February 25, 2025 • 40 mins
This episode features Dan O'Brien from HTC, who brings years of experience in tech innovation to the table. They discuss the importance of strategic business partnerships in the travel and hospitality industry, focusing on how these collaborations can lead to growth and enhanced guest experiences. Skip and Dan explore the role of technology in shaping the future of hospitality, emphasizing the need for companies to keep up with the fast-paced changes in the tech landscape.
Throughout the episode, Dan shares insights into HTC's commitment to immersive technologies, particularly virtual reality and augmented reality. He explains how these technologies can revolutionize training programs, making them more effective and engaging for staff. The conversation also touches on the broader implications of XR in various industries, including healthcare and military training, showcasing the versatility and potential of these technologies in improving operational efficiency and training outcomes.
As they delve deeper into the practical applications of XR in hospitality, Skip and Dan discuss innovative solutions for guest engagement and staff training. They highlight specific scenarios where immersive technology can enhance the guest experience, such as interactive service training and event planning simulations. The episode wraps up with a strong message about the necessity of embracing technology in hospitality to meet evolving consumer expectations and ensure long-term success.
Takeaways:
- In this episode, they discuss how immersive technology is transforming hospitality and training.
- They highlight the importance of strategic partnerships for driving innovation in the tech industry.
- The conversation reveals how XR can dramatically improve training efficiency and retention rates.
- They emphasize that understanding the specific problems to solve is key when integrating XR solutions.
- They explore the future of XR, including advancements in AR and VR technologies.
- They stress the significance of comfort and security in XR hardware for enterprise applications.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
This is Tango Charlie papa.
Episode number 90, February25, 2025.
This show is powered by GrowthAdvisors International Network, where
travel and hospitalitycompanies come to grow.
For more information pleasevisit gainadvisors.com hi.
This is Dan O'Brien, HTCPresident of the Americas region
(00:22):
for HTC Vibe.
You're listening to Skip onthe Tech Chef Podcast.
Strateg business continuity.
How about a taste test ofrestaurant technology?
Drive thru or curbside?
Mobile apps or AI?
It's all on the menu.
(00:43):
Cook it up for the date.
It's a recipe for success.
You're in good hands with theTech Chef.
Make a plan to be your best.
Strategize with the Tech Chef.
Welcome back to the Tech Chefpodcast where hospitality and technology
(01:06):
collide to create the futureof guest experiences.
I'm your host Skip Kimple andevery episode we dig into the game
changing innovations shapingrestaurants, hotels, resorts and
entertainment venues.
From AI and automation toimmersive experiences and smart data
solutions, we uncover thetools and strategies defining how
(01:29):
the industry operates.
Join us as we talk withvisionary leaders, tech trailblazers
and industry experts who arepushing the boundaries of what's
possible.
Whether you're a hospitalitypro, a tech enthusiast or an entrepreneur
hungry for innovation, thispodcast serves up as the insights
you need to stay ahead.
(01:51):
So grab a seat at the tablebecause the future of hospitality
starts right here.
This is the Tech Chef Podcast.
Over the past two weeks wehave announced several significant
strategic partnershipsincluding weart, a leader in advanced
haptic hardware for immersivetraining and Digilens, a provider
(02:11):
of enterprise grade augmentedreality smart glasses.
Today we are excited to unveilour newest strategic partner specializing
in VR and fully immersiveexperiences, further reinforcing
our commitment to innovationand excellence in the industry.
Joining our show for thisannouncement is Dan O'Brien, HTC
(02:34):
Vive President of the Americas.
Dan is a seasoned technologyexecutive with over 24 years of experience
in leading and managing andcommercialization of emerging technologies,
innovations and solutions forconsumers and professional customers.
He oversees the sales,marketing, product and operations
(02:55):
for the immersive and wirelessdivisions of htc.
As a humanity mission drivenleader, Dan is focused on delivering
revenue growth, brandbuilding, e commerce strategies,
business development, contentcreation and strategic partnerships
for HTC Vive, the pioneer andglobal leader in virtual reality.
(03:18):
He has a proven track recordof defining and executing the channel
strategy, marketing strategy,product management, supply chain
and public relations for HTC Vive.
Ready to get fully immersivein this conversation?
Lights on, mics up.
Let's do this.
(03:39):
Thanks Skip, thanks for havingme on the show and introducing me
to your audience andeverything that you're doing to push
the technology forward in thehospitality industry, it's absolutely
fantastic.
My role at htc, I'm thePresident of the Americas region.
I actually started the HTCvive business at HTC.
(04:02):
I've been at HTC for 16 yearsand without going into a long, long
history, I've always beenworking on whether it was smartphones,
whether it was accessories,always very, very bleeding edge new
technology.
And so the HTC Vive businesswas really a leap forward into spatial
(04:24):
computing, immersivetechnology, virtual reality headsets,
augmented reality, glasses,combining that with radiated technology,
like 5G technology.
So we've always kind of beenthis company that led the industry
in terms of introducing thesenew technologies to the industry
and then seeing how they get deployed.
(04:46):
I mean, just things like weinvented 4G LTE devices and we had
no idea Uber was going to comefrom that.
But that's the kind of companythat we are, this is the kind of
things that we do.
So I know my Europeanlisteners certainly know the HTC
name, probably not so muchhere in the United States.
You're a little moreinvisible, should I say, due to some
partnerships and somearrangements that HTC made with the
(05:09):
Americas.
Sixteen years is a long timeto be in the XR industry.
I am sure you have seen a tonof changes.
Changes happen.
Tell us a little bit aboutwhat excites you today in the world
of xr.
Well, you know, originally,you know, long time ago, virtual
reality, augmented reality,extended reality, a lot of this technology
(05:31):
was really being incubated inthe military and the dod and the
technology wasn't really there.
And then we actually developedsmartphones later on.
And I was, I made over 70phones and I made the first Android
phone, I made the first 4G LTE phone.
And we got into what wascalled the screen wars in the smartphone
(05:53):
days.
Now, 2009, 2010, HTC wasdistributing close to 60 million
smartphones a year.
So we had a pretty good brandas an HTC brand in the smartphone
industry, but we quickly sawthat commoditizing.
But what those displays gaveus was a display that could now run
(06:13):
content at 90 frames persecond, which was never ever done
before then.
Now running content at thathigh speed frame rate, we could put
people in a very immersiveenvironment and not make them feel
nauseous or feel sick.
A lot of the previoustechnology just wasn't able to do
that.
(06:34):
Now we have the introductionof this new Technology that allows
us to build virtual reality,augmented reality.
But the only people that knewhow to create these types of environments
years and years and years agowas gamers and game developers.
And so the audience was reallythis kind of like very high end gaming
audience.
And we've been committed since2014 to driving into enterprise,
(06:57):
driving this technology intowhether it's hospitality, location
based entertainment, dod,healthcare, design architecture.
Like we've been driving thistechnology and to get the industry
to understand how to actuallydevelop this kind of content and
use this kind of technology.
That's been quite the effort.
(07:17):
But now we're at a point wherepeople stopped asking why would I
use this?
And then now they're askinghow do I get it and how do I deploy
it at scale?
Yeah, I mean that's a bigquestion that I'm starting to hear
more and more.
We're past that tipping edgeof the use of xr, certainly within
enterprise.
HTC has always been on theforefront of XR innovation, as you
(07:38):
talked about, and justtechnology in general.
But XR falls within your category.
What is the company's currentvision for the future of immersive
technology?
Well, you know, it'sinteresting, we, when we kind of
exited the smartphoneindustry, we retained and kept all
of our radio technology peopleand resources.
(08:00):
And so we were also developingAR glasses, you know, simple, you
know, wearables, somethingmore like what we wear as regular
glasses, whether you're aWarby Parker or a high end glasses
user.
But what we found was thebiggest gap to making that technology
work really well wasconnectivity to a cloud technology
(08:20):
environment where you coulddeliver content fast enough.
So what we've done over thelast couple of years is developed
5G technology that works witha wearable and you can deliver that
content over a networkinfrastructure fast enough.
