Events & Online Tools & The Social Web Melvin Yuan on 14 Mar 2007 07:19 pm
Conferences and the Invisible Crowd
Maximising the Value of Conferences and other PR Events… Virtually.
Chris Brogan wrote a very useful piece on “attending conferences without [actually] being there”. But let me explain why this is absolutely vital to PR folks who plan and manage conferences (and other events) as relationship-building measures:
- Yes, people are now “attending conferences without being there”.
- But, short of bugging the venue with video cameras, they can’t do it unless someone makes it possible/easy for them.
- And, knowing this is going to change the way you plan conferences.
Observably:
- The savvy Netizen today will find more ways to be at an event without actually being there (physically).
- Conference participants-cum-bloggers will be a vital part of the equation.
- The long tail effect dictates that worthy information gets carried as far across the globe as it is relevant, and stays alive online… forever.
- In fact, ‘second-degree audiences’ may even get a better deal because in addition to a blow-by-blow account of the conference, they get expert and mass opinion. (Not really, I’d rather be there first-hand!)
- The recent New Communications Forum in Las Vegas and the ongoing SxSW 2007 in Austin, Texas are excellent case studies.
- Content is even more important today. Audiences have greater choice over how much they choose to be engaged – it’s easier (less embarrassing) to close a browser window than to doze off in the middle of an auditorium when a speech is given. And online audiences can definitely gripe about how bad an event seems to be going!
The reason for this:
The Social Web – and Web 2.0 technologies – is increasing our ability to engage a virtual audience along with the real one. And this does a lot for your event ROI.
The possibilities are clear and the trend is apparent – to get more bang for your buck at conferences; you need to engage more participants than just those who can attend physically.
The impetus on PR:
To be truly effective, PR folks and conference organisers should think about the (potential) ‘2.0’ dimension for every PR event or conference – Can you hold a real-time webcast? Can you invite a blogger/s to blog about or create podcasts of the event? Are you making it easier for the audience (who are also bloggers) to report on what’s happening in real-time? Are you reporting it well enough through your own channels?
Here are some questions to ask before developing a conference plan:
The ‘real audience’
- Who am I inviting? Who are my ‘real’ audiences?
- What am I saying to them?
The ‘virtual dimension’
- Who are my ‘virtual’ audiences? Who did/could I not invite, but are reading and hearing about the event on blogs, podcasts and instant messaging, as the conference unfolds?
- What are they talking about?
- How will their presence be felt? How will/can they interact with the crowds?
Bridging the gap between the real conference and the virtual event
- How can we get them connected virtually? Think webcasts, podcasts and virtual tours (a concurrent Second Life version of the event?).
- How can I enrich their experience?
- How can I extend the virtual reach of the conference? Establish the right infrastructure (wireless Internet access); make URLs visible and accessible; make them easy to relay in print and by speech (it should be short and simple to read); make content immediately available and easily accessible.
- How can I get accurate feedback on the event? The feedback from the ‘real audience’ will be easy to collect (and measure) through feedback forms. But you shouldn’t ignore the feedback from the ‘invisible crowd’. This can possibly be more authentic, given that conference participants tend to be easily swayed by inherent biases found in many feedback forms. Some ways to obtain this feedback are by analyzing blog entries, comments and web traffic etc.
Having said all this, while we extol the virtues of pleasing the virtual audience; don’t neglect to give the real audience something special so that they’ll remember the conference fondly. After all, they paid for it and took the trouble to travel down!
on 14 Mar 2007 at 9:22 pm 1.Chris Brogan... said …
I have an add-on to the ideas here. I think another tool PR types could use to make their presence at a conference more valuable is to actively seek out RELEVANT bloggers (relevant to your client, not A list) and give them added perks that other sit-in-the=chair delegates don’t necessarily get. Wouldn’t some time with a room of bloggers be valuable to getting even more connectivity between message and audience?
COURT the bloggers, videobloggers, and others who are broadcasting your conference out to an audience you cant directly touch. And then ask them for links back and forth between the client’s site, or wherever you need the call to action to go.
