Transcript>WGAN-TV Town Hall-Matterport Service Providers Coping with COVID

WGAN Forum Founder & WGAN-TV Podcast Host 31.32K Website Atlanta, Georgia Linked In Facebook Twitter YouTube TikTok Instragram Matterport Service Partner Google Street View Trusted Photographer Zillow Certified Photographer We Get Around Network Member	31.32K DanSmigrod private msg quote post Address this user	plus 1 plus 1 plus 1 0
	WGAN-TV Town Hall: Matterport Service Providers Coping with COVID-19 \| Coronavirus Hi All, Below is a transcript of the WGAN-TV Town Hall: Matterport Service Providers Coping with COVID-19 (video above). Thank you to these WGAN Forum Members for participating in the WGAN-TV Town Hall: Matterport Service Providers Coping with COVID-19 (above): Kevin Dole @home3d Home3D.us Los Angeles https://home3d.us/ Ross Zanzucchi @RZPhotoMan 3D RoomScapes Grayslake, IL https://3droomscapes.com/ Colin Forte @Hometakes Hometakes W. Palm Beach, FL https://www.hometakes.com/ June Pryor @June Pryority 3D Reality Photography Ontario Canada https://www.pryority3drealtyphotography.com/ Angus Norriss @AngusNorriss Imagineer Consulting Peterborough, England https://imagineerconsulting.io/ Chris Kivi @GETMYVR Chris Kivi RealtyPix360.com Orchard Park, NY (Buffalo area) http://www.realtypix360.com Gordon Martell South West Virginia Showcase Your Properties https://www.facebook.com/Showcase-Your-Properties-111453403609568/ Best, Dan Transcript (Video Above) - Hi all I'm Dan Smigrod, Founder of the We Get Around Network Forum, today is Monday, March 23, 2020, and you're watching WGAN-TV Town Hall. It's a live show. How Matterport Service Providers are coping with COVID-19, with the Coronavirus. And, I think maybe we'll start with Colin and let's see. Colin, Matterport Service Provider business Hometakes, West Palm Beach, FL. How are you coping? - Well, to be honest with you, looking at the bookings that we've got this week, it doesn't seem to affect it and stuff so far. I say that, so far, quite often the beginning of week. We can get cancellations, but we can also get more tours books. So at the moment, it doesn't look like it's affected but I say that with caution and hesitation because I cannot see it not affecting us in some way either this week or next week. - Do you think that you're getting a little bit of more business? You're in Florida looks like you may be in a stay in place kind of state at some point here. Do you think you're getting a little bit of-- - I'm not getting any more business, I'm not getting any less at the moment. Now not with this business, the business behind me, PhotoAndVideoEdits.com proven really busy. That's a whole different kettle of fish. - Right, this is your other business PhotoAndVideoEdits.com, providing photo editing service. Do you think that the additional business to PhotoAndVideoEdits.com is a result of-- - Absolutely. No question about that. None whatsoever. Matter of fact we picked up a client, specifically he told me that the company he was using shut its doors overnight, no warning, no nothing, just said, "Oh we're not doing any edits at the moment." And it was pretty big customer with four to 5,000 edits per per month. And, now it was a pretty big client to pick up, specifically said, "I came to you because my current provider "just close it stores without warning" - Okay, all right. Well, no one likes to exploit this Coronavirus, but if you're going to pick up some business, that's some good news for you. For those that are just tuning in, if you want to join us on the program, simply go to WGAN-TV.com There's a player in the right hand side, you'll see a link it says, "Join the Town Hall live." And you can join our discussion here. And gentlemen, I know we're going to have I think at least one lady that's going to be joining us, but when I get done with my questions, I want to turn around and ask you what questions you have for everybody. So, give some thought of what you'd like to ask. Whose business is suffering at the moment? Interesting. Okay, so maybe we start with you, Kevin. Kevin Dole. Your business is Home3D, in greater Los Angeles area. Tell us how are you coping with COVID-19? What's going on for you? - There are certainly more calls coming in from agents that are considering searching for virtual tours because it's been talked about a lot in the press. Both Los Angeles and California are under lockdown orders from Mayor Garcetti and Governor Newsom. And basically they're saying all non-essential services should stop. There's been a lot of talk from brokerages and such, about what is essential what isn't. Banking of course is considered essential, therefore one of the notices from Berkshire Hathaway was that escrow and things like that can go forward because it's a banking issue, but Open Houses should definitely stop, period. In-person showings of homes should stop, period. One of the notices from Keller Williams and I've got these things here, said for example, property management and repair work which generally involves maintaining sanitary and safety conditions is permissible. Additionally, many other aspects of the real estate industry can continue to occur without in-person contact, including documentation and signing. And in many circumstances closing. - What's your take as a Matterport Service Provider business? Are you-- - I don't think in the governor's definition, I don't think there's anything in real estate that's essential, aside from maybe banking transactions and certainly health and safety. Like if an apartment suddenly was discovered to have a horrific mold or something. It would be considered a safety issue to you to get some people out or have remediation undergoing. Over the weekend, I did... Each of Saturday and Sunday I shot tours, One was a vacant house that nobody's been in for weeks, and the agent gave me the