Since Facebook rebranded in October 2021 into 'Meta', there's been a lot in the media about the 'metaverse', with tech blogs, podcasts and TV programmes getting very excited about this next evolution of the internet. But what is the metaverse and what are implications for coaching?

Through the metaverse as it is envisioned, we will interact with the internet through avatars in a 3-D virtual world. In a way as if we were a character in a computer game living a second life. Living life through an avatar - a virtual representation of ourselves - sounds strange and almost ridiculous. But this could have some advantages: we are free to design our online self, and we are free to change ourselves when, and how, we want. This might be quite liberating.

Now with the start of the metaverse, will our avatars become the way we coach in the future? Will we meet clients in the metaverse and coach via avatars? Some coaches will say that this is impossible, there is no way that we can develop the rapport and trust needed to coach when we are in a virtual world of avatars. The history of coaching has been face-to-face, one-to-one, so understandably there is resistance to consider the possibility of coaching in the metaverse.

But let's consider how coaching has changed since Covid and the lockdowns. Before Covid we would travel to meet clients and talk face-to-face. We would drive, catch a train or even fly to be in the same room. But with lockdown, face-to-face was no longer possible; everything went online, coaching was via Zoom, Teams, etc. This has now continued for more than two years, and as coaches we have managed, we adapted, and clients still benefited.

So, when forced, as coaches, we can evolve. Can this be the case with the metaverse, can coaching adapt and evolve to follow the new iteration of the internet? We are at the very start of the metaverse, some coaches will dismiss the possibility of coaching via an avatar, others will see what develops and consider possibilities of how coaching can adapt as it did when locked down. Let's discuss was advantages and challenges might be ahead for us.