Where the technology is goingis we're going to make lighter, smaller,
(08:41):
easier to use glasses lessintimidating for people than these
kind of big bulky glasses thatpeople have been using for a while
now, or goggles as some peoplecall them.
And what we're going to do iswe're going to have these headsets
and these glasses talk to a 5Gnetwork and starting in 2030, a 6G
(09:03):
network.
And you're going to be able toactually use these glasses just about
everywhere you go.
So it's going to the frictionfor users to use it and companies
to deploy it is going tobecome very easy.
Well, so my audience can't seeit, but in the background I'm seeing
you with the XR elite in theback there.
And honestly I was attractedto the XR Elite because it is more
(09:27):
streamlined than the averagedevice out there.
Plus it's got some really coolfeatures, for instance.
Now I'm getting too geeky andnerdy, but I'm going down this route
anyways.
It's got the built in dioptersthat you can change for a person's
prescription.
You've got with the facetracker module you can do the automatic
(09:47):
IPD adjustment as well asbeing able to track facial expressions
and be able to get data fromthat and put those kind of data analytics
into a LMS system in order tobe able to gather data on different
data points for VR training,for instance.
So with all of thesecompetitors in the marketplace, how
(10:07):
does HTC Vive differentiateitself from competitors in this XR
space?
You know one, we focused onvery, very high quality.
We focused on comfort, visual,superior visuals and fidelity.
And when the user is lookingat content and when they're interacting
with content, that thatdisplay and that field of view is
(10:31):
very comfortable and accurateand clear.
We also thought about thingslike security.
We don't actually pull backany data from any end user when we,
when we deploy our headsets,especially if it's an enterprise.
Right?
So we don't, we don't have asocial media backing to our company.
(10:53):
We sell a solution for ourother partners and companies that
they then benefit from usingour technology and whatever they
learn from that technology andhow their employees benefit from
it, that's their business.
Right?
And so we're very, very big onprivacy security.
We meet criteria for federalfinancial institutions, we meet security
(11:18):
for special operations environments.
So security is a big deal forus and it's a big deal for our customers.
And then we thought aboutcustomizable headsets and open ecosystems.
So as you buy into ourtechnology, very often we continue
to evolve the technology ofthe existing headset so that you
(11:40):
can grow your use cases andyour functionality with the headset.
Instead of having to buy a newheadset every year or trying to evaluate
a new technology every year, alot of our enterprise customers really
think about, well, I want tobe able to buy this headset for two
to three years and I want itto be supported for two to three
years and then I want to lookat a new technology and it's like,
(12:00):
yep, that we completelyunderstand how enterprise customers
really need to deploy.
And then we thought about veryeasy to use deployable platform services,
management services so thatyou can deploy your headsets very
clean and very effectively ifyou have IT management, you can secure
those devices and connect them.
(12:21):
And just like you saidearlier, having it connected to a
learning management system, anLMS, if you're doing training for
40, 50,000 people, you need tobe able to track that success back.
And so we make it very easy tomanage and interconnect with different
device management systems aswell as lmss.
So it's interesting.
(12:41):
Once again, our clients areprimarily enterprise hospitality
clients.
When we first go to them andtell them about the project and we
start going through the costof the project and we get to the
headset piece, the hardwarepiece, we talk about the device that
we recommend and we'll talkabout why we're recommending HTC
devices later on in this podcast.
(13:03):
But they always balk at the cost.
I have them take a step backat that point.
I said, listen, let's go,let's take terms of service from
another headset that you mightbe looking at, that you're familiar
with, and let's have yourlawyers compare it against what HTC
has and let's see what theycome back with.
But it's not just that.
It is the security, the devicemanagement, the data layers, the
(13:26):
fact that you don't collectthis data and the durability of that
device.
I swear you can throw thatthing across the room, I don't recommend
it.
And that thing's going towork, but for a restaurant or hotel
environment, man, people beatstuff up.
So I'm looking for durableproducts in that environment, right?
And I think reliability in acompany like ours, we, where we've,
(13:46):
we manufacture all of our ownequipment, we have our own factory
line, we're producing ourproducts in Taiwan.
And we actually meet a lot ofthe criteria and country of origin
safety requirements that allowus to meet a lot of criteria that
our competitors cannot becauseof their country of origin, where
(14:08):
they manufacture, if they'reusing lower cost labor to try to
get to those lower prices.
And some of our competitorshave a different business model where
they subsidize the cost of the hardware.
And I try to always educatecustomers, you know, from a competitive
standpoint, if you're buyinghardware that is subsidized in cost,
(14:29):
you are the product.
And so because that companyneeds to make money somehow, some
way with that hardware, wejust, you know, we sell our products
what we think is at a greatprice for the real cost of the hardware.
And when you get that product,it is yours.
Your security, the cameras onthe headsets, if you're using it
(14:53):
in highly confidentialenvironments inside of your corporate
environment, your informationis protected.
The cameras that are on thoseheadsets are encrypted physically.
And from a softwarestandpoint, we do not allow anyone,
even a vendor, to access those cameras.
So we think about privacy andsecurity in our customers trust from
(15:16):
day one and we build to that.
And you know, if we can lowerthe price over the time, we will.
I think one of the other bigadvantages that we have is that owning
our own manufacturing qualityand security.
When a customer says, hey,we're ramping from 10,000 to 60,000
or 100,000, the answer fromHTC is unequivocally yes.
(15:39):
And we can build our owndeployment plan and we have global
distribution capabilities.
A lot of our competitors haveto go contact their third party.
They have to go contact themand say, can you build it and when
and then can you deliver itinto these countries?
For us that's a no brainer.
And we just say yes andsupport the customer globally.
(15:59):
All of those things play intothe cost.
And once you actually, onceyou tell that story, it becomes pretty
obvious of why I amrecommending or Magic 8's recommending
an HTC device.
Keep in mind, I'm exposed to.
Not that you aren't, but I'mexposed to all the headsets out there
and I've played with literallyall of them.
So I have an understanding oftheir capabilities, their form factor,
(16:22):
their functionality, their security.
I've done a pretty big deepdive on this.
This is the only device that Ifound that was durable, had the feature
set, that really held up tothe needs of the hospitality space.
Therefore, we honed in on one partner.
And I gotta be honest withyou, working with your team on every
(16:42):
single level has been nothingbut a delight.
From sales to support toonboarding to marketing across the
board.
Your team has been great.
So kudos for that, of buildingthat environment because everybody
seems to be extremely happyworking at HTC Vive.
And it really shows.
And I feel like you guys havemy back just as much as I have your
(17:05):
back, which is so importantwhen you're creating this relationship.
Which brings to the point, bigannouncement dropped this morning,
which is kind of why we'retalking here today where we dropped
a press release where Magic 8and HTC Vive joined forces to offer
solutions to the hospitality space.
I know why I chose htc, butthis is a two way conversation here.
(17:29):
What made you choose or, youknow, look at Magic 8 as a partner
for the hospitality space?
I, you know, it kind of goes alittle bit, goes back to our Brand,
our brand is this blue triangle.
It actually stands for, youknow, technology, creativity and
humanity.
I think as, I think companiesshould be very focused on what companies
(17:50):
they do business with, whatbrands they do businesses and, and
why, like, you know, there'salways the what of like what's in
the product, what does itcost, what is it, you know, and you
got to think about like brandsand why do some brands partner really
well and why do they go aftercertain problems.
And so much of what we startedthis company to do was to take all
(18:15):
this amazing technology, putit together in very innovative ways,
unleash, you know, creativity,whether it's training, whether it's
access to data, and thenactually bring a benefit and solution
to humanity and, and other.
That's our companies, that'sour partners.
And when we see a company likeyours, and thank you for all the
compliments about my team andthe people that you've interacted
(18:37):
with at our company.
They are the best team.
I, I do think that all the time.
And they're extremely hardworking and they're professionals.
And we've heard multiple timeslike, hey, we've talked to this company,
we've talked to this companyand when we talk to your company,
we feel like we're talking toadults, right?
And I always say that, I'mlike, thank you for the compliment.
(19:00):
And you know, we really try tounderstand our customers problems
and I think that's what you'redoing in a really, really impactful
way.
