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Why Maritz and Cornell Missed the Point on Virtual’s Role in Face-to-Face Meetings

What are these organizations thinking?  Maritz and Cornell published ‘The Future of Meetings: The Case for Face-to-Face’ in which they pitted virtual against face-to-face.  OK at least Cornell’s Center for Hospitality Research was likely paid to participate in this study but Maritz really? (Update: VEI will be talking to Maritz's Chris Gaia VP of Marketing soon so follow the thread!)

Granted the study was released back in September of 2010 but…

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Published by Michael Doyle on March 28, 2011 at 10:00am — 9 Comments

Rising Oil Prices to Drive Demand for Digital Event and Meeting Market in More Ways than One

With North Africa in a state of contagious revolutions the impact on the world’s oil supply is at the least bad and possibly much worse. Prices are almost at $100 per barrel again and the oil used to make jet fuel is over $112 already. At a Green Meeting conference this week, airline industry analysts predicted that over 40% of airlines would go out of business by 2015 if…

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Published by Michael Doyle on March 2, 2011 at 3:34pm — 1 Comment

InterCall Buys Unisfair…This Changes Things

We’ve known for some time that InterCall was actively looking for an acquisition of a virtual event platform, correct that, virtual environment platform to add to its Stream57 event streaming and webcasting business which it acquired last year. It’s no surprise that it chose Unisfair as it is a great platform and it’s been rumored that their VCs have been looking for an exit opportunity. Plus, both companies have a great culture with dedicated people who are focused on seeing their…

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Published by Michael Doyle on March 2, 2011 at 3:27pm — 2 Comments

What Does COMDEXvirtual Mean to the Event Industry? I Hope it Takes Years to Find Out!

Most people in the event business knew of or actually participated in a COMDEX trade show. It was the largest IT event in the US with some 200,000+ attendees and about 2,500 exhibitors and it was the meeting place for the computer industry from the world over. Sure, people went to the event to see what was new and to learn in educational sessions but it was really a mecca for business development.



I have to admit, I don’t recall ever attending a… Continue

Published by Michael Doyle on November 8, 2010 at 11:00am — No Comments

Microsoft’s Launch of the IE9 Beta Excites Many in the Virtual Environments Space Though Likely Only One Company Has a Product Ready

Microsoft launched the beta version of Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) which is a new browser that also long as you’re PC is running on Windows 7 or Vista (no XP), you might get excited about. Either way, if you are interested in the future of digital solution for events, meetings, learning and community, you will want to know something about it. I know, if you are using a corporate PC you might have just been given the ok to upgrade to IE 8 but I… Continue

Published by Michael Doyle on September 27, 2010 at 6:30am — 1 Comment

Virtual Events and Virtual Meetings Hit 96% Usage According to Study by CWT Travel Institute

The Meeting & Events: Where Savings Meet Success study surveyed of 2300 event and meeting producers and provides some good basic information for face-to-face as well as virtual events and meetings. They pegged the global meeting and event industry at $650 billion per year with historic growth at 4 to 5 % per year. The market dropped 20 to 30% from 2008 to 2009 in developed economies and 30 to 40% in… Continue

Published by Michael Doyle on August 13, 2010 at 11:00am — No Comments

Virtual Meetings & Events - Think Like a Broadcaster and You’ll Find Success

reprinted with permission from Steve Sulkin's blog. Steve is Founder & CEO of MBM Productions In'tl®

Up until recently, one could argue that for millennia meetings haven’t changed very much. When I see most in-person meetings, what strikes me is that just like in ancient Greece, we walk onto a stage, head for dead center and orate from a lectern. For a long time now, I’ve…

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Published by Michael Doyle on August 4, 2010 at 9:24am — 2 Comments

Tablets to Drive Next Wave of Virtual Engagement

The iPad has kicked it off but the others (see Cisco Cius story) rushing to market with fully functional, user friendly wireless internet tablets will have real impact on the events, meetings, learning and collaboration…just as soon as they hit the market. I spoke at a recent Event Tech meeting and the last note I made was that I felt these new devices would drive a whole new round…

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Published by Michael Doyle on June 30, 2010 at 12:33pm — No Comments

Linden Lab to Back Away from the Enterprise and Focus on Consumer Use of Second Life

Linden Lab, creator of 3D virtual world Second Life, announced today a strategic restructuring to increase focus on the company's consumer business including investments intended to enhance ease of use and participation…

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Published by Michael Doyle on June 9, 2010 at 6:30pm — 1 Comment

‘Perpetual’ Virtual Environments May Unlock Long-Lasting Customer, Employee, Partner Relations & Drive ROI

As we prepare for the next Virtual Edge Summit trade show (both in the physical and virtual world), a powerful idea that has been percolating for a while seems to be coming closer to a reality.



This virtual event and meeting space and now virtual environment sector is converging and getting very interesting. Really, there’s something new happening every day. I get calls about new technologies practically every week, I… Continue

Published by Michael Doyle on February 1, 2010 at 4:30pm — 1 Comment

Forget “Content is King”; You’d Better Start Thinking the “Attendee is King”

Many physical event and meeting producers know how hard it is to get an audience. Virtual events have become an attractive option for those professionals, as they figure if they take the expense and travel out of the equation, it will just be easier to attract an audience.



But virtual event producers have their own challenges when it comes to attracting an audience, and keeping them engaged. And, according to a recent survey, it’s only going to get tougher -- even in a down economy… Continue

Published by Michael Doyle on November 5, 2009 at 6:40pm — 1 Comment

Who is Responsible for Your Virtual Event’s User Experience?

It has been a busy few weeks for virtual events and we have had the luxury to attend a few recently that were overall pretty good but still have some issues that shouldn’t be happening. Remember, just because it is a “virtual” event doesn’t mean it should anything less than a perfect experience for your attendee—in fact, it’s even more important in my opinion. Why? The obvious reason is that people are in front of their computers with the ability to connect to a world of information or their… Continue

Published by Michael Doyle on September 21, 2009 at 3:00pm — No Comments

Forbes in a Funk over Virtual Meetings and Events

The new Forbes Insights document titled Business Meetings, The Case for Face-to-Face poses the question: Can webconferences, videoconferences and other virtual meetings really take the place of face-to-face contact?



The answer is presented somewhat ambiguously in the report as they state "business executives overwhelmingly agree that face-to-face meetings are not just… Continue

Published by Michael Doyle on September 1, 2009 at 2:54pm — No Comments

Taking the Next Step in our Development--the Virtual Edge Institute

At Virtual Edge, were taking the next step with the creation of the Virtual Edge Institute (VEI). VEI will serve as the overriding organization for all of our activities. The Virtual Edge Institute is dedicated to advancing the development and adoption of virtual event and meeting technology and best practices for collaboration and marketing.



So what does that mean? Our mission is to help marketers and event professionals plan and produce successful events and meetings utilizing… Continue

Published by Michael Doyle on August 28, 2009 at 5:57pm — No Comments

Another Compelling Rational for Virtual Events—if Done Right

HOW LONG BEFORE A HOT LEAD GOES COLD?



For most B2B markets, the correct answer is one hour, after which the lead is no longer “hot.” (or it could be what Dennis Shiao calls an “A” lead in his blog The ABCs of Lead Follow Up http://allvirtual.wordpress.com/2009/07/04/the-abcs-of-lead-follow-up-for-virtual-events/). It’s still a lead, but it’s no better than any old lead taken from a list.



Applying a statistical measurement to extract patterns of success and failure, Dr.… Continue

Published by Michael Doyle on July 20, 2009 at 10:45am — No Comments

On the Eve of eComXpo there’s a Story I Just Have to Write—But Not Now

eComXpo starts tomorrow and runs July 8th and 9th and targets the ecommerce and affiliate markets. What is interesting is that this event has been around for years --I think the first one was February 2005 but I could be wrong and I don’t have time to track someone who knows down—but it has been around for a long time in this business and they were producing more than one a year since it started. So what’s interesting about this? Let me share some stats.



The March 2007 eComXpo… Continue

Published by Michael Doyle on July 7, 2009 at 10:00pm — No Comments

Don't Overwhelm Your Attendees

Twice in the last two weeks (which is not exactly a full on trend but…) I have had people say something related to the amount of unwanted emails they are getting after they attend a virtual event. I have to admit, I think there is a certain understanding that if you attend an event for free or you register and don’t opt out of follow up emails from the show or the exhibitors, you should expect to be contacted. Same might even go if you visited a booth and downloaded some materials…I can… Continue

Published by Michael Doyle on June 26, 2009 at 4:14pm — 1 Comment

I’ve Never Heard of So Many People Leaving a Meeting …to Attend the Meeting

I’ve heard four different stories of people who attended Virtual Edge Summit in person and then left to attend virtually. But I also heard two stories of people who were attending virtually and then decided to come in to the live event.



The best story is from one attendee who left the summit to go to the airport for her flight and logged in to the virtual event at the terminal with others that she was traveling with. They were chatting with us live from the airport while in the… Continue

Published by Michael Doyle on June 12, 2009 at 11:30am — No Comments

A Great Byproduct of the Virtual Edge Summit…It’s Called Business

If you missed the first Virtual Edge Summit in May (we’ll be doing another and the date will be announced soon) there has been a constant flow of demos, deals and partnering that has been going on since the event and it is very encouraging and exciting. Today I was talking to a company about one of my pet peeves which is the lack of ability for exhibitors to bring in their own booth properties and environments into virtual event platforms. I really think we have to get to the point where an… Continue

Published by Michael Doyle on June 11, 2009 at 2:44pm — No Comments

The Recession is Going to Be Longer and Deeper--So Get in the Lemonade Business

I was talking to a couple of very successful VCs the other day and one of the things I really wanted to find out was what they thought was in store for the economy over the next few years and they were both downright pessimistic. Companies and governments (excluding the Obama stimulus programs) are still cutting spending and unemployment will continue to grow.



When I asked about the travel and events industry three years from now (the timeframe they gave for a recovery) it was not… Continue

Published by Michael Doyle on June 4, 2009 at 12:25pm — No Comments

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