Virtual Conferences Catching On Among Advisers--The Financial Industry Sees Them as Cheaper, More Convenient
Virtual conferences seem to be catching on among advisers in the financial industry.
According to Davis Janowski, a writer with Investment News, virtual worlds such as SimCity and Second Life have long provided an outlet for socializing, traveling and shopping without actually being there. But now, things are changing.
“Now virtual conferences are catching on in the financial industry as a cheaper and more convenient alternative to the real thing,” Janowski writes. “Picture a computer-generated three-dimensional convention center with a younger and more attractive version of yourself trolling the rows of booths. Stop by a booth for a chat in real time with a company representative and quickly download brochures and white papers right to your computer. Move on to presentations by industry luminaries and panel discussions without having to fight the crowd. Hand out virtual business cards in a networking lounge.”
Janowski said all this is now possible with increasingly sophisticated technology from Linden Lab, the creator of Second Life, which has developed an application called Second Life Enterprise just for business use.
In November, Linden Lab announced it launched an open Beta program for its behind-the-firewall product, Second Life Enterprise. In addition to revealing features, pricing, expected availability and several open Beta customers, the company is also announcing plans to launch a marketplace for enterprise applications and virtual goods. The Second Life Work Marketplace, to be launched in Q1 2010, will enable customers to further customize their virtual world environments while also creating additional revenue streams for the company and its Solution Providers.
Adding Second Life Enterprise and the Work Marketplace to its existing work offerings will enable Linden Lab to service an even broader range of organizations with virtual world solutions that enhance real life operations.
Fourteen organizations are participating in the Beta program for Second Life Enterprise. This list includes: IBM, Northrop Grumman, Naval Undersea Warfare Center, DefenseWeb Technologies, Case Western Reserve University, The New Media Consortium, among others.
According to a Linden Lab press release, Second Life Enterprise enables these organizations to maximize the investments they’ve made in Second Life by moving some or all of their virtual operations and content behind their firewalls.
“Combining the benefits of working in Second Life, such as enhanced collaboration and advanced prototyping, with enhanced security features and centralized administration will open new doors for simulation, training, collaboration, innovation and product design,” the release noted.
According to Francoise Legoues, vice-president of innovation initiatives at IBM, the Second Life Enterprise version offers a great combination of collaboration, content creation and communications tools and resources.
"We were one of the early adopters of the Second Life platform, and having that technology behind the firewall gives us the opportunity to expand our use of the platform enterprise-wide,” Legoues said.
While most advisers and financial services firms (which do not have the costly hardware) will not be experiencing such elaborate scenarios anytime soon, Janowski reported, there are positive signs ahead.
Janowski quotes Erica Driver, an analyst with the information technology industry research firm ThinkBalm. “Change is coming as powerful PCs are getting more affordable,” Driver told Janowski. “To have a good experience, [virtual-conference] attendees need to have higher-end PCs with good graphics capabilities. You can't have both right now, but we will see them coming together over time.”
Of course many vendors prefer virtual conferences over live events because of the substantial financial savings.
Now the trend, Janowski says, has extended to investors and financial advisors such as Matt Schifrin, vice-president and investments editor at Forbes Media LLC. Schilfrin’s company used to set up booths at investor conferences but never achieved the desired return.
“Forbes organized its first virtual conferences in 2008,” writes Janowski, “and more than 13,000 investors attended. “It has since held four others, two more for retail investors and two for financial advisors. The investor conferences averaged 4,000 participants and the advisor conferences averaged about 2,000.”
Schifrin said this about the conferences: “We’ve gotten some expertise on these. It’s like 98% of the folks say they love it.”
According to Davis Janowski, a writer with Investment News, virtual worlds such as SimCity and Second Life have long provided an outlet for socializing, traveling and shopping without actually being there. But now, things are changing.
“Now virtual conferences are catching on in the financial industry as a cheaper and more convenient alternative to the real thing,” Janowski writes. “Picture a computer-generated three-dimensional convention center with a younger and more attractive version of yourself trolling the rows of booths. Stop by a booth for a chat in real time with a company representative and quickly download brochures and white papers right to your computer. Move on to presentations by industry luminaries and panel discussions without having to fight the crowd. Hand out virtual business cards in a networking lounge.”
Janowski said all this is now possible with increasingly sophisticated technology from Linden Lab, the creator of Second Life, which has developed an application called Second Life Enterprise just for business use.
In November, Linden Lab announced it launched an open Beta program for its behind-the-firewall product, Second Life Enterprise. In addition to revealing features, pricing, expected availability and several open Beta customers, the company is also announcing plans to launch a marketplace for enterprise applications and virtual goods. The Second Life Work Marketplace, to be launched in Q1 2010, will enable customers to further customize their virtual world environments while also creating additional revenue streams for the company and its Solution Providers.
Adding Second Life Enterprise and the Work Marketplace to its existing work offerings will enable Linden Lab to service an even broader range of organizations with virtual world solutions that enhance real life operations.
Fourteen organizations are participating in the Beta program for Second Life Enterprise. This list includes: IBM, Northrop Grumman, Naval Undersea Warfare Center, DefenseWeb Technologies, Case Western Reserve University, The New Media Consortium, among others.
According to a Linden Lab press release, Second Life Enterprise enables these organizations to maximize the investments they’ve made in Second Life by moving some or all of their virtual operations and content behind their firewalls.
“Combining the benefits of working in Second Life, such as enhanced collaboration and advanced prototyping, with enhanced security features and centralized administration will open new doors for simulation, training, collaboration, innovation and product design,” the release noted.
According to Francoise Legoues, vice-president of innovation initiatives at IBM, the Second Life Enterprise version offers a great combination of collaboration, content creation and communications tools and resources.
"We were one of the early adopters of the Second Life platform, and having that technology behind the firewall gives us the opportunity to expand our use of the platform enterprise-wide,” Legoues said.
While most advisers and financial services firms (which do not have the costly hardware) will not be experiencing such elaborate scenarios anytime soon, Janowski reported, there are positive signs ahead.
Janowski quotes Erica Driver, an analyst with the information technology industry research firm ThinkBalm. “Change is coming as powerful PCs are getting more affordable,” Driver told Janowski. “To have a good experience, [virtual-conference] attendees need to have higher-end PCs with good graphics capabilities. You can't have both right now, but we will see them coming together over time.”
Of course many vendors prefer virtual conferences over live events because of the substantial financial savings.
Now the trend, Janowski says, has extended to investors and financial advisors such as Matt Schifrin, vice-president and investments editor at Forbes Media LLC. Schilfrin’s company used to set up booths at investor conferences but never achieved the desired return.
“Forbes organized its first virtual conferences in 2008,” writes Janowski, “and more than 13,000 investors attended. “It has since held four others, two more for retail investors and two for financial advisors. The investor conferences averaged 4,000 participants and the advisor conferences averaged about 2,000.”
Schifrin said this about the conferences: “We’ve gotten some expertise on these. It’s like 98% of the folks say they love it.”
Tags: financial industry, linden lab, second life enterprise
Replies to This Item
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Permalink Reply by Aamy Walker on -
Great information about the conference. I had participated in Cloudslam09 event which is 1st annual conference on Cloud Computing and its innovations. That was my first experience in participating a conference. I came to know about the conference through http://cloudslam09.com.
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