metaverse can change the way people do day-to-day things like job searching, banking, buying and selling goods and services. This is an innovative solution to making daily life more convenient, added West.

Photo: Getty