Innovative to the core and heavily AI-driven, BITS WILP’s convocation was successfully held on the ibentos metaverse platform, also called MegaSpace. It was the world’s first-ever convocation on metaverse and also the biggest ever seen in terms of magnitude, grandeur, and innovation, proving that a technology like metaverse can not only do wonders in gaming but has the potential to solve real-world problems. This unique convocation ceremony, according to Krishna Swami Mohan (General Manager, Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani) “highlights the importance of adaptability and innovation in education”.

Overview

BITS is known to be one of the leading educational institutions in the field of technology and owing to this reputation, the need arose for their convocation to be one that India had never seen before. It needed to be technologically advanced, out-of-the-box, and still have the flexibility to incorporate convocation traditions. The answer was only one — to hold it on the metaverse.

‘Metaverse’ is a common term associated with games and contrary to the knowledge of many, it can also be used to solve business problems and even provide business opportunities. If created on the right platform, the metaverse can be made accessible to everyone via their desktops and laptops; it is no longer a virtual world that one can only access using VR headsets.

The convocation had to be arranged for 7000+ students, all of whom were working professionals from not just India but from various parts of the world. The solution needed to be virtual, innovative, and path-breaking. At the same time, it had to be foolproof since a convocation is a ceremony that is close to every student’s heart; there was no room for errors.

Challenges

When one thinks “Latest Technology”, the word “Metaverse” is bound to come to mind. Metaverse elevates virtual experiences to an all-new level by gamifying them and involving participants and enabling them to see and interact with each other. However, some challenges had to be handled while executing such a critical project:

1. Concurrency-

Most metaverse platforms struggle/fail to handle large number of users., but the convocation had to be held for 7000+ participants, all attending at the same time. The concurrency of users was one of the greatest challenges to be handled.

2. Personalised Experience-

The convocation is an extremely special ceremony in the life of a student. One wishes to enjoy it to its fullest alongside family and fellow batchmates. The solution lay beyond impersonal avatars.

3. Essence of Tradition-

Although the ceremony was built on metaverse but the client wanted to follow the longstanding convocation tradition, including small details like sequence of actions, the tradition of “bowing” upon receiving the certificate and so on. Besides that, traditional convocation robes and caps needed to be incorporated for avatars and different coloured scarfs were to be added for different levels & programs.

Solution

With consistent R&D and the use of AI, the ibentos metaverse team was able to address all the above challenges and create a platform that was capable of hosting the world’s biggest and most innovative convocation ceremony.

1. Handling Concurrency: The greatest achievement was to resolve the problem of handling high user concurrency on the metaverse. Our team was able to find apt solutions; thanks to our professional expertise in handling large-scale virtual events.

2. Humanized 3D Avatars: Students’ experience was personalized by using a selfie to create an avatar that had the same face as their own, fully dressed in a convocation gown and cap. These avatars could walk down the stage when their names were called, receive their diploma certificate, and bow, along with being able to clap and wave as well. These were essential in humanizing the metaverse convocation ceremony and making sure traditions were followed. This innovation would not have possible without unwavering support from Avatar SDK before and during the event.

3. Extensive use of AI: The virtual convocation metaverse platform was heavily AI-driven, right from testing on the platform to making announcements, arranging voiceovers, matchmaking students with their respective names and certificates, and even avatar creation.

4. Enriched Interactions & Experience: The metaverse experience was further elevated by dividing students into batches as per their programs so that they could experience the ceremony with their batchmates. In addition, selfie areas were incorporated into the metaverse for the students to click selfies together and save these precious moments.

5. Social Sharing: Social Media Integration with the Metaverse platform enabled students to express their sense of achievement with their community by sharing their selfies on LinkedIn and Facebook directly from the platform, instantly making the metaverse convocation ceremony a hit.

6. Hybrid Metaverse Experience: A hybrid experience was created by incorporating the Live feed from the in-person event into the metaverse platform. A hybrid experience was created by incorporating the Live feed from the in-person event into the metaverse platform.

Results

Days of blood and sweat yielded a closest-to-reality metaverse convocation that enabled students from across the globe to attend the event from the comfort of their homes and offices, with family and friends.
The hybrid event, which spanned across 6 hours, experienced high interactions and extraordinary experiences amongst batchmates and loved ones. Social media handles were flooded with posts, stories and articles about the successful event and there was an outpour of appreciation and overwhelming experiences. Every student could save their convocation videos in their gallery to reshare these moments on social media and ensure that they can revisit these memories whenever they want.

Take a glimpse of this one-of-a-kind metaverse convocation in this YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOthuBMcypk&t=3s