When you really understandthat hospitality space, you understand
the needs of a lot of theserestaurants and these food, you know,
chains at large scale andproblems that they, they are trying
to solve.
My company, like we're anenabler for a company like yours.
(19:24):
And when I see a greatpartnership where somebody really
understands the market, thevertical, the problems that they're
trying to face.
The best thing for me to do isnot to try to just go, you know,
bulging in there and attack that.
The best thing for me to do isto find, you know, a great partner
like yourself and your companyand understand what Magic 8 really
(19:45):
understands and go, okay, thisis the right partner, this is the
right vertical.
We have a solution that canreally solve immense amount of problems
around training, aroundpreparedness for onboarding from
all.
There's a lot of different usecases that I'm sure we'll get into
those, but I think about thatand go, you know, you guys really
(20:07):
have a great point of view.
You understand this vertical,you understand their problems and
we have the infrastructure andthe tools to Help you be successful.
Dan, that's a great spot totake a little break here.
When we come back, we're goingto talk a little more about some
of those enterprise andhospitality applications and use
cases that you just referred to.
(20:28):
We'll also talk about some ofthe hardware and software innovations
that HTC is looking at andreally the future of xr.
So a lot more to unpack, folks.
Hang on, we'll be right back.
Hey, since I have you here, ifyou're headed to Murtech in Vegas
this year, 3-10-12, you gottaswing by Magic Gate's Experience
(20:48):
Zone.
We're talking next levelrestaurant tech, VR training that
actually works, AR remotesupport that makes troubleshooting
a breeze and some seriouslycool data tools to keep your ops
running smooth.
Plus you can mess around withfuturistic stuff like augmented reality,
virtual reality and haptic devices.
It's all hands on, no boringdemos, just straight up cool tech
(21:10):
that you need to see.
Come check it out.
And we're back to talk aboutsome more specific use cases that
you talked about previouslyfor the hospitality industry.
Maybe you can talk a littlebit about what you've seen out there
from your expertise and froman HTC Vive perspective.
(21:31):
You know, we've seen trainingapplications being used in large
scale consulting firms.
We have seen a lot of trainingand simulation with our military
customers.
They're always looking forways to get through training, have
less downtime and then getbetter outputs.
(21:53):
And I think also we found someincredible results coming from healthcare
and from higher education.
So, you know, just in generalto just kind of set the stage.
You know, when we think aboutretention, right.
And speed retention, when youread, you know, your training materials
is about 15%.
(22:13):
When you sit in a classroom ora lecture style, it's about 5% retention.
And when you think aboutzooming out and going, okay, 60 days
later, 90 days later, youknow, what is the retention level
of that training material?
It drops off a cliff.
And what we found withimmersive training or XR training
(22:36):
is the training goes upwardsof 80 plus percent on reduction.
Now it only drops off after 60days, about 5%.
And so we've also seen a speedof training increase, getting through
the training material,increase of about 400.
(22:59):
So they're getting through thetraining materials exponentially
faster and their retention is,is off the charts higher and better
because what they're doing isthey're learning with their hands,
they're learning with theireyes, they're learning with their
ears, they're learning withkinesthetic learning.
Styles, this is how we alllearned well before we were put into
a classroom, right?
(23:20):
And so when you want to get tothose types of training levels and
performance and you want toget to error rates going down.
Yale's medical school trainedtheir, the medical students on laparoscopic
gallbladder surgeries.
They got through surgeries 29faster and made six times fewer errors
(23:40):
per surgery.
That's amazing.
I was like, if I have to getmy gallbladder out, I'd like one.
Of them to do it, right?
So hopefully I'll keep my gallbladder.
But I just think in general,when we think about anything that's
serial, right?
Anything that's repetitive andanything that's dangerous, right?
Anything that could be like afryer, right.
Heated objects, you know, whenyou have dangerous environments and
(24:04):
you have to train in thoseenvironments with Those bad equipment,
one, it could be costly.
Two, good timec consuming and$3 could be dangerous, right?
If people make mistakes,they're not paying attention, they
could hurt themselves, theycould hurt a trainer.
This is, this is, this type oftraining is repetitive.
The risk levels go way, way,way down and they get through the
(24:25):
training a lot faster and alot more effectively.
And so you can also track backwhat was the performance level of
that training.
So, you know, we havecustomers all the way from special
operations in the military tomedical staff in these medical schools
and in the hospitals.
We have polyps and nursetraining, right?
(24:48):
Where we're training surgicalnurses, how to be in that surgical
environment much moreeffectively, much faster.
They're able to train for anhour long surgery in 15 minutes.
So you really start to seeeconomies of scale.
You start to see the savings,you start to see the speed efficiencies
and the retention efficiencies.
(25:08):
So if you really have totrain, this is by far the most cost
effective, the most effectiveand the best performance for those
users when they come out of it.
So hands down, this is thebest training solution you can use.
Yeah.
You mentioned a coupledifferent cases of areas, why you
need to train in xr, you know,different scenarios.
(25:29):
Another scenario that we'reseeing is putting people in train
on a difficult to reproduce situation.
Like if the hotel is slammed,it's New Year's Eve and they, they
have a rush of people comingin, putting them under stress and
having them, you know, trainto that level.
So when they see it in reallife, it's not that complicated.
(25:52):
Yeah, that's really important.
The cognitive training, right,for high stress environments is,
it's critical, right.
You can actually Train for thestress, you can train for the environment.
We have seen this with safetyofficer training, the nursing training
as well, high crisisenvironments, also customer care
(26:16):
environments, like customerservice environments.
And we have seen great successhere, you know, of those edge cases.
And you can really do a goodjob of actually taking people, putting
them in a stressful situationwhere they have to respond right
very calmly, they have to keeptheir, their body calm, they have
to keep their voice calm.
(26:37):
You can use AI in theseenvironments, in these training environments
to create those stress environments.
So if you're looking down,looking away, you're not making eye
contact with the customer,you're looking up into the left,
you know, things of thatnature where you're just kind of
being a little disingenuousand that's going to amp that, that
situation up even more.
And you're doing it with yourbody language, you're doing it with
(26:59):
your response, you know, your tone.
And you know, the AI can pickall of that up in those training
sims and those trainingmodules and then give you that high
stress environment.
And then at that point it's ateaching moment for the instructor
to say, okay, this is how wecan keep that environment calm, right?
And then we can walk that userthrough that exact same scenario
(27:23):
where they stay calm, theymake eye contact, they're bringing
that whole situation to, intoa much calmer state and the customer
is feeling like they're beingheard, they're being seen, their
concerns are being addressedand there's an action plan for how
to walk away from that situation.
And there's also the opposite, right?
When that situation escalates,what is the proper thing to do?
(27:46):
Who do you introduce into that scenario?
And then how do you just, youknow, you know, keep that situation
calm?
I mean, we've seen all the wayto the extreme of, right, safety
officer training with policeofficers, how to use talk down strategies,
how to use non lethal responses.
So to the level of customerservice, we've also seen where customer
(28:08):
service net promoter scoreshave gone up with customers and products
and the product hasn't changedin the software, it hasn't changed
in the hardware.
There's been no improvement tothe product.
But their net promoter scorewent up.
Why?
Because they were training alltheir customer service agents how
to interact with customersmore effectively and they were just
getting better outcomes withtheir customer service.
(28:30):
So just in general, you know,like you can really improve and prepare
your staff not only for theedge scenarios, but you know, those
current, those crisisscenarios can be pretty intense and
you want your people toprotect not only themselves, but
the brand, you know, and theway they represent the brand, you
know, to, to a customer.
What else other than trainingcould hospitality use XR for?
(28:54):
You know, I think about, youknow, we talked about training, you
know, which could also be your onboarding.
We talked a little bit aboutguest engagement, you know, in those
edge use cases.
You could do it for yourplanning, right?
So if you are, you know, goingto plan out your events, you're going
to plan out a space, you'regoing to introduce customers to that
(29:14):
space, it's a new building,it's a new environment, you're going
to train people, you know,before they even get into that environment,
or you're going to plan outthe environment, right?
And you could literally layout kitchen design, lay out the dining
room design, lay out the, the,you know, the engagement design.
