Cisco Live Networkers: Virtual Event Results

2 months ago I wrote about Cisco Live Networkers: A Hybrid Approach. Over the summer Cisco has provided key learnings in 2 blogposts including results and number of attendees (Virtual Events Key Learnings Part One and Part Two).

I agree with their 3 learnings from part one, meaning:

• You can never start the strategy planning early enough. Basically, if you don’t know at the start what and why you do something, you should never start it. And secondly, a virtual event IS an event and needs a similar way of planning.
• Provide support: monitor if things are working (use Twitter as a back channel for example) and act accordingly in a true sense of customer service and experience. Social media can be a medium for that. Technology sucks if it doesn’t work and people get a poor support experience.
• Maximize your opportunities: in other words, take a hybrid approach and do different things live and online. Be creative and go experimental.

I am less impressed by the 5 learnings out of post two. “Reporting” and “monitoring” is something each marketing campaign should have. “Support” and “Immersion” goes back to the second and third learning out of post one. And finally I agree with “Usability“.

I am positive about the attendee numbers. Some content was freely available and for the whole conference content you needed to pay a subscription fee (which is a great way not to capitalize on live attendees and helps pay for the virtual event platform). Happy to see it worked for Cisco.

Nice case study and thanks to Cisco for open and honest communication about learnings and attendee numbers.

The Success of a Virtual Event Platform

Last week I met with Steve Ellis, Chief Executive of Metia (“a digital agency with marketing experience” in his own words) and we talked about virtual events and virtual event platforms.

One of the topics we discussed was the statement that the success of a virtual event and a virtual event platform is not just depending on the quality of the platform but a combination of many things.

A virtual event platform has two main audiences for success; the attendees of the virtual events on the platform and secondly an internal one (meaning the deployment of the platform within a company).

From an attendee perspective, a virtual event can only be successful if the organizer understands his/her target audience and provides them with what they need. Seems very obvious, but in reality … oh so difficult. The extra challenge is that online events are something rather new and many people are looking for the best format and components, which leads to opportunities. In all this the virtual event platform is just a means to an end. But of course, it needs to work properly and be a bit fancy to attract people.

The success of a virtual event platform within a company is a different story. The technical platform should be working flawlessly (easier said than done) and is considered a given. Though many other components play a role; internal rollout and communication, proper training, readiness and support documents, a few easy wins, success stories, internal evangelists and political capital, proper back office tools so people can provide their content … 

The second internal audience is what people sometimes forget.

The best platform doesn’t always win. The one with the best overall plan does.

Cisco Live Networkers: A Hybrid Approach

Last week Cisco Live Networkers took place in San Francisco. Cisco opted for a hybrid event approach; meaning a combination of a “live” event with a “virtual” component.

At the live event, content and interactivity are the keywords; keynote sessions, breakout sessions, expo area, ask-the expert sessions, hands-on labs, instructor-led labs, certification testing , social activities etc. “Knowledge is Power” is a well chosen tagline.

The virtual component – I intentionally write “component” – is not replacing the actual physical event. It is offering an alternative to people. I also see it as an extension where Cisco tries to bridge the gap between offline and online attendees to offer a full event experience beyond the actual live event dates in order to link people with the Cisco brand and products.

The live attendees get full access to the virtual component as an additional benefit, while premier subscribers of the online event get a 2 day full fledged virtual event and access to all sessions and content post event (same package as live attendees) and finally there is a guest entry to the online experience for free (you can see some content).

I clearly see value in these type of leveled offerings in order to reach more people and scale the content. It can help pay the platform investment while reaching more people.

The virtual component is built on the InXpo platform. It is the most extensive hybrid event I have seen so far. It is not just having taped content sessions, a resource centre, an expo area and a lounge area (the 4 traditional components of a live event). This one has more elements; a media and analysts area, links with social media to improve interactivity, blog center, a prize centre, a scavenger hunt. Some of these features can be categorized under one of the four traditional ones.

Most elements are an online representation of the live event component. From earlier posts you know that I am not convinced this is the holy grail in virtual event conferences. Though Cisco in this case adds Web 2.0 features and brings in the social media aspects. The virtual experience is a “website” on its own, where Cisco is playing in the Web 2.0 space.

I am quite sure a lot of work and thinking has gone into setting up and building the “experience”. How do you measure the return on investment in this case; the number of online premier subscribers, the number of guest subscribers, how many can you convert into the higher offering, how long do they stay online, how many interactions, feeding the pipeline, knowledge transfer, brand and product awareness etc.

Interesting. Evolution.

Event Trends for second half of 2009

Summer holidays are starting. Europe will go half dark for about 2 months. The more you live up North (Scandinavia) the earlier and the longer the holidays (is this a compensation for the dark winter period?), the more you live South, the later (August), not necessarily more.

Time to look what the event trends could/will be for the second half of 2009.

1. Continued push into virtual events

This trend is going on for a while now. No change. Companies are questioning their overall investment in events. In tough economic times, you can only win by gaining market share. Translated to events, this means “reaching more quality people” with a lower cost per head. Scalability!

Some events will get an online copy of the live event (not the right approach if you ask me), others will do a hybrid approach with different offerings offline and online, others will shift entirely to virtual. Lots of experimenting will happen. Watch and learn.

2. Event rationalization

Are we doing the right events for the right audiences? Don’t we do too many events? Or too random? Or audience overlap? Events will be more focussed and have a clearer message for each audience. Think before you act. Each event should stand out and have its right of existence.

