Lisa Metzger
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[00:00:00] Shannon Putman: Hello, everyone, and welcome to Putman's podcast pops. I cannot express what a treat you are in store for today. I have the glorious Lisa Metzger from career view XR with us, and I would like to introduce her to you and just hop right in. Hi, Lisa. How are you?
[00:00:19] Lisa Metzger: Well, hello Shannon. Thanks for having me.
[00:00:21] Shannon Putman: Absolutely. Thanks for being here.
[00:00:23] Lisa Metzger: Well, let's just hop right in. Why don't you introduce yourself and tell me about career view XR
[00:00:28] Lisa Metzger: All right. So my name is as you said, my name is Lisa Metzger and I am the account subscription manager with career view XR. I've worked here for a little over almost two years now, actually, with career view XR. And so what we do is we're a company that creates virtual. Reality technology to bring real world job sites into the classroom, and we help students to answer the question.
[00:00:53] Lisa Metzger: What do I want to be when I grow up? So that's kind of our mission. And what drives us is helping those kids to discover what their true passion is.
[00:01:02] Shannon Putman: That's incredibly interesting because when I was a kid, you know, a lot of us took the test and answered questions and it, you know, it said I was supposed to be a park ranger which I would have loved, maybe not. What's going on right now, but in general, I would have loved and but it was never from any type of experience or anything like that.
[00:01:20] Shannon Putman: And so why is it important that students get to actually experience a career before they decide to make their life that mission
[00:01:29] Lisa Metzger: Yeah, because I think that if students can kind of step into, you know, if they're doing a job shadow or a, you know, a field trip experience where they can follow somebody around and kind of be immersed in that career experience, they can discover if that is something that would be a good fit for them.
[00:01:48] Lisa Metzger: It's interesting that you were, you could have been a park ranger. I could have been a floral designer is what I always was, came up for me. And I was, and to be honest with you I still think I would love a job like that. But you know, the reality is, you know, did I ever do a, did I ever do a job shadow with that?
[00:02:05] Lisa Metzger: I did not. And is there a way to get students to experience those job shadows that they might never actually have the opportunity to, or that they might not be able, you know, it might not be something that's local for them to, to job shadow. So, so that's kind of a unique thing about CareerView XR is kind of getting those job shadows into,
[00:02:26] Shannon Putman: exactly? Yes, it could be like Audrey to you could have Audrey to on your shelf and, you know, a little shop of horrors reference for anybody that loves that movie. Like I do. But that aside, you use the word experience, which I love. And so why is it that? When a student uses your platform of CareerView XR, they're actually experiencing the job and why is that, you know, more important than just, oh, I can go and watch a YouTube video on plumbing or on anything that I think of what why is it an experience?
[00:03:00] Lisa Metzger: We call them experiences because the student is immersed into that jobs, job sites when they put on the VR headsets. So they are they're able to look all around them and watch what's happening in that career. And they're hearing a voiceover describing everything that's happening and what that.
[00:03:20] Lisa Metzger: Worker is doing. So we, we like to call that an experience because, you know, it's a way for that. It truly is a way for that student to experience that, that job shadow or that field trip experience.
[00:03:32] Shannon Putman: So you mentioned having the voice over and telling the students what they're actually looking at. I think that's a critically important thing because it might sound exciting, or it might sound like intimidating and they don't know what's going on. So, do you have any insights from actual employees of those professions in these experiences?
[00:03:52] Lisa Metzger: Yeah. So, when we work with a company to create an experience one of the things that we try to do is get those students into that, that real life work situation. So, as an example with our wind turbine technician, somebody might think, gosh, I'm so interested in wind turbines or doing, you know, having, maintaining them or doing checkups on them, and they put on that VR headset and they, climb up to the top of that wind turbine, and they realize, holy crap, I'm actually afraid of being up here.
[00:04:27] Lisa Metzger: I'm a little bit sick right now from being on top of this wind turbine. You know, what a great opportunity to learn that maybe that isn't the right career fit for you. And so, so that's kind of one of the ways of kind of helping students to realize what is involved in having a job as a wind turbine technician.
[00:04:46] Lisa Metzger: As just one example.
[00:04:48] Shannon Putman: and as someone, who has done that wind turbine technician experience is a massive fan of it. I was just going to say, maybe the heights didn't bother them. But what I didn't realize was the tight enclosed space that you had to be in just to get up to the top of the wind turbine.
[00:05:03] Lisa Metzger: Right.
[00:05:03] Shannon Putman: so I would have never known that
[00:05:05] Lisa Metzger: Yep.
[00:05:05] Shannon Putman: Had it not been for that experience.
[00:05:07] Lisa Metzger: Right.
[00:05:08] Shannon Putman: And those are things I think you can't plan out, you know, everybody tries to plan out everything and think of everything. Well, life isn't like that.
