In the digital era, there has been increasing interest about online events. So why are marketers still tentative about taking the plunge and going digital with their event execution? Personally, I think virtual events are a great way to maximise audience reach and provide valuable delegate intelligence through advanced tracking tools and interaction monitoring. The question of expense always seems to be prevalent when considering virtual events, and the tentativeness is perhaps heightened by the lack of industry-wide research around virtual events, which tends to see marketing event planners sticking to the physical events that they know and love.
In 2011, I will be encouraging marketing event planners to consider hybrid events – encompassing the valuable face-to-face interaction of physical events whilst also taking advantage of the intelligence achievable with a virtual event. Online or offline…..I choose both!