Between a drive through and anend customer.
(29:37):
You can optimize all of thesescenarios and then test them.
So you can really like putthis into your forward planning teams
and your innovation teams,like, hey, how can we redesign, you
know, the, the cook space, youknow, versus the service space versus,
you know, cashier space, youknow, and, and so you can really
be playful for that.
(29:57):
That's very, very expensivefor, for a lot of hospitality companies
to do to kind of create a, youknow, a fake environment, a planogram,
test it, you know, customerinteractions, testing.
When you have an XR headsetand you design the space in the headset
and you have the tracking, youcould take all these users, put them
in the headset.
(30:17):
You don't have to ask them aquestionnaire at the end anymore
because you have all the data.
You know, one of the reallyfun ones that we did with Kellogg
and Pop Tarts was a planogramdesign where they wanted to find
the right place to test, tointroduce on the planogram for a
new product launch.
And what they found was, okay,great, this is where we get the most,
(30:42):
you know, the best position onthe shelf to buy this one new product.
Okay, great.
And now they figured outexactly, you know, how many, you
know, customers would comethrough and they would find that
one new product.
And so they would get goodlift and cart attachment on that
one new product.
They also tested a couplesecond and third positions and what
they found was if they put itin a different position, it caused
(31:05):
a bigger cart.
So it wasn't as many peoplecoming in to buy the one new thing,
but they found even morerevenue by putting it in a different
position.
More people came in and theyadded multiple of their brands and
products into the cart.
So you can really do usertesting in a completely new, innovative
way.
(31:25):
It's much more cost effective.
You, you know, you're notwasting material and agency time
to build all that stuff andyou can get that data and feedback
a lot quicker and easier andmake actionable decisions.
It's amazing what you can dowhen you have that data in a whole
different dimension thatyou've never seen before and be able
to run simulations that you'venever been able to do before.
(31:46):
It reminds me of a productthat will also be at Mirtech.
By the way, everybody, ofcourse we're going to be featuring
HTC Vive headsets at Mirtech.
So you got to come and see,see them, try them on, see what the
hype is all about.
But one of the scenarios thatwe'll be showing people is Flow Immersive.
That company is great.
We've, we've been indiscussions with them for quite some
(32:06):
time.
Being able to see data, walkthrough data.
But once again, it's all aboutanalyzing data in a way that you
haven't been able to do before.
Seeing massive amounts of dataand being able, if you want to go
to the most minute detail andget information on that and some
of those outliers, sometimesit makes a difference how the data
plays out.
(32:27):
Instead of looking at a flatchart on a, on a screen.
There's tons of very effectiveXR solutions when you start to really
think about it.
And if you don't know some ofthese tactics, because this is all
new to most of my audience,you really need to have somebody
by your side.
Hopefully Magic 8's that partner.
But if it's not, reach out to,to an organization that can help
(32:48):
you walk through this pathbecause it is complicated a little
bit.
But once you know the channelsto go down, that's when the magic
happens.
It really does.
Just to comment too on, Iwould love to just plug the Flow
Immersive team too.
There's something reallymagical about that product and solution.
There's 3D data visualization,but it's also you can talk to the
(33:12):
data.
When most of us are not codewriters, we don't want to hire these
highly complex code writing teams.
You want to just be able toactually speak to the data.
Well, what they've built in isan AI tool that you talk to the data.
You tell it.
I would like to see this dataover these many weeks in this time
(33:32):
frame and I'd like to see itin a pie chart or I'd like to see
in a bar graph and it's 3D, soyou can walk up to it and I'd like
you to do, you know, from thistime frame and compare it to this
time last year.
All right?
And it will do it in aboutthree seconds.
Now that's work thatpreviously was probably a handful
of people, a couple of weeks,a couple of iterations of that report
(33:56):
and then finally you got thatreport right.
Maybe you're really efficientand you got it in three or four days,
something to that effect, butit wasn't in three seconds.
And I think when you caninteract with your own data and using
your own voice as the commandprompt for the software, that, and
(34:17):
the coding and the output youwant, that's a game changer in terms
of efficiency and actionabledecision making.
I love their product and itlooks great on the HTC product by
the way it looks, it's very,very sharp.
All right, so as we concludehere, what advice would you give
to companies that are lookingto integrate XR into their businesses?
(34:39):
You know, I look at it and go,what's the problem you're really
trying to solve and why?
Right?
And go, okay, yeah, I, I wantto do my training faster.
I want to do it.
I want my safety standards tobe, you know, better.
You know, for the peopleinteracting in my stores and the
workers that I have, I want toget them through the training faster
(35:02):
and I want cheaper and less cost.
So, okay, great.
Those are all the problems.
Those are the real fundamentalproblems in your capital expenditure,
your operational expendit,your company look for the next several
years there, if you're nottalking about how to be more efficient
with less.
(35:23):
Right, Less people, lesscosts, you know, less expenditure,
increasing your profit margin.
We're all under pressure to dothose things.
And I think when you have thatpoint of view of saying, okay, don't
show up and say, you know, canI do training?
Yes.
The answer is yes.
Be really clear.
(35:44):
I want to reduce my costs forall of these actual activities and
these training activities thatI do inside of my company.
Okay, great.
Magic Gate and hcc, great partners.
There's some other companiesout there that I could talk to, but
we'll walk you through how toaccomplish those tasks.
And what is the rightsoftware, what's the right hardware,
(36:05):
what are the right platformtools and integrations you need in
order to accomplish your goals?
I think for a company, it's sogreat for us when we hear, here's
the problem I'm trying tosolve, can you Help me do that.
Great.
Then we know exactly how toattack your problem, you know, because
you don't need a new, youknow, you don't need a headset for
every single employee, but youmight need one headset for, you know,
(36:28):
500 employees to train them.
Right?
And you're going to run thatthing over and over again.
And who can handle that?
What is the different hardwareout there that's going to be reliable
enough that can handle, youknow, maybe 10, 12 hours a day in
these training centers, youknow, where you're going to run hundreds,
if not thousands of studentsthrough in a day.
Like you really want to thinkabout what is your scale, what is
(36:49):
your, you know, volume and howdo you want to do that more efficiently?
We could walk you through allthose different scenarios.
We're teaching people how toclean nuclear energy rods for nuclear
plants at scale.
There was only one place inSouthern California for all nuclear
engineers to go learn this skill.
(37:09):
There's now, I think sixcenters between us and GE Vernova,
right?
So we're able to do things andreally I think bring that value.
So I think when you, whenyou're a customer, you want to start
working on the problems, youknow, ask yourself what are the problems
you want to solve and why?
And then come talk to us.
And by the way, the use casescenario you just described, I want
(37:30):
my listeners to remember that.
Put a big asterisk next to itbecause next week you're going to
be hearing a little more aboutthat with our next big announcement
before my tech.
Dan, thank you for joining theTech Chef podcast here today.
It has been a great pleasureto have you on.
I know you are an extremelybusy guy, so for you to take your
time out and talk to us, itmeans a lot.
(37:52):
Thank you Skip.
It was great to have be here.
It was great to talk to your audience.
Thank you for making the timefor us.
So good luck.
I hope you guys have a greatshow and look forward to a lot of
great solutions together andsupporting a lot of these customers.
HTC has been an astoundingpartner, demonstrating excellence
(38:12):
at every level of their organization.
As I mentioned in myconversation with Dan, their team
truly embodies the spirit ofcollaboration and innovation.
Additionally, as announcedlast week, if you're attending Mirtech,
be sure to experience HTC'scutting edge headset technology firsthand.
(38:32):
If you have any questions forme or Dan, or just have questions
around technology innovation,we would love to hear from you.
You can find me on social media.
I, Skip Kimple and Magicate tech.
We're on X, Facebook,Instagram and LinkedIn.
For past episodes and shownotes, head over to skipkimple.com
(38:53):
or magicgate.com and of courseyou can always reach out directly
via email kip@magic8.com wellit is only 13 days until Murtek.
It's coming up fast.
Last week Mirtek officiallyannounced the Magic Gate XR Experience
Zone on their website andwe've got limited demo spots available
(39:17):
by appointment only.
