In the meantime I have changed jobs and decided to leave Microsoft. My vision about the events business setup was and is not necessarily matching with the way Microsoft is heading in this particular area. Each approach has its merits, pros and cons and each approach needs to have the right people for the job.

On July 1^st I am officially joining Cisco and will be responsible and accountable for Cisco Live Europe Program and Strategy. “Cisco Live” consists of several components including the company’s flagship European event. The very well known “Cisco Networkers” is a part of this event, actually the main one. And further we are bringing together a few other target audiences and event programs under the overall “Cisco Live” umbrella brand. And not to forget all the virtual event components that are part of Cisco Live. Interesting and amazing times ahead of us as I expect a ton of innovation coming our way in the offline and online communication aspects of our lives.

In order to focus on my new role, I will be silent on this blog. One thing is sure, I will continue to be part of the events industry on the client side as well as pushing innovation in this area. Admit, it is a wonderful place to be acting in.

 So long,

Normally the registration trend for this type of events is slow in the beginning, takes a spike with compelling offers that expire at a given point in time (early bird, super early bird) to then keep steady until the end.

In Dubai we experienced a different trending. Registration was also slow (let’s say very slow) in the beginning but it continued like that until two weeks before the event. This made it very challeging for planning and budgeting. I was worried but I must admit that the local team was confident that towards the end many people would register. And that happened. After the slow start we have seen an exponential curve towards the end of registration. Just AMAZING. Quite a few people even registered and paid on site (flying in from different countries).

The Middle East was/is surely a last minute sign up “paradise”.

3D movies and a whole 3D experience is basically a game where technology is fooling our brain to give us a 3D experience. I am fan of it. You come closer to the action and feel more part of it, add a surround system and it even gets better. Would’t that be nice as a virtual event experience? The question of course is if it is worth the investment? Highly likely not.

I will do a series about doing business in the Middle East and share my experiences. It has been an interesting though very different experience.

And I will catch up on virtual events. I find it really a pity that I have missed the Virtual Edge conference. A shame.

http://www.foliomag.com/2007/study-behavior-virtual-events-examined

There are several good posts about this event  called “GSX”.

First a few stats from GPJ, one of the companies involved in setting up the event:

• 88 hours of consecutive sessions crossing 24 time zones
• More than 13,000 active players of “The Threshold”, alternate reality game
• More than 8,000 participants in group chat within the Chat Zone
• More than 9,500 playing GSX mini games
• 90% cost savings
• Content satisfaction scores comparative to previous events

Click here for a good blogpost with more in dept analysis and references to other posts.

This strategy was taking a risk. Companies should allow people to take more risks in order to progress.

Personally I think that a hybrid model for these type of events (objectives) will probably be the right approach.

Thanks Cisco for doing this and sharing the results and learnings with the public!!

The one thing that I really liked is that they don’t position themselves as a “Virtual Event Provider” but as a “Virtual Engagement Company”. This makes more as sense as I am a believer that virtual events are part of an events strategy and events are part of the overall marketing mix, not standalone tactics.

Idem for a virtual event; one of the most successful strategies will be that the virtual event platforms will become virtual engagement platforms where from time to time a virtual event will take place for a certain target audience. And all this in combination with live events. That strategy will be a winner.

I have visited Dubai two times the last couple of months and still going 4 times between now and March. And I must admit it is an “interesting” region and society. More than once my eyes opened widely. Everything needs to be the biggest, the most expensive, the coolest, the best, the most luxurious and you wonder where all the money is coming from. It is amazing that they built almost an entirely new and modern city in a couple of decennia. Truly amazing.

Also society has very interesting aspects; no taxes but you have service charges. Can’t we consider this the same? About 90% of the inhabitants of Dubai are foreigners. You rarely see people that are retired. The demographic constitution is one of mostly people that are working. People without a job or income can’t really afford to stay. Drug policy, alcohol, traffic rules. Never seen a country where so many people make U-turns.

Doing business is another culture. One tip, the concept of “We” is a pitfall. You and me works better! And I was introduced to the concept of “Insalah” (manana in Spanish ).

Fascinating area. Let’s hope everything comes fine and the situation is not as bad as the press is writing.