InXpo - Top Ten FAQ Profile

1. Describe the advantages of different virtual media in an event setting.
2. What is accelerated lead generation?
3. What is the role of virtual world platforms in the virtual event space?
4. What are the advantages of open versus proprietary spaces?
5. How has the economy affected the event industry?
6. Describe conjoined events.
7. How do you envision the future of the virtual event industry?
8. Is the future of the industry limited to virtual events?
9. What some other advantages to the virtual event that maybe underutilized?

10. How can this platform be used to solidify my current client base?

Describe the advantages of different virtual media in an event setting.

Let’s just take a simple case of webcasts versus podcasts. There’s some common sense differences with those media that will have an impact on when you want to choose to use them.

So, for instance, on a webcast you typically have the TechTarget webcasts and the associated PowerPoint slide deck that you would speak to. On something like that, let’s say you have a complex piece of network hardware that fits into a network architecture. You could put up slides with images showing an enterprise’s complex network plumbing, if you will, the architecture, and speak to it in a very high level of detail.

In a podcast, that’s a little less practical if you consider the podcast as being an audio download only. You’re not going to have the benefit of that detailed architectural diagram to speak to. So, we would tell clients if you want to do a deep dive into some product that you’re launching or that you want to generate interest around, the webcast is probably the right choice. Maybe there’s a video option as well where you have somebody on video that can add that additional element. And for a podcast, you might want to go a little bit more high level, maybe get a product manager to speak in general about the benefits of your technology in a prices network, but not go into the fine grain plumbing, if you will.

What is accelerated lead generation?

The typical process was, you reviewed or filtered that list of leads that you get from a publisher or whoever was generating the leads for you. You might send a whole batch of those to telesales to do further nurturing. You might send some off to an email list to nurture and then there may be some percentage of hot leads that you send directly to a sales rep to follow up with. And then you hope that by virtue of those different paths you’re going to get people to answer the phone or agree to a sales meeting, etcetera, ultimately to close some sales.

With the virtual event, all of that process is accelerated because that was all happening directly on that live date of, let’s say, a single day live event. You’re able to get a sales rep in your booth, kind of similar to a physical event, where you could actually interact one-on-one with a sales lead. And what we saw in a lot of our virtual events was the exhibitors were securing sales engagements, meaning I’m going to meet with you, a given sales rep’s going to meet with you next week at this place and time, directly in the virtual event. So, you compare that to conventional lead generation, you’re getting that outcome, that successful outcome immediately.

What is the role of virtual world platforms in the virtual event space?

My view on the virtual world is that it’s the 3D environment where it’s very graphically rich and you’re able to render with 3D, you’re able to render things a lot more effectively than the current 2D based virtual events. I think that’s powerful, and when I say I see the two worlds starting to come together, I think that is the aspect of 3D virtual worlds that will be coming into virtual events, that ability [3D rendering] in a business setting, let’s take technology especially. If there are different sorts of technology hardware, then to complement a white paper, a case study or maybe some photographs of a piece of complex networking hardware, what better way to provide information on that hardware to a sales prospect than a 3D representation of it that you can manipulate. I think that becomes very, very powerful in a way that you couldn’t otherwise do without 3D or without it being physically there in front of you.

What are the advantages of open versus proprietary spaces?

I’m a big believer in standard space. Just look no further than the existing virtual event platforms today, which I believe are 95% Flash based. So, while Flash is a particular vendor’s solution, it’s open. It’s not a standard body behind it, but it’s become standard in the sense that there’s an entire ecosystem around Flash and of producers of Flash. There’s an API, and so it’s kind of become a standard in its own right, and it allows somebody who’s produced a Flash asset to take it and put it onto the InXpo platform or another virtual event platform without having to worry about interoperability. So maybe Flash or some extension of Flash could be an early solution to all this at the 3D level. I do think the proprietary’s not going to be the way to go, because it’s going to limit the amount of the ecosystem, and the customers that might use it will be limited. So, standard space, I think, is the way to go.

How has the economy affected the event industry?

The fact that physical events have been affected by the economic environment has led folks from that event industry to realize that with the decrease in physical events and since what we’re seeing at InXpo is a clear growth on virtual events, that it’s in the best interests of the physical event organizers and producers to start looking at virtual event platforms to partner with. Because those same clients that they’re servicing on physical events, certainly physical event production is not a core competence of the virtual event platforms like InXpo . So, the physical event producers are still going to have clients out there that could be a very interesting business value to those physical event providers to continue servicing their existing account base, but helping to become that expert to get their virtual events planned in the same way that they plan their physical events.

Describe conjoined events.

You had a particular event that TechTarget floored a few times a year and they were very heavily attended. Then, every year that event would repeat and advertisers would sponsor and attendees would come attend. You kind of had a franchise there. So, if you took the name of that franchise and extended it online and promoted it to the same audience of folks who would attend a physical event, and do the planning rights so that you don’t highly cannibalize the physical event, then you have an ability to do that conjoining in a way that benefits everybody.

So, the strategy from the start was, we can create the best virtual conferences by figuring out which are your most successful physical conferences, because you know, the content works, advertisers will sponsor it and users will come attend.

How do you envision the future of the virtual event industry?

The vision on what the future holds, that’s the $10,000 question. If everyone could answer that, we’d all be in a good position. But, from my perspective, on the virtual event specifically, my main vision for them as to how they’re going to evolve is what I mentioned before with the 3D angle. I think there are a lot more visual effects, if you will, that virtual events should be incorporating.

After doing these for a year and a half, it begins to feel like there needs to be a little more oomph or interactivity that introduces the element and excitement of being in a physical environment with a buzz coming from the show floor. I think more of that should be coming into play as well as the tactical 3D representation of objects, because I think that is a huge benefit to exhibitors.

Is the future of the industry limited to virtual events?

I don’t think the growth avenue of a virtual events company is in virtual events, per se because, that’s somewhat of a narrow application that can only go so far as you go out into the future. My belief is that virtual event platforms are not unlike many other software as a service businesses out there, a web based application service provider. A virtual event is one particular application that rides on top of that platform and those who are going to succeed are the ones that have a flexible enough platform that new applications can be developed. So, InXpo and a lot of other platforms do not just the virtual tradeshow, but there’s the virtual job fair, there’s the virtual sales kickoff meeting, there’s the private partner event. Those all look different, but they all ride on the same platform.

What some other advantages to the virtual event that maybe underutilized?

If you’ve invested with a platform provider on that live virtual event that’s going to remain up for 3 months, you’re hoping after the live date you’re still generating some value, some return from the on-demand usage of that platform. So, you’ve already invested some dollar amount to make that live event happen and you’ve built the booths, everything’s all there. Why not light up that environment for another live date at month two and month three? Obviously everything’s already built. That totally takes advantage of the online environment. You would then promote that event to maybe a new audience base that you didn’t promote the first one to. You’ll get a whole fresh set of leads and you’re really able to leverage that fixed cost base very efficiently where you only have to generate a certain amount of additional value to get a good return on that small investment.

How can this platform be used to solidify my current client base?

Something I’ve learned from some of the clients I’ve worked with in the past is that the virtual event platform is very effective on drilling down with your existing customer base. So, it’s not anything to do with generating new leads, but it’s taking that existing customer base and further educating them on product and services that they may not know you even provide.

On top of that, interacting with them to better understand what challenges they face today. Because in technologies, especially, the challenges someone faces when they purchase your product two years ago may be completely irrelevant today. There may be ways your product is not meeting their needs and there may be other products that you have that better meet their needs that can generate more revenue for you.