Have you attended a virtual event lately that didn’t have a welcome video? Think about it. I’ll give you a minute. It’s likely that you haven’t.
Now, think about whether or not you remember the video. Or did you simply stop it and go about your business.
And this is why I believe that the welcome video is the virtual event industry’s version of an unwanted commercial. They rarely provide any additive value; serving to delay participants’ activity within the event itself.
Furthermore, no matter how many times I leave and enter the event, I get the same video.
In an age where personalization drives our online web surfing experience, I am surprised that today’s virtual event experience has not replicated even the basic expectations we have with websites.
- Target the video based on my registration profile
- Instead of welcome messages, learn from movies and create “virtual previews” of key presentations and/or exhibitors. The latter represents opportunities to generate revenue while driving sponsor awareness – but only if done well
- Ban “green screen” videos. These are costly, while resulting in ”stiff” spokespeople and messages. Opt for more relaxed videos that personalize your organization and are more sincere in the long run.
Conclusion – show me the metrics
To date, I have not seen one report that demonstrates that welcome videos moves the needle for an organization. If you can truly demonstrate that the video increases awareness, drives a desired behavior or achieves a specific objective, then I’m more than happy to apologize and share the results. Until then, I’m putting welcome videos as one of the worst trends of 2011.
Photo credit: ZapTheDingbat vis Flickr
About Cece Salomon-Lee
Cece has a unique ability to translate innovative technology into cohesive and successful campaigns that cross from public relations and marketing to social media and virtual events. She has been an active participant in the emergence of the virtual events industry, originally in her roles with technology pioneers ON24 and INXPO and consultant with the Virtual Edge Institute. Cece is currently director of marketing for Active Network.
I agree. At first take it makes sense – extending the F2F event metaphor, have a greeter at the entrance to make the user feel welcomed. The problem is that digital consumers have shorter attention spans. If you can’t provide value right away you could lose them – if you’re lucky, they’ll move on to another part of your site, or worse, to someone else’s site where they can get what they need right away.
Understand the core of your audience and their willingness to interact with the F2F event metaphors in a digital environment. Make it easy for users to get to the heart of your content as simply as possible. Simplify the navigation, remove unnecessary steps which don’t provide value and strip off extraneous graphics and animated features which don’t enhance the user’s ability to engage and consume the content.