Windows Mixed Reality demo at Best Buy - the rep's story
Since I lost my job in September, I found some holiday work that is right up my alley. I became a Microsoft Mixed Reality specialist inside a Best Buy store. Microsoft decided to put about 200 functioning demo units in stores. Some of them are HP, some are Dell, but the demo is the same.
The Demo
I take customers through the controls, the equipment, and the basics. Waivers are required per Microsoft, but I can guarantee that no harvesting is happening. When a customer goes in, Cortana comes on and takes the customer into the Cliff House.
The demo has 4 rooms set up with demo content and demos. The theater room has a few GoPro videos, Microsoft Movies and TV, and Space Pirate Trainer. The patio room has the Luna demo, HoloTour demo, Microsoft Edge, Free the Night, and some more 360 degree short films. The “office” has Edge, Skype, and the Microsoft Store app. The final room has Fantastic Contraption, MoveStudio demo, the Holograms app, and more 360 vids.
We have a customer pick a room or I instruct them to pick the room with the main demo I think they would like based on qualifying questions (90 percent is Space Pirate Trainer, BTW). It drops right into the Cliff House and the customer gets “7 minutes in Heaven” as I like to call it. The timer will dump the viewer right back into the House and have a nag screen after 7 minutes. Most customers want to play Space Pirate Trainer, and this provides the best fun. Most people with someone doing Space Pirate Trainer will end up on Instagram and/or Snapchat.
The reasoning and my experiences
The reason that Microsoft decided to put people in the stores is to show off the product and to gather feedback, especially from older people and women. I don’t have numbers (not that I could say anyway), but once I ask someone what their hobbies are, people tend to be receptive. If someone sees something else other than Space Pirate Trainer, then more women get interested.
The other thing that gets the non-gamer interested is my description and videos on how Windows 10 UWP apps work in the Cliff House. Once the mother, the business owner, or the student sees that, the lights go on and faces light up. I love that feeling, and it shows that I’m doing my job. I can say that these demos have sold more than the other Best Buy stores and bestbuy.com combined.
Personally, I would like to see more content and the demo be able to show off Steam VR and Cliff House integration with UWP apps. These could be the killer features if they are presented properly.
So if you go in a Best Buy and see one of these demos, please try to get your mother to try it out. She might become a fan, but at least, you have some great Snapchat material.