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Today Events in Virtual Worlds & Social Media Platforms are being delivered on an ever increasing frequency. This group is for AVW's own events as well as to offer support for VW event organisers & interested parties.
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6 Reasons Virtual Events Are Getting So Popular by Rohit Bhargava
Sourced from Rohit's popular Blog - Influential Marketing
I just spent the day today at the Future of Social Media Conference in London. It was an event put on by a leading trade show group here in the UK responsible for what most consider the largest Internet trade show in the UK, Internet World which is held annually. The conference was a packed session, with nearly 300 marketers in the room (easily doubling the organizers original estimates for attendance) and all the attendees where busy figuring out what role social media should and could take in their marketing strategy. One of the interesting questions asked during the day was whether virtual events may start to overtake real life events like this one due to financial pressures. My response was that I think they currently compliment each other and will continue to do so, yet it does raise the point of the current popularity of virtual events.
In fact, I am being featured as one among many video interviews at a very good social media focused virtual event for small businesses called SolutionStars Video Conference which is put on by Network Solutions and hosted by my friend Shashi Bellamkonda (affectionately known as "shashib" by his growing rank of Twitter followers). The event will have a great roster of speakers (see the end of this post for a full list) and I highly recommend you tune in for part of all of it tomorrow if you can. The bigger trend this event fits into, however, is the rise of virtual events as a viable method for learning. I believe there are six big factors driving this current popularity:
1. Recession economy and budgets. Yes, I said the "R" word. If you were lucky enough to work for a company that actually had a conference budget, chances are you are seeing that budget reduced or disappear. This is the most obvious reason for the rise of virtual events ... they are cheaper.
2. Filling the void. I do not, however, believe that this budgetary pressure will lead people to not attend events. They will just get more selective about the ones that they do attend. So for arguments sake, let's say there is a marketer who usually attends 3 conferences a year. Next year this same marketer may only be able to attend one, but can virtually attend another 3-4 throughout the year. More and more we will see virtual events filling the void and making training, learning and networking possible on more occasions than currently possible.
3. Bring together a fantasy team. When done right, virtual events also allow you to bring together a group of speakers that would be very hard to bring together at the same time for a physical event. As a result, the caliber of speakers across the virtual event can often be higher because it is easier to get a commitment from experienced speakers with very busy travel schedules.
4. Allow for multitasking. Sometimes the toughest thing about an in person conference or event is not getting the budget to go, but finding the time to be out of the office for an extended amount of time. With virtual events, you can go on mute on a conference call and multitask from your desk. Getting work done while attending a virtual event is a pretty powerful benefit.
5. Small business friendly. At many large events that I attend, it sometimes seems that small businesses are the ones that are left out because it is only the bigger companies that can afford to send people to conferences. I strongly believe the smartest small business people are the ones who ARE investing to go to the right in person events, but virtual events can often work better for small businesses simply because of the tradeoff in time and budget commitment, as well as the fact that they can be less intimidating.
6. Built in archive. As an entire event is hosted online, all the content and conversations the event generates are also online. When the time comes to create an online achive of the event, it is usually a very simple prospect because the bulk of the content and conversations are already online and it is simply a matter of aggregating it together.
I just spent the day today at the Future of Social Media Conference in London. It was an event put on by a leading trade show group here in the UK responsible for what most consider the largest Internet trade show in the UK, Internet World which is held annually. The conference was a packed session, with nearly 300 marketers in the room (easily doubling the organizers original estimates for attendance) and all the attendees where busy figuring out what role social media should and could take in their marketing strategy. One of the interesting questions asked during the day was whether virtual events may start to overtake real life events like this one due to financial pressures. My response was that I think they currently compliment each other and will continue to do so, yet it does raise the point of the current popularity of virtual events.
In fact, I am being featured as one among many video interviews at a very good social media focused virtual event for small businesses called SolutionStars Video Conference which is put on by Network Solutions and hosted by my friend Shashi Bellamkonda (affectionately known as "shashib" by his growing rank of Twitter followers). The event will have a great roster of speakers (see the end of this post for a full list) and I highly recommend you tune in for part of all of it tomorrow if you can. The bigger trend this event fits into, however, is the rise of virtual events as a viable method for learning. I believe there are six big factors driving this current popularity:
1. Recession economy and budgets. Yes, I said the "R" word. If you were lucky enough to work for a company that actually had a conference budget, chances are you are seeing that budget reduced or disappear. This is the most obvious reason for the rise of virtual events ... they are cheaper.
