After the omicron variant pushed back its holiday party, Nerdery is bringing the fun to the metaverse.
On Thursday night, the Edina-based digital consultancy's more than 200 employees will don virtual reality headsets and mingle across six custom-built metaverse rooms ranging from a spaceship to a pirate world complete with shipwrecks.
Each room is capable of hosting up to 40 participants who each designed their avatar beforehand. Conversations are initiated on a proximity basis, that way all 40 people aren't all talking over each other at once.
Rachel Alm, vice president of people operations for Nerdery, said the event will include everything from a dance floor with lasers to trivia. On top of that, party goers have an opportunity to find Easter eggs in each room that correspond to prizes such as an Airbnb travel package or a 3D printer.
The event is made possible after the company gifted all of its workers a Oculus Quest 2 virtual reality headset as a holiday gift in December. In addition to the headset, Nerdery employees also received a gift box which included a glow-in-the-dark shirt and necklaces, cocktail kit and beer glasses to use during the party.
Alm said Thursday's event is coming together after two trial runs over happy hour.
"It was definitely something that people had to kind of go in and explore and get feedback from," Alm said of the happy hours, which worked out any kinks.
Rather than being a one-off stunt, Alm sees metaverse gatherings as something that will outlast the pandemic. Alm said the company has a strong tradition of getting together outside of work through clubs and passion projects.
"The pandemic has really changed how we get to do that," Alm said. "But it hasn't changed the desire to do that. This really opens up a way for us to keep that connection alive as we hire more remote staff."
