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.

1. Target the video based on my registration profile
2. 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
3. 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

The leaves are about to turn. The air is getting cooler as winter is fast approaching, which means… it’s time for end of the year predictions! Before I share my predictions in a future post, I want to first review my virtual event predictions from last year. (Note: I had to recover the post after some weird code did something to it. Thanks to Emma King for giving me a heads up).

Market Consolidation

I predicted that there would be more market consolidation in the industry either through acquisition, mutual mergers, or businesses ceasing operations. On this one, I give myself a B+ grade as there was a major acquisition with Intercall acquiring Unisfair earlier this year. And while the recent news that Scott Kellner, previously Chief Marketing Officer of 6Connex, is joining INXPO in the same role, may have some interesting implications for 6Connex, that is the extent of company moves for the industry.

Build Me a Better Playground

In the spirit of social media platforms, I anticipated that virtual event platforms would build out their capabilities by 1) introducing apps to build on the native capabilities of their platforms and 2) to foster a developer community to build and introduce more of these apps. On this point, I would give myself a B-, even C+ as the move toward app development has been slower than anticipated. Rather, ON24 seems to be leading this arena with several announcements regarding their webcasting solution and integrations with multiple technologies. INXPO is closely behind with recent integrations to Jive and Taleo, as well as introducing a flex interface to their webcasting solution.

Overall, it seems I may have been a few months too early, and we can anticipate more development in this arena for 2012?

Simplified Web Experiences

I had high hopes for this prediction, when we would finally put aside the “physical” space metaphor in favor of environments that truly took advantage of an online technology, even learning from the likes of Facebook and YouTube. This will be my worst grade at a D as only one vendor, to my knowledge, has taken a step toward simplification – INXPO. While this is a great step forward, I strongly believe we’ve only scratched the surface in terms of user interface and engagement.

Furthermore, the second part of my vision was the ability to freely move back and forth between virtual events – at least on the same platform vendor. While the discussion of Open ID (for the social web) and OpenSim (for 3D immersive communities) have been active for awhile, this same discussion has been nonexistent within the virtual event space.

Conclusion: 2012 More of the Same?

While I’m not quite ready to reveal my 2012 predictions, I wonder if what we’re in store for is more of the same. At this point last year, there was almost a press release every other month regarding the newest features and functions from the platform providers. In a way, it was fun to see the competition and one upsmanship. This year, it was eerily silent.
What do you think? Did I grade myself too harshly (maybe a holdover from my Chinese upbringing or are they accurate reflections of where the industy is today? Tell me why or why not below.

A press conference is a great way for organizations to communicate important news to the media, and one would argue to customers and partners as well, at a specific time and place; and in a controlled environment. For example, the Obama administration has used press conferences to introduce new legislation or policy updates.

As technology has improved, I am seeing more organizations moving their press conferences online. This frees corporate communications departments to easily and effectively reach more press members and bloggers, no matter where they are located worldwide. Yet, producing a virtual press conference is slightly different than any other virtual events. Here are my 10 tips for success.

