In this talk, I would like to take you on a journey to the trenches of VR development, where we will explore how we can harness the power of data visualization to turn data into insights in VR. Concretely, we will investigate two recent research projects I was fortunate to carry out: Training people to travel through a virtual building on IU campus as fast as possible, and exploding anatomical structures in the many organs that make up our body (such as the heart, the lung, and the kidney) and peeking inside them to see cells. On this journey, I would like to show that VR is the ultimate playground. Andreas Bueckle is a Research Scientist in the Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering at Indiana University Bloomington. His interest lies in how we can use data visualization to improve performance and satisfaction for training and coaching in virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and other immersive techniques in an increasingly data-driven world. Born and raised in Germany, he holds a B.A. in Media Studies from Eberhard Karls University Tuebingen, an M.A. in Communications from Berlin University of the Arts, and a Ph.D. in Information Science from Indiana University. After working as a video journalist, videographer, and video editor on projects in Germany, France, India, and the US, he switched to a more technical education and got his Ph.D. in Information Science, working with Dr. Katy Börner at Indiana University Bloomington. Aside from doing research, Andreas is an avid sailor and the Head Coach of the Sailing Club at Indiana University. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at www.ted.com/tedx