A few days ago I went to my Toastmaster meeting (it's a place to practice public speaking) and decided to record my speech. Recording my speech isn't new to me or anything. I've done it before. But this time, I was going to use a 360 camera, the Ricoh Theta S.

Using a normal camera to record yourself is fine for seeing how you present yourself to people. But the problem is that you only get to see yourself. You don't get to see how other people respond to you. If you're like me, or most people, you don't really remember how people respond to your every sentence. If I try to crack a joke and I hear 1 or 2 people laugh, I might delude myself into thinking that I'm a comedian now.

But using a 360 camera is entirely different. You get to see yourself AND everyone else's reactions to your speech. When I watched that speech again, it was like immersing myself in a virtual reality. It was surreal seeing that speech from an omniscient perspective.

I rewatched my 10 minute speech and it was interesting see people at different parts nod, smile, or write notes. I would have never remembered all of this without recording the experience using a 360 camera. When I see someone nodding, I know that means the person is agreeing with what I'm saying. It resonates with that person. If I see someone smile, that person is probably a bit amused at what I'm saying. These are good signs. When someone starts checking their cellphone, that person is starting to find my speech boring. Or when someone starts looking around and not paying attention, that person is definitely bored. These are bad signs.

This is such interesting information. I would've never realized this without watching my speech in VR.

If you're in a position where you do some public speaking, buy one of these cameras (or rent one) and just try it out.

This leads me to think, how else can we use VR? I don't mean random uses that sound cool, but actual applications that are useful.

Put your thought