lockbox code and I just went in and shot and went back out. Yesterday, I shot a home, Matterport, in this instance, where the owner opened it up for me, the single person who lives there by themselves, opened it up for me, I shot the whole place, and then they closed it up. - Have you been here? - I am quite busy. And I don't really know what to expect or how to interpret it because nobody from the governor's level has come down and said, "Hey, if you're a real estate photographer, stay home." Or, "If you're a real estate photographer, "and you can shoot properties, entirely solo "with no other people around, it's okay." My own interpretation certainly is that what we do is not an essential service. Let's face it. I mean, the world is not going to stop if we're not shooting homes. The sale of homes is going to stop if we don't shoot them, but I don't think anyone outside of our industry would consider what we do to be essential. A photographer working for the police during crime reporting, maybe that's essential. But I don't think what we do is. At the same time, our services, if we can perform our services solo, we're certainly not... We're not exposing ourselves to the same level of a health threat, if you will, that many other jobs are. - Alright, let me come back to Kevin. How about Ross Zanzucchi, 3D RoomScapes. You're in Grayslake, Illinois. I think your coverage area includes all the way down to Chicago and some of Wisconsin. - Yeah, we now we're Chicago, I want to stay at home situation here, which just took place Saturday night. That's when it went into effect. I've been busy today. I got shoots every day this week. So, I kind of look at it as, if people still have to sell homes. There may be instances where... The ones that I'm doing now, I think this week, are not new ones, are ones that are on the market, maybe they have contingencies or whatever. And they saw people that somebody asked that they still need to be shown, and they're realizing this the only way to do it. So kind ofI'm getting a couple of new clients. I have kind of couple of new clients for that reason only. - So these are literally new clients that you got. Is this before the shelter in place order? - Just a couple. - Yeah. - Also, even before that, but I think everybody knew that was coming. So and it was talked about. So, but there was just a few days ago. So yeah, those couple days before the order and couple that I have this week are from a steady client that I have. So that's right. - Okay. Cool, thank you. Angus Norriss, Imagineer consulting in Peterborough, England, so you're outside of London. Angus, what's been your experience? How are you coping with COVID? - Okay, so we just saw the Boris Johnson, Prime Minister, the UK, get off the basic broadcast to the nation with three weeks in front of you. You got to close down, you got to stop shop. This going to spread and kill elderly people. If you continue to scan, you want to kill others. That's the facts. Go stay at home, okay? Stay with the family. You want to go home, we stay at home, you only go out to shop or exercise singularly. You guys have got hundreds of thousands of cases because you don't have tests, okay? I'm afraid. It's ignorance on many fronts, we're learning from Italy, we're learning from Spain, my son is in Barcelona, I'm not going to see him for three months, okay? You need to lock down and shut shop. Going to homes without cameras is infecting people. You're going to affect them, and it's going to carry on. The army on the streets tomorrow in the UK. I know that because my brother-in-law runs the army in Scotland. It's shut down. Unless you guys follow suit or listen to Europe, you got to see that business is over. We're not protecting anyone by getting out with our cameras. Stay at home. - Thank you for that. Thank you for letting us know what the Prime Minister of UK just announced on television. When did you stop shooting? - Two weeks ago. - Two weeks ago? - Yeah. - And have you been getting calls and requested to do-- - I infected my wife. My wife has coronavirus. She is infected because what I shot in London. - Sorry to hear that. - Yeah, so guys, you're going to affect your family. - Is your wife... How is she doing? - She's going to be okay. She's five days in, but guys, if you're in the 70 plus bracket, be very careful. Even 40... I'm 45 with asthma, I'm vulnerable, very vulnerable. I think I'm the youngest guy, other than you, Colin. I'm 45, very vulnerable. We are in the zone. - And is your wife still in the house with you? - Yeah, we're isolating. We're quarantine. We haven't left the house for 10 days. - 10 days, yeah. And you mentioned your son, how is he doing in Barcelona? Well, he's not allowed to walk a dog. In fact, when they walk out, there's drones on the streets policing. Drones up on the streets. Okay, guys? So I know everyone just watches CNN, straight from the UK, straight from the source, okay? It's crazy. It's a killer. It's a wake up call. - Angus, before I move on to Chris, is anything else you want to share at the moment? - No, I mean, it is a wake up call, it's going to change everyone, it's going to change up... But I thought we were out there to save people by doing things virtually. And it'd be great to think that I can get to a construction site or an architect to help people scan and access things remotely and I'll do my best, but, if I'm not wearing an all in one and a swarn vest and a mask, I can get fined by the police. I can get fined if I leave my house by the police. As of today, as of 30 minutes ago. - Is that across the UK or is that in the Greater London area? - Trust the UK, Boris Johnson is now got powers to find us if we leave our home for any other good reason to buy food or exercise as one. So if I'm having a walk down the road with a few mates, we won't get a fine. So I'm