Swell article! Thanks for your thoughts.
on 14 Mar 2007 at 10:43 pm 2.GregPC said …
I have mixed feelings about the virtual conference experience. I certainly believe that social media and create a rich and valuable virtual experience - and make ideas and content available to people who would not otherwise be exposed to them. But . . .
I was fortunate enough to attend and post on the New Communications Forum in Las Vegas last week. One of the most important elements of the event was what happened between and after the sessions. Until there’s a way to replicate that, the idea of virtual conferences is not quite ready for prime time.
on 15 Mar 2007 at 12:40 am 3.melvinyuan said …
Thanks Chris.
I absolutely agree that it’s important to seek out bloggers that are “relevant” and not simply because they are A-listers (better if both!). At the heart of PR, it’s the person (customer/participant) that matters; not his status in Blogosphere. Thanks for the additional insights.
Greg,
I’m envious! Torn by time and distance on the other side of the world, “virtual” is the closest I got to the conference.
I agree – nothing beats real-life, face-to-face interactions; nothing will for a long time. And virtual conferences won’t be ready for prime time for quite a while.
But until then, all I advocate is that PR folks recognize the importance and impact of the ‘virtual audience’ that they can potentially reach, and that something can be done for them too. Even if we do not elect a proactive strategy, it would be wise to understand the unseen dynamics that exist.
Thanks for dropping by; and I hope to meet (in real life) at the next conference!
on 15 Mar 2007 at 1:40 am 4.GregPC said …
Having spent a very little time in Singapore, I have reason to envy you as well - especially on those days when it’s in the single digits F. . .
on 19 Mar 2007 at 1:19 pm 5.melvinyuan said …
Practical Tip #1:
Rohit Bhargava, in his post on “5 Brilliant Marketing Ideas from SxSW“, has this very practical advice: Use the tag as the tagline.
He observes that at SXSW 2007, “everywhere you look there are signs posted telling you what tag (identifier word or series of words) to use when posting content to social networks, uploading images online, or blogging. The tags add order to the vast amounts of content that are being created as a result of this event.”
on 22 Mar 2007 at 9:01 pm 6.Paddy Tan said …
Virtual will be the next best thing of being there.
When Steve Jobs shown its Apple iPhone live, we on the other end of the planet quickly try to find as much information as possible on the net. Where many others start to post whatever they can gather during/in the event up the net.
And we continue to study all these information and analyze them communicating with others over msn, skype here from Singapore. And by tomorrow morning, some contacts start running their first prototype for the skins and have it ready on the table by afternoon. Within 6 hours of the announcement flat.
The world is definitely flattened.
Paddy
BAK2u.com
on 23 Mar 2007 at 3:05 am 7.Wilson said …
Great post. Another idea for the event organizers: Create a landing page to aggregate all mainstream media and blog coverage of the event. Simple, ease, effective, IMHO.
on 24 Mar 2007 at 2:48 am 8.melvinyuan said …
Thanks Wilson.
And thanks for that idea! I was thinking of exactly the same thing just two nights ago, while at an event where we were blogging and commenting on the activities live!
In fact, at this moment, I’m working on a little experiment that I shall call The Community Press Release. This is for an event that I’m helping put together in Singapore tomorrow (or rather 7 hours away).
Will put up a post on it shortly.
on 31 Mar 2007 at 12:41 pm 9.Jason said …
Nice post, just wanted to add that companies are seeing a greater need to attend conferences and gather contacts instead of just reading blog posts and looking at pictures, they sometimes hire freelancers or someone they know in the country of the exhibition to represent them at exhibitions , this is a growing trend that I see happening as companies want to be more involved in exhibitions.
on 31 Mar 2007 at 4:36 pm 10.Melvin Yuan said …
Thanks Jason.
Yes, I don’t think anything beats the face-to-face, real-world meetings. And just as companies hire freelancers to extend their presence at events, events employ technology and “the crowds” to extend their presences everywhere else.
Thanks for dropping by. Let’s keep in touch.