1. KISS – Keep It Simple Stupid: While your media may be tech savvy, the goal is to keep them focused on the news and information being delivered – not on the complexity of the experience. As such, this requires a very simple user experience that is, frankly, mindless and requires the least number of clicks. Ideally, there should be minimal registration with preferably no password required. On the day of the press conference, reporters click on a link and are automatically taken the online event itself – no lobbies, no auditoriums – just the interface that will stream the news. And when the event begins, the interface should be so intuitive that no tech support issues arise.
2.  Be Flexible with Start Time: Reporters are busy, so you want to be conscious of not wasting their time. With that said, some reporters may also join the conference late. My recommendation is to begin the press conference with housekeeping items first, such as how to submit questions, where to access press documents, and presenter introductions. This way, when you announce your news, the maximum number of reporters is online.
3. Repeat the News Several Times: Which leads to this point. Don’t assume that the reporters heard the news the first time. Be sure to repeat the news in your presentation and its significance at least 2-3 more times.
4. Allow for the Press Conference to Run Over: While you want to respect reporters’ time, if you’re receiving several questions toward the end of the press conference, allow the event to run over. This ensures that you’re (a) answering all reporter questions and (b) thereby increasing the amount of ink regarding your news in the magazine or online.
5. Seed Initial Questions: When you begin answering questions, it may take a few minutes for the reporters to absorb the news, gather their thoughts and formulate questions. To avoid “dead air”, have your staff seed questions in the Q&A queue. These are questions that you anticipate reporters to ask versus questions that only highlight the best of your company.
6. Create Media-Ready Documents: This is an opportunity to provide reporters with resource materials to draft their stories. As such, upload only those documents, images or videos that augment the news you’re announcing. For example, a press release, bios and headshots of the presenters, images of the product, and links to industry research supporting your announcement would be accessible from the virtual press conference environment.
7. Have an Archive Available Immediately: Since many of the reporters are filing stories at the conclusion of the virtual press conference, it’s
   important to have the virtual press conference available for on-demand replay within 30-60 minutes after the conclusion. I realize the temptation to make the archive “perfect” but reporters are most concerned about the information being communicated. If you’re unable to (a) find a vendor to turn around the archive quickly or (b) recognize that your executives will “require” post-production to make the final video “perfect”, then I emphasize DON’T DO A VIRTUAL PRESS CONFERENCE. This may seem counterintuitive with the next point.
8. Prepare a Written Transcript: While a reporter may or may not take time to review the archive, I recommend capturing sound bites and key points in a written transcript. Annotate this with time markers to help drive reporters’ attention to specific points in the video archive, such as the formal announcement of the news, a key quote from a partner, or point when the CEO highlights the benefits of the announcement.
9. Consolidate Everything on Your Website: The main focus of a virtual press conference is driving reporters to the event. But what happens afterward? What if your news is relevant to another trend or you’re seeking to educate new reporters about your company? My recommendation is to create a microsite on your website, preferably under your media room, to act as a resource for future use. This would be publicly available and organized to tell your story.
10. Send a Post-Event Email: A best practice for virtual events is to send a thank you or I missed you email to your attendees. It’s no different with an online press conference. In addition to including a link to the on-demand archive, I also recommend highlighting where reporters can access information relevant to the announcement (see points 6 and 9). You may even want to include the press release within the body of the email (after the signature and not as an attachment).

Share your tips or examples below in the comments.

 

 

In a livestreamed press conference this morning, Michael Doyle, Executive Director of the Virtual Edge Institute, Deborah Sexton, President and CEO of the Professional Convention Management Association and Susan Katz, PCMA Board Member and Director of Corporate Events and Travel with True Value Company, announced that PCMA has made a strategic investment in VEI that will allow VEI to accelerate the development of standards for the digital events industry and the establishment of best practices and education.

“We’ve reached an important milestone today where we’ve gone past the ‘us vs. them’ mentality that’s existed in the physical and virtual event industries,” says Doyle.  “Now we’re coming together as one industry to take advantage of the technologies that allow us to expand our audiences and extend the life of our events. This is truly a turning point.”

Sexton recognized VEI as the organization that has done more than any other to spark the conversation, adoption, growth and education around digital solutions for meetings, learning and community. “PCMA is known for having the highest level of education,” she says. “And when we determined that virtual events will be critical to the continued growth of events and meetings, we sought to work with Michael because he has the same high standards for education.”

Sexton said that by investing in VEI, the organization can deliver more education, faster.  “The next 12 months are critical for the advancement of virtual,” she explained. “We believe strongly in VEI’s ability to deliver the education our members need.”

The funding will also allow VEI to add resources to launch its Digital Event Strategist certification program.

So that was the news. Now my thoughts:

I think investing in VEI was a smart move by PCMA – and you’ve gotta give credit to Deb Sexton and the PCMA Board for doing it. Virtual is an industry in its infancy. I still believe that by 2015 every event will have a virtual component. Rather than letting its members seek the education they need for this elsewhere, PCMA has brought it somewhat in-house.

I think accepting the investment is a smart move by VEI. (Full disclosure: I perform contract work for VEI, so I obviously have a vested interest here, but I’d be saying the same thing regardless.) It’s time for VEI to move to the next level. What most of you don’t know is that Michael Doyle doesn’t have a single employee. What he’s accomplished since founding VEI in 2008 with just a couple of contractors here and there, is amazing. He’s been one of those “one-armed paper hangers,” and that can only get you so far.

I think what remains to be seen is how this announcement affects the rest of the industry. They were careful to point out this morning that PCMA is not acquiring VEI – it’s simply an investment to allow VEI more resources to move his education forward. Michael says he’ll continue pursuing other collaborations in and out of the association, corporate and educational markets – and he’ll also likely consider other investors looking to support digitalization in their market. But we all know associations can sometimes be territorial and competitive. My fear is that by aligning with PCMA, VEI may be cut off from the rest of the industry organizations.