not going many places my camera right now. - Yes. Plus we hear you with the asthma, so be safe. Hey Chris, how about introducing yourself, your company and where you're located? Oh, I'm sorry, I have you on mute, or I can't hear your audio? So, can you start your audio? So why don't you keep working at that? I'm going to unmute it. Let's see if I unmuted. Now I'm having trouble unmuting. Now try. Nope, we can't hear you, unfortunately. Chris, can't hear you. So, why don't you see what you can do there. We'll move on to, it says GPM44. Please introduce yourself, your name, where you're from, and the name of your business and where you're located. - Sure, Gordon Martell, located in South West Virginia, around the Carolina border. Name of the company is Showcase Your Properties. Do the Matterport 3D along with drone technology? - Great. And, Gordon, how are you coping with COVID? Well, as the governor today in the state of Virginia announced closing the schools for the rest of the year K through 12. All restaurants, barber shops, fitness centers, Those types of businesses, tattoo shops, hair salons to be closed for at least 30 days. I've talked to a few Realtors in this area. Some real estate offices have shut down again, but basically we still have the rule in place. No more than 10 people at a gathering, grocery stores are open. The social distancing, asking us to stay. Had a couple of meetings with some business owners about doing some stuff with Matterport as far as... If they're a small restaurant or they can do take out, they can't have people come in but they can still do takeout and deliveries, about doing a 3D tour, people can walk through like a small market and see what's on the shelves, order it and then stop by and pick it up or have it delivered to them. So look at some different different ways to help those folks out. - Thanks, Gordon. Chris, we can try you again, see if we got audio? - You hear me now? - Yap, we can, thank you. Chris, how about introducing yourself, your company name and where you're located. - Alright guys, so my name is Chris Kivi, I'm located outside of Buffalo, New York. So I serve the Western New York market for seven hours from New York City. So things are starting to get happening here. So my business is RealtyPix360. So I just actually starting in this business, I'm getting my feet wet now. My mother has been in the real estate business for 40 years, but I was an automotive digital for about 25 helping dealers succeed online. So I did well. So I'm trying to merge my experience. So I created a little hack in the interim for real estate people that want to do an Open House. And I'm going to put together a little video. And a lot of people from the WGAN Forum, have reached out to me, complimenting me, whatever, but I think it's just simple ingenuity. So what I did guys is I created a virtual tour hack for real estate agents that want to present an Open House like a live format. But using tools such as Zoom, okay? And also using your Matterport tour. So, ideally what would happen is somebody would get the invite code, they'd be invited to this type of presentation, instead of looking at everybody's picture, we'd be looking at the screen. So, let me back up a second here. So the prerequisites to do this little Open House, virtual Open House hack, is a recommended Matterport tour, I'm a Matterport Service Provider, so that's the tour that I use for the actual virtual Open House. I have that page open. And I also started the actual listing page for the realtor or realtor.com or Redfin, doesn't matter, right? But we want to start somewhere. So, what happens is, I did the test with my mother, I sent her an invite code, okay? She's 70 plus years old, she's not really technically savvy. So she opened the link successfully, I had her try it on her cell phone first, she couldn't get it to work, so I had her go to her laptop. She opened her email, and the Zoom conference started. I think she had to quickly download the software, but that's pretty fast. They've really worked on that, right? So what happens is the virtual tour starts, it's like this Zoom conference where I'm right now. I'm up in the top corner, and then she enters the room and there she is. And so I introduce myself to her, so this is what other real estate agents might be able to do or something, you can pass it into the field. And I think it's a quick hack. So the virtual tour starts, I basically start on the listing page, introducing myself, maybe building some commonality, she could be the only person in the room, there could be four or five people you never know. And then I basically just structure the conversation like when I was in car sales, more basic information, a little bit of qualifying, then pretty much hop right into the test drive, which is go to the next screen, and then I have a bunch of different tools that I have accessible with the virtual tour. I have my Highlight Reel, okay? I have the Dollhouse effect. I have all these little scintillating eye candy things that they're never going to see on a normal real estate webpage, right? And then I kind of conducted the tour of her like Ad Hoc. She had some questions I was able to detail in the cabinets in the kitchen a little bit. I was able to ask for the appointment to set up a private showing, but I basically accomplished a lot of things that an agent might do in an Open House. A lot of times people want to be just kind of let on their own and go about the house. I don't think my mother sells that way. I don't think I would either. But if somebody wanted to do that, so it's a simple hack and be happy to give you some more information and-- - Yes, Chris, I know you posted in the We Get Around Network Forum for those watching on our YouTube channel WGANForum.com, you started a great discussion on the topic. I'm visual myself, I