[00:05:15] Lisa Metzger: Right. Yep. Absolutely. Yeah. You and you, and, you know, another maybe extreme example is you know even going into a healthcare field. And not that somebody might, you know, somebody might think they're interested in going into healthcare And, but maybe they get in there and realize, Oh, there's actually, I have to put needles in people if I'm a nurse and again, that may be an extreme example of someone who isn't aware that they might be doing that or that they wouldn't like to do that.
[00:05:45] Lisa Metzger: But there are ways to discover if, you know, something is a good fit for you, or if something is not a good fit for you too which is just sometimes just as important. Is realizing what's not a good fit for you.
[00:05:58] Shannon Putman: And not only from the student side, but from an employer standpoint, I would think it would be incredibly valuable to want to recruit employees for jobs that not only they're suited for, but they're actually interested in that would lead to longer retention. So, are you seeing that from a company standpoint
[00:06:19] Lisa Metzger: Yes, absolutely. So we partner with companies that create experiences and they use it to help recruiting employees within their company too. So, so it kind of, it's a win for companies that have an experience produced and it's a win for the students to understand more about those jobs that might be available for them once they are, once, once they're out of, you know, out of school.
[00:06:42] Lisa Metzger: And so, company, and when we produce an experience for a company, we produce a company experience that they can use for recruiting others. I mean, we will go to career fairs and we'll see companies that we've worked with to, to create an experience and they're showing off their VR headset at those career fairs as well, trying to recruit employees.
[00:07:01] Lisa Metzger: And then we create an experience for our library that's more geared at that job seeker. That students can go in and kind of do more of that field trip type of an experience.
[00:07:12] Shannon Putman: benefits? Everybody. Yeah.
[00:07:13] Lisa Metzger: It does, yeah.
[00:07:14] Shannon Putman: I bet it makes them probably stand out because I feel like VR is still so new that at those career fairs, you know, that's got to be a big draw.
[00:07:22] Lisa Metzger: It is, yes. Especially when you can put up, you can have that VR headset casting to a screen in your booth. I mean, that's a huge draw for people to come up. And schools do it. Companies do it when they're at events. But yeah, that casting option is a huge benefit when you're using that VR headset.
[00:07:42] Shannon Putman: It's interesting that you mentioned the casting because allowing others to be a part of the experience is critical. And you guys at career view XR have a unique feature that I think is, incredibly smart, and I think it sets you apart in the fact that let's say that I don't want to put on a VR headset.
[00:08:01] Shannon Putman: You know, what can career view XR do for me if I don't want to put on that VR headset?
[00:08:06] Lisa Metzger: Yeah, so you can do, so, so, you know, a school can do a couple things in that situation. A, you can cast, as we've mentioned the casting, you can cast to a classroom, have one person in a headset, and the entire classroom can see what that person is looking at directly in their VR headset, and they can hear what they're experiencing.
[00:08:26] Lisa Metzger: So that's one way of using CareerView XR in a classroom. The other thing that, that CareerView XR has is we not only have the VR videos available, but we have the web based experiences available. So, students can explore on a web based browser, and they can do it on their own device, on a computer, on a tablet, anywhere that you can get a web browser.
[00:08:49] Lisa Metzger: And they can explore the careers and learn a little bit more about them on that web based browser as well. So with a CareerView subscription, you get both. The web based version and the VR video option.
[00:09:02] Shannon Putman: I think that's so fantastic for people because we know budgets funding, you know, everybody. Now has either a Chromebook or something. So if I don't have VR headsets and, you know, or maybe even I just have one, I can still use career view XR with my computer. And if I've never used a headset before, I always tell people that I love career view XR because it's a nice introduction to how to navigate a virtual environment.
[00:09:28] Lisa Metzger: Exactly.
[00:09:29] Shannon Putman: that web base, because it's very different
[00:09:31] Lisa Metzger: Yes. And we, you know, I always recommends to schools when we're getting them on boarded, that the web based experiences are good way. Yes. To kind of get out there and see what's available on career view XR first. So all the students can go on their own device, explore, dive in a little bit deeper.
[00:09:50] Lisa Metzger: And then even narrow down their decisions before putting on that VR headset. It's kind of a way of also kind of getting around, you know, only, maybe you only, your school only has one VR headsets in this, in the school. And so it's shared amongst teachers or educators and it's the, using the web based experiences first in that classroom is kind of a way of having just one headset if that's all your school has.
[00:10:14] Lisa Metzger: Which is completely fine. A lot of schools do it that way.
[00:10:17] Shannon Putman: Yes. Everybody thinks, oh, I have to have 30. I have to have a class set. Like, no,
[00:10:22] Lisa Metzger: No.
[00:10:22] Shannon Putman: you don't just start.
