What's Ahead for Virtual in 2012?

Image by Solfrost

As Michael Doyle, founder of the Virtual Edge Institute, prepared for the  2012 Virtual Edge Summit next week, co-located with PCMA's 2012 Convening Leaders in San Diego, he took time to look ahead with his top seven predictions for the virtual meetings industry for 2012.

1. Movement toward a simpler “less is more” approach

The trend toward a more simplified, web page-based graphical interface for online events and meetings will continue in 2012. Platform vendors are moving in the “less is better” direction with their new versions.

2. More embedded event and meeting solutions

Events in 2012 will be open and easily accessible to attendees wherever they are located. Many event and meeting producers will want to embed their events and learning programs into their existing websites to simplify the attendee experience.

3. More convergence of event technology

The competitive edge will go to those vendors who have the ability to converge registration, website, mobile, community/networking, and virtual extensions into a single solution. Most digital event solution providers will continue to move toward open architecture and a modular approach that will allow the embedding of elements driven by physical event registration and mobile communication systems. 

4. More 365 environments

Although there will always be the need for online environments for single events, the trend will be toward building perpetual environments that are available year-round to allow for better utilization and monetization of content. Users and producers alike will seek easy-to-use solutions that include their history, sufficient storage for recorded materials, and a familiar social network.

5. More shuttering of virtual event platforms

“Currently, there are too many virtual event platforms with too few distinctions,” Doyle explains. “Mobile technology has changed the game and what was a workable platform six months ago is now on the verge of being leapfrogged. That being the case, we will likely see new entrants that come into the market based on the latest web services, mobile and cloud architecture as others continue to drop off the radar screen.”

6. More predictable pricing models and shared risk/reward

In 2012, more simplified and more predictable pricing models will emerge. Some technology providers will choose a true Software as a Service (SaaS) model with limited services, while others will focus more on the services than on the technology platform. Some of these services will be geared toward making the event producer more successful from an ROI standpoint and we’ll see compensation models that reward or share in success.

7. More facilities will bring their Internet costs down while others will go “plug ‘n play.”

Internet charges for streaming content from events and meetings will come down as the strategic value of hybrid events continues to grow. Convention centers will find it a competitive advantage to offer great connectivity packages that enable attendees and event producers to share their event experiences via low or no-cost Internet and Wi-Fi. Some centers will also seek to become leaders in the digital revolution by offering in-house streaming studios, streaming services and built-in virtual presenter solutions. Event producers will need to negotiate the digital elements of their physical events before they sign their facility rental contract to get the best deals.

In summary, Doyle notes, "the theme is ‘more, more, more’ for 2012, though not necessarily more of the same. Experimentation and ongoing adjustment to digital strategies will be with us for the foreseeable future as we strive to add value to event, meeting, marketing and learning programs with an ever-growing arsenal of digital tools."

That Awkward Stage

Photograph courtesy USDA

As we lurch forward into the digitally enhanced future in the meetings industry, I keep thinking about a long-ago afternoon when I was working at one of my first jobs, for a magazine published by a state tourism department.

Desktop computers were still rare, and a few of us had gathered in front of a computer to take a  look at something then brand-new: a website created by another state tourism department.

The site itself didn't make a big impression on me, but this did: The state's governor had recorded a  personal invitation to visit, which we could listen to only after many long minutes spent downloading an audio file via dial-up access. As I recall, it took longer to download the short message than it did to listen to it. The whole experience was so underwhelming, that we just laughed and went back to work.

Nobody would say now that it is a bad idea to promote destinations on the Web. But initially the  technology—  as well as knowledge about how to use it well —had not yet caught up with the vision for its potential.

I sometimes think of that afternoon now, when I encounter an awkward or frustrating digital meeting platform. Not many are as clunky as that first destination website I saw, but it helps to remember that the individual experience that I am having isn't a reliable reflection of the potential of the medium. 

And if you want to do something new, you sometimes have to just keep going through the awkward stages.

A People-Based Approach to Virtual Meetings

Next Monday, PCMA, UMB Studios, and the Virtual Edge Institute, will release a new research report that takes a fresh look at the role of digital technology in the meetings industry. 

Instead of the typical "virtual versus face-to-face" approach, this survey took a comparative approach, looking at how digital technologies can best be used within the framework of meeting environments. It delved into the social behavior and business motivations that fuel both in- person and online events, said Michael Doyle, founder and executive director of the Virtual Edge Institute, asking such questions as: Why do people attend in-person and online events? What business goals are being achieved? How are attendees engaging within these environments?

The bottom line: Attendees' business motivations and social behaviors are essentially the same at in-person and virtual events.