definitely need to see a video to help visualize the Matterport tour meets Zoom. So that would be awesome, if you could put together a little video and post it to that discussion. - I'll have it up tonight. - Awesome. - I did shoot it but it was like 3.8 gigabytes and it was too big. So I trimmed it I shut off the 4K and kind of simplify things 'cause I tend to talk a little bit too much. - Cool. I think before I go around and ask about some tips in such, June just joined us. I want to say June Pryor, Priority 3D, Reality Photography in Ontario, Canada. June we can't see your picture, but maybe you could tell us a little bit how you're coping with COVID? - Well, can you hear me? - Yes. - Okay, so I live in a small town, actually a subdivision of a small town and basically there's nothing happening here. They're shutting down everything starting tomorrow night at midnight in Ontario, anything unnecessary is being completely shut down. So luckily, our government is allowing people that are independent contractors to still collect unemployment insurance. So I'm hoping to get that. I haven't called the... There's a special number for you to call, so I'm hoping that I can still get that. But yeah, it's completely dried up here. Nothing. - So what are you doing with your time, knowing that you can't go out? You're not going out. And I think if we all heed Angus' direction there, don't go out. Or at least don't go out unless you need food or have it delivered. - Yeah. - What are you doing with your time? - Well, mostly just cleaning and learning, watching, I took a couple courses to learn some stuff, but yeah, catching up on that kind of thing. - Okay. All right, let me see if I can grab Ross, just before he takes off. I know he needed to go shortly. Ross. - Yes, Sorry. - What kind of tips do you have for those Matterport Service Providers wondering what to do with their downtime? What is it that you're doing? - Well, I'm doing a lot of social media marketing, putting a lot of stuff on social media, tourism just self-promoting right now, I mean, there's not a whole lot more you can do. - So that's the... When things come back, you're already want to plant the seed about doing 24/7 virtual Open Houses-- - Yeah. And I honestly think that when this is over, it's going to wake people up to... I don't think Open Houses are going to be as what they were before. I think it's going to change people's thinking of that. And I think people are going to start thinking about these 3D tours a lot more. So that's my hope, who knows? - Any questions you want to ask your colleagues across the-- - I'm not wondering if any Matterport Providers are wearing masks or gloves when they go into homes right now or if it is, I know this is completely stopped. But, at some point, the economy is going to... I mean, there's going to have to be a decision made. Is it the economy or is it the health of the people? I mean, if there's no economy when this is over what good was it? I mean, there's a tipping point somewhere and I don't know where that is, but it seems like it's going to be coming. So we'll just have to see where everybody' is at that point, and works out for the best for everybody. There's so much unknown. I have no idea how to even advise anybody right now, because there's just too much-- - Okay, who's got all-- - It's just all speculation. We're all just guessing. - Okay. Thanks, Ross. Kevin? - Yes, certainly there's a lot of unknown and Ross I just wanted to say compliments to you, and all the work that you've done in Grayslake with that whole village presentation. - Thank you, that is working out pretty good. Of course, nobody's open right now, but - But wonderful, wonderful work. - Thank you. - I'm from the Chicago area originally. My wife and I both. and so I know Grayslake a little bit and it's wonderful what you've done there. - Oh, great, thanks. Appreciate it. - Now, Kevin, you got some tips for us? - Yeah, I think it's a watershed moment for virtual reality. But I think it's a watershed moment for virtual work. People have always questioned or tried to understand what a digital twin means? And they're realizing it now the importance of it. So it's almost like there is a disruption now caused by the virus but they're realizing the importance now of yeah, we need a backup, we need a virtual a digital twin of our existence. Whether it's a building, a construction site, a under construction program, you name it, BIM, CAD, all of it. It's looking at the virtual existence so we can keep going. So this is disruptive today, tomorrow, yeah, we will be the survivors and we'll be the guys that provide the pitchforks and the ticket will enable the digital twin to exist. And, okay, so we're not scanning today or tomorrow. I haven't scan for two weeks. But I do believe that long term, there's going to be a digital transformation, reason why we are doing what we do. Additional transformation is a phrase that's been around for three or four years, maybe longer but now people are starting to wake up. And I think that's the opportunity. It might not be now 'cause we have to look after our nearest and dearest But digital transformation, now becoming the norm. We are now in a space of providing a virtual digital twin of which we will continue to exist. We will be relied upon ... whether it's disaster relief, or architecture or selling homes for state agents. - So some good is going to come out of this really bad, but what are you doing in the meantime? What would you are or obviously at home, what kind of tips you got for that? - What I'm doing with my time because I chose not to. My business is quite diversified in the digital business, we build websites, we do virtual staging, we do architectural renders and CGIs. So the matter books about 20 to 25% revenue. So I've had to diversify. And I was always when I started out in the business plan. If I was purely Matterport, I'd be worried. But I think it is an opportunity to look at virtual staging. It's an opportunity to look at how can I use this technology and this camera to help others so that when we will have access to offices, or to those premises that are now currently locked down, we're the first in. So, yeah, today what I'm doing, I'm building some websites down, I'm doing some CGI architectural renders and turning the MatterPak, cloud point file, the .xyz thing that you can download of Matterport, we're helping architects get more access to data. So I am relying on the multiple tech to expand my business. - Thanks, so I think the tip that I might take away from that Angus is diversification is what other business could we do that is not necessarily out in the field. Chris Gordon, Kevin, is there another piece of business that you're doing that doesn't require you to go out of the house? And greatly 3D floor plans, they are really popular at the moment, you can get quickly off the floor plan and pick 3D. Architects love them. So it's a case of looking at what have we got? How can we cut it up and cook it differently? - I think if I can drop in, I think what I'm going to do is for my new like hack, I think it's a good segue. I talked to the owner of the Keller Williams office that my mother works for, and she's got a lot of offices too. So everyone's pretty concerned how this is going to work out. So if we can't even go out, I'ma do my best to make new contacts, share this information, show them that there is an opportunity for you to really connect with the customer and the agent in a live format. And if they don't have a Matterport Virtual Tour, they can certainly use what assets to do have even if that's pitchers. And that's where salesmanship, I think is really going to come out. And I think it is a watershed moment for a lot of us. I think it's eventually going to make us better. But if I do go out, I'm certainly going to wear a mask. I'm going to wear gloves. I did some shopping three months ago when I was remodeling my house, otherwise, I wouldn't have any masks. - Well, I'm going to take the takeaway that you're going to be working on business development. This is not necessarily downtime for you. This is time to ratchet up business development. And you have one particular tactic that you're working on, which is the the mashup of zoom which we use for WGAN-TV and Zoom plus Matterport as a way to conduct a virtual Open House for the agent team would be present during that. Gordon, how about you? What are you going to be doing with this now that you're your home? - Yeah, good, great questions. I think Chris is onto something with his idea. I reached out to him earlier, he was kind enough to give me a phone number, and I want to talk to him. But I think if we need to step back, yeah, we get through all this, and we will get through all this. We need to start really broadening our scope as to what other offerings that we can do. I mean, you got these small retail businesses that have no internet presence. This is a great way now but you know, a small let's say, organic store. Let's walk through the store, or you can order, people deliver. Look at your educational opportunities, museums, art galleries, the kids, because let's face it, this is going to change education. I think we're going to start seeing more home-bound education, colleges with more online even greater than what we're seeing now. So you take a group of six year olds that want to go tour some historic museum, let's go online and take a look at it. I've talking to people in the banking industry, this is radically going to change the banking industry, it's all going to go online, it's going to go ATM, the branches are not going to become non existence about staffing and all this other type of thing. Any restaurant that didn't have offered delivery service is probably going to think twice and start offering that now. I just see there's in businesses, economic development with cities, tryna showcase some buildings to maybe overseas customers that want to come here and set up a manufacturing. I think there's going to be a huge opportunity for all of us in real estate market. - Gordon, I hear you in terms of the world is going to be transformed. A transformation out of this bad comes good because of this getting people to use technology that haven't before. But what kind of tips you got today for somebody who is not going out. They're in a shelter in place or maybe as Angus pointed out whether you got the shelter in place order or not your home. So what what tips you got for somebody that's trying to cope with COVID? Yeah, this is a great time. I think Chris hit it on the head to start ratcheting up the business development, making the calls, we've all talked to people in the past and we're kind of on the fence. This is a great, situation to say, "Hey, I mean, this is a wake up call for all of us. "Let's get together. "Let's talk on the phone. "Let's talk it or whatever. "Talk about going forward." There's some different ideas and get some stuff lined up. So when we get on the other side, we're hitting the ground and we're running. - Colin, what's your team doing in West Palm Beach? They still out scanning or you're anticipating stopping that shortly? - Well the funny thing is that we don't have one single solitary multiple booked descent this entire week. - So-- - Post more photos and video and aerial for you? - Yeah, Well my guys have been told don't get within six feet of anybody. If an agent starts to follow you around, then you've got to tell them that, "I'm sorry but you know you can't be can't be close to me." And they got masks. They told not to touch anything whatsoever. I mean not the countertop, not a door handle, nothing. When they arrive at the property, to tell the agent, you make sure the doors are open, so that they don't have to touch anything. And so basically they're actually, they're told that they not to do any kind of filming or any photography or anything, unless everybody's in one room with the door shot. So that they don't have to touch anything whatsoever. They're not in the proximity of anybody. And so that's how they're dealing with it. I've also told them if they don't want to work, they don't have to talk. - What kind of tips do you have for June? She's up in a small town in Canada. She's in a shelter-in-place market. What does she do with her downtime? - Well, I think that she's educated herself. We can't be any better than that, you need to get a lot of time on your hands. Nobody just sit around and so, any kind of education or market, do some marketing for when this thing is over. - Yeah, I'll speak to that Dan. One of the things that I'm finding here because I've been doing that report for about 4 years now, three and a half, four years, and finding more and more clients are attracted to 360 tours instead of Matterport. So I've been putting a lot of time and this is going to give me an opportunity more being being at home to study the different 360 platforms. I've been experimenting with EyeSpy360 thanks to the arrangement that you set up Dan. And I've been looking into 3DVista and other formats. The last couple of days, for the first time tried out the live tour capability of EyeSpy360, which I found some little bugs in it, but still it does work. And so this is a great opportunity to learn the new technology. The thing I fear most when presented with new software is the time that it will take to learn how to use it. And it takes moments to download some software, but it'll take you days or weeks until you can use it quickly and professionally enough to deliver us a product. - My takeaway from you there, Kevin, is this is a good time to shoot your house over and over again with different platforms. So using a different camera and a different platform in order to see perhaps how that compares to Matterport. - Yeah, and I'm also a.... Since I've been shooting 360s, of course, Matterport shoots 360s but I've shot NodalView, and I have a Ricoh Theta Z1. And this is giving me an opportunity to take sets of those panels and try them in different software. To try them in EyeSpy360, to try them in 3DVista. - Okay, let's go back to Colin, he's waving his hand. - Oh, I'm sorry, I was only waving my hand cause I have to go now, so I didn't want to interrupt. - Okay, Colin, thanks for joining us for the call. Please be safe and thanks for your tips on the show today too. - You're welcome. Thank you, Dan. - Okay, thanks, Colin. - Bye bye. - So aside from Matterport, I mean, just what's the everyday life stuff, you find it hard to buy stuff locally or is it a little bit of tension in the household with now maybe the kids are back from college and are in your house? What's going on the just the personal side of dealing with this? - Yeah, Dan. Yeah, they said the local shops closed because it was being inundated by other towns coming in because they realize they were open. There's been panic buying, bulk buying all that kind of thing queues around supermarkets, so people are stockpiling. Yeah, it's like a nuclear warfare going on and so yeah, it's concerning. We're now in a lockdown for three weeks. The prime minister said if you get out of your house, you're going to get a fine. That's going to -- - You got to go out to get food so you're not going to get fined for going shopping, are you? - No, but we'll be fined if we're more than two people. - More than two. So, even if your wife was healthy, you couldn't go with her. You'd have to go alone to the store? - Yeah, yeah. - And how about in the UK, do you have your food deliveries that are doing online and...? - Yeah, you can go online, you can get the food delivery and things like that. But they are subject to supply lines too. So the distribution to key workers are the key workers that defined us. People who are a part of providing essential resources. So they'll be staff, the National Health Service, the staff, doctors and nurses, the truck drivers who are delivering food. As a key worker, you are enabled to get to work. if I had my Matterport camera and I'm off to a house to scan, I'm not a key worker. If I'm caught by the police I'm fined. - Got it. June, guys, my heart goes out to you in your small town your 100% of your business has been as a service provider, what's your plan? - At the moment, it's just sheltering in place, only going to these, like the pharmacy to pick up prescriptions and necessities. Our grocery stores are still open in our pharmacies, of course, but even they're like they have mode of restrictions like the grocery store, you can only buy two loaves of bread and butter. The one of the nice things that they have done is the first hour of the morning, they have strictly just for senior citizens, which is good because as Angus was saying, the people are are buying like crazy and the seniors are going to the store and not even be able to get toilet paper. It's kind of crazy. - Angus, thank you for letting us know what's going on in the UK, because I do get the sense from here, that you are several weeks ahead of us. And it's sobering and educating to hear what's going on. - Thanks, yeah. Because it's a bit serious because it's all about reporting, test starts, if you tested positive, if you don't have the test test, then you can't qualify as got it. - Right. - I'm afraid the US hasn't got the tests. There are not enough tests. The statistics are based on what's captured. And there are not enough tests out there to capture everyone. And this has been going on since November. The Brazilian Carnival. Brazil is highly infected, but they