vConferenceOnline Takes a Different Approach to Virtual Events and Breaks Some Rules While Forging New Ground
vConferenceOnline’s Stephen Wynkoop, Founder and CEO, and Katherine Elliott, Virtual Event Designer recently spoke with Virtual Edge about their virtual events and virtual meeting platform. vConferenceOnline.com is a virtual event platform developed by the parent company, Bits on the Wire, which is an online content development and production company.
Though the technology was developed by the production company, Stephen had also started another company over 12 years ago called the SQL Server Worldwide Users Group or SSWUG.ORG. SSWUG.ORG has various web sites, newsletters and events covering topics related to SQL Server, .Net, SharePoint, and others that really drove their interest and understanding of virtual events.
SSWUG.ORG had been producing online events for year but wasn’t completely happy with the quality and attendee experience. They wanted to get more control over the user experience, so almost two years ago, they created their own platform and began to use it to run the SSWUG.ORG events. It wasn’t until after several of those events were run on the platform that they formed a separate team to bring the platform and related services to the market as vConferenceOnline.com.
“We’re able to do the virtual events of any sort, from an all-out tradeshow with the exhibitor hall, multiple tracks, multiple days, to a half day seminar, said Wynkoop. “It scales up or down depending on the needs of the event producer. Our SSWUG.ORG events feature more than 75 technical sessions and a full exhibitor hall, for example.”
“One of the big things that we offer and really focus on is video—high quality video, because that is what we have found really gets people excited in virtual events.” vConferenceOnline.com started with their own event experience and built the technology but also planned from the start to build out a full studio to film their session video in. “We always encourage clients to come in and use the studio because it’s like walking into a TV studio with multi angle cameras, HD video and different backgrounds and sets. Presenters can use a white board, slides, their computer to demo something, all of that. But, at the same time, you’re always seeing the speaker and not a separate window…it’s all together like a live event,” noted Elliott.
The pricing model for vConferenceOnline varies based on use. Variables include: how many attendees are coming to an event? How many different speakers? Who is going to record and produce the videos? Will it be on-demand afterwards? Will the content be needed again at a future date? “Beyond the variable issues, things like registration and landing pages are included in the price. Bandwidth for the actual event, regardless of how many times it’s going to be broadcast, is included. We talk about that up front. There aren’t nickel and dime charges for for extra options. After we get the scope, we make it one price,” noted Wynkoop.
vConferenceOnline.com is open to many models of working with clients, from turnkey to entirely hands-off. The platform also allows each event to be completely customized and branded by the client or client’s agency. In addition to the corporate business, they’ll also partner and in some cases do joint ventures with associations, media companies, and physical event producers, sharing in the costs and event production steps.
Whether it is prerecorded or streamed live, the platform is integrated with social media tools like Twitter and Facebook as well as the platform’s own chat/video chat tool. One of the advantages of having content pre-recorded is that discussions can happen much more smoothly between the speaker or instructor and the audience. It is sometimes more interactive when the content is prerecorded and allows the speaker to focus on the interaction with attendees.
For exhibitor booths, vConferenceOnline films videos for every exhibitor. “They do demos, a company overview or a walk-on to be part of the event. Then there’s live chat and, of course, they can open or download PDFs and things like that. But the video is a big part since it’s such an effective demonstration tool,” said Wynkoop. For broadcasting and distribution of the event, they use Akamai which has a global network of edge servers that can scale to handle any bandwidth requirements, making event size a non-issue.
In addition to providing a video-intensive event, vConferenceOnline.com says the biggest thing to bring in and keep attendees is, you guessed it, content. “Content is still king and it needs to be engaging. You need the feeling that you’re going to walk away learning something,” said Elliott. “I think the interaction and having things going on during the conference, whether that’s a giveaway, whether its things going on in the chats, just make it as engaging as possible.”
“We had a conference in April, and 25% of people said they made new business contacts new at the event. There is a lot of interaction and we encourage it in many different ways,” said Wynkoop. “We offer our own chat function as well as full integration with Twitter for example. What is interesting is that the people who use one (chat or Twitter) don’t typically use the other. So a third of our attendees use chat and about the same amount use twitter but there is very little overlap.” Connecting with those audiences in a simple and easy to view way, and having your presenters and other experts available during the event is key to making the event a success for your attendees.
vConferenceOnline is moving quickly to provide a full, almost interactive TV-like experience for attendees. By returning to the mantra of “content is king” and providing a full-video environment for both attendees and exhibitors, the virtual event is something that can pay real-world dividends.
