At Trello, the company that developed the ubiquitous project management app, collaboration is key. After all, its core offer is a platform for getting everyone on the same page across projects, departments, or companies.
When Covid-19 made its annual offsite a non-possibility, the leading tech company partnered with headset maker Oculus VR and virtual platform FRAME to create an incredible virtual experience instead.
Let’s go behind the scenes and see what it’s like to design a mirror-image virtual world for an established tech company. You can watch the full video here, too.
Reimagining Trello Together
Every year, Trello’s teams would get together for a work trip that wasn’t about work. The offsite was a chance to get to know each other and build relationships that weren’t entirely transactional or task-oriented.
Once the offsite was off the table, due to public-health considerations related to Covid-19, Trello’s leadership started developing an innovative alternative: Trello Together Virtual Reality 2021 aka TTVR21.
“The idea came to me about recreating the office. As soon as I knew that FRAME could build a custom environment, it had to be that. It was always that,” says Liz Leary, TTVR21 Event Planner.
Leary and Gabe Baker, Product Manager at FRAME, worked together to mirror images and videos of Trello’s New York City office, replicating the proportions of interior architecture, different furniture styles and flooring textures, and signature murals.
Spatially accurate audio allows conversations to occur as they do in real life. When staff walk down a hallway, they can always hear the person next to them, but the people at the other end of the space fade with distance.
“Ultimately, it felt real. And, in that way, brought us all together . . . in a really different and unique way,” says Brian Schmidt, Chief of Staff at Trello.
A Surprise Unboxing
To make the most of its FRAME world, Trello surprised its staff with a fantastic gift: Oculus Quest 2 headsets in order to attend the event. The headsets give staff the opportunity to interact in full virtual reality from anywhere in the world.
In FRAME, headsets like the ones by Oculus allow anyone to experience their virtual office or other worlds in ways that feel stunningly real. Many members of the Trello team were astonished at how exceptional the experience was—a natural reaction for entering a new reality.
It was also easy, though. That’s part of the value of FRAME. With a lightweight, customizable solution, anyone can join the platform, design their own environment, and experience it just like they would any of their favorite physical locations around the world.
For more on FRAME or to get started designing your own virtual world, reach out to hello@framevr.io.