didn't do it. There isn't enough tests. - Yeah, same here. - So it's like, we don't know what we don't know. - Right. - It's one of those. - I know for me, my wife and I are sheltering in place. Even though in Atlanta ... in Georgia, that's not necessarily the requirement. But my mom lives in a senior living community about 10 minutes from us, we can't go visit her. And so, unfortunately, I've been to the hospital twice, related to some emergencies with her in the last three weeks. She's doing fine. But, we've been to the hospital, so we don't want to infect anybody if we've picked something up. And I know we want to stay in place so that we know that we're, I don't know what the right word would be clean. If in the event there was an emergency with my Mom that we could actually go over. And if we, in an emergency situation had to be able to go into her senior living community that we weren't harming her in particular or the rest of the senior living community. So we're doing everything we can not to go out, Amazon.com is our best friend, ordering everything that we possibly can or need. And that's been a... I've noticed the challenge you can't get everything from or at least we can't get everything that we've tried to order from Amazon.com But we're inside. We're not going anyplace. I will say we go for a walk every day. So we look forward to that after today's show, we'll go for a walk. And I noticed there's a lot more people out walking and everybody seems to be really good about staying away from -- - Yeah, same here. - So-- - A lot of people out walking. - A lot of people out walking and staying away from each other. We got a group of five or six of us on the call here. What kind of questions do you want to ask among yourselves? Anything you want to reach out to anyone else? - We were out walking at the weekend. We're not allowed to do that anymore. I'm afraid, yeah, that's just what we've been told now. - Not even just to go for a walk. - No, and if we're in the park, the scenes that you saw in Regent's Park, Hyde Park, people going for a walk, no but as I said no more, game over. - Yeah, in Los Angeles, it was just today or yesterday that they found that people were... The sense was still that it was safe to be outside. Therefore, there were lots of people showing up at the beach and public places. They have now shut down in order to stop people going to the ocean. They have closed all of the city parking lots. At the beaches, they've shut down, the parking lot said the Venice or Boardwalk, which I'm sure you've all seen pictures of which is a major car dating place. They haven't yet started fining people or anything like that but they're definitely. It's a strange time. Los Angeles has a huge freeway systems and you know the freeway closest to me is six lanes. That's each side of the freeway is six lanes wide. And there's as many cars on it as you'd find at three o'clock in the morning. The area is clearer than it's been in years in Los Angeles as a result of people not driving. So there's a there's a plus side but evidence-- - Any questions that you want to ask Gordon or Angus, Chris or June? - Well, I don't know. It's just a big unknown what to do here. But what we can all educate ourselves and I do agree with I think it was Angus that this experience is making people more aware of what we all do. And I expected when things get back to normal, presuming that they do, that there'll be much greater awareness here. The last call I got was from an agent who got my name from another agent that I'd worked for. And was asking, he started out by saying, since I've never done any side of a virtual tour, Matterport or 360s, or anything he said, but you know, tell me about him, because I guess I should learn. And this greater awareness is probably going to be beneficial to all of us when this time has run its course. - Thanks, Kevin. Anybody want to ask anyone else questions? Well, yeah, Chris. So I'm in New York, and I think the governor of New York has actually done a really good job, been very proactive, there's never a perfect scenario. And the last thing you want to be doing as a leader is to be tasked with managing all this because there's always somebody who's going to blame anybody. But I think just a positive mental attitude in these times can be obtained a little bit more when you minimize your exposure to the media. I told my mom's like 70, my dad's 80. So and they always watch the headline news thing and it's like the world's coming to an end. I highly encourage people to shut off the TV or watch something different. On the other night my girlfriend recommended me to do that because it was a four or five days ago, I was up to the top and it was just I couldn't handle anymore and she said just watch music videos, so I got really familiarized with Led Zeppelin and watched Led Zeppelin videos for about three hours. So you have to stay away from the media too much. It's hard and heavy. And we could we could do other things, but I like to listen twice as much as talk but I appreciate hearing everybody today. - Okay, cool. Before we wrap up, anyone else want to ask anyone else a question? - No, I just think, for all of us in this business. We think about going to people's homes wear the booties, maybe the gloves because I mean this is just not about what's going on now, this is about flu, staff infection, C diff. Any type of virus that we're walking into and cleaning equipment, I mean, for those of us, who used to take the camera down, put in the back stay back home then, open it back up and go to the next project. We need to think about wiping the equipment down after we're done. - Yeah. - Yep. Angus, I'm going to come back to you. I'm going to let you do the final thought because I think you got some important powerful things to say. And I want to give you that