Though the technology was developed by the production company, Stephen had also started another company over 12 years ago called the SQL Server Worldwide Users Group or SSWUG.ORG. SSWUG.ORG has various web sites, newsletters and events covering topics related to SQL Server, .Net, SharePoint, and others that really drove their interest and understanding of virtual events.
SSWUG.ORG had been producing online events for year but wasn’t completely happy with the quality and attendee experience. They wanted to get more control over the user experience, so almost two years ago, they created their own platform and began to use it to run the SSWUG.ORG events. It wasn’t until after several of those events were run on the platform that they formed a separate team to bring the platform and related services to the market as vConferenceOnline.com.
“We’re able to do the virtual events of any sort, from an all-out tradeshow with the exhibitor hall, multiple tracks, multiple days, to a half day seminar, said Wynkoop. “It scales up or down depending on the needs of the event producer. Our SSWUG.ORG events feature more than 75 technical sessions and a full exhibitor hall, for example.”
“One of the big things that we offer and really focus on is video—high quality video, because that is what we have found really gets people excited in virtual events.” vConferenceOnline.com started with their own event experience and built the technology but also planned from the start to build out a full studio to film their session video in. “We always encourage clients to come in and use the studio because it’s like walking into a TV studio with multi angle cameras, HD video and different backgrounds and sets. Presenters can use a white board, slides, their computer to demo something, all of that. But, at the same time, you’re always seeing the speaker and not a separate window…it’s all together like a live event,” noted Elliott.
The pricing model for vConferenceOnline varies based on use. Variables include: how many attendees are coming to an event? How many different speakers? Who is going to record and produce the videos? Will it be on-demand afterwards? Will the content be needed again at a future date? “Beyond the variable issues, things like registration and landing pages are included in the price. Bandwidth for the actual event, regardless of how many times it’s going to be broadcast, is included. We talk about that up front. There aren’t nickel and dime charges for for extra options. After we get the scope, we make it one price,” noted Wynkoop.
vConferenceOnline.com is open to many models of working with clients, from turnkey to entirely hands-off. The platform also allows each event to be completely customized and branded by the client or client’s agency. In addition to the corporate business, they’ll also partner and in some cases do joint ventures with associations, media companies, and physical event producers, sharing in the costs and event production steps.
Whether it is prerecorded or streamed live, the platform is integrated with social media tools like Twitter and Facebook as well as the platform’s own chat/video chat tool. One of the advantages of having content pre-recorded is that discussions can happen much more smoothly between the speaker or instructor and the audience. It is sometimes more interactive when the content is prerecorded and allows the speaker to focus on the interaction with attendees.
For exhibitor booths, vConferenceOnline films videos for every exhibitor. “They do demos, a company overview or a walk-on to be part of the event. Then there’s live chat and, of course, they can open or download PDFs and things like that. But the video is a big part since it’s such an effective demonstration tool,” said Wynkoop. For broadcasting and distribution of the event, they use Akamai which has a global network of edge servers that can scale to handle any bandwidth requirements, making event size a non-issue.
In addition to providing a video-intensive event, vConferenceOnline.com says the biggest thing to bring in and keep attendees is, you guessed it, content. “Content is still king and it needs to be engaging. You need the feeling that you’re going to walk away learning something,” said Elliott. “I think the interaction and having things going on during the conference, whether that’s a giveaway, whether its things going on in the chats, just make it as engaging as possible.”
“We had a conference in April, and 25% of people said they made new business contacts new at the event. There is a lot of interaction and we encourage it in many different ways,” said Wynkoop. “We offer our own chat function as well as full integration with Twitter for example. What is interesting is that the people who use one (chat or Twitter) don’t typically use the other. So a third of our attendees use chat and about the same amount use twitter but there is very little overlap.” Connecting with those audiences in a simple and easy to view way, and having your presenters and other experts available during the event is key to making the event a success for your attendees.
vConferenceOnline is moving quickly to provide a full, almost interactive TV-like experience for attendees. By returning to the mantra of “content is king” and providing a full-video environment for both attendees and exhibitors, the virtual event is something that can pay real-world dividends.
Tags: katherine elliott, stephen wynkoop, vconferenceonline.com, virtual event platform, virtual meeting platform
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