This lunchtime I and some invited guests ventured into the Viper Marketing training suite and recording studio in Second Life for a live session to test the facility to near breaking point.

This wasn't because the invitees were particularly technically savvy. In fact that was part of the challenge... getting SL virgins onto the service and into the correct room can be quite a daunting challenge for organiser and attendees alike.

Once in though and everything became clear. Sitting comfortably in the training suite the attendees' avatars enjoyed and contributed to a lively and thought provoking debate about the prospect of using SL for live streamed performances and training, conferences and music. Interestingly there was a collective view that networking whilst within a session, either through a carefully planned conference with break out areas or via private conversations whilst listening to a presenter, was a key benefit of such technology.

The blurring of communications whether that be voice, text or visual multi-media comes to the fore in SL and possible even more so than in real life. The user could be presented with multiple options for engaging with a session through their choice of device (fixed computer, laptop, iPad or smart phone) and their personal preference in terms of media mix.

As a very 'visual' person the benefits of perceived visual cues and feedback from even simple avatars makes such interaction more comfortable than the lack of visual reference you have on a traditional telephone conference call. The fact you can, through your avatar, gesture, move and position yourself accordingly within the group makes for a far more engaging experience than even a video conference.

One attendee took a real life call from a partner whilst on the session and then due to their expertise in the field, invited them in real time to come into SL to join the group. The fact this person was based remotely from everyone else in the group opens up thoughts about how flexible this medium is for anyone, based anywhere in the world. Expert networking, bringing industry gurus or thought leaders into a debate, for example, as and when they are needed could never be achieved in real life with such flexibility and at zero cost apart from the time spent in the session.

With over 3 million people already active in SL it's a whole new global community who live, breath and do business through their avatars. Real people who lead real lives as well as virtual and are there to be marketed to.

The benefits for training are clear to us. But despite being from a wide variety of industries with different experiences and perceptions about SL the group struggled to see clear return on investment examples right now. It will come though. The blurring of virtual and real world will happen and is likely to be an extension onward from the huge explosion in social media over the last two years.

In 2008 social media was almost unknown but look at the value it brings to the world today. In 2012 we may say the same thing about Second Life but to my mind it could be a whole lot longer for the main stream population and business community unless we can collectively find lots of great examples of return on the investment in time, money and energy.

For me... it's not a case of if, it's a case of when.