An Ironic Evolution
Virtual events revive live ones
by Brent Skinner, relationSearch partners
Virtual Events
The concept of the virtual event, long a notion prompting predictions and fears of live events’ demise, has achieved an ironic feat. Far from threatening the vitality and existence of traditional events, virtual events bolstered by social media have strengthened the appeal of in-person professional gatherings across all industries, and will soon be crucial to most brick-and-mortar trade shows.
Integrating the new with the best of the old
The transformation of the live event through virtual elements has come about from the perfection of communications technologies such as streaming video and the emergence of communications channels such as social media. In concert, these factors have given rise to hybrid events. By combining offline and online elements with the multifaceted physical and virtual experience, hybrid events teem with interactivity on many levels.
This evolution is already underway on the most forward-thinking trade show floors, where smart trade show producers blend the best of the new with the best of the old. Virtual technologies, along with complementary social media, will increasingly infiltrate the trade show floor, coexisting peacefully with good, old-fashioned hand-shaking and eye-to-eye contact.
New research backs this prediction. Whether as an attendee, exhibitor, producer or supplier/vendor, over 75 percent of trade show and event insiders plan to attend a virtual trade show in the next 12 months, according to a recent Trade Show News Network (TSNN) and Onstream Media Corporation survey of 800 professionals.
More telling, 75 percent of these same professionals consider a virtual trade show as an add-on or extension to an existing show or physical event. It’s not difficult to infer that the industry is embracing hybrid events as a viable way to enhance, rather than detract from, live events.
The template: TS2 2010
Take TS2, an annual trade show about trade show marketing — and a good place, logically to gauge where the trade show industry is headed. In July, TS2 2010: Total Solutions Marketing for the Exhibit and Event Professional occurred at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center, where over 1,500 attendees enjoyed in-person, tactile opportunities to physically interact with exhibitors and learn about trade show marketing face-to-face.
The show’s traditional aspects were a hit. Yet central to the success of this year’s TS2 was the IN Zone Lounge and Networking Center, an interactive pavilion that debuted live on the show floor to a positive reception. The center embodied hybrid events’ ability to energize and augment traditional trade shows. A creation of The Expo Group (Twitter: @TheExpoGroup), the IN Zone supported, facilitated and encouraged an array of new media–related activities. For instance, impromptu tweet-ups drew together offline attendees and online observers of TS2 to the IN Zone’s comfortable lounge to share their latest thinking on all things trade show–marketing related; conversations revolved around the ability of social media and virtual events to augment the live event experience for all.
Adjacent to these gatherings, professional trade show presenter and virtual event host Emilie Barta (@EmilieBarta) conducted a series of candid, talk show–style interviews with several industry thought leaders. Passersby on the trade show floor could view and hear these interviews by line-of-site or on a large plasma video screen, and a virtual audience watched streaming video online.
Further promoting interaction between and among in-person, virtual attendees and TS2 itself were representatives from 3D Media Group who roamed the trade show floor to shoot short video spots on attendees’ thoughts regarding TS2. Later, they posted the videos online for all to see. Additionally, virtual attendees were encouraged to go viral by submitting a video for a TS2-associated contest.
The social media ‘glue’
The success of hybrid events relies on crucial social media tools, along with a strategy to employ them. Even a live event bereft of any hybrid qualities becomes better when the show’s producers embrace social media. Why? Social media adds another dimension to interactivity among in-person attendees and online participants.
A parallel scene unfolds alongside the event as social media channels enhance everyone’s experience. People bristle with chatter relevant to the event and of interest to anyone attending physically or virtually. This chatter instantly provides the event’s producers with real-time feedback and a long tail of organic visibility online.
TS2‘s use of Twitter offers an example of the possibilities. In using Twitter effectively, TS2 established and cultivated a presence there (@ts2show) long before the live event. Additionally, showing how hashtags can enhance the brand and increase visibility on Twitter, TS2 created one branded for the show (#ts2show), and included other industry-relevant hashtags in as many tweets as possible. Examples of these hashtags are#eventprofs, the shared hashtag for a group of trade show industry thought leaders who maintain a highly active conversation on Twitter, and #tradeshow, which acts as a trade show indicator for anyone on Twitter searching for trade show information.
These tactics combined social media search optimization with brand-building efforts and set the stage for optimizing TS2‘s social media at the event. In the weeks preceding the show and during the live event, TS2 encouraged attendees and participants to add #ts2show in every tweet pertaining to TS2. The IN Zone held its own outreach by asking attendees to include #InZone in every tweet. As an additional incentive for everyone to do so, the IN Zone posted all tweets incorporating these hashtags on its large plasma video screen, for all to see. This setup allowed Twitter observers to easily follow the hashtags and conversation.
Rounding out its social media presence, TS2 carved a presence on other common social media outposts during the many months leading to the event. For instance, TS2 used Facebook and LinkedIn to announce contests related to the event and to foster an online conversation on issues affecting the trade show industry. These two channels, along with Twitter and others, promise to fuel TS2‘s drive to encourage a continual sense of community and render an annual gathering where stakeholders can meet and share, face-to-face, the ideas they contribute year-round.
It takes a virtual village to revive in-person events
Hybrid events and the technologies that facilitate, complement and augment them have rescued live events from self-inflicted inertia and stagnation. These new amalgams of in-person and virtual interaction have expanded live events’ shelf life to provide a meaningful experience to attendees, exhibitors and other stakeholders “24-7-365.” Furthermore, they transform the live event itself into a pilgrimage, where everything observed through the multifaceted, year-round experience culminates annually. Smart producers of live events are embracing virtual and hybrid events, along with the technologies that support and enhance them.
Editor’s note: relationSearch partners, Skinner’s company, helped TS2 develop its social media plan.
About the author
Brent Skinner is CEO of relationSearch partners, a company that focuses on helping clients find and be found by target audiences with whom they may forge relationships. Whether the need is to form strategic partnerships, tap social media, improve organic search engine optimization or combine all these and more, relationSearch partners develop programs that feed the lead pipeline and drive sales. Visit http://www.relationsearchpartners.com/, follow Brent on Twitter @RSpartners or email bskinner@relationSearchpartners.com.
A white paper that distills the many findings of the recent survey by TSNN and Onstream Media Corporation, Virtual Trade Show Report: Insights & Trends from Industry Insiders, is scheduled to be available this fall. Visit www.TSNN.com for more information.
Great post. Very relevant for brands that actually acknowledge they need a web/tech strategy. It’s interesting how many people don’t recognize when their sales process has reached it’s capacity, and by adding technology.
…continued comment:
… by adding technology they can grow sales while lowering costs.
Anyways, keep the great posts, coming.
Thanks!
Monty
Monty, thank you very much for the insightful comment. I can tell, by having been there, that TS2 is very much a walking, talking example of what you say.