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!

Sheila Stack

Thanks for joining us. I’m Sheila Stack, Founder and President of Impact Productions – and I’m a champion of the power of live events.

Check in here to engage your brain toward the pursuit of making business meetings more meaningful, driving home your message and making it resonate beyond the flight home.

That’s what we do here. We bring your audience all the way in. We take their experience beyond what they expect. We take your brand and place it center stage, creating emotional connections with your people at every turn giving it…well, impact.

Here we’ll address hot topics in the meetings and events industry…I’m sure you’ve noticed there are a lot of them right now. What are the challenges we’re facing, how are we rallying to overcome them – at what cost, and to what degree of success? We’ll also look at what folks in our industry are doing to make corporate events more memorable. What fresh ideas are out there, and what trends are shaping our industry going forward?

Let me tell you, we at Impact Productions love this business to the core. Do we necessarily love the overnight load-ins, eating in 60 seconds flat between general sessions, going for days on coffee and energy bars? No, we’re not that crazy; but we do embrace it. Pride and joy, after all, comes from experience. (For the record, and speaking for myself, I do actually thrive on all of the above working conditions!)

I sincerely hope Impact’s fervor comes through in this blog. I want you not just to hear what I say, but to feel it with me. That’s important, because that’s our signature: connecting with audiences on a deeper level. We arouse thoughts. We move people. It’s no longer enough for your audience to have something to see and hear; they have to feel it, they have to believe.

The Power of LIVE in action

That connection… that’s live branding done well. That’s Impact Productions. This is our journey. It’s good to have you along.