The Immersive Virtual Team Building Platform That Solves Employee Engagement

The shift to remote and hybrid work models has made virtual team building a necessity, yet it often falls short of its goal. The common experience - a static "grid of faces" on a video call - leads to fatigue, low participation, and a failure to foster genuine connection. BookElevent, a leader in live-hosted corporate experiences, recognized this challenge and sought a solution to transform their offerings from mere events into truly immersive corporate events.

This case study details how BookElevent partnered with Gatherly to upgrade their successful live-hosted experiences, such as cooking classes and comedy shows, into customized digital venues, creating a new standard for employee engagement online.

The Problem: Engagement Fatigue in the Virtual World

BookElevent’s core value has always been human connection, powering their events with real people and live hosts rather than pre-recorded content. However, even the best live content can struggle against the inherent limitations of traditional video conferencing software. These platforms often restrict interaction to a single, shared view, making it difficult for participants to break into smaller groups, explore different activities, or engage in spontaneous networking. The result was a ceiling on online networking games and a struggle to maintain high levels of sustained engagement.

The Solution: A Shared, Immersive Virtual Team Building Platform

The partnership with Gatherly provided the necessary digital infrastructure to break through this ceiling. Gatherly’s technology transformed BookElevent’s events from static gallery views into dynamic, customized digital venues.

This shift was fundamental: it turned a one-dimensional video call into a shared,

three-dimensional environment where participants could actively move and interact.

Key features of this new virtual team building platform include:

● Customized Digital Venues: Teams can join live-hosted games and activities inside immersive, branded spaces.

● Concurrent Activities: Participants can move freely between different activities across various "floors" or virtual rooms, simulating a real-world event experience.

● Persistent Connection: The venues remain open, allowing teams to stay connected and network long after the scheduled programming concludes.

● Interactive Spaces: Gatherly enables participants to explore virtual rooms, join breakout sessions, and interact with instructors and fellow guests, making every event feel personal and engaging

As the core takeaway states, this innovation worked because Gatherly turned virtual team building into a shared environment, not a grid of faces.

The Results: Metrics That Redefine Employee Engagement

The impact of this transformation is quantifiable and dramatic, demonstrating a profound increase in participant investment and satisfaction. The success metrics are a powerful testament to the effectiveness of the immersive approach:

Event performance metrics show strong participant engagement and satisfaction. An impressive 91% of participants kept their cameras and microphones on throughout the sessions, signaling high comfort levels, active participation, and genuine presence. Additionally, events recorded an average stayover rate of 41% after scheduled activities ended, demonstrating the platform’s success in fostering organic online networking and spontaneous social interaction. This quantitative data is reinforced by client feedback, with major clients across diverse industries reporting dramatically higher turnout, participation, and overall satisfaction.

These results are not isolated. Clients, including State Farm, Epic Games, and Deloitte have leveraged this upgraded platform to achieve dramatically higher turnout, participation, and satisfaction in their corporate events.

The 91% camera and microphone usage rate is particularly telling, as it directly counters the pervasive "Zoom fatigue" that plagues most virtual meetings. The 41% stayover rate proves that the platform successfully facilitates the organic, unscheduled social interaction that is the hallmark of successful in-person team building.

Conclusion: The Future of Virtual Connection

The partnership between BookElevent and Gatherly provides a clear blueprint for the future of virtual team building. By focusing on creating a truly shared, immersive environment, they have successfully solved the problem of engagement fatigue. The platform is no longer just a tool for hosting an event; it is a catalyst for genuine employee engagement online and a powerful virtual team-building platform for the world's largest organizations.