Fork In The Road Blog

Events: Technology. Design. Strategy.

It Takes a (Virtual) Village to Build an Industry

A very interesting discussion in the “Virtual Events and Meeting Technology” group on LinkedIn was recently derailed. The initial question posed by the group administrator was, “Will Virtual Events Ever Really Take Off?” For those of us invested in this topic—vendors, event organizers, journalists and passionate observers—this question is the key to unlocking the resources and momentum necessary to move beyond mere discussion to widespread understanding. It is the kind of question that begs responses from any and all whether they have a horse in the race or a comfortable seat in the stands. Instead, some of the most important voices were admonished or excluded.

After several weeks of contributions to the discussion from mostly vendors, it was revealed that Michael Doyle, the founder of the Virtual Edge Institute (VEI)—a prominent voice in this fledgling industry—has been intentionally excluded from the group. The announcement took the focus off of what was a fantastic dialogue onto who should or should not be allowed into the discussion.

The group owner clearly stated his reasoning for excluding Mr. Doyle in a recent post: “Since VEI is financially supported by vendors, I consider content produced by them to be a form of advertising. There have been of couple of past members who were tied to VEI and only posted links back to VEI. Not in line with my goals for the group. So my question has always been this, if I approve Michael does this forum become just another exposure point for his agenda?”

The group owner’s position on admitting Michael Doyle or excluding persons affiliated with VEI is self-defeating. If, as he admits, live event producers have not yet embraced the virtual models, who is available to participate in the discussion if not vendors and thought leaders like Doyle? At least Doyle has street cred for having moved the needle on a class of technology that is helping to bring our old school industry into alignment with the rest of the business world.

I can well appreciate the group owner’s interest in protecting the integrity of the discussion. I will be the first to admit that the cacophony of advertising and digital stimulation eating my brain cells has my cognitive shield on red alert. Yet, with an industry in its infancy, there have to be exceptions made in the interests of the community at large. If, in exchange for valuable contributions, the community has to accept the bias, motivations, and sometimes “commercial” references (in the opinions of some) that come along with them, isn’t that a fair exchange?

There is an important place for moderation in a group. Ad hominem attacks and blatant commercialism without any added value to the discussion does not advance the cause and a third party presence to normalize the discussion is very helpful. But, if we have learned anything by choosing to have our discussions on public social media platforms such as LinkedIn, it’s that the community takes care of itself—they either voice their opinions loudly (recent developments in the political/public space prove that point unequivocally) or they move on to forums where the discussion is more fruitful and open.

There is a responsibility on the part of the group owner as well as the group participants to move the discussion forward. Using one’s affiliation or the behaviors of those seen as sympathizers to his or her cause as a reason for exclusion seems a little short sighted. That said. The onus is also on the participants of a group to check the commercialism at the door, lest they be “wailed upon” by the community or the moderator and to apply the same openness to their own groups, discussions and endeavors elsewhere as a sign of their genuine intention to contribute to the greater goal of the community. Should we be drawing lines in the sand before there is actually a beach?

 

 

 

 

 

Why PCMA’s Investment in the Virtual Edge Institute Means More than Just Cash

In case you missed it last week, a joint press conference featuring Deborah Sexton and Susan Katz of the Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA) and Michael Doyle of Virtual Edge Institute (VEI) revealed that PCMA will be making a monetary investment (the amount was undisclosed) in VEI. The announcement is significant and it’s NOT about the cash.

Obviously, a little more coin in the till will help VEI reach its objectives sooner. It looked as if the two groups were heading towards some kind of relationship from their two-time co-location (Last year in Las Vegas and this January in San Diego) and Deborah Sexton’s unflagging support of virtual and hybrid events. But there’s more to it than a budding “vromance” (virtual + romance).

What PCMA has done is such a refreshing departure for an association. In the past, when associations became enamored with a technology or wanted to appease their members’ curiosity, they would invite providers to offer the solution (free of charge, of course) during the annual conference or trade show. Unfortunately, the revolving door of providers year after year scotched any chance for the users or the providers to achieve widespread adoption.

In other cases, associations have used the technology themselves—a sort of eat your own members’ dog food approach—but when the execution failed or the technology became obsolete, the organization ended up with egg on their face and forever after took the low (tech) road.

What PCMA is doing differs from the other approaches in a number of ways. Instead of hooking up with a particular vendor, they have come out in support of a technology. Smart, because it reduces their risk as an association and brilliant, because it is open source innovation at its best.

Under open source models, the “source code” is made available to the community enabling them to produce new products, applications, and uses from the original product. PCMA, with its investment and endorsement of VEI, is helping to unlock the innovation around virtual and hybrid event technology by, in effect, making the research, discussion and experimentation (the source code of a budding technology) available for the entire event industry.