Addressing that issue this morning, both Deb and PCMA board member Susan Katz said this was about advancing an industry, not about advancing just PCMA. Deb even mentioned that although the Virtual Edge Summit is co-located with PCMA again for 2012, maybe it can co-locate with other industry associations in other years. “We hope to always have branded VEI content at our event,” she says. “But if the Summit rotates around, we’d be fine with that.”

If that can truly happen, then I think this is, indeed, a very fine day for the event industry.

(This article appeared originally in my column in Meeting Mentor Magazine.)

When corporations go virtual, significant cost savings are often the reward. For most associations, however, it’s an added expense. And it can be equally significant. Plenty of numbers are making the rounds in the industry, and much of what you’ve heard is true. AARP really did spend $250,000 producing its event, and ASAE spent more than $100K. But there are also many associations spending as little as $15,000. The difference is often in your definition of virtual.

For about $15,000, you can capture and sync the audio and PowerPoint of about 70 one-hour sessions at your face-to-face event, and package a group of them for rebroadcast on a specific date over a Webcasting platform . You can have people register, pay and even take part in a live Q&A with the same speakers. But there won’t be an exhibit hall, a resource room or a networking lounge – prompting some to say it isn’t truly a “virtual event.” For many associations, however, it’s an easy, inexpensive way to extend the life of a F2F event and offer education to those who couldn’t attend, or perhaps missed a session on-site.

“The focus of a virtual event should be on education,” says Jim Parker, President of Digitell, Inc., a Webcasting and virtual event platform provider. “It’s the best way you can drive both value and revenue.”

What will it cost for a “real” virtual event? The kind with an exhibit hall and booths, networking lounges and lobbies? In general, it ranges from $30,000 to $100,000 based on the decisions you make and the platform you choose.

The American Payroll Association has produced a virtual event following its annual Congress for the last two years, and Eileen Gaughran, Senior Director of Communications & Vendor Relations, knows the costs well. “When I first saw the numbers, I was surprised by how high they were. But after going through the process and seeing how much work and time is involved, I understand completely.”

Meeting Mentor asked Gaughran and others to offer their best advice for controlling virtual event costs.

Streaming vs. Capturing. You’ll have to make a decision about whether your virtual event needs to be live – as in a hybrid event – or whether it can happen days or weeks later. Live-streaming is far more expensive and requires multiple cameras, camera crews (sometimes union), encoding equipment, quality sound and lighting equipment and broadband Internet connections in each room. “You’re probably not going to stream all your sessions, so I recommend clients keep the streamed sessions in just one room so they don’t have to pay for Internet drops from each room,” says Parker. “Either that, or negotiate the drop when you’re signing the facility contract.”

Audio vs. Video. Capturing video is less expensive than live-streaming it, but still much more than audio synced to PowerPoints.

Self-Service. Several of the platform providers now offer self-service models of their virtual events that can save significant amounts. “We’re big on self-service,” says Larry Swain, Director of Services at platform provider Unisfair. “There are lots of capabilities in our platform you can activate yourself. You can update the look and feel and layout of your environment, upload content, pull event reports and more.”

AMS/LMS Integration. Will your virtual event need to integrate with your Learning Management System or Association Management System to pass people and data back and forth? This can greatly affect the user experience, and should be a negotiation point during platform selection.

Customization. “You don’t have to pay a creative agency to create custom environments,” says Swain. “You can save money using standard, out-of-the-box templates for backgrounds, exhibit halls, etc. Or you can easily augment them with your own logos, photos or Google images at no additional cost.”

Event Add-Ons. “Make sure your contract doesn’t have add-ons you don’t need such as multi-lingual capabilities or maybe e-commerce,” says Gaughran. “And look for things in ranges. If the contract is for five to seven Webcasts, and you’re only using five, see if you can lower that price.”

Project Management. The biggest surprise most planners find when producing a virtual event is just how much work it is. And falling behind means extra, last-minute costs. Stick to the schedule the platforms provide in order to avoid these fees.

Gaughran reminds us all, however, that you get what you pay for. “When you’re reviewing bids, price is important, but look at the reputation and experience of the company – and its project management capabilities. They will keep you moving forward and making sure you hit your deadlines.

Swain concurs. “There are some areas where saving money is smart. But be realistic about what you can handle and don’t take too much on yourself.”

____________________________________________________

Ask the right questions

Virtual event costs vary widely from one platform to another. And it can be difficult to make apples-to-apples comparisons on bids since services can be bundled and nomenclature varies. You need to first determine what’s included in the base price and what will be extra. Here are just some of the potential costs to investigate:

• What are the various Webcasting costs – live vs. scheduled vs. on-demand and video vs. audio?
• What is the cost for Simulive Webcasts (pre-recorded sessions with live Q&A)?
• How many booths are included, and how much to add more?
• Is there a limit to the number of simultaneous attendees that can be in sessions?
• Is there a limit to the number of sessions?
• How many months of hosting the on-demand event are included?
• Are there extra charges for non-consecutive event days?
• Is there a limit to the number and/or types of files you can put into the Resource Room?
• Is an email package included in the bid? Is there a limit to the number and type of emails you can send?
• How many prize drawings are included and how much for more?
• How many training hours are included for your staff, your exhibitors and your speakers?
• How many support hours are included for attendees during “live” days?
• Is there a limit to the number of messages you can put on the message boards?
• Is the cost of recording your “green screen” greeting included?
• How much is it to add extra languages?
• What is the price of custom templates?
• Is there an attendee briefcase for attendees to download materials and does it have a limit?
• What are the various chat capabilities in the Networking Lounge and what is included in the bid?
• Is there a limit to the number of people who can be in the networking lounge simultaneously?
• Does the bid include the building of a sales demo for your booth sales team?
• How much rehearsal time for your speakers is included?
• How much per hour for additional creative support?
• Is bulk registration of all your members included?
• Does the platform vendor require any staff hotel rooms for the capturing/streaming teams?
• Where might you incur late fees and expedite charges?
• What reports are included and what will you have to pay extra for?
• What included in the registration package? E-commerce? A registration page/microsite?
• What is the cost to integrate your AMS/LMS?
• Is e-commerce for registration included?

When Apple launched iTunes, the service revolutionized how individuals consumed, discovered and purchased music. Since then, the company has expanded to other areas of digital content – TV shows, movies and books, with individual broadcasters even setting up channels on iTunes. I wondered, “What is the potential to leverage iTunes to distribute, and eventually monetize, conference content?”

Doing a quick search, I discovered that educational content targeted to student learning is centralized under iTunes U. Most of the content is from higher learning institutions, accessible to members or no members and at no cost.

Ok – what about conference content? That was more difficult to discern as the search “conference” pulled various results related to sports apps, music groups and more. Rather, I searched on TED Conference and CES. In each case, a conference page was displayed from where you could subscribe to the feed or freely download individual podcasts.

Based on this, plus feedback from Virtual Edge LinkedIn Group and Focus.com, I believe conference organizers should consider iTunes as part of their content marketing strategy:

• Easy Set Up – iTunes does not host any podcasts (audio or video) but simply “houses a searchable directory of podcasts, to which your podcast feed can be submitted.” Assuming that you’ve developed that site already, you submit your feed via the iTunes Store. Note: if this is for an organization, you’ll need to create an account for that conference; otherwise, it will post under your individual account.  For more information on setting up a feed, go to: http://www.apple.com/itunes/podcasts/creatorfaq.html.
• Pre-Marketing Your Event - More and more conferences are looking at options for making their conference content mobile. Creating audio or video podcasts with speakers and industry luminaries before your conference is one way to (1) increase awareness about your conference and (2) introduce a mobile strategy via a familiar platform.
• Convenience– With over 200 million iOS devices sold to date (WWDC 2011 keynote), distributing your content on iTunes enables your audience to conveniently consume it on their mobile devices, where ever they are.
• Distribution channel – Consider iTunes as another distribution channel for your audience. Some may want to go to YouTube; others
  would prefer to have it on their iPhone or iPad as indicated in the previous point.
• Taste Before Purchase – For those seeking to sell individual sessions or the full conference program (video and/or audio), you can leverage iTunes to post 90-120 second previews of each session. The videos can then point to your ecommerce site where the entire content can be purchased.

Conclusion: Good for Distribution and “Tastes” of Content

At this time, iTunes would be a good alternative for those conferences whose attendees are iDevice owners.  This enables a conference organizer to repackage conference content into bite-sized portions for their audiences to consume when they like on any device they like. Moreover, the
audio and video podcasts can act as “tastes” to spur paid downloads of your content.

While iTunes is just one spoke of a comprehensive content marketing and distribution strategy, it is something worthwhile to consider if you’re already planning to capture, edit and produce audio and video content from your conference.

What are you thoughts? Have you done this and if so, what are the pros and cons?

 

By 2016, I think every single face-to-face event will have a strong online extension.

