Proximity Chat for Virtual Meetings and Events
Move freely, talk naturally — no more grid calls or awkward breakout rooms.
What is Proximity Chat?
Proximity chat is a way of communicating online where you can only hear and see people who are nearby in a virtual space. Just like at a real-life event, you walk up to someone to start a conversation and walk away to leave it. Flat.social uses proximity chat with spatial audio and video to make online meetings feel natural and spontaneous.
How Proximity Chat Works
Imagine you're at a conference. There are many tables with groups of people talking. If you walk up to a table, you can join the conversation. If you walk away, you can't hear them anymore.
That's exactly how spatial chatting works on flat.social. Each participant joins a virtual space and moves around freely — like in a multiplayer game. To speak with someone, fly up to them. Your audio and video connect automatically based on proximity. To leave the conversation? Just fly somewhere else.
There's no need to click "join" or "leave" a call. Conversations start and end naturally, the way they do in real life.
Walk Up and the Conversation Starts
There is no call to join. Your avatar walks toward someone, their voice fades in, their video appears, and you are talking. Step away and it fades out again. No mute-button choreography, no waiting room.
Volume Follows Distance
Flat.social maps volume to how far apart two avatars stand. Up close you hear someone at full volume, a few steps away they are background, and further still they are silent. That is what lets five conversations share one room without talking over each other.
See Proximity Chat in Action
Watch how conversations happen naturally in a spatial meeting
Why Traditional Video Calls Feel Exhausting
In a Zoom or Microsoft Teams meeting, everyone is stuck in a grid of tiny squares. One person talks while everyone else listens — or pretends to. You can't have a side conversation. You can't quietly check in with a colleague. Every interaction requires the entire group's attention.
This is why video call fatigue is real. Being forced to stare at a screen, maintain eye contact with 20 faces, and wait for your turn to speak is mentally draining. Breakout rooms try to fix this, but they feel forced — someone assigns you to a room, you awkwardly introduce yourself, and then you get pulled back.
Proximity chat is the opposite. You choose who to talk to, when to join, and when to leave. Multiple conversations happen simultaneously, and nobody needs permission to move between them.
Proximity Chat vs. Traditional Video Calls
| Flat.social | Zoom / Teams / Meet | |
|---|---|---|
| Multiple simultaneous conversations | ||
| Move freely between groups | ||
| Proximity-based audio & video | ||
| No awkward breakout rooms | ||
| Natural conversation flow | ||
| Screen sharing in spatial and conference rooms | ||
| Works in browser, no install | App required | |
| Built-in games & activities |
How Spatial Conversations Work
Private Rooms Inside the Room
Enclosed areas isolate audio. Walk into a meeting pod or a walled-off corner and only the people inside can hear you, like closing a door in a real office. Build them yourself with walls and doorways in build mode.
Present Without Leaving the Space
When one person needs everyone's attention, switch to a Conference room: a familiar video grid with screen sharing and speaker or gallery layouts. When the talk is over, send everyone back to the spatial room to discuss.
Who Uses Proximity Chat?
Proximity chat isn't just a novelty — it solves real problems for teams, educators, and event organizers who are tired of rigid video call formats.
Remote and hybrid teams use flat.social for daily standups, casual check-ins, and virtual coworking. Instead of scheduling a Zoom call for every small question, team members move around a shared virtual space and chat whenever they need to — like walking over to someone's desk.
Workshop and training facilitators love proximity chat because it removes the need for breakout rooms entirely. Participants self-organize into groups, move between stations, and collaborate naturally. It's how interactive video conferencing should work.
Virtual event organizers use it for networking sessions, virtual happy hours, and conferences. Guests mingle freely, discover conversations that interest them, and move on when they're ready — exactly like a real-life event.
Educators bring proximity chat into virtual classrooms for group activities, virtual recess, and collaborative projects. Students move between discussion groups, work on shared whiteboards, and interact with each other instead of staring at a grid of faces.
Try Proximity Chat with Your Team
Create a virtual space in seconds. No downloads, no sign-ups for guests — just share a link and start chatting.
Why Teams Choose Proximity Chat over Zoom
How to Start a Proximity Chat Meeting
Get your team into a spatial meeting in under a minute. No downloads or accounts needed for guests.
- 1Create your virtual space
Sign up at flat.social and create a new room. Choose a map or customize your own virtual space with rooms, lounges, and open areas.
- 2Share the link
Copy the room link and send it to your team. Guests join directly in their browser — no app to install, no account needed.
- 3Move around and talk
Use WASD keys or drag your avatar to move. Fly up to anyone to start a conversation. Your audio and video activate automatically based on proximity.
- 4Present when you need to
Need everyone's attention at once? Move the group to a Conference room for a presentation with screen sharing, then come back to the spatial room to talk.
The Problem with Breakout Rooms
Breakout rooms were supposed to make large video calls more interactive. In practice, they create more problems than they solve.
A host assigns 30 people into groups of 5. You end up in a room with people you don't know, staring at each other for 10 minutes until the timer pulls you back. You had no choice in who you talked to, no way to leave early, and no way to check what was happening in other groups.
With proximity chat, the entire space is one continuous room. People naturally cluster around topics, presentations, or friends. A facilitator can walk between groups to check in. A shy participant can hover near a conversation before joining. Someone who's done can simply move on.
It's the difference between being assigned a seat at a dinner party and choosing your own at a cocktail reception.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Spatial Video Conferencing?
Spatial video conferencing is a type of online meeting where participants exist in a shared virtual space and can move around freely. Unlike traditional video calls where everyone sees the same grid, spatial video conferencing uses proximity-based audio and video — you only connect with people near you in the space. This makes virtual meetings feel more like real-life interactions.