Comments on: Virtual Conferences: Wave of the Future?

By: Serge Lescouarnec

Serge Lescouarnec — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 14:37:54 +0000

To add to the conversation I offered my take on and online conferences in general in Get Your Heads Together, 'Head' Online Conference, October 24-26 I put it in the context of my Consumed to Thrifty thread in this wobbly economy. Take care Serge 'The French Guy from New Jersey'

By: Michael Montgomery

Michael Montgomery — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 16:57:26 +0000

Never heard of vConferenceOnline.

Sounds like they’re copying the format of the conference (formerly Singularity)
http://www.headconference.com/

By: Cece Salomon-Lee

Cece Salomon-Lee — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 20:40:49 +0000

My company, ON24, does do webcasts and virtual events for companies. There are two key reasons that people attend conferences – networking and information.

Keeping this in mind, we did incorporate professional networking features to search for people, engage in one-on-one chats and for discussions.

In the end, we believe that an online conference helps to augment the in-person experience. If you missed a keynote or met someone but lost their business card, the virtual show helps you with this.

By: Dave C

Dave C — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 19:15:52 +0000

I agree with the previous postings that conferences are often as much about connecting with other people informally as they are about content or presentations.

One area a virtual conference might be able to help with the “connecting” aspect would be to help attendees connect with others with similar interests for ad-hoc discussions or private meeting rooms.

That could actually be an advantage over a physical conference if it could be pulled off effectively.

By: Mike Bryant

Mike Bryant — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 19:08:15 +0000

In the education world, VirtCons have been growing significantly over the last 2-3 years. The trimming of school budgets have driven this, when the options are virtcon or no conference at all, the virtcon wins. What I have personally found successful is a VirtCon/Face-to-face format. Major Keynotes provided virtually, break-outs held locally. Discovery Education held conference in February with around 5,000 attendees, at over 50 locations across the country and in attendance virtually. The second one is scheduled for October 25.

By: Enrique

Enrique — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 18:35:19 +0000

Virtual meetings, yes. Everyone knows each other and they could even be more productive. But virtual conferences… what about workshops or gala dinners? :)

By: Dave

Dave — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 18:17:33 +0000

I would not attend virtual conferences. Conferences are about making contacts and networking. It is difficult to do this in a web conference. Also say your supervisor pays the big bucks to get you into the web conference and you get the pleasure of attending while answering the phone and continuing normal work responsibilities since you are at your desk. Even though I hate going to conferences, I hate virtual conferences more.