Big words from Tony Lorenz yesterday morning when I called about the announcement of his new firm – bXb Online.

But, in fact, it’s what he’s betting on. bXb is the latest brainchild from this creative industry leader – a marketing agency focused solely on hybrid and virtual event solutions. (Full disclosure: My partner on this blog, Cece Salomon-Lee, is working with Tony on a project.)

You’ll remember Tony created Proactive – an “experiential agency” primarily for the corporate event industry in the early 90s (and sold it to Freeman in 2007). So I’m thinking this isn’t far off Tony’s sweet spot – just a different type of experience. What I wonder about though, is whether Tony can find the same success in the association market he did in corporate, being that they are truly such different animals.

“The power of F2F events resides with the associations,” he tells me. “And yet, it’s also where much of the inefficiency resides. If you can only get 15 percent of your members to attend your physical event, the opportunity to engage that other 85 percent is enormous. Our goal is to help organizers have fully converged event marketing experiences – both physical and virtual.”

Tony says he’s “100 percent” convinced that virtual will stem the tide of declining physical attendance. “For last year’s PCMA ‘Convening Leaders’ meeting, 60 percent of the online audience said they were more likely to attend the 2012 event in person as a direct result of their virtual experience.”

I’m personally not a fan of the whole trade show floor metaphor we currently use with digital events, so I asked Tony what he thinks:  “One of the challenges we have to overcome is that some people took on great big virtual solutions early. And that’s really not the right approach. You have to scale into a fully integrated event. The American Dental Association, for instance, has a history of live streaming with hundreds of attendees online. We’ll be building upon that this year with a more complete solution. In other cases, there’s a history of just audio recordings. So we’ll start in a different place for them.”

And what about the experience the brands are having with virtual? “The approaches to date have probably not been as brand-specific as they need to be,” he says.  “Market leaders don’t need brand awareness. For emerging brands, leads might not necessary be as big a driver as sales. And for a company with plenty of revenue, thought-leadership could be their goal. The key is to tailor the approaches. It’s important to get the brands to embrace next-gen event marketing.”

When I ask Tony what he thinks about all these industry reports that keep touting virtual as the next multi-billion-dollar industry, he quips, “Even if they’re half wrong, this is still an exciting category.”

I couldn’t agree more.

In last week’s post I complained about the arduous task of getting comparable bids from virtual event platform vendors. This week I want to give you the 10 questions I’ve found that are most important to your RFP process.

1. What are the various Webcasting costs – live vs. scheduled vs. on-demand and video vs. audio?
2. How many booths come in the “package price,” and how much is it to add more?
3. Is there a limit to the number of simultaneous attendees that can be in sessions or networking lounges?
4. Is there a limit to the number of sessions either in total or simultaneous?
5. Is an email package included in the bid? Is there a limit to the number and type of emails you can send?
6. How many training and rehearsal hours are included for your staff, your exhibitors and your speakers?
7. Does the bid include the building of a sales demo for your booth sales team?
8. What’s included in the registration package? E-commerce? A registration page/microsite?
9. What’s the cost to integrate your AMS/LMS?
10. Where do most customers incur “extra” charges?

A few specific notes on hybrid event costs:

• Rarely does a platform bid include the very significant cost of capturing the actual content or streaming it to the environment.
• Livestreaming is much more expensive than simply capturing your content for future broadcast.
• If you really want to capture that “live” feel from a physical event, but need to contain costs, consider livestreaming just some sessions (or a specific track) and capturing the rest.
• Keep all the livestreamed sessions in the same room and you’ll only need one broadband connection and one camera crew.
• If you’re not already, start negotiating the Internet drops to your session rooms into your facility contract.
• Don’t forget to factor in union labor in certain cities for camera crews. “Encoding” video is usually considered a specialized job.

Last week, I attended the Event Camp Twin Cities conference in Minneapolis, MN. I was honored to be invited to speak at the conference by Samuel J. Smith, one of the co-founders of the conference. What excited me about this conference is its overall mission to push the limits of what we can do with event technology. And I took this to heart, using this as an opportunity to debut a “new presentation.”

While there has been quite a bit written regarding the pros and cons of this model and how to truly merge two audiences – physical and virtual - for a hybrid experience (see summary below), my intent is to share my personal lessons from ECTC 2011 (in no particular order).