The full report, Business Motivations and Social Behaviors of In-Person and Online Events, will be available next Monday, (now available for download here) but as a special sneak peek for Convene readers, Doyle has shared five key findings and recommendations from the report:

Market content before, during, and after events: Respondents seek to access content online or via mobile devices throughout an entire event cycle. Digital channels allow meeting and event practitioners to engage with audiences before, during, and after events, connecting audiences from the physical event to the online channel and back again.

People are social creatures. More than 80 percent of respondents are "comfortable" or "extremely comfortable" connecting and networking with strangers, regardless of whether the setting was an in-person or virtual event.

People seek the same information at exhibitions, regardless of format: Both for online and in-person exhibit halls, respondents cited seeing ‘what is new’ as their number one motivation, followed by gathering relevant product and company information and gaining subject matter expertise. Respondents also noted that the motivation to network and connect is very high.

Exhibitor goals seem aligned with attendees’ needs: The main motivations cited for exhibiting at a conference include:  building brand awareness (68 percent), new business development (65 percent), educate market on products/solutions (62 percent), new lead generation (56.9 percent) and thought leadership (51 percent).

Participants are multi-taskers: Compared to their online counterparts, in-person participants are just about as likely to be checking email (81 percent in-person versus 83 percent online) or to leave a meeting/session for some reason (65 percent in-person versus 68 percent online). Online attendees are significantly more likely to take a phone call during a presentation than physical attendees (66 percent online versus 48 percent in-person). 

Doyle notes: “From our perspective, this report provides exciting insight on how we, as marketers and event professionals, can approach the use of digital technologies within our larger marketing and events strategies respectively."

Putting Tech In Its Place

Michael Doyle, director of the Virtual Edge Institute, and Lynn Randall, managing partner, Randall Insights, offered a primer on virtual events and environments at a packed "Virtual Events 101" session Tuesday morning at PCMA's Education Conference in Baltimore.

Some takeaways:

• That feeling that you have that virtual events are exploding? It's based on reality: The field grew by more than 50 percent last year, said Doyle.

• Fears that virtual events will cannibalize live events are dissolving in the face of evidence to the contrary: An average 18 percent of people who attend conferences virtually opt to attend the next year, he said.

• One of the most perplexing areas for many is knowing how to calculate costs and choose vendors. It's not necessary to spend a lot to livestream a session from your event, Doyle said, but adding virtual components to meetings can run into many thousands of dollars, depending on the variables.

• Technology is not the first thing that people should think about when considering virtual events, Randall said.  Knowing your business goals and your audience should come first.

The 90-minute session was filled with questions and discussion, and Doyle and Randall didn't make it all the way through their presentation. Luckily, there's a (digital) remedy -- the pair plan to continue the presentation in PCMA's virtual environment, PCMA365.

Extra, Extra!: Convene Newsstand

After a bit of a hiatus, welcome back to Extra, Extra! — Convene's online supplement to the association's ThisWeek@PCMA newsletter.

Hilton Hotels & Resorts last week unveiled its new lobby design, as part of a $40 million renovation of the Hilton McLean Tysons Corner hotel in McLean, Va. The new design fits into what's become or becoming the dominant mode in hotel-lobby functionality: the living room or "great room" format, with lounge areas, a bar/restaurant, and an open-air business center–type area.  According to the company, the design "offers a flexible layout with a living room feel that encourages a social atmosphere where guests can interact, work, and collaborate."  Here's a video intro to the new lobby:

The World-Changing Way We Meet Now

"Can meetings save the world?" we asked in our January cover story.

Our focus was on what we termed  "big-tent, big-idea" meetings -- from the Clinton Global Initiative to PopTech -- which bring together the world's leading thinkers and activists to train their attention on the world's biggest problems.

Central to the story was the question:  Can the the way we meet change how meetings change the world?

"Movements can be spawned around the social interactions generated at conferences," one meeting designer told us. So, what happens when technology -- in the form of video, livestreaming, and social media --  greatly accelerates the number of those social interactions?

One example to watch is Tina Brown's Women in the World Summit, in New York City today and tomorrow. Brown's conference is taking on truly thorny problems, like sex trafficking in the United States, war's effect on women, and empowering women in democracies.   The conference is being livestreamed today and tomorrow -- wherever you happen to be, you are invited to listen in and take part in the conversation.

Central to the story is the idea that these meetings are about real change, not just talking about change.  Last year's inaugural Women in the World summit resulted in donations to schools in Kenya and the establishment of a peace foundation in Liberia, and Brown is ramping up the active funding of solutions at this year's conference.

What are your thoughts:  Can meetings save the world?