Regardless of where you stand in the “value of trade associations” debate, one thing member-based organizations have been only marginally successful at is helping members get new business—really helping, not just putting buyers and sellers together in the same room or “allowing” suppliers to sponsor activities in exchange for access to planners. The precedent that PCMA is setting is crazy good.

PCMA’s investment in virtual event research and education through VEI can build the trade show and conference industry, help us to transition to digital—not by abandoning face-to-face (obviously), but by figuring out how to blend the old and the new together—create jobs, and accelerate innovation. I can’t wait to see what they do next.

The takeaway: Well done PCMA.

When there are no More Hybrid Events

In the future, says Dannette Veale, global manager of the Cisco Live and Networkers Virtual event, there will be no more live vs. virtual discussions. The two experiences will overlap so completely, that what we now perceive as two separate environments glued together through some “hybrid” sleight of hand will merge into a single, seamless stream of content, entertainment, and engagement that can be accessed from either end of the physical to virtual spectrum.

Although Veale will speak more about content authentication and syndication when she gives her presentation on Hybrid Meetings and Digital Events during the Virtual Edge Summit, she has some definite ideas on how games, mobile, augmented reality, and video technology will enable the physical and virtual worlds to merge.

The convergence has already begun with games. “You will see tighter and tighter integration between online and offline audiences using games and online formats that both can engage in,” Veale says.  Think about a scavenger hunt extended to a virtual audience. “The same search for clues will exist but the game won’t be strictly location based,” she explains.

The creators of the “Heroes” television show created an augmented reality game called “Conspiracy for Good.” Using mobile phones, players venture out onto the streets of London looking for clues from live characters and QR codes planted in various locations. Veale believes that similar scenarios will become reality in the event space of the future. Exhibitors, sponsors, event hosts, and organizers can use the same tactics to engage live attendees and help them interact with virtual content.

Augmented reality could also be coming to a trade show booth near you, Veale explains.  Imagine walking into a booth, pointing your cell phone at a product’s QR code, and receiving layer upon layer of information about the company, sales outlets, contact information, product applications, white papers, videos, maps, and location-based information. Mobile devices will be the gateway for virtual attendees to engage with content from the live show and for live attendees to engage with content from the virtual space.

Augmented reality kiosks have surfaced in Japan and Germany. Veale describes how the kiosks work. “Bringing a car to an event can be costly. With an augmented reality kiosk, you can bring 30 to 40 cars to the show virtually. You have one kiosk where visitors pick up different flyers with QR codes indicating specific car models. They hold a flyer up to the scanner at the kiosk and get a 3D augmented reality rendering of the vehicle,” she says.

Other technologies will enable the real world and virtual world to meld together. Cisco’s TelePresence video conferencing technology “has helped remove the idea that conference speakers have to physically be there,” Veale says. And their new Videoscape platform is another example, she says, of how technology “will start to layer the video experience.”

In the future, there will be no more hybrid events—a term that implies the cobbling together of two separate realities into one hiccuppy, Frankensteiny, excuse to multi-task. The future of events as Dannette Veale envisions it is one where the learning is über compelling, the engagement is exhilarating, and anyone can participate.

Selling at a Virtual Event is Just Like/is Not at All Like Selling at a Physical Event

Whether you are an exhibitor trying to navigate the new medium of virtual trade shows or a corporation using virtual platforms to enlarge the opening to your sales funnel, Dennis Shiao’s new book, “Generate Sales Leads with Virtual Events” and his upcoming presentation at the Virtual Edge Summit can help. As with any new environment—the Antarctic, third world countries, and the Moon—you have to take the surroundings into account. Much of what Shiao advocates is straightforward advice that will work in any scenario. However, paying respect, as he does, to the disruption in normalcy that occurs in a virtual setting is the key to having success with it.

In the book, Shiao, director of product marketing at INXPO, outlines a five-step plan (hint: if you just skim the subtitles, it sounds like selling in any other environment, so read on):

1.     Define your mission statement—get your entire team on the same page by quantifying exactly what it is you want to get out of the virtual event. Because of the rich metrics available, your mission statement can be highly targeted such as, “100 leads from a specific vertical,” Shiao says.

2.     Assemble an all-star team—select a diverse mix of people from sales to product experts to staff the virtual booth or corporate meeting. This is where virtual might even trump physical events. Folks from all over the organization can chime in to address customer needs. You don’t have to rely on the people in the room. Nevertheless, you will need to assess their online fluency and train them on how to behave in a virtual world.

3.     Build and promote your presence—get out the online bullhorn and let customers, prospects, and ordinary citizens know about your virtual booth or meeting. That’s the beauty of all things digital. The audience can grow itself and they can attend with little effort. Plus, those on social channels will be the most comfortable in a virtual setting. “Use all the tools at your disposal to generate awareness and attract visitors,” Shiao advises.