3. Return on investment

What is the event vision, what is the goal, what are the objectives and how do we measure this? GOST (Goals -> Objectives -> Strategies -> Tactics) principle. Why are we doing this event? What is the return on investment? “Increasing brand awareness” is not enough as an answer. How do you measure this? Event managers who can will be more successful.

4. Use of social media

In the whole marketing and demand geneartion campaign of an event (whether live or online) more focus will be on the use of social media. Some for the right reasons in the right way, others because it is hot, fashion. In any case they will do it. We’ll see a ton of experimenting in this area.

5. Cost savings

Cost savings does not mean ” do more with less”. Event spend is typically one of the biggest spend of a company together with advertising. Events will get less budget.In this case, it really means less. Make sure you do the right things. This goes hand in hand with ROI and event rationalization.

 What are the core components of your event? Leave the “nice to haves” and really focus on the “must haves”. Some companies will cut too much and the attendee experience will be affected. Attendees probably won’t like it. They are the ones still paying to attend and potentially could get less. Messaging will be important.

6. Lower attendance numbers

Travel and Expenses continue to be under (huge) pressure in most organizations. In a tough economic climate training budgets are the first to disappear. People will spend their money wisely and only go to the best event that fits their needs.

Conclusion: it will be an interesting event season with much experimenting going on. For tens of years events have been a one way conversation (someone is lecturing many people). Gradually we evolved (are still evolving) into a two way street (interactivity between speakers and attendees, attendee involvement). What’s next?  The events business is shaping its own future. We all have been too long in our comfortzone. Brain power!!

Event Trends H2 2009

The Future of Virtual Conferences (2)

I received quite some reactions on my first post about the Future of Virtual Conferences. And most people agree with the direction I was referring to. Also see this post of Steve Ellis.

Last week the Micosoft TechNet team (IT Professionals) from Microsoft UK had a successful virtual conference. Personally I have my doubt about a day long virtual conference. But hey they were succesful. And the reason is that they thought about what they wanted to achieve at the virtual event and post the event right from the start.

Good positioning (alternative to a roadshow), involvement of the target audience themselves, inviting them to participate in the pilot, ask for feedback all the way and help select the right content. Basically anything you should do for a live physical event as well.

As I refered to in my previous post, they integrated with Twitter to provide instant feedback, respond to questions etc. And further they had the interactivity with competitions and online chats. And they do the “office hours” concept I wrote about (post event at certain times the speakers will again be available for questions and online chats). The content will be available for another 3 months post event.

So far this is among the best I have seen so far, concept wise. The platform is only a means to an end.

There is no magic, only hard work and clever thinking.

The Future of Virtual Conferences

Lately I came across the “Future of Virtual Conferences” post from Judith Hurwitz. I can’t agree more with her. Virtual Conferences and online events still have a long way to go. From a technological and from a concept point of view.

I researched a few virtual event platforms (www.on24.com, www.unisfair.com, www.cramereventhub.com, www.jackmorton.com/virtual) and all consist out of 4 components:

• Keynote – Breakout Sessions
• Exhibition Hall
• Resource Centre
• Networking Lounge

This sounds as a copy of a physical event to me.  And I am not impressed. Don’t get me wrong, they can all be fancy and working well, though my opinion is that this is not the holy grail in virtual event conferences and online events. The platform is only a means to an end. But the end in this case is not an online copy of a live event. This is new wine in old barrels.

I don’t know exactly what the holy grail is (otherwise I wouldn’t be here probably). A few ideas for pure online events:

• within 2 clicks I should be able to see a session in great quality format
• sessions will need to be shorter, look at the huge TED success with sessions of max 18 minutes (that is doable online without distractions)
• events should be shorter and more focussed online
• are we thinking about one-way conversations (lectures) or two-way conversations?
• interactivity, interactivity, interactivity
• connection with existing social media platforms in order to allow quick exchange of profile information between “participants”
• what if companies would use any of these platforms as a content library for anything they have on their website? Would be great!
• new concept for sponsors and exhibitors to connect with the brand and show the partnership with the organizer (who looks at exhibitors online?)
• “office hours” with company experts at certain times post event

In combination with a live phisical event, I am more a believer of hybrid solutions where the online component is an extension and complimentary to the live event. In sessions people can submit questions online via the virtual event component, behind the scene content, sessions on demand post event, “office hours” with experts on certain points in time post event etc.

An online event or virtual conference is not a replacement of a physical event. They can be complimentary when we talk about one conference and more importantly they are complementary in the overall (event) marketing mix of a company.

Apple Worldwide Developer Conference: Where is the online part?

In the current economical environment focus in the events industry is on cost savings, making sure the right people are attending your events and how can we leverage the internet to scale the content and messaging. There is a shift towards virtual events and hybrid solutions (meaning a combination of a live event with an online component). Many IT companies (Oracle, HP, VMWare, Microsoft etc) are testing and trying how deep the water is and what could be the best – or maybe better a “good” – solution.

Therefore I am a bit disappointed about the Apple Worldwide Developer Conference. The event started yesterday but on the official website nothing can be seen about the event. It is still the good old marketing site to promote the event. The only reference is a message that post event you will be able to buy a subscription to see the taped breakout sessions.

Isn’t this a missed opportunity? Why not have a kind of “Apple TV” with newsflashes from on site? Why not have a few teaser sessions online?

By searching on Twitter I was able to find the keynote video stream, on an Apple URL even! Apple itself is not really connecting the dots. The attendees twittering doing it for them. And from the category list you can see that the conference is a hot topic.

Companies should integrate social media better in their marketing strategies, surely in the IT industry where the audience is ahead of the “marketing” game.