If you want to get hands onwith this tech, just reach out to
me directly.
The excitement is real, theprep is in full swing and we can't
wait wait to see you there.
Oh, and just when you thoughtMagic 8 was out of surprises.
We've got another big partnerannouncement coming next Tuesday.
(39:41):
So until then, stay safe, stayhealthy and stay hungry.
My friends, are you ready tolevel up your tech game and understand
the world of xrp?
Dive into the world ofextended reality with Magic Gate's
XR Bootcamp.
(40:01):
Master the concepts of virtualreality, augmented reality and mixed
reality in just weeks.
No special equipment orprevious knowledge is required.
Limited seats are available tosign up now@bootcamp.magicgate.com
that's bootcamp.magicgate.comyour future in XR starts there.
This is Tango Charlie papa.
Episode number 90, February25, 2025.
This show is powered by GrowthAdvisors International Network, where
travel and hospitalitycompanies come to grow.
For more information pleasevisit gainadvisors.com hi.
This is Dan O'Brien, HTCPresident of the Americas region
(00:22):
for HTC Vibe.
You're listening to Skip onthe Tech Chef Podcast.
Strateg business continuity.
How about a taste test ofrestaurant technology?
Drive thru or curbside?
Mobile apps or AI?
It's all on the menu.
(00:43):
Cook it up for the date.
It's a recipe for success.
You're in good hands with theTech Chef.
Make a plan to be your best.
Strategize with the Tech Chef.
Welcome back to the Tech Chefpodcast where hospitality and technology
(01:06):
collide to create the futureof guest experiences.
I'm your host Skip Kimple andevery episode we dig into the game
changing innovations shapingrestaurants, hotels, resorts and
entertainment venues.
From AI and automation toimmersive experiences and smart data
solutions, we uncover thetools and strategies defining how
(01:29):
the industry operates.
Join us as we talk withvisionary leaders, tech trailblazers
and industry experts who arepushing the boundaries of what's
possible.
Whether you're a hospitalitypro, a tech enthusiast or an entrepreneur
hungry for innovation, thispodcast serves up as the insights
you need to stay ahead.
(01:51):
So grab a seat at the tablebecause the future of hospitality
starts right here.
This is the Tech Chef Podcast.
Over the past two weeks wehave announced several significant
strategic partnershipsincluding weart, a leader in advanced
haptic hardware for immersivetraining and Digilens, a provider
(02:11):
of enterprise grade augmentedreality smart glasses.
Today we are excited to unveilour newest strategic partner specializing
in VR and fully immersiveexperiences, further reinforcing
our commitment to innovationand excellence in the industry.
Joining our show for thisannouncement is Dan O'Brien, HTC
(02:34):
Vive President of the Americas.
Dan is a seasoned technologyexecutive with over 24 years of experience
in leading and managing andcommercialization of emerging technologies,
innovations and solutions forconsumers and professional customers.
He oversees the sales,marketing, product and operations
(02:55):
for the immersive and wirelessdivisions of htc.
As a humanity mission drivenleader, Dan is focused on delivering
revenue growth, brandbuilding, e commerce strategies,
business development, contentcreation and strategic partnerships
for HTC Vive, the pioneer andglobal leader in virtual reality.
(03:18):
He has a proven track recordof defining and executing the channel
strategy, marketing strategy,product management, supply chain
and public relations for HTC Vive.
Ready to get fully immersivein this conversation?
Lights on, mics up.
Let's do this.
(03:39):
Thanks Skip, thanks for havingme on the show and introducing me
to your audience andeverything that you're doing to push
the technology forward in thehospitality industry, it's absolutely
fantastic.
My role at htc, I'm thePresident of the Americas region.
I actually started the HTCvive business at HTC.
(04:02):
I've been at HTC for 16 yearsand without going into a long, long
history, I've always beenworking on whether it was smartphones,
whether it was accessories,always very, very bleeding edge new
technology.
And so the HTC Vive businesswas really a leap forward into spatial
(04:24):
computing, immersivetechnology, virtual reality headsets,
augmented reality, glasses,combining that with radiated technology,
like 5G technology.
So we've always kind of beenthis company that led the industry
in terms of introducing thesenew technologies to the industry
and then seeing how they get deployed.
(04:46):
I mean, just things like weinvented 4G LTE devices and we had
no idea Uber was going to comefrom that.
But that's the kind of companythat we are, this is the kind of
things that we do.
So I know my Europeanlisteners certainly know the HTC
name, probably not so muchhere in the United States.
You're a little moreinvisible, should I say, due to some
partnerships and somearrangements that HTC made with the
(05:09):
Americas.
Sixteen years is a long timeto be in the XR industry.
I am sure you have seen a tonof changes.
Changes happen.
Tell us a little bit aboutwhat excites you today in the world
of xr.
Well, you know, originally,you know, long time ago, virtual
reality, augmented reality,extended reality, a lot of this technology
(05:31):
was really being incubated inthe military and the dod and the
technology wasn't really there.
And then we actually developedsmartphones later on.
And I was, I made over 70phones and I made the first Android
phone, I made the first 4G LTE phone.
And we got into what wascalled the screen wars in the smartphone
(05:53):
days.
Now, 2009, 2010, HTC wasdistributing close to 60 million
smartphones a year.
So we had a pretty good brandas an HTC brand in the smartphone
industry, but we quickly sawthat commoditizing.
But what those displays gaveus was a display that could now run
(06:13):
content at 90 frames persecond, which was never ever done
before then.
Now running content at thathigh speed frame rate, we could put
people in a very immersiveenvironment and not make them feel
nauseous or feel sick.
A lot of the previoustechnology just wasn't able to do
that.
(06:34):
Now we have the introductionof this new Technology that allows
us to build virtual reality,augmented reality.
But the only people that knewhow to create these types of environments
years and years and years agowas gamers and game developers.
And so the audience was reallythis kind of like very high end gaming
audience.
And we've been committed since2014 to driving into enterprise,
(06:57):
driving this technology intowhether it's hospitality, location
based entertainment, dod,healthcare, design architecture.
Like we've been driving thistechnology and to get the industry
to understand how to actuallydevelop this kind of content and
use this kind of technology.
That's been quite the effort.
(07:17):
But now we're at a point wherepeople stopped asking why would I
use this?
And then now they're askinghow do I get it and how do I deploy
it at scale?
Yeah, I mean that's a bigquestion that I'm starting to hear
more and more.
We're past that tipping edgeof the use of xr, certainly within
enterprise.
HTC has always been on theforefront of XR innovation, as you
(07:38):
talked about, and justtechnology in general.
But XR falls within your category.
What is the company's currentvision for the future of immersive
technology?
Well, you know, it'sinteresting, we, when we kind of
exited the smartphoneindustry, we retained and kept all
of our radio technology peopleand resources.
(08:00):
And so we were also developingAR glasses, you know, simple, you
know, wearables, somethingmore like what we wear as regular
glasses, whether you're aWarby Parker or a high end glasses
user.
But what we found was thebiggest gap to making that technology
work really well wasconnectivity to a cloud technology
(08:20):
environment where you coulddeliver content fast enough.
So what we've done over thelast couple of years is developed
5G technology that works witha wearable and you can deliver that
content over a networkinfrastructure fast enough.
Where the technology is goingis we're going to make lighter, smaller,
(08:41):
easier to use glasses lessintimidating for people than these
kind of big bulky glasses thatpeople have been using for a while
now, or goggles as some peoplecall them.
And what we're going to do iswe're going to have these headsets
and these glasses talk to a 5Gnetwork and starting in 2030, a 6G
(09:03):
network.
And you're going to be able toactually use these glasses just about
everywhere you go.
So it's going to the frictionfor users to use it and companies
to deploy it is going tobecome very easy.
Well, so my audience can't seeit, but in the background I'm seeing
you with the XR elite in theback there.
And honestly I was attractedto the XR Elite because it is more
(09:27):
streamlined than the averagedevice out there.
Plus it's got some really coolfeatures, for instance.
Now I'm getting too geeky andnerdy, but I'm going down this route
anyways.
It's got the built in dioptersthat you can change for a person's
prescription.
You've got with the facetracker module you can do the automatic
(09:47):
IPD adjustment as well asbeing able to track facial expressions
and be able to get data fromthat and put those kind of data analytics
into a LMS system in order tobe able to gather data on different
data points for VR training,for instance.
So with all of thesecompetitors in the marketplace, how
(10:07):
does HTC Vive differentiateitself from competitors in this XR
space?
You know one, we focused onvery, very high quality.
We focused on comfort, visual,superior visuals and fidelity.
And when the user is lookingat content and when they're interacting
with content, that thatdisplay and that field of view is
(10:31):
very comfortable and accurateand clear.
We also thought about thingslike security.
We don't actually pull backany data from any end user when we,
when we deploy our headsets,especially if it's an enterprise.
Right?
So we don't, we don't have asocial media backing to our company.
(10:53):
We sell a solution for ourother partners and companies that
they then benefit from usingour technology and whatever they
learn from that technology andhow their employees benefit from
it, that's their business.
Right?
And so we're very, very big onprivacy security.
We meet criteria for federalfinancial institutions, we meet security
(11:18):
for special operations environments.
So security is a big deal forus and it's a big deal for our customers.
And then we thought aboutcustomizable headsets and open ecosystems.
So as you buy into ourtechnology, very often we continue
to evolve the technology ofthe existing headset so that you
(11:40):
can grow your use cases andyour functionality with the headset.
Instead of having to buy a newheadset every year or trying to evaluate
a new technology every year, alot of our enterprise customers really
think about, well, I want tobe able to buy this headset for two
to three years and I want itto be supported for two to three
years and then I want to lookat a new technology and it's like,
(12:00):
yep, that we completelyunderstand how enterprise customers
really need to deploy.
And then we thought about veryeasy to use deployable platform services,
management services so thatyou can deploy your headsets very
clean and very effectively ifyou have IT management, you can secure
those devices and connect them.
(12:21):
And just like you saidearlier, having it connected to a
learning management system, anLMS, if you're doing training for
40, 50,000 people, you need tobe able to track that success back.
And so we make it very easy tomanage and interconnect with different
device management systems aswell as lmss.
So it's interesting.
(12:41):
Once again, our clients areprimarily enterprise hospitality
clients.
When we first go to them andtell them about the project and we
start going through the costof the project and we get to the
headset piece, the hardwarepiece, we talk about the device that
we recommend and we'll talkabout why we're recommending HTC
devices later on in this podcast.
(13:03):
But they always balk at the cost.
I have them take a step backat that point.
I said, listen, let's go,let's take terms of service from
another headset that you mightbe looking at, that you're familiar
with, and let's have yourlawyers compare it against what HTC
has and let's see what theycome back with.
But it's not just that.
It is the security, the devicemanagement, the data layers, the
(13:26):
fact that you don't collectthis data and the durability of that
device.
I swear you can throw thatthing across the room, I don't recommend
it.
And that thing's going towork, but for a restaurant or hotel
environment, man, people beatstuff up.
So I'm looking for durableproducts in that environment, right?
And I think reliability in acompany like ours, we, where we've,
(13:46):
we manufacture all of our ownequipment, we have our own factory
line, we're producing ourproducts in Taiwan.
And we actually meet a lot ofthe criteria and country of origin
safety requirements that allowus to meet a lot of criteria that
our competitors cannot becauseof their country of origin, where
(14:08):
they manufacture, if they'reusing lower cost labor to try to
get to those lower prices.
And some of our competitorshave a different business model where
they subsidize the cost of the hardware.
And I try to always educatecustomers, you know, from a competitive
standpoint, if you're buyinghardware that is subsidized in cost,
(14:29):
you are the product.
And so because that companyneeds to make money somehow, some
way with that hardware, wejust, you know, we sell our products
what we think is at a greatprice for the real cost of the hardware.
And when you get that product,it is yours.
Your security, the cameras onthe headsets, if you're using it
(14:53):
in highly confidentialenvironments inside of your corporate
environment, your informationis protected.
The cameras that are on thoseheadsets are encrypted physically.
And from a softwarestandpoint, we do not allow anyone,
even a vendor, to access those cameras.
So we think about privacy andsecurity in our customers trust from
(15:16):
day one and we build to that.
And you know, if we can lowerthe price over the time, we will.
I think one of the other bigadvantages that we have is that owning
our own manufacturing qualityand security.
When a customer says, hey,we're ramping from 10,000 to 60,000
or 100,000, the answer fromHTC is unequivocally yes.
(15:39):
And we can build our owndeployment plan and we have global
distribution capabilities.
A lot of our competitors haveto go contact their third party.
They have to go contact themand say, can you build it and when
and then can you deliver itinto these countries?
For us that's a no brainer.
And we just say yes andsupport the customer globally.
(15:59):
All of those things play intothe cost.
And once you actually, onceyou tell that story, it becomes pretty
obvious of why I amrecommending or Magic 8's recommending
an HTC device.
Keep in mind, I'm exposed to.
Not that you aren't, but I'mexposed to all the headsets out there
and I've played with literallyall of them.
So I have an understanding oftheir capabilities, their form factor,
(16:22):
their functionality, their security.
I've done a pretty big deepdive on this.
This is the only device that Ifound that was durable, had the feature
set, that really held up tothe needs of the hospitality space.
Therefore, we honed in on one partner.
And I gotta be honest withyou, working with your team on every
(16:42):
single level has been nothingbut a delight.
From sales to support toonboarding to marketing across the
board.
Your team has been great.
So kudos for that, of buildingthat environment because everybody
seems to be extremely happyworking at HTC Vive.
And it really shows.
And I feel like you guys havemy back just as much as I have your
(17:05):
back, which is so importantwhen you're creating this relationship.
Which brings to the point, bigannouncement dropped this morning,
which is kind of why we'retalking here today where we dropped
a press release where Magic 8and HTC Vive joined forces to offer
solutions to the hospitality space.
I know why I chose htc, butthis is a two way conversation here.
(17:29):
What made you choose or, youknow, look at Magic 8 as a partner
for the hospitality space?
I, you know, it kind of goes alittle bit, goes back to our Brand,
our brand is this blue triangle.
It actually stands for, youknow, technology, creativity and
humanity.
I think as, I think companiesshould be very focused on what companies
(17:50):
they do business with, whatbrands they do businesses and, and
why, like, you know, there'salways the what of like what's in
the product, what does itcost, what is it, you know, and you
got to think about like brandsand why do some brands partner really
well and why do they go aftercertain problems.
And so much of what we startedthis company to do was to take all
(18:15):
this amazing technology, putit together in very innovative ways,
unleash, you know, creativity,whether it's training, whether it's
access to data, and thenactually bring a benefit and solution
to humanity and, and other.
That's our companies, that'sour partners.
And when we see a company likeyours, and thank you for all the
compliments about my team andthe people that you've interacted
(18:37):
with at our company.
They are the best team.
I, I do think that all the time.
And they're extremely hardworking and they're professionals.
And we've heard multiple timeslike, hey, we've talked to this company,
we've talked to this companyand when we talk to your company,
we feel like we're talking toadults, right?
And I always say that, I'mlike, thank you for the compliment.
(19:00):
And you know, we really try tounderstand our customers problems
and I think that's what you'redoing in a really, really impactful
way.
When you really understandthat hospitality space, you understand
the needs of a lot of theserestaurants and these food, you know,
chains at large scale andproblems that they, they are trying
to solve.
My company, like we're anenabler for a company like yours.
(19:24):
And when I see a greatpartnership where somebody really
understands the market, thevertical, the problems that they're
trying to face.
The best thing for me to do isnot to try to just go, you know,
bulging in there and attack that.
The best thing for me to do isto find, you know, a great partner
like yourself and your companyand understand what Magic 8 really
(19:45):
understands and go, okay, thisis the right partner, this is the
right vertical.
We have a solution that canreally solve immense amount of problems
around training, aroundpreparedness for onboarding from
all.
There's a lot of different usecases that I'm sure we'll get into
those, but I think about thatand go, you know, you guys really
(20:07):
have a great point of view.
