About

Mission

Virtual Orator’s mission is to help users take the stage prepared and with confidence.

HistorY

Development on Virtual Orator started in 2013 and the first release was shortly after the Oculus DK1 came to market. The inspiration for Virtual Orator was our founders personal experience. At the time Kris was learning to public speak, the first publication about public speaking in VR was published. As a VR researcher, Kris wished he could have used that program, but back then it wasn’t that simple. When the promise of affordable personal VR headsets arose, Kris saw the opportunity to provide others with the opportunity he wished for.

Virtual Orator was recognized as the 10th best startup idea in the Napad Roku (Idea of the Year) competition in 2017.

An image of a brochure page highlighting Virtual Orator's entry in the 'Idea of the Year' 2017 competition. The 10th place award, a see-through block, is seen on top if it.

Virtual Orator has been the basis used for various research projects. The pivotal article “Public speaking anxiety decreases within repeated virtual reality training sessions.” by Takac, Marcel, et al. in PloS one was one such project.

Kris has talked about Virtual Orator at conferences, like the conference Psychoinformatics: where Psychology meets Informatics and NATO Conference of Commandants, and on podcasts like Voice of Islam. Kris has also talked about it in books like Can You Hear Me? by Dr Nick Morgan.

Key Team Members

Kristopher J Blom

Kristopher J Blom

Kris is the founder and CEO of Virtual Human Technologies, the makers of Virtual Orator. He is a VR expert, with 25+ years of experience. Kris received his PhD in Computer Science, specializing in VR. He was a postdoc with Mel Slater, the man who did the first studies with VR public speaking and the inspiration for Virtual Orator (see My Trials by Fire: the Seeds of Virtual Orator).

Cátia Isabel Silva

Cátia is our Content Marketing Specialist and the driving force of our blog and socials. She is a Psychologist who is passionate about helping children develop and train social skills. She is also the author of 2 books. Cátia joined in 2019.