4.     Engage with prospects—Have your engagement protocols ready to go.  The window of engagement is both a tremendous weakness in the virtual environment and an exhibitor’s greatest opportunity.  If you have 60 seconds to make eye contact and acknowledge someone who has entered your physical booth (or meeting room), how much time do you have in a virtual booth when you can’t see his or her eyes?  Shiao advises exhibitors and meeting hosts to develop a set of tactics from immediate responses and V cards to rich media that let visitors know you are there and keep them engaged longer.

5.     Qualify and follow up with prospects—go back to the rich virtual metrics (which you don’t often obtain from a physical trade show or meeting), drill down to determine what stage of the buying process the visitors are in, and follow up accordingly. “Virtual events have built-in RFID. You have access to the entire trail of activity and you have the benefit of a pile of data you don’t have with face-to-face events,” Shiao explains. In other words, don’t treat prospects like you don’t know what they want when their virtual behavior offers so many clues.

Much of the misunderstanding and even fear of virtual platforms comes from tossing virtual and physical events into the same features and benefits bucket. In reality, virtual events emulate physical events—a clear attempt on the part of platform providers to aid comprehension—but the value propositions are different. During this exploration and experimentation phase, Shiao is on target with his book and his advice. For the moment, exhibitors and meeting hosts can still aim for the low-hanging fruit by tweaking their existing sales processes to accommodate the virtual differences until the platform reaches its full potential and an entirely new way of selling emerges.

Using Hybrid Events to (Try to) Please All of the People All of the Time

It’s true.  If you’re a professional membership association, your best bet in the pleasure dispensing department is to try to please most of the people at least some of the time. Kevin Novak is working hard to do better than that by using hybrid events to hit the educational and member benefit sweet spot that most association executives dream about. At the Virtual Edge Summit next week in Las Vegas, Novak, vice president integrated web strategy and technology of the American Institute of Architects (AIA), will talk about how a false sense of security led to a “shellacking” in his virtual attendance numbers and how his team regrouped after the dip.

Two years ago when the economy took a turn for the worse, AIA took a very hard look at how to bolster its live national convention in anticipation of the coming storm. The event typically generated 24,000 attendees (including exhibitors) and generated $8.5 million in revenue for the association. An analysis of the attendee demographics indicated that most visitors came from within a 300-mile radius of the host city.  Further, the meeting was being held in San Francisco—one of the more expensive host cities—and the financial burden on members who were either struggling to keep their jobs or keep their projects moving was expected to be too much for a good portion of the attendee base.

Enter Novak, his AIA team, Blue Sky Broadcast, INXPO, and Freeman. In six weeks, a virtual conference and trade show was born to complement the live event and extend some of the highly valuable education (some of it a requirement for AIA’s certification programs). The results were impressive. AIA’s online event featured 75 exhibitors, 12 conference sessions, and 17,000 virtual attendees. After the fact, 40,000 people viewed the on demand content. “There were times when we had 50-1,000 people [physically] in a room and 2,000 online in the companion virtual session,” Novak says.

In 2010, the annual convention was held in Miami. “Because of the size of our convention, few cities are large enough,” Novak explains. On the heels of the prior year’s hybrid success and the assumption that live attendance would again be anemic, AIA tripled the online offerings. Hoping to cover the cost of the virtual platform, they trimmed down the size of the online trade show and charged a $165 fee for virtual access to the conference programming. The outcome was less than stellar compared to the year before.

Virtual attendance at the 2010 hybrid conference dropped to 1,000 paid individuals. Post-event feedback indicated that although the content was high quality, the price point was too high especially in light of the $500 to $1,000 membership dues to join the association and the ongoing turmoil on the job front. “We tried to get feedback on the fee structure and looked into some other models. We realized that we should have been in the $125 range,” Novak admits.

Going forward, Novak anticipates changes in the hybrid event they have developed over the past two years.  Realizing that the educational benefits to members who are unable to attend the live event are critical to their professional development, the archived material from 2009 and 2010 is online and accessible as a member benefit. The convention budget and the virtual event budget have been separated. “We started with idea that [the virtual event] was convention-related, but now looking back, we see that there is more to it and it is better to mature the hybrid event as a separate objective,” he says. AIA is also planning to extend its 2010 experiment of simultaneously streaming content to multiple cities where chapter members are gathered offline.

Pleasing all of the people all of the time is a noble objective for an association. Next week, Kevin Novak will tell his organization’s story to online and offline listeners in a panel discussion titled, “Virtual Event Models That Work: Delivering Revenue, Reach and Repeat Participation.” For him, the logistics of launching a hybrid conference and trade show is the easy part. It’s helping his members find their happy place—value, education, and networking—that keeps him up at night.

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