You understand this vertical,you understand their problems and
we have the infrastructure andthe tools to Help you be successful.
Dan, that's a great spot totake a little break here.
When we come back, we're goingto talk a little more about some
of those enterprise andhospitality applications and use
cases that you just referred to.
(20:28):
We'll also talk about some ofthe hardware and software innovations
that HTC is looking at andreally the future of xr.
So a lot more to unpack, folks.
Hang on, we'll be right back.
Hey, since I have you here, ifyou're headed to Murtech in Vegas
this year, 3-10-12, you gottaswing by Magic Gate's Experience
(20:48):
Zone.
We're talking next levelrestaurant tech, VR training that
actually works, AR remotesupport that makes troubleshooting
a breeze and some seriouslycool data tools to keep your ops
running smooth.
Plus you can mess around withfuturistic stuff like augmented reality,
virtual reality and haptic devices.
It's all hands on, no boringdemos, just straight up cool tech
(21:10):
that you need to see.
Come check it out.
And we're back to talk aboutsome more specific use cases that
you talked about previouslyfor the hospitality industry.
Maybe you can talk a littlebit about what you've seen out there
from your expertise and froman HTC Vive perspective.
(21:31):
You know, we've seen trainingapplications being used in large
scale consulting firms.
We have seen a lot of trainingand simulation with our military
customers.
They're always looking forways to get through training, have
less downtime and then getbetter outputs.
(21:53):
And I think also we found someincredible results coming from healthcare
and from higher education.
So, you know, just in generalto just kind of set the stage.
You know, when we think aboutretention, right.
And speed retention, when youread, you know, your training materials
is about 15%.
(22:13):
When you sit in a classroom ora lecture style, it's about 5% retention.
And when you think aboutzooming out and going, okay, 60 days
later, 90 days later, youknow, what is the retention level
of that training material?
It drops off a cliff.
And what we found withimmersive training or XR training
(22:36):
is the training goes upwardsof 80 plus percent on reduction.
Now it only drops off after 60days, about 5%.
And so we've also seen a speedof training increase, getting through
the training material,increase of about 400.
(22:59):
So they're getting through thetraining materials exponentially
faster and their retention is,is off the charts higher and better
because what they're doing isthey're learning with their hands,
they're learning with theireyes, they're learning with their
ears, they're learning withkinesthetic learning.
Styles, this is how we alllearned well before we were put into
a classroom, right?
(23:20):
And so when you want to get tothose types of training levels and
performance and you want toget to error rates going down.
Yale's medical school trainedtheir, the medical students on laparoscopic
gallbladder surgeries.
They got through surgeries 29faster and made six times fewer errors
(23:40):
per surgery.
That's amazing.
I was like, if I have to getmy gallbladder out, I'd like one.
Of them to do it, right?
So hopefully I'll keep my gallbladder.
But I just think in general,when we think about anything that's
serial, right?
Anything that's repetitive andanything that's dangerous, right?
Anything that could be like afryer, right.
Heated objects, you know, whenyou have dangerous environments and
(24:04):
you have to train in thoseenvironments with Those bad equipment,
one, it could be costly.
Two, good timec consuming and$3 could be dangerous, right?
If people make mistakes,they're not paying attention, they
could hurt themselves, theycould hurt a trainer.
This is, this is, this type oftraining is repetitive.
The risk levels go way, way,way down and they get through the
(24:25):
training a lot faster and alot more effectively.
And so you can also track backwhat was the performance level of
that training.
So, you know, we havecustomers all the way from special
operations in the military tomedical staff in these medical schools
and in the hospitals.
We have polyps and nursetraining, right?
(24:48):
Where we're training surgicalnurses, how to be in that surgical
environment much moreeffectively, much faster.
They're able to train for anhour long surgery in 15 minutes.
So you really start to seeeconomies of scale.
You start to see the savings,you start to see the speed efficiencies
and the retention efficiencies.
(25:08):
So if you really have totrain, this is by far the most cost
effective, the most effectiveand the best performance for those
users when they come out of it.
So hands down, this is thebest training solution you can use.
Yeah.
You mentioned a coupledifferent cases of areas, why you
need to train in xr, you know,different scenarios.
(25:29):
Another scenario that we'reseeing is putting people in train
on a difficult to reproduce situation.
Like if the hotel is slammed,it's New Year's Eve and they, they
have a rush of people comingin, putting them under stress and
having them, you know, trainto that level.
So when they see it in reallife, it's not that complicated.
(25:52):
Yeah, that's really important.
The cognitive training, right,for high stress environments is,
it's critical, right.
You can actually Train for thestress, you can train for the environment.
We have seen this with safetyofficer training, the nursing training
as well, high crisisenvironments, also customer care
(26:16):
environments, like customerservice environments.
And we have seen great successhere, you know, of those edge cases.
And you can really do a goodjob of actually taking people, putting
them in a stressful situationwhere they have to respond right
very calmly, they have to keeptheir, their body calm, they have
to keep their voice calm.
(26:37):
You can use AI in theseenvironments, in these training environments
to create those stress environments.
So if you're looking down,looking away, you're not making eye
contact with the customer,you're looking up into the left,
you know, things of thatnature where you're just kind of
being a little disingenuousand that's going to amp that, that
situation up even more.
And you're doing it with yourbody language, you're doing it with
(26:59):
your response, you know, your tone.
And you know, the AI can pickall of that up in those training
sims and those trainingmodules and then give you that high
stress environment.
And then at that point it's ateaching moment for the instructor
to say, okay, this is how wecan keep that environment calm, right?
And then we can walk that userthrough that exact same scenario
(27:23):
where they stay calm, theymake eye contact, they're bringing
that whole situation to, intoa much calmer state and the customer
is feeling like they're beingheard, they're being seen, their
concerns are being addressedand there's an action plan for how
to walk away from that situation.
And there's also the opposite, right?
When that situation escalates,what is the proper thing to do?
(27:46):
Who do you introduce into that scenario?
And then how do you just, youknow, you know, keep that situation
calm?
I mean, we've seen all the wayto the extreme of, right, safety
officer training with policeofficers, how to use talk down strategies,
how to use non lethal responses.
So to the level of customerservice, we've also seen where customer
(28:08):
service net promoter scoreshave gone up with customers and products
and the product hasn't changedin the software, it hasn't changed
in the hardware.
There's been no improvement tothe product.
But their net promoter scorewent up.
Why?
Because they were training alltheir customer service agents how
to interact with customersmore effectively and they were just
getting better outcomes withtheir customer service.
(28:30):
So just in general, you know,like you can really improve and prepare
your staff not only for theedge scenarios, but you know, those
current, those crisisscenarios can be pretty intense and
you want your people toprotect not only themselves, but
the brand, you know, and theway they represent the brand, you
know, to, to a customer.
What else other than trainingcould hospitality use XR for?
(28:54):
You know, I think about, youknow, we talked about training, you
know, which could also be your onboarding.
We talked a little bit aboutguest engagement, you know, in those
edge use cases.
You could do it for yourplanning, right?
So if you are, you know, goingto plan out your events, you're going
to plan out a space, you'regoing to introduce customers to that
(29:14):
space, it's a new building,it's a new environment, you're going
to train people, you know,before they even get into that environment,
or you're going to plan outthe environment, right?
And you could literally layout kitchen design, lay out the dining
room design, lay out the, the,you know, the engagement design.
Between a drive through and anend customer.
(29:37):
You can optimize all of thesescenarios and then test them.
So you can really like putthis into your forward planning teams
and your innovation teams,like, hey, how can we redesign, you
know, the, the cook space, youknow, versus the service space versus,
you know, cashier space, youknow, and, and so you can really
be playful for that.
(29:57):
That's very, very expensivefor, for a lot of hospitality companies
to do to kind of create a, youknow, a fake environment, a planogram,
test it, you know, customerinteractions, testing.
When you have an XR headsetand you design the space in the headset
and you have the tracking, youcould take all these users, put them
in the headset.
(30:17):
You don't have to ask them aquestionnaire at the end anymore
because you have all the data.
