The recent economic situation has provided a catalyst for companies to look at cost-effective alternatives to scheduling and executing face-to-face meetings and events. This situation combined with reduced travel and marketing budgets, has given rise to virtual events. A successful virtual strategy reduces costs, increases productivity, extends reach, provides rich data intelligence, and benefits the environment. Yet, meeting professionals are hesitant to incorporate virtual elements into their meetings and event portfolios. Leveraging real-world case studies, this session will dispel several myths about “going virtual”.
Get answers to your theories like:
• Virtual will cannibalize my physical audience.
• Virtual will be a costly element for me to include in my budget.
• Virtual will only be used by my most technically savvy members.
• Virtual is only for larger corporations.
2. Definition
“A virtual event is an occurrence of people gathering
together where some or all of the attendees are not
physically in the same location but are connected in a
common environment. The common environment
might be one of many types but is usually enabled
through the use of computers and the Internet.”
- Virtual Edge Institute
21. GE Healthcare – Virtual Exhibit @ RSNA 2009
• Identical to physical booth with 3D renderings
22. GE Healthcare – Virtual Exhibit @ RSNA 2009
• Identical to physical booth with 3D renderings
• Physical event : 10,000 attendees
• Virtual Exhibit: 5,000 attendees
23. GE Healthcare – Virtual Exhibit @ RSNA 2009
• Identical to physical booth with 3D renderings
• Physical event : 10,000 attendees
• Virtual Exhibit: 5,000 attendees
• Average time spent at virtual exhibit: 1.5 hours
• Cost 30% less than a flash-based, static microsite
24. GE Healthcare – Virtual Exhibit @ RSNA 2009
• Identical to physical booth with 3D renderings
• Physical event : 10,000 attendees
• Virtual Exhibit: 5,000 attendees
• Average time spent at virtual exhibit: 1.5 hours
• Cost 30% less than a flash-based, static microsite
“This is all about connecting customers to
specific GE people“ – GE Healthcare
26. “A virtual event is an occurrence of people gathering
together where some or all of the attendees are not
physically in the same location but are connected in a
common environment. The common environment
might be one of many types but is usually enabled
through the use of computers and the Internet.”
- Virtual Edge Institute
27. “A virtual event is an occurrence of people gathering
together where some or all of the attendees are not
physically in the same location but are connected in a
common environment. The common environment
might be one of many types but is usually enabled
through the use of computers and the Internet.”
- Virtual Edge Institute
31. IMTS Uses Social Media to Engage
• Used variety of outlets: Twitter, Facebook, YouTube
and SCVNGR
• Organized contests through YouTube videos and game,
including:
• 60 Second video sales pitch
• Question of the Day
• Tweetchats on related topics
• Geo-location Scavenger hunt
32. IMTS Uses Social Media to Engage
“The attendees have specifically
mentioned how present social media
was and that they want more of it”
- Monica Haley, AMT
41. “Web-, video- and
teleconferencing have their
role, but the executives in
the survey do not expect
them to make the need for
face-to-face meetings
obsolete. Rather, many see
the ideal as a mix of face-to-
face and technology-
enabled meetings and
conferences. (Fig. 9)”
- Forbes
42. “Web-, video- and
teleconferencing have their
role, but the executives in
the survey do not expect
them to make the need for
face-to-face meetings
obsolete. Rather, many see
the ideal as a mix of face-to-
face and technology-
enabled meetings and
conferences. (Fig. 9)”
- Forbes
44. CISCOLIVE VIRTUAL 2009
• Added virtual component for 2009 event
• Survey to in-person and virtual attendees
45. CISCOLIVE VIRTUAL 2009
• Added virtual component for 2009 event
• Survey to in-person and virtual attendees
• Event messaging very similar: 4.2 vs. 4.3
• Both audiences increased familiarity with Cisco
products
46. CISCOLIVE VIRTUAL 2009
• Added virtual component for 2009 event
• Survey to in-person and virtual attendees
• Event messaging very similar: 4.2 vs. 4.3
• Both audiences increased familiarity with Cisco
products
BONUS: 34% of virtual indicated interest to attend in-
person event in 2010
48. BONUS MYTH: No One is Doing IT
96% of respondents already using
virtual events and meeting solutions
49. * CWT Travel Institute, “Meetings & Events: Where Savings Meet Success: August 2010
DISPELL THE MYTHS
50. * CWT Travel Institute, “Meetings & Events: Where Savings Meet Success: August 2010
DISPELL THE MYTHS: VIRTUAL
• expands and extends reach of audiences
51. * CWT Travel Institute, “Meetings & Events: Where Savings Meet Success: August 2010
DISPELL THE MYTHS: VIRTUAL
• expands and extends reach of audiences
• expands and extends reach for exhibitor
52. * CWT Travel Institute, “Meetings & Events: Where Savings Meet Success: August 2010
DISPELL THE MYTHS: VIRTUAL
• expands and extends reach of audiences
• expands and extends reach for exhibitor
• can easily be added at minimal cost
53. * CWT Travel Institute, “Meetings & Events: Where Savings Meet Success: August 2010
DISPELL THE MYTHS: VIRTUAL
• expands and extends reach of audiences
• expands and extends reach for exhibitor
• can easily be added at minimal cost
• is for everyone
54. * CWT Travel Institute, “Meetings & Events: Where Savings Meet Success: August 2010
DISPELL THE MYTHS: VIRTUAL
• expands and extends reach of audiences
• expands and extends reach for exhibitor
• can easily be added at minimal cost
• is for everyone
• augments and facilitates face-to-face
55. * CWT Travel Institute, “Meetings & Events: Where Savings Meet Success: August 2010
DISPELL THE MYTHS: VIRTUAL
• expands and extends reach of audiences
• expands and extends reach for exhibitor
• can easily be added at minimal cost
• is for everyone
• augments and facilitates face-to-face
• is already being used by someone in your
organization
56. * CWT Travel Institute, “Meetings & Events: Where Savings Meet Success: August 2010
QUESTIONS?