[00:10:23] Lisa Metzger: And I actually even recommend to schools to not get that many. Because it's a lot to manage. Especially if you're new to VR. If one educator was going to be in the classroom and had a classroom of 30 students and each of them was in a headset, that would be a lot. I you know, I always encourage people to start small and work your way up.
[00:10:44] Lisa Metzger: And maybe just start with one headset in a classroom. But yes, absolutely. You do not need to have 30 headsets in a classroom. Absolutely. I don't, I actually don't recommend that.
[00:11:01] Shannon Putman: me out at this point, or they don't want to believe me. So that is confirmation
[00:11:06] Lisa Metzger: Yep,
[00:11:06] Shannon Putman: I've been saying. So thank you for that. And 1 of the other unique features about career view XR, which I love that again, because people are so new in education to the technology that I know they don't think of is that I love that I can have schools working with career view and they can.
[00:11:25] Shannon Putman: Send the experiences to the headset and then they're downloaded on the headset. So now I can take that headset with me and I do not have to rely on the internet to access those CareerView XR experiences. And people might feel like, well, why is that a big deal? Well, because we know the internet is never reliable. So the fact that you guys have thought of all of those things I think shows that a, I always align myself with companies that I believe had the same motto as me was what's best for students, but you've done the work to truly think about the educator in the process of using your software.
[00:12:01] Lisa Metzger: yeah. Absolutely, and you know the nice thing about not having to rely on the internet, you know, you mentioned because it's, you know, it's not reliable. But the other thing about not having to be connected to the internet is it kind of keeps the students a little bit more reined in and from going off in a direction that they might not, that they shouldn't be in where they could be, you know, downloading other apps on the headset or, you know, going into the app store, exploring other things that, that when they should be focusing on career view.
[00:12:31] Shannon Putman: you know, kids will be kids. It's, we know. And I say students because even adults do it too, but I always recommend a management software and there's a lot of great ones out there.
[00:12:41] Shannon Putman: My XR. And I know that you have worked closely with them. And so, yeah. If I was a potential customer and I wanted to test out career view, you know, what are the different ways that you're available?
[00:12:55] Lisa Metzger: so even if you do not have a management software, like Manage xr it, because you do need to purchase a subscription with Manage XR as well. The. VR videos can be loaded directly onto the headsets whether you do it like directly onto the headset's memory, or you can load them onto an SD card if that specific headset has an SD card reader on it.
[00:13:19] Lisa Metzger: So there's a couple ways of getting the, getting access to the career view videos on the VR headset.
[00:13:27] Shannon Putman: Nice. And they are a part of the the Putman consulting product bundle, which is super exciting. But also if I just wanted to check it out, we're. Besides reaching out to either one of us, of course, and I'll put that information in the, wherever the kids say. I don't know. I'll put the link in the chat or whatever it is.
[00:13:43] Shannon Putman: But where is it that I could find more information about CareerView XR?
[00:13:48] Lisa Metzger: so somebody can check out the CareerViewXR website by simply clicking in to CareerViewXR. com and going to our website, they can see what experiences we have out there and that are available. Anything that they see on the website, we have a companion VR video for.
[00:14:07] Lisa Metzger: So, so we have, again, we have that both that web based experience and that VR video experience.
[00:14:14] Shannon Putman: And to note, you have some experiences on the website that people can try out without even having to purchase anything. So there's some free ones on there, people.
[00:14:24] Lisa Metzger: there are some free ones on there. They have a little blue sticker and they say free. So, yep, you can dive in and take a look at what some of those free experiences are on our website. Wind Turbine Technician is one of them. So that is one that people can check out.
[00:14:37] Shannon Putman: And speaking of experiences, I have known you guys for quite a long time. Love it. And what I've seen the growth of CareerViewXR and the expansion and you have done the work to include so many different fields. And yes, you know, some people might say, oh, it's career technical education focused, but it's not.
[00:14:58] Shannon Putman: It's just career focused. So can you tell me a little bit about the, the wide range of careers that you guys have chosen to highlight
[00:15:07] Lisa Metzger: Yeah, so right now we have 90 overall experiences and on March 3rd will be releasing an additional. Six experiences. So we'll have, well, we will have 96 overall experiences in many of those experiences. We have multiple careers built into one overall experience. So, so when you think about the number of careers that we're highlighting there we have a lot, and what we're trying to do is make sure that we have coverage in every single one of the career clusters. So that's a student, if they are in healthcare, as an example we have 23 different healthcare related experiences right now. And I will say I was a career advisor at a high school.
[00:15:53] Lisa Metzger: And health care is the number one job shadow that's requested by students. So, I'm happy to say that we have that many health care experiences. Construction is another big one for us. Manufacturing. So, so we're, you know, we are, we're trying to have a diverse set of experiences to be in all of those career clusters.
