When we last left off, I was heading to a conference in Chicago. Back for just over a week, this is the first chance I’ve had to sit down and pen my thoughts on the experience. It seems that the simple act of my leaving town has resulted in a sudden flurry of new business activity here at Impact Productions. (Note to self:  get out of Dodge more often!)

The seminar, I am happy to report, was well worth the travel and expense. I was re-energized by the opportunity to network with peers, and truly inspired by some great content — which focused on industry trends, emerging event technologies, and case studies of winning event marketing strategies by top brands.

Am I at all surprised that I got more charge out of this in-person training session than I did from the webinar I attended the week before? No. I was fully engaged, and took part in peer meetings and brainstorming sessions you simply cannot replicate online. And I think most people would agree there is no substitute for face-to-face time with a presenter.  Face to face, after all, is still the best way to interact, share ideas, and build relationships.

That is the very message of British Airways’ new ad campaign targeting business travelers. Aptly themed, “Be there face-to-face,” the multi-phased program focuses on the importance of face time with regard to building relationships that help grow businesses. To date, this has largely been the stuff of event industry publications. It is truly validating and beyond exciting that a mega brand such as British Airways is spreading the word – and citing real-world examples and compelling stats – on the power of face-to-face meetings via mainstream advertising. (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/26/business/media/
26adnewsletter1.html?_r=1)

So it’s official then?  In the “virtual vs. live event” debate, live wins every time, right?  And virtual events will go down as a short-lived fad of this not so short-lived recession?  Not exactly.  Virtual communications, while allowing marketers and planners to bridge the gap during these challenging times of budget cuts and restricted travel, have proven to be a very effective tool to help extend audience reach, maximize costs, and increase ROI.  Online event technologies are now officially part of the event marketer’s tool kit – and they are not going away any time soon.

Many marketing and event professionals agree that live (or physical) events and virtual meetings will live side-by-side.  And progressive brands are already integrating virtual components into their face-to-face events, producing what are known as “hybrid events.”  According to Miguel Arias, Director + Partner at Imaste IPS, a recruitment services agency based in Madrid, “Hybrid events will become a natural trend in 2010.” (Read his full comments in response to my October 2 blog, “Can Live Meetings Really Be Replaced by Virtual Meetings?” and check out his company’s valuable findings on virtual meetings at http://blog.imaste-ips.com.)

Going forward, the meeting and events industry will indeed be about live events and virtual events building upon each other to help drive bottom-line results. And I believe that those brands that exploit these synergies and embrace a strategic mix of face to face, online, and hybrid event solutions, will be better positioned to reach their customers and communicate with their stakeholders. 

The challenge is discerning when to employ face to face and when to deploy technology, and how to create relevant, authentic, and engaging hybrid experiences. I have a feeling brand marketers are up for the task. I know I am.

I’m hearing quite a buzz these days about the virtues of virtual meetings and some growing lament on the “end of live events as we know it (sigh).”  Before I join the official debate online, I’d like to share with you a story I heard from a friend that I believe cuts to the heart of the matter:

A teenage son sits in the living room with his teenage girlfriend in front of the TV. He pulls out his cell phone and thumbs blur as he types a message. His Mom, also in the room, thinks it may be time for a conversation about “how to keep a girlfriend,” beginning with, “don’t text someone else when you are in her company.”

Just as the young man finishes and looks up, his girlfriend’s phone buzzes. She picks it up and nonchalantly replies. Mere seconds later, the boyfriend’s phone buzzes.

“You,” the mother says, “are not texting each other!?”

But in fact they were.

Now, as you gauge your reaction to this with regard to your children, your friends, your colleagues; as you ponder the question this presents, the concerns it raises about our decreasing ability to relate to each other face-to-face, the increasing predominance of technology into every facet of our lives…also ponder this:

Are you considering holding your next corporate meeting in virtual space?

If you think it’s silly or sad or somewhere in between for two people to sit next to each other and text rather than talk, we agree.  And on that premise, we respectfully offer that meeting and event technologies are best used to enhance the personal experience, not replace it.  We’re humans and we crave human interaction.  And we’ll always get more out of the experience by actually “being there.”

Without live interaction, the life of the relationship goes cold.  Clearly no one aims for impersonal relationships with their clients, employees, executives, and shareholders.

Will technology play a bigger role in corporate meetings?  Yes.  And to be clear, virtual meetings have huge benefits for corporate planners, marketers, and audiences the world over.  But there is a right time and a right place for them in your overall event marketing strategy.  To think that virtual events can truly replace live events in terms of the experiences they provide, the opportunities they afford, is naïve – even an awkward teenager would probably agree.

This is a huge topic in the corporate meetings and events industry, worthy of a great deal of consideration and at least a couple of blogs.  So visit us here for more analysis and insight as we explore the pros and cons of face-to-face vs. cyberspace, (spoiler alert: I’m pretty partial to LIVE).  And a special shout out to friend and fellow blogger, Mike Hanbery (http://mikehanbery.blogspot.com/), for sharing his story.  Thanks Mike!