AIIA Building in SLThank you to Sheryle Moon and the AIIA staff for inviting me to give a brief talk at the annual Directors dinner last night. There really wasn't enough time to go into much in depth, so I thought I'd touch on a few points here.

Modern communication is now driven by social networks, instant messaging, and Flash Mobs. An entire generation has come of age living online. A comparison of June 06 to June 07 traffic at Facebook.com shows it experienced a growth rate of 270%. The MySpace crowd is enterting the workforce and they are bringing Facebook with them.

Virtual worlds like Second Life have been called the 3D web. That might lead some companies to think they should be transitioning their current websites into new platforms like Second Life. Don't get caught in that trap.

Web-based applications, are more mature - and commercially, have been able to show a good Return on Investment. Successful sites have either provided revenue or cut costs, and we have all been trained for a self-serve world from banking to blogging. Automation has made this an efficient and sterile process. In other words, NO human contact is needed .

Second Life needs human contact.

Look at your own organization and identify the areas that require humans. Then, apply the same ROI thinking for your B2B services, export strategies, or direct marketing. If your organisation needs to touch people, think about how an immersive and social space might play a role for you. Obvious areas that come to mind:

• More efficient training.
• Customer service.
• Virtual trade shows.
• Internal regional staff meetings.

Can virtual worlds energize employees and engage them in creative thinking, brainstorming and innovation? I can’t think of a better environment than Second Life to rekindle people’s imagination.

Imagination.

As children, we are all encouraged to pretend. To make believe. To live in a fantasy world of fairy tales. As adults, that becomes increasingly difficult and a challenge to creative thinking. There has been a lot written about how enterprise organisations can engage and encourage their workers to INNOVATE. Crazy ideas often lead to real breakthroughs when given a chance to fully form. Role playing and creative blockbusting are spontaneous when you are dressed like a mermaid or robot.

So, Why Second Life rather than some other virtual world? There are a few things that make SL special and here for the long term:

• Their commitment to Intellectual Property
• The implementation of commerce – a true system of micro transactions
• Tools to create and challenge the imagination

They are also well positioned to stay ahead of any competition because of other strategic moves:

- The open source client is available now to developers
- The open source server software is going to be available to developers at some point

Second Life growth is significant, but lower than it appears. Let’s look at some of the numbers around Second Life:

- Over 8.5 million accounts
- About 250,000 active users
- About 30,000 inworld at any one time.

These numbers are not staggering by any account - so why bother. There is a Gartner report revealing some great insight. One point is:

"Behind every avatar is a real person. Gartner said people can’t be fooled by the fantasy elements in the virtual world. There are unwritten rules and expectations for behavior and culture ... "

Second Life is populated by real people giving it their full attention - and that is something other mediums are not able to do. The scarcest resource on the planet is time – high in demand and low in supply.

There is really only one way to understand what Second Life is all about - and that is to try it yourself. Land in available for safe and friendly experimentation. Try it out on your organisation – hold some internal events. Gauge reaction and adjust.

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Second Life is a global marketplace for Small Business. It levels the playing field and gives you equal access to key people in your industry, who can be surprisingly accessible. (We are a tiny start-up company in Melbourne started less than 6 months ago and were mentioned in the New York Times.)

Second Life is Environment Friendly. If your organisation's travel is reduced by just 5% wouldn’t that be worthwhile?

Second Life is Gender Bending. Female avatars are not limited by strength, networks, or intellect. The social aspect of virtual worlds, the collaborative nature and volunteer spirit of many residents is a comfortable fit for many women. Our SLCN coverage of Ice Hockey and Stock Car dirt track racing has revealed many female players.

And it's fun.