In the early days of virtual events (i.e. a few years ago), we used to say that users could attend a virtual event “from anywhere.” Of course, that wasn’t entirely true, as “anywhere” usually meant at a location with “fixed” (vs. roaming) Internet connectivity and “chained” to a desktop orRead More →
Now that you’ve settled on the title, topic and date of your virtual event, it’s time to rally the sales team to go out and sell sponsorships. We provide six tips on how to approach the selling process. 1. Target wisely. As with any sales effort, categorize your accounts basedRead More →
The following is an excerpt from a new book, Generate Sales Leads With Virtual Events. I can vividly recall my first experience exhibiting at a trade show. It was the early 1990’s and I was fresh out of college. I worked for a company that sold Internet connections to corporations. Read More →
I work with a number of clients who exhibit at a virtual trade show for the first time. They find that once they complete their first virtual trade show, that each successive show is simpler. However, for the very first one, they’re often in need of some guidance. Here’s ourRead More →
My local farmers market had a “Vote 4 Your Favorite Booth” contest. While the contest was active, I noticed that the fruit vendors were much more engaging and the amount of free samples increased dramatically. The fruit stands had become more customer-friendly as a result of the competition. This wasRead More →
How do you keep up with industry trends? You hear from the people setting the trends. On September 24th, FountainBlue held its annual virtual worlds conference on Cisco’s campus in Milpitas, CA. The event featured a session titled “Trends in the Virtual Worlds Industry: An Update on What’s New andRead More →
How do you keep up with industry trends? You hear from the people setting the trends. On September 24th, FountainBlue held its annual virtual worlds conference on Cisco’s campus in Milpitas, CA. The event featured a session titled “Trends in the Virtual Worlds Industry: An Update on What’s New andRead More →
International Freelancers Day is “the biggest ever (FREE) online conference exclusively for solo professionals.” Want to know how to effectively generate virtual event registrations? Follow this event’s lead. They make it easy for you to sign up. And once you do, they provide you with compelling value well before youRead More →
Some event planners just know that they want to produce a virtual event. Others take a circuitous route to a virtual event, considering other options first. For those of you “on the fence” – you’re interested in virtual, but not sure if a virtual event makes sense right now, readRead More →
One year ago (nearly to this day), Cisco Systems announced the cancellation of their annual “Global Sales Meeting” – in a statement, Cisco CEO John Chambers was quoted: In almost all instances for business critical activities, we will be utilizing Web 2.0 collaboration technologies, such as TelePresence and WebEx, toRead More →
Back in August, I jumped the gun a bit and wrote a “year in review” posting about virtual events. Now that we’re in December, I think it’s high time to peer into the Magic 8 Ball and speculate on what’s in store for the virtual events industry in 2010. AwayRead More →
Philosopher and essayist George Santayana was quoted as saying: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” With virtual events, the “past” is fairly recent. However, the spirit of Santayana’s quote holds true – we need to learn from our prior virtual event in order to makeRead More →
In Virtual Events Year In Review: 2009, I summarized key trends that I witnessed in the virtual events industry this year. The trends for 2009 included global adoption, emergence of new industries (as virtual event show hosts), emergence of hybrid (virtual/physical) events, the shift to ongoing communities and the shiftRead More →
Coming into this year, I considered 2009 a taking-off point for the virtual events industry. Sure, virtual events and virtual tradeshows have been around for some time, but I felt 2009 would see enormous growth (in both event volume and in the breadth of industries entering the mix), as virtualRead More →