Insights about (Virtual) Events Business & Marketing, Social Media as well as Sports Marketing
In the grand scheme of things, more people than normal are looking out for a new job, a new challenge while less jobs are available. So, if an interesting job becomes open, tons of people are interested. But before you apply always answer the following simple questions. This is relevant in any situation or state of mind.
What I have seen over the last 12 months is that corporations are adapting to the economic climate. This typically means downsizing and reducing budgets.
The other things that I noticed and that people not always get is that employees still are expected to do at least the same amount of work with less resources and less budgets. Less resources would mean corporations would outsource more, but there is no money for that. Because of less resources and less budgets, employees are faster asking for manager approval and escalate easier. This adds to the workload as people are creating more work wihile there are less resources and less budgets. Which lead to the fact that the irritation level of employees get reached more easily. Bottom line, not an ideal position to be in.
Companies should think aout this and create again a positive environment but focussing on the right things, quality over quantity. Pick your battles and be creative. And allow people to take risks!
I have been on the road for 9 out of the last 13 weeks. I attended events, prepared events and delivered events … from business decision makers to software developers (all in the IT Industry).
One trend I have seen is that people register later and later, independently of the price. Where an event’s registration 3 weeks before opening was seriously lagging compared to previous years, completely catched up in the last weeks. This was the case for most of the events I was involved in or events I was specifically following.
The bad thing is that this makes planning, budgetting and decision making very difficult. The good thing is that people still attending events en masse. Or was it the right strategy, listening to attendee needs, clever marketing? Who knows?
It has been rather quiet on my blog for the last 2 weeks. There is a very simple reason. I am managing our Convergence 2009 Europe Series events and it has been extremely busy. Tomorrow we kick off the series in London. While I am also working on a new event in Dubai in March.
First the very positive news: despite the challenging event times (scrutinized budgets and lower attendance in general) we have been able to sell all expo spaces at all 4 locations (London, Vienna, Frankfurt ad Rotterdam) even before our event attendance registration site went live. And all 4 locations are close to a complete attendance sell out as well. London and Rotterdam are already (with many people on the waitlist) and Frankfurt and Vienna will be very soon. People are still attending events if they see the value and if companies are able to sell the value. And now we should live up to the expectations. 
And for the people that can’t get in anymore, we are recording all sessions and will make them available to the attendees and people on the waitlist post the series on our Virtual Event Platform.
The observation though is “Why do people only wake up and try to get everything sorted last minute?”. And are these the people responsible for long term vision and strategy of companies? I always wonder. Maybe it comes to some proper time and project management. They could get way more if they would put some skin in the game earlier.
But hé, we are going to enjoy it. It is lovely to manage sold out events. This is luxury in the current climate.
“Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.”
Think about it. Surely in a time where many people don’t see opportunities. It is a mental thing.
I just have been exploring the Microsoft New Efficiency Launch on the Virtual Event Platform. Each new event on the platform is adding features and functionality.
What you also see here is the way Microsoft is scaling the content of the small live event in SanFrancisco. Not only via the Virtual Event Platform event but also via the New Effciency Launch website. Both digital channels are just a means to an end and the content is consumed in a media player.
The expo is there, all breakout sessions are here. The positive thing is that it takes less clicks than before to actually see a session and with the 2 screens … A really neat improvement.
Nice!
Today we typically see an online presentation as part of a virtual event last for about 45′, 60′ or even 75′. This is basically just a copy of the live event format and duration of a presentation.
Is this the right duration? Who will tell? What I do know is that TED is hugely successful with its maximum length of 18′ sessions. And honestly, even in busy times I will watch entirely an 18′ video when the speaker and the content can inspire me and learn me something.
We need to think twice what the objectives are and how can we best reach our target audience. Content stays king and a virtual event and a virtual event platform is just a means to an end. It is just a content delivery mechanism. And that can also be reached by means of a webcast, a live meeting, a conference call, a media player etc.
If you consider setting up a virtual event, please keep the following 3 items in mind:
In an earlier post I commented on the virtual events key learnings of Cisco Live Networkers. Earlier this month Cisco provided an overall analysis of their virtual event. A must read if your are into the virtual events business.
Two things caught my attention:
