Virtual Events – the Wave of the Future?

I just finished attending a virtual online conference through B2B titled The Leading Edge; .

The benefits of being able to attend the conference from my desk were great, I was able to answer emails continue working in-between session breaks and download content immediately from the presentations. The keynotes were clear and came through with video and overall I thought were well done. VP of Marketing at LinkedIn, Patrick Crane had an interesting keynote around how LinkedIn is leveraging social media for lead gen. There were some features that I wasn’t aware of and he was engaging in his presentation.

While I was thrilled to be able to attend the conference without jumping on a plane, I was left with a very empty taste in my mouth from the content and the preparation that the event vendors put into their presentations. The sessions that I attended were dry and leaned heavily towards sales pitches of their products, rather than establishing thought leadership or new ideas around marketing and lead gen. Most of the sessions sounded like they were pre-recorded and were delivered in a monotone voice. Needless to say I left more than one session early because I was bored. This was very disappointing, particularly for an industry that prides itself on being able to “connect” with the audience to win sales and loyalty.

While online events like this have huge potential, the risk of losing your audience is much greater than in a live event. It takes greater effort for someone to get up and walk out during a presentation in person, but online within 2 seconds you can be clicked out and onto a new site, never to return again. Companies who are considering exhibiting or presenting at online events need to take their presentations to the next level. What is really going to engage the audience and keep them from closing the window and are their speakers really prepared to be engaging through video or even just audio. Unfortunately, other than Patrick Crane from LinkedIn this morning all the presenters at B2B Leading Edge missed their opportunity to engage me, now only a few hours later I don’t remember any of the other presenters companies, let alone their names. It’s a good day for LinkedIn, not so good for the rest of the bunch.