Making Virtual Profitable: Steal These Business IdeasPresented by Cece Salomon-LeeFebruary 9, 2011

My three quick rules:- Ask questions- Feel free to tweet out- And ask more questions

Twitter: @csalomonleeHashtag: #MPI

3. Which Makes Sense For You

2. Four Models for Virtual

1. State of the Meetings & Events Industry

Events Making a Return

5.6% positive growth in projected revenue

CEIR Index, November 2010

5.2% growth in # of exhibitors

5.2% growth in sq footage of exhibit space sold

6.6% growth professional attendance

$650 Billion global industry

Events Are Vital

$230 Billion in the US alone

CWT Travel Institute, “Meetings & Events: Where Savings Meet Success”: August 2010

Market Research Media, February 2010

Virtual Opportunity$18.6 Billion from 2010-2015

Where to start?

Driving Virtual Forward:Four Business Models•Freemium•Paid Registration•Exhibitor/Sponsor Driven•Hybrid Model (physical + virtual)

FREE MODEL

GENERAL MODEL

• Virtual-only• Free registration• No exhibitors or sponsorship• Organized by one organization

• corporation, association or governmental agency

IBM COGNOS 10 PRODUCT LAUNCH

IBM COGNOS 10 PRODUCT LAUNCH

• Launch Cognos 10 Product Launch @ Business Analytics Forum

• Extend message to global market place: customers, partners, press, analysts and employees

• Drive sales pipeline for future quarters

IBM COGNOS 10 RESULTS

• Registration/Attendee #’s Exceeded Targets• 5920 registrants• 2496 live attendees from 52 countries

• Awareness via social media

WHY CONSIDER

• Increase brand awareness for a single organization

• Provide education to a specific group• members, customers, partners and

employees• Audience acquisition goal: leads/members• Deliver news • Kick-off additional events (in-person and/or

virtually)

PAID REGISTRATION

GENERAL MODEL

• Single fee for everyone• Tiered system for registration

• Members, non-members, group discounts• In-person, virtual-only

• May or may not contain exhibitor/sponsorship elements

LEARNING FORWARD 2010

LEARNING FORWARD 2010

• In-depth sessions and workshops• Build upon existing community• Generate additional revenue streams by

reaching out to members who couldn’t attend in person

• Offered tiered registration packages:• $350 for nonmembers• $300 for members• $1000 for 5 people

LEARNING FORWARD 2010 RESULTS

• High satisfaction • Attracted 150 attendees• Registration fee – Production Cost =

Broke Even• Established proof of concept to

stakeholders

WHY CONSIDER

• Currently provide high quality content• Education-based for CE credits or

professional training• Geographically disperse audience unable to attend in-person events• Generate additional revenues with existing content

EXHIBITOR / SPONSOR DRIVEN

EXHIBITORS POSTIVE ON VIRTUAL

GENERAL MODEL: EXHIBITORS

• Free for attendees• Tiered program for exhibitors:

bronze, silver, gold• Leads-based, including:

– Visitors to booth– Guaranteed leads– Entire registrant list

GENERAL MODEL: SPONSORS

• Free for attendees• Tiered program for sponsors: bronze, silver,

gold• Brand awareness opportunities: banner ads,

session sponsorship, game sponsorship, etc.• Leads may or may not be included

– Example: all attendees to keynote session

EXHIBITOR/SPONSOR DRIVEN

MIX & MATCH PROGRAM ELEMENTS

FUTURES MAGAZINE

• Geographically dispersed audience

• Time constrained• Drive quality leads• Booths priced from $4,500 –

$12,500 – gold level received speaking opp

• Provide entire registration list

FUTURES MAGAZINE RESULTS

• 39% increase in attendance from one virtual event to the next

• Consider increasing exhibitor booth fees

WHY CONSIDER

• Audience doesn’t attend physical events• Audience is geographically dispersed• Test new markets or conference products• Expand your revenue base• Expand your database• Attract exhibitors/sponsors to participate

– Corporate: partners/customers– Association: members, suppliers

HYBRID MODEL

HYBRID MODEL

HYBRID MODEL

• Combination of paid/free registration• Include exhibitors and/or sponsors• Physical conference with virtual component

– All or part of content accessible to virtual

CISCO LIVE!

CISCO LIVE!

• Physical + virtual – Virtual provided a taste of the physical

conference• Multiple opportunities

– Exhibit hall– Sponsorship via games, ad banners, etc.

• Variety of technologies leveraged– Virtual event, webcasting, Second Life

CISCO LIVE! RESULTS

• Virtual drove first timers to Cisco Live• High-level audience: 33% exec/sr.

management• 34% of the virtual attendees indicated that

they would go to in-person• 30,000 registered from 185 countries

WHY CONSIDER

• Strong content to attract both physical and virtual audiences

• Leverage virtual to drive in-person• Emerging audience that is web-savvy/existing

web-savvy audience• Physical attendance/accessibility limited by

location• Reach broader audience

FIVE CONSIDERATIONS

FIVE CONSIDERATIONS

• Consider your audience• Consider your objectives• Consider your support system for in-person

and virtual events• Consider your AV/production requirements• Consider starting small and building upon

your program• TEST, TEST, and TEST SOME MORE

QUESTIONS?

ResourcesPHOTO Credits• “Drop in bucket” by Pranav Singh via flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pranavsingh/232560833/• “Ford Model T” by wwarby via flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wwarby/4782308801/ • “Best things in life are free” by HowiePoon via flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/22320124@N05/2438632688/ • “Payment” by las-initially via flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/21561428@N03/4962703844/ • “Toyota Prius G sports” by Toyota UK via flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/toyotauk/5209223732/ • “C is Central” by M.V. Jantzen via flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mvjantzen/377111498/

SURVEY/CASE STUDY CITATIONS• Futures Magazine, video interview with Ginger Szala: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-it7mcodoP0 • IBM Cognos 10 Product Launch, Virtual Edge Summit 2011, “Successful New Product Launches Through

Virtual Environments Case Studies”: http://www.virtualedge.org/page/ves-2011-video-sessions • Cisco Live Virtual Case Study, Virtual Edge Institute,

http://www.virtualedge.org/forum/topics/once-you-go-hybrid-youll-never • Learning Forward, Virtual Edge Summit 2011, “Virtual Event Models that Work Delivering Revenue, Reach,

and Repeat Participation”: http://www.virtualedge.org/page/ves-2011-video-sessions (registration required)

Contact

Cece Salomon-LeePR Meets MarketingTwitter: @csalomonleewww.linkedin.com/in/ceceleecece@prmeetsmarketing.com