opportunity. Before we do that, I just want to kind of go through a list of what I heard today as maybe some tips for Matterport Service Providers coping with COVID, not in any order, just as I heard them today. Opportunity for social media marketing. diversify your business. If you're not already diversified, start thinking about what other things that you can do that don't require you to be physically someplace else. In general, this is a time for business development if you can. Number four, education. So if there's any kind of education or learning opportunities, I would certainly mention the WGAN-TV Training U, hours of courses and there's 35 plus courses that are totally free. So I would mention that. Go to the We Get Around Network Forum, WGANForum.com look for the tab training 35 plus courses free. The education, I guess that would tie into study, I think a subset of training what I heard from Kevin was hands on, learn new stuff. So that might mean scanning your home whether that's with Matterport or maybe Matterport plus Ricoh Theta Z1 or some other. So hands-on learning. I think, Chris, you've mentioned a positive mental attitude. I think so. So have a positive mental attitude this we will get through this as difficult as it may be. We'll get through it. I think you've also mentioned less media. So I think media, you're referring to things like the news, though, you did mention a different form of media that you might encourage, which would be Led Zeppelin. So it'd be one of the tips from today's, listen to more Led Zeppelin, rock out with Led Zeppelin. And then I think the the last tip I heard that is if you are scanning, and I think we're going to hear from Angus a plea not to do that, but if you are scanning, be safe, either in terms of your person or your gear, or both, as is practiced safety. That's why I think one of the, go back to you, Angus is the have the last word here to kind of-- - Share that down, thank you. - Yeah. - Yeah, I think it's very easy to go and scan today if you want to, but I think it'd be the wrong decision. And I think there's an opportunity for us to be responsible and to take action. There's today and there's tomorrow. Today, choose to diversify your business. There's opportunities within this technology as a virtual operator to diversify. Tomorrow, apply it. So if you stay as a multiple camera operator, and continue to scan in people's homes, the virus will stick, it will stick on it and you and your camera and your car and your gloves and whatever wherever you go. And that is dangerous. You going to affect others without knowing, you will come and go remain healthy. But that virus will travel. So as of today, I don't scan. As of tomorrow, my clients to know that I've taken responsibility to diversify and be there. And to realize that they need a digital twin. They need us, they need a digital twin because this is going to happen again. And they're going to need us to scan those properties. So we will get business by being responsible today. So I believe that let's not scan, as painful as it is because we need the income. But ask your government for help. There are grants and loans out there to help us go, but be remembered as the person that didn't scan and we chose not to and be responsible and tell them the importance of being in creating a digital twin, because this will happen again. And this is when they will need us. So we will become the Médecins Sans Frontières. The first call when homes cannot be accessed. And it's like, let's get that Matterport scan out. We've had it done, because we found Kevin, we found, Chris, we found Angus, we got that done. Take the worry away. And I think we can print this and learn from this. The virus will not go away soon. And I think it's now ... as a Matterport operator and as a company, Matterport have to own the stake. But it's not it's not their problem. It's not their issue. The technology is now in our hands. Okay, and we can deliver. So I would think today be responsible. And tomorrow, scan for the future. - Thank you. I guess I would just leave two more thoughts because I think it was almost across the board, which everyone said is, we're going to find that this is a transformational event, as it affects virtual tours in the future, is that all the people who were technology phobic, or are now going to find out that they embrace technology and this is a great thing. So we're going through a terrible time around the globe. And no one wishes to benefit from COVID-19, from Coronavirus. But I think it's obvious to all of us that technology is transforming the world in unexpected ways, even Zoom. I'm Jewish, I would normally have a Passover Seder with many friends in April. And we're already in the midst of planning a virtual Seder via Zoom with family and friends. So I mean, and our friends who have maybe never ever used Zoom, will find that it's an amazing platform, and will continue to use it in ways just as that will happen with Matterport tours in particular, virtual tours in general. And so I think there'll be some good that will come out of this. I think that the last thing, I think probably speaking for all of us, Angus, we heard that your wife has the Coronavirus and our hearts go out to you and I understand you're challenged with your own personal health even being around her. So our thoughts are with you and your wife at this very challenging time. - Thank you, Dan. - Thank you. So thank you all Angus, Kevin, Gordon, Chris, June and Colin, who was with us earlier. Thanks for joining us on this special WGAN-TV Live at 5. I hope you're all are safe, you, your loved ones. and thanks for participating in the show today. Thanks all. - Thank you, Dan. - Thanks Dan.
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Transcript>WGAN-TV Town Hall-Matterport Service Providers Coping with COVID11302