Conference Sessions: Going Online to Stay Alive

To keep their events in the front of attendees' minds, some organizers are putting their shows' educational content online.

At first glance, that might seem not just counterintuitive, but self-destructive. Certainly, some show managers still fear that offering educational information on the Internet may steer audiences away from conferences at tradeshows. But many others believe the Web offers advantages in delivering educational content that can entice attendees into coming to the exhibition.

Because a primary attraction of in-person events is personal contact, some show organizers are attempting to have it both ways: offering online education to those who want it, along with either a virtual or traditional exhibition. It's as if show organizers are beginning to consider attendees in two separate groups: one with a desire to walk the showfloor, and the other with a desire to learn something — in any format.

That's how Jason Chudnofsky, president and CEO of pulvermedia, sees the present situation. In fact, he believes the audiences for the showfloor and the conference are often different anyway.

"A high percentage of conference attendees never get to the showfloor, and techies don't go to the conference sessions; they're on the showfloor," said Chudnofsky, whose company produces the voice over net, or VON, series of events, heavily laden with technical conferences. Pulvermedia also offers extensive educational content in a variety of formats on its Web site.

According to Chudnofsky, however, there is less and less synergy all the time between events' conferences and their tradeshows. In his view, conferences used to represent the future, while tradeshows displayed currently available products and information. Today, speakers don't relate to the future; they're there to self-promote — which is why they really should be exhibitors instead, he added.

Chudnofsky said salespeople are becoming more ubiquitous on the showfloor, something attendees have come to accept, but they don't want to see them in the conference sessions too. Nevertheless, the fact that, as he asserts, conference content in general may be in decline while online conference content may be improving, isn't necessarily the show manager's fault.

"There are attendees who just don't want to interface and prefer to go online," Chudnofsky said, "but if I want to hear a debate at a plenary session, I can't get that online."

He also cautioned that if information available at a conference was available elsewhere (i.e., the Internet), the conference would likely be a flop.

Not everyone shares his opinions.

Online conference programs offer many advantages, and a big one is increased participation, according to Debbie McGrath, chief instigator (that's what it says on her business card) at HR.com, which produces face-to-face and virtual events, as well as 300 webcasts a year for the human resources sector.

McGrath said a panel discussion that might only be viewed in person by a few hundred people can be opened up for comment online to many more, thus increasing participation and the range of opinions presented. Virtual conference sessions are an excellent way for attendees to learn, she added, and can either supplement or completely supplant face-to-face educational sessions.

Patti Shock, professor and director of distance learning at Harrah College of Hotel Administration at the University of Nevada Las Vegas, has taught online for more than five years. Using the classroom as a hypothetical situation to prove a point about a showfloor, Shock said she had more interaction with online students than she ever had with students in person.

"We have many international students," she added, "and most are too shy to ask questions in a class of 60 students, but they will ask the questions online."

That same dynamic can apply to online webinars and virtual panel discussions. In online education in general, participation seems less intimidating to some observers.

"You can get the panel discussion experience better online, because you can get everybody involved," McGrath said. She doesn't like live panels, finding they're never deep or specific enough, and prefers the online variety, which throw the discussion open to a wider range of opinion.

"Online events have really hit their stride in the last year," she added. "They can be very personalized experiences."

The other more obvious advantage of virtual conferences is that they don't present the financial challenges of travel, time away from the office and housing that in-person events do.

HR.com is launching the online VIEW on HR Trends and Best Practices — a Virtual HR World Dec. 12–13 with online presentations, more than 100 virtual booths, online chats and product demonstrations.

McGrath expected to attract about 1,500 attendees, but it's already gotten close to 2,000 registrants with only word-of-mouth marketing so far. McGrath contrasted that with an expenditure of an average $1,000 for her in-person events to attract attendees, using brochures, telemarketing and other forms of promotion.

Shock said traditional tradeshow organizers still pull plenty of weight, but they need to be aware of the all-important relevance factor. Some, she said, ignore the impact of technology on their meetings and events — at their peril.

She sees technology as potentially both friend and foe. Convention and tradeshow managers who hide their heads in the sand and hope new technology will go away will be the losers. It is important to find ways to incorporate social media into meetings instead of avoiding it, Shock said.

As an example, she pointed to a group she's involved in that combines the world of virtual engagement with an invitation-only, face-to-face event.

"Once you accept the invitation to attend the annual meeting, you are allowed to join the listserv," Shock explained. "We discuss what we are going to be doing at the meeting and start building a rapport before we ever meet face to face. It makes it very comfortable to arrive at a meeting and know some of the people personally and others virtually.

"There is no ice to break; it has already been broken. During the meeting, we communicate with those who attended in previous years, but could not make it (in person) this year for whatever reason. Then we follow up on the meeting and keep in contact throughout the year via the list."

There are many forms of social media that show managers can incorporate into their conferences, Shock added. Something basic, like a Facebook-type interface, gives each attendee a home page with photos and information. Second Life, an Internet-based virtual world where people can interact via avatars, is another online environment in which a conference can be held.

Even with the bells and whistles, she cautioned that it's important not to get too far ahead of the rank-and-file membership of a community: Organizations and cultures adopt new technology at different speeds.

Shock recalled an Intl. Assn. for Exhibitions and Events meetings little more than a decade ago where she had a hard time finding people who had e-mail addresses.

"I was handing out flyers for the old tradeshow listserv I started, and most of the attendees looked at me like I was nuts," she said. "They saw no reason to use e-mail."

Most people will still want to meet face-to-face, at least initially, Shock said, but once the rapport has been built, it is easier to interface virtually. She predicted that some organizers would avoid new media, while others would embrace it, but still meet face-to-face — just perhaps not as often. Others will embrace new media totally to the detriment of face-to-face.

Chudnofsky said, despite the fear that putting educational information on the Internet poses a threat to tradeshow conferences, making sure relevant content is available to a community is more vital in the long run. Still, webinars and other such offerings don't have to detract from exhibitions. He pointed to a recent webinar prior to one of pulvermedia's shows where 300 people gathered leads, networked and arranged face-to-face meetings during the show.

"These are a great way to do these things," Chudnofsky said. "If you strike a balance between the conference sessions, exhibition and electronic means, you'll succeed. If you treat them as separate entities, you'll lose."