[00:16:13] Lisa Metzger: But that that's kind of where we're at. And we are. We're always creating more and more experiences. So we have the six that are coming out in March and then in the fall we'll be releasing another bundle of experiences.
[00:16:26] Shannon Putman: can hit that triple digits here
[00:16:28] Lisa Metzger: Yeah, exactly. Yes,
[00:16:31] Shannon Putman: and speaking of those experiences, anybody who is listening from Kentucky I believe there's going to be some Kentucky specific experiences coming. well, can you share any details about any of that?
[00:16:45] Lisa Metzger: We will be, we are planning on visiting Kentucky later this spring and we will be at two site, job sites and filming those experiences. We are still kind of in the works, so I can't name companies quite yet. So it's. It's going to be a big reveal but we are pretty excited to be traveling out to Kentucky and creating those and making those experiences because they are some pretty they've been some great partners for us, those companies that we're going to be working with.
[00:17:13] Lisa Metzger: So we're very excited about it.
[00:17:15] Shannon Putman: Me, too, as a proud born and raised New Yorker, I am thrilled for Kentucky and everything that is happening here. So that will be great. Well, Lisa, this has been absolutely lovely and I have just, I always enjoy. Chatting with you period, and I am so thankful that you have joined me today.
[00:17:36] Shannon Putman: is there anything else that you wanted to share about your yourself or about career view? XR me? Personally, I just wanted to say that I have 0 hesitation and ever. Recommending career view XR to anybody and yes, you have a quality product. I think that stands by alone by itself.
[00:17:55] Shannon Putman: But as a team, you guys have been amazing. You walk the walk and.
[00:18:01] Lisa Metzger: don't
[00:18:02] Shannon Putman: Anytime I've come to you with an ask, you have been right there. You have helped me. You have done anything. So I want people to know what amazing, wonderful people they're working with behind the scenes at career view that it isn't just a software.
[00:18:15] Shannon Putman: But is there anything else that you'd like to share or to brag on yourself?
[00:18:20] Lisa Metzger: Well, and we echo that Shannon, too. We have thoroughly enjoyed our partnership with you and you are a great human being and schools are very lucky to have you working with them because I can, I you have a exuberance personality that, that connects with people and so they're very lucky to have you helping them out.
[00:18:38] Lisa Metzger: One of the things I guess, you know, key takeaways from career view a couple things that make us unique is the fact that we have both the VR videos and the web based experiences. So, two different ways of viewing our our experiences. One thing that again, schools should keep in mind is they don't need a headset for every student.
[00:18:58] Lisa Metzger: It's something that you know. Start small work your way up. But you know, you can get anywhere from 1 headset to, you know, 10 or 5 or whatever that number looks like for your school. But just, you know, start small and work your way up. And then the other, I guess 1 other, I guess, point I want to make too, is 1 don't be afraid of the virtual reality technology.
[00:19:23] Lisa Metzger: You know, I have been with this company for less than two years. I had never worn a VR headset in my life. And so it's kind of, it's a matter of diving in and exploring and playing with it and getting familiar with it to make you into, you know, a confident. user of the technology. And so, so I just, I, there are ways to make it easier on yourself to to experience virtual reality in the classroom.
[00:19:51] Lisa Metzger: We've worked with a couple of, you know, a couple of I mean, honestly, you could work with Shannon in having somebody come in and help you in your school which is a wonderful example. You can schools can we've worked with a school who has a work based learning program that has student interns.
[00:20:09] Lisa Metzger: Manage the virtual reality technology, which is a really cool way of getting those students experience in Using the technology and in internship in general But also really helping out whether it's that counselor or career advisor or teacher who might be managing that experience The virtual reality technology.
[00:20:30] Lisa Metzger: It's kind of a great way of kind of a win situation. So, so there's a lot of opportunities out there. Career view. XR also has a PD course that educators can take to kind of walk yourself through using career view XR. So, so there's a lot of, there's a lot of opportunities out there to get you onboarded.
[00:20:48] Lisa Metzger: And ready to use virtual reality technology in your school.
[00:20:53] Shannon Putman: I'm glad you mentioned the PD because I was going to say, not only are you guys always available for support, but you have a PD course too. That is great because educators can access that at their own pace.
[00:21:04] Lisa Metzger: Correct. Yes. So they can, it's, yeah, it's an asynchronous class. They work their way through at their, you know, whenever that timing works from that for them. And it's kind of them just walking them through using CareerView XR thinking about the best ways to use it in their classroom or in their school.
[00:21:21] Shannon Putman: I love it. Giving them ideas, but empowering them with the knowledge so they can use it and not feel replaced by it.
[00:21:29] Lisa Metzger: Yes, exactly. Yep.