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 virtual event technologies. Because we are at the very early stages of this industry, it means that our focus, though very targeted, will be quite broad. There are marketers and event producers that are at every level of adoption—from denial (yes, there are still people out there that want to avoid virtual event elements) to enthusiastic adopters that are pushing the limits of the technology and creating the next practices.
The Institute serves all of these constituencies by supporting research, education, thought leadership, professional networking and participating in the promotion of the industry and its solutions. We cover all virtual event and meeting technologies from 3D immersive environments to 2D platforms, webcasting, conferencing and social media tools.
Members have access to various services and deliverables based on their membership level. All members also have the opportunity to participate and contribute in the organization’s promotional and educational activities.
Our ultimate goal is not only to help people plan and produce events that meet business objectives but to create evangelists out of virtual event attendees. We want attendees to rave about our members meetings and want more.
We’re going to achieve this by being focused on developing and promoting: Why is the Virtual Edge Marketing Needed?
Virtual events and meetings have been on a high-growth trajectory. Hundreds of new events have been launched and thousands of companies have participated. While the fundamentals underlying the market demand for virtual events and meetings are sound, the impact of short-term economic realities must be acknowledged but longer-term market development must be supported.
By joining forces and working together as a community, virtual events and meetings technology and services companies in conjunction with event and meeting producers, will be well positioned as virtual elements become core marketing and collaboration tools.
