About CrisisVR
CrisisVR is a pioneering e-learning service that enables students to prepare for crisis situations using a Virtual Reality environment.
Where it all started
The genesis of CrisisVR –
or Analogue meets Digital
Return on Development (RoD) has been training ‘the old way’. Simply described, it was the traditional menu of
And then things started to become boring.
‘Bullets’ of information and bouncing title slides added to the variety but reduced student interest. Quality suffered.
The other inescapable trend for crisis management training was the pressure of budgets. The cost of centrally assembling students and trainers, often from many different countries was eye-watering. The option for companies was to reduce the number of students or the frequency of training. Quality suffered.
Our response at RoD was to think differently about training. Some topics and some groups require the traditional training approach and we still provide this option. But other topics and special teams could benefit from emerging technology to improve quality and increase numbers of trained staff while reducing costs.
RoD was introduced to VirtualSpeech, a small company delivering high-quality immersive training to infinite students without either the student or the instructor travelling further than their coffee machine.
An idea was born. We argued over which crisis and emergency key-skills could be taught in a virtual environment. Our conclusions were startling. Core learning can be achieved successfully by any individual (consider the number of degrees earned largely by
Welcome to CrisisVR!
Who we are
CrisisVR is a strategic collaboration of 2 industry experts. One expert in Crisis Management (Return on Development), and one expert in building Virtual Reality and e-learning environments (VirtualSpeech).
About Return on Development
Providing expert consultancy services for business growth, crisis management and business resilience.
About Virtual Speech
Learn fundamental communication and business skills through our online classes, which include video-based tutorials and case studies.
Meet the CrisisVR team
Dom Bernard
Co-founder and Head of Technical
Prior to VirtualSpeech, Dom worked at Jaguar Land Rover in their virtual reality department, working on large scale VR and AR projects. Since then, he founded VirtualSpeech, aimed at providing a more realistic way to practice business and soft skills. The VirtualSpeech app has been downloaded by more than 200,000 people worldwide.
Jerry Allen
Co-founder and Head of Quality
Jerry is widely known as an international authority on crisis management, response and recovery. His military background and later careers with IATA and a global disaster management company, has given Jerry the skills, knowledge and experience to assist companies to be prepared for crisis. In 2018, Jerry has delivered more than 30 crisis training programmes, complex exercises and plan reviews. The services he provides for airlines, airports, hotels and logistics companies have been channelled directly into CrisisVR.
Tom Garner
Co-founder and Head of Commercial
Tom Garner has over 10 years experience working within the Crisis Management industry. This includes real-world experience responding to and supporting major Aviation and Hospitality crisis events. Tom is currently the Managing Director of Return on Development Ltd, a UK specialist consultancy company.
John Bailey
Senior Associate
John has provided crisis communications consultancy and training for more than 60 aviation clients, including airlines, airports and manufacturers. He has also worked on crisis programmes for hospitality groups and for major multinationals in diverse industries. John previously worked with the International Air Transport Association (IATA) where he played a pivotal role in developing “best practice” in crisis communications for the global airline industry. He has been involved in the response to several major aviation incidents and is a regular speaker on crisis communications at conferences around the world, including at the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Training Center.
"The Virtual reality really helps you to experience attitudes, emotions, places and situations that are difficult to replicate in normal training."
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