2. Filling the void. I do not, however, believe that this budgetary pressure will lead people to not attend events. They will just get more selective about the ones that they do attend. So for arguments sake, let's say there is a marketer who usually attends 3 conferences a year. Next year this same marketer may only be able to attend one, but can virtually attend another 3-4 throughout the year. More and more we will see virtual events filling the void and making training, learning and networking possible on more occasions than currently possible.
3. Bring together a fantasy team. When done right, virtual events also allow you to bring together a group of speakers that would be very hard to bring together at the same time for a physical event. As a result, the caliber of speakers across the virtual event can often be higher because it is easier to get a commitment from experienced speakers with very busy travel schedules.
4. Allow for multitasking. Sometimes the toughest thing about an in person conference or event is not getting the budget to go, but finding the time to be out of the office for an extended amount of time. With virtual events, you can go on mute on a conference call and multitask from your desk. Getting work done while attending a virtual event is a pretty powerful benefit.
5. Small business friendly. At many large events that I attend, it sometimes seems that small businesses are the ones that are left out because it is only the bigger companies that can afford to send people to conferences. I strongly believe the smartest small business people are the ones who ARE investing to go to the right in person events, but virtual events can often work better for small businesses simply because of the tradeoff in time and budget commitment, as well as the fact that they can be less intimidating.
6. Built in archive. As an entire event is hosted online, all the content and conversations the event generates are also online. When the time comes to create an online achive of the event, it is usually a very simple prospect because the bulk of the content and conversations are already online and it is simply a matter of aggregating it together.
Discussion Forum
Do you have Talent ? 1 Reply
Started by Andrew Peters. Last reply by Skylar Smythe Sep 15.
Killer apps for virtual worlds. Live music?
Started by Pierluigi Casolari Jul 2.
Second Life Olympic Games 2012 London
Started by James O'Reilly Jun 26.
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Comment by Skylar Smythe on September 15, 2009 at 8:10am -
I own a very realistic looking venue in Second Life, where I host musicians, writers and conduct writers workshops. The venue is focused on the literary crowd, but is very well done.
I'd be happy to give anyone a tour and discuss in world. The venue is called Hemingways (we are re-launching at my new location this saturday in fact).
Click on my profile picks in-world for a SLURL to visit or send me an IM. I'd love to meet more AVW members in voice.
Skylar
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Comment by Ric Thompson on September 15, 2009 at 8:04am - If you all would like to get one started, I've got the time and place for it. We can set up a special room for AVW. Andrew and SKyler, want to connect?
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Comment by Andrew Peters on September 15, 2009 at 7:50am - @skylar are you interested in creating some events for AVW members - this would be on a pro bono basis but the exposure could generate some opportunities for you - i am keen to get some AVW education and social events happening :-)
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Comment by Skylar Smythe on September 15, 2009 at 7:44am
- With a college and university degree in Marketing, I can see a not so distant future where Event Managers can offer more services in Virtual Worlds. I already tout my fluency in Virtual Worlds on my resume.
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Comment by Andrew Peters on September 15, 2009 at 7:39am
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in this months WIRED magazine sept 09 - the Editorial piece was Titled - when good enuf is great...
Trade Shows
It sounds lame and it is: virtual trade shows inhabited by eager sales avatars and their potential clients. No, it's not the same as meeting face-to-face, but with the economy flatlining, digital confabs are a working alternative. Analysts expect 5,000 virtual events next year, an increase of 500 per cent for the industry.
other mentions
netbooks
skype
kindle
HULU TV
MP3
sketchup
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Comment by Ric Thompson on September 15, 2009 at 7:28am
- The business model for a virtual event is the same as for a physical event - putting people into the seats. The real issue, which Martine mentions earlier in this thread is the costs of getting it all set up. For now, there are two ways to go - piggyback off of someone else's platform (for small specialty type events) or go with your own by doing a huge event. And since this industry is still so young, my personal belief is to go big, or go home. Small virtual events will pick up steam only when there are more choices to host them.
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Comment by Illka Gobius on August 5, 2009 at 6:02pm - Hi ya - I'm a new one here. Looking forward to interacting with you all.
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Comment by Andrew Peters on July 28, 2009 at 9:22am
- Hey Martime virtual world events are not to replace real world events not yet anyway, although mighty IDM held a virtual event which they say saved them considerable moeny as welll as reducing the impact on the environment by holding the vEvent - welcome to the special events committee:-)
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Comment by martine parry on July 28, 2009 at 7:59am
- As someone who makes an income from events, I see no effective business model for events in SL or generally in online events, unless you can afford to bankroll a high-risk venture. If anyone can provide a biz model that works then I will listen, otherwise I will still run specialist events in RL and at least make some money whilst not taking a high hit on financial risk.
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