You know, one of the reallyfun ones that we did with Kellogg
and Pop Tarts was a planogramdesign where they wanted to find
the right place to test, tointroduce on the planogram for a
new product launch.
And what they found was, okay,great, this is where we get the most,
(30:42):
you know, the best position onthe shelf to buy this one new product.
Okay, great.
And now they figured outexactly, you know, how many, you
know, customers would comethrough and they would find that
one new product.
And so they would get goodlift and cart attachment on that
one new product.
They also tested a couplesecond and third positions and what
they found was if they put itin a different position, it caused
(31:05):
a bigger cart.
So it wasn't as many peoplecoming in to buy the one new thing,
but they found even morerevenue by putting it in a different
position.
More people came in and theyadded multiple of their brands and
products into the cart.
So you can really do usertesting in a completely new, innovative
way.
(31:25):
It's much more cost effective.
You, you know, you're notwasting material and agency time
to build all that stuff andyou can get that data and feedback
a lot quicker and easier andmake actionable decisions.
It's amazing what you can dowhen you have that data in a whole
different dimension thatyou've never seen before and be able
to run simulations that you'venever been able to do before.
(31:46):
It reminds me of a productthat will also be at Mirtech.
By the way, everybody, ofcourse we're going to be featuring
HTC Vive headsets at Mirtech.
So you got to come and see,see them, try them on, see what the
hype is all about.
But one of the scenarios thatwe'll be showing people is Flow Immersive.
That company is great.
We've, we've been indiscussions with them for quite some
(32:06):
time.
Being able to see data, walkthrough data.
But once again, it's all aboutanalyzing data in a way that you
haven't been able to do before.
Seeing massive amounts of dataand being able, if you want to go
to the most minute detail andget information on that and some
of those outliers, sometimesit makes a difference how the data
plays out.
(32:27):
Instead of looking at a flatchart on a, on a screen.
There's tons of very effectiveXR solutions when you start to really
think about it.
And if you don't know some ofthese tactics, because this is all
new to most of my audience,you really need to have somebody
by your side.
Hopefully Magic 8's that partner.
But if it's not, reach out to,to an organization that can help
(32:48):
you walk through this pathbecause it is complicated a little
bit.
But once you know the channelsto go down, that's when the magic
happens.
It really does.
Just to comment too on, Iwould love to just plug the Flow
Immersive team too.
There's something reallymagical about that product and solution.
There's 3D data visualization,but it's also you can talk to the
(33:12):
data.
When most of us are not codewriters, we don't want to hire these
highly complex code writing teams.
You want to just be able toactually speak to the data.
Well, what they've built in isan AI tool that you talk to the data.
You tell it.
I would like to see this dataover these many weeks in this time
(33:32):
frame and I'd like to see itin a pie chart or I'd like to see
in a bar graph and it's 3D, soyou can walk up to it and I'd like
you to do, you know, from thistime frame and compare it to this
time last year.
All right?
And it will do it in aboutthree seconds.
Now that's work thatpreviously was probably a handful
of people, a couple of weeks,a couple of iterations of that report
(33:56):
and then finally you got thatreport right.
Maybe you're really efficientand you got it in three or four days,
something to that effect, butit wasn't in three seconds.
And I think when you caninteract with your own data and using
your own voice as the commandprompt for the software, that, and
(34:17):
the coding and the output youwant, that's a game changer in terms
of efficiency and actionabledecision making.
I love their product and itlooks great on the HTC product by
the way it looks, it's very,very sharp.
All right, so as we concludehere, what advice would you give
to companies that are lookingto integrate XR into their businesses?
(34:39):
You know, I look at it and go,what's the problem you're really
trying to solve and why?
Right?
And go, okay, yeah, I, I wantto do my training faster.
I want to do it.
I want my safety standards tobe, you know, better.
You know, for the peopleinteracting in my stores and the
workers that I have, I want toget them through the training faster
(35:02):
and I want cheaper and less cost.
So, okay, great.
Those are all the problems.
Those are the real fundamentalproblems in your capital expenditure,
your operational expendit,your company look for the next several
years there, if you're nottalking about how to be more efficient
with less.
(35:23):
Right, Less people, lesscosts, you know, less expenditure,
increasing your profit margin.
We're all under pressure to dothose things.
And I think when you have thatpoint of view of saying, okay, don't
show up and say, you know, canI do training?
Yes.
The answer is yes.
Be really clear.
(35:44):
I want to reduce my costs forall of these actual activities and
these training activities thatI do inside of my company.
Okay, great.
Magic Gate and hcc, great partners.
There's some other companiesout there that I could talk to, but
we'll walk you through how toaccomplish those tasks.
And what is the rightsoftware, what's the right hardware,
(36:05):
what are the right platformtools and integrations you need in
order to accomplish your goals?
I think for a company, it's sogreat for us when we hear, here's
the problem I'm trying tosolve, can you Help me do that.
Great.
Then we know exactly how toattack your problem, you know, because
you don't need a new, youknow, you don't need a headset for
every single employee, but youmight need one headset for, you know,
(36:28):
500 employees to train them.
Right?
And you're going to run thatthing over and over again.
And who can handle that?
What is the different hardwareout there that's going to be reliable
enough that can handle, youknow, maybe 10, 12 hours a day in
these training centers, youknow, where you're going to run hundreds,
if not thousands of studentsthrough in a day.
Like you really want to thinkabout what is your scale, what is
(36:49):
your, you know, volume and howdo you want to do that more efficiently?
We could walk you through allthose different scenarios.
We're teaching people how toclean nuclear energy rods for nuclear
plants at scale.
There was only one place inSouthern California for all nuclear
engineers to go learn this skill.
(37:09):
There's now, I think sixcenters between us and GE Vernova,
right?
So we're able to do things andreally I think bring that value.
So I think when you, whenyou're a customer, you want to start
working on the problems, youknow, ask yourself what are the problems
you want to solve and why?
And then come talk to us.
And by the way, the use casescenario you just described, I want
(37:30):
my listeners to remember that.
Put a big asterisk next to itbecause next week you're going to
be hearing a little more aboutthat with our next big announcement
before my tech.
Dan, thank you for joining theTech Chef podcast here today.
It has been a great pleasureto have you on.
I know you are an extremelybusy guy, so for you to take your
time out and talk to us, itmeans a lot.
(37:52):
Thank you Skip.
It was great to have be here.
It was great to talk to your audience.
Thank you for making the timefor us.
So good luck.
I hope you guys have a greatshow and look forward to a lot of
great solutions together andsupporting a lot of these customers.
HTC has been an astoundingpartner, demonstrating excellence
(38:12):
at every level of their organization.
As I mentioned in myconversation with Dan, their team
truly embodies the spirit ofcollaboration and innovation.
Additionally, as announcedlast week, if you're attending Mirtech,
be sure to experience HTC'scutting edge headset technology firsthand.
(38:32):
If you have any questions forme or Dan, or just have questions
around technology innovation,we would love to hear from you.
You can find me on social media.
I, Skip Kimple and Magicate tech.
We're on X, Facebook,Instagram and LinkedIn.
For past episodes and shownotes, head over to skipkimple.com
(38:53):
or magicgate.com and of courseyou can always reach out directly
via email kip@magic8.com wellit is only 13 days until Murtek.
It's coming up fast.
Last week Mirtek officiallyannounced the Magic Gate XR Experience
Zone on their website andwe've got limited demo spots available
(39:17):
by appointment only.
If you want to get hands onwith this tech, just reach out to
me directly.
The excitement is real, theprep is in full swing and we can't
wait wait to see you there.
Oh, and just when you thoughtMagic 8 was out of surprises.
We've got another big partnerannouncement coming next Tuesday.
(39:41):
So until then, stay safe, stayhealthy and stay hungry.
My friends, are you ready tolevel up your tech game and understand
the world of xrp?
Dive into the world ofextended reality with Magic Gate's
XR Bootcamp.
(40:01):
Master the concepts of virtualreality, augmented reality and mixed
reality in just weeks.
No special equipment orprevious knowledge is required.
Limited seats are available tosign up now@bootcamp.magicgate.com
that's bootcamp.magicgate.comyour future in XR starts there.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!