57. Resources
PHOTO Credits
• By annnna_ via Flickr (Why?): http://www.flickr.com/photos/annnna/2228189828/
• By aoomar via Flickry (unicorn): http://www.flickr.com/photos/zoomar/141098807/
• By Adriaan Bloem via Flickr (audience): http://www.flickr.com/photos/bloem/5122399298/
• By photine via Flickr (exhibit hall): http://www.flickr.com/photos/laanba/2273645708/
• By world2worlds via Flickr (Cisco virtual booth):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/26718459@N03/2507132656/
• By Sebastian Fritzon via Flickr (smoke): http://www.flickr.com/photos/sebastianfritzon/509877265/
SURVEY/CASE STUDY CITATIONS
• Smart Meetings, October 2010: American Payroll Association
• Champion Exposition Services. “Exhibitor Trends Survey,” October 2010 – 72% of exhibitors find virtual to
be of some value, valuable or very valuable
• ComputerWorld, “Avatars Rising in the Enterprise”, April 9, 2010 (GE Healthcare)
• TSNN, “Grease, Gears, and Geo-location: IMTS Gets It’s Social Media Groove On”, October 2010
• Social Media Revolution: Stats to 50 million
• Forbes: Business Meetings – Case for Face-to-Face
• Cisco Virtual Environments, “Analysis of a Virtual Event”, September 13, 2009
• CWT Travel Institute, “Meetings & Events: Where Savings Meet Success”: August 2010 – 96% of
respondents state that already using virtual events and meeting solutions
Before we begin, let’s look at the definition of virtual events as defined by the virtual edge institute. Having this common definition, the questions that many meeting planners ask themselves is
Why go virtual? There are many responses.
Saves money for attendees with no travel
Which increases productivity
You can better track a person’s activity for better analytics
And there’s a green benefit as well
So why not virtual? Despite the many benefits of virtual, there are several myths that still abound. Before e start, would like to take a quick poll …
That’s great – so let’s look at some of the key myths
while we haven’t seen one, we still believe in them. Let’s dispell some of the common myths about virtual
The first is that virtual will cannibalize your audience
We’ve found that virtual actually extends your reach to a larger audience
The American Payroll Association added a virtual component to their event in May, attracting 1900 people to the physical event in Washington DC and nearly the same for virtual – doubling their total audience
And interestingly, there was only a 7% crossover
So people will come to your event, how about exhibitors and sponsors – this will cannibalize your revenue opportunities. The reality it that this is where exhibitors are heading.
According to a recent survey by Champion Exposition Services titled “Exhibitor Trends Survey”, 72% of exhibitors find virtual to be valuable on some level
Furthermore, by combining your live event
With virtual
exhibitors feel that virtual attracts more participants and extend global reach
So virtual provides an extended audience for your event, what about the costs? While a “virtual event platform” may cost quite a bit, there are several options to providing a “virtual experience”
As we saw earlier, here is the definition of a virtual event.
Now let’s take a look at it again and now we can consider virtual with a different perspective – as an occurrence of people connected together online by using computers and the Internet. This opens the possibilities by beginning to add virtual components such as
Social media with a twitter feed or discussions on a facebook page dedicated to the event
HD video recorders are 200-300 dollars. Record videos of exhibitors and attendees and conduct interviews. Upload them to a dedicated channel and encourage attendees to upload content as well
And now, connect a webcam to the internet and presto, you can stream anything live on the Internet. While most services offer a free level which include advertising and size limits, this is another option to begin broadcasting live.
People are remarkably adaptable. Look at how long some technologies took to reach 50 million users
38 years for radio
13 for tv
4 for internet
3 for ipod
And 9 months for facebook
I’m not going to dispute this. we need to stop thinking of virtual as a replacement or comparing it against f2f
Rather, look at how virtual augments and facilitates f2f
According to a Forbes survey, while face to face is a integral for business relationships “Web-, video- and teleconferencing have their role …
many see the ideal as a mix of face-to-face and technology-enabled meetings and conferences. (Fig. 9
Rather, look at how virtual augments and facilitates f2f
Rather, look at how virtual augments and facilitates f2f
Rather, look at how virtual augments and facilitates f2f
CWT Travel Institute, “Meetings & Events: Where Savings Meet Success”: August 2010
Elsevier case study: http://www.foliomag.com/2010/hybrid-events-live-virtual-combo