1. Improv Lessons Required in the Future:  No matter how much preparation you have, something can happen, putting you in an uncomfortable position. You have to be flexible enough to accept the situation and move in a new direction. And improv helps with just that – to deftly deal with uncomfortable situations.
2. So Much Content, So Little Time:  Event Camp was like drinking from a hose. There was so much content packed into the two and half days from the event. In the case when the sessions will be recorded (like this event), I will develop a gameplan to attend specific sessions in person and others after the event concludes.
3. Games are Fun But…: One unique aspect of this conference was the game integration throughout the conference. The game was great for tapping into everyone’s desire not to be at the bottom, that personally, I got too focused on the game versus being attentive to some of the sessions. For me, I need to be more cognizant of this to ensure a better balance.
4. Personal Connections Do Matter: So this will be odd to hear from an advocate of “virtual extensions” but I attended ECTC 2011 for the human element. And this furthers my perspective the when virtual is done well, it will entice online audiences to want to attend in person the following year, which leads me to …
5. Build in More Time for Networking: I think the best value of the conference was in the after hours networking events. Due to my flight schedule, I came in late the night before the first day and flew out a few short hours after the event concluded. The more qualitative conversations happened after the event, but I was either too tired or rushed to spend the time on these conversations. In the future, I would try to fly in sooner and leave (if possible) the next day.

Conclusion: Each Experience is Personal

No matter what we think of how an event went, how the technology performed, the event is essentially a personal experience. For me, I attended ECTC 11 with a clear understanding that this was one huge test lab. If things break, awesome. And if they work flawlessly, even better. That, in the end, is why I plan to attend ECTC again.

What do you think? What were your lessons learned? I’m including my presentation slides and the team challenge case study below. Help us by liking it today!

Presentation Slides:

Keeping in the spirit of the conference, Donna Sanford and I decided to creatively present the top questions about virtual in the form of a Connect 4 game. In this instance, we called it Connect 5: The Virtual Edition! My intention was to split the audience – physical in MN, pods, and online attendees – into three different teams with different virtual scenarios. Based on these scenarios, we would connect the dots, make decisions accordingly, and respond to any questions along the way. While there were no winners, the result would be to highlight different types of virtual solutions to these scenarios.

eStories Cat Lovers Case Study: Please Like Us!

Articles about ECTC 2011:

• Response to Blog on On Sponsorship- Initial reflections from ECTC11 and the ensuing
  comments.
• Great Summary of Blogs and other content from ECTC 11
• ECTC11: Experiences of a Remote Attendee
• On-site, Pod, Online: Blending Three Different Experiences into One
• Event Camp Twin Cities: Active Network Q&A
• Commentary: Curing the Hiccups at a Hybrid Meeting
• Dissecting Innovation at Event Camp
• Event Camp Twin Cities 2011: THREE Hybrid Event Innovations Coming to an Event Near You
• On What Went Wrong at the End – More Reflections from ECTC11
• Hybrid event architecture ideas sparked by Event Camp Twin Cities 2011
• Virtually attending EventCamp Twin Cities (#ECTC11)
• Event Camp Twin Cities Decor

I’ve been working to help a client select a platform for his virtual event, and I can’t say it’s been easy. Comparing apples to apples is nearly impossible because each of the vendors responds to RFPs so differently. Most all of them have a “bundle” of services, but of course none of them bundle exactly the same elements. Some include audio Webcasting in the base price for an event, as an example, while others price it separately. One had the cost for video Webcasting included – but only upon asking did I discover I have to film, edit, encode and publish to the content delivery network myself. Which, of course, then makes me wonder if I need to ask that question of the others, as well.

To get as close as I could to a true comparison, I created a sample event and asked the major platform vendors to bid on it. My specs were for a full virtual event with 2,500 attendees, one live day, six months on-demand, 25 booths, 25 breakouts and three keynotes, a networking lounge and resource room.

I received 10 bids, and the prices go from a low of $16,000 to a high of $90,000 – unbelievable differentials that lead to so much more work on my part to try and figure out what, if anything, is missing from the lower bids, or inflated on the higher ones. Is it any wonder people are confused about the cost of producing a virtual event? 

As with much in virtual, I attribute a lot of this to the growing pains of an industry in its infancy. I remember getting similarly divergent bids for building my first magazine Website in the 90s. Standardization will come, and contrary prices will fall in line. In the meantime, however, plan to roll up your sleeves and dig into these bids. Don’t expect your RFP to be answered exactly as you wish. And take the time to totally understand the technology so that when someone tells you you have to “publish to the CDN,” you’ll know what that means.

In my next post, I’ll give you my top ten questions to ask platform vendors during the bidding process.