Webinars / virtual education andthe exhibition industry

Paul Woodward

Taipei 3rd March 2010

3rd March 2010 2

We are at a very early stage in theevolution of these technologies /

forms of interaction…

There is no reason that they shouldn’tsucceed in the medium-term, but muchof what we see today will not succeed.

3rd March 2010 3

Multiple channels

• Dedicated webinar software

• Podcasts– Video

– Audio

• Simple slide sharing

• Social networks

• Fully-fledged virtual meetings

• ‘Mash-ups’ of 2 or more of these

3rd March 2010 4

None yet seems entirely to dothe job effectively…

…particularly for an industrystructured as the exhibition industry

is

3rd March 2010 5

Dedicated webinar software

3rd March 2010 6

…on the way there

3rd March 2010 7

But…

• Heavily reliant on professionalism of presenters.– No lengthy, empty pauses with rustling papers– Well-rehearsed presentations – without the distraction of

a live audience, a poorly-rehearsed presentation is evenmore painful than usual.

• Ideally needs several levels of activity to engageaudience.– Built-in polling and interactive discussion tools.– Parallel Twitter streams for more public sessions.– Other?

• Normally needs to be available well beyond the initiallife of the event.

3rd March 2010 8

Life after the event

3rd March 2010 9

Video replay…

3rd March 2010 10

…is slow and not very exciting

3rd March 2010 11

Video

Can be powerful…but very hard to dowell

3rd March 2010 12

The great…

3rd March 2010 13

The not so great…

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7tTqcvLxO0&feature=player_embedded

3rd March 2010 14

The audio-only approach

3rd March 2010 15

Examples from our industry

3rd March 2010 16

3rd March 2010 17

3rd March 2010 18

Exhibitor training

3rd March 2010 19

3rd March 2010 20

3rd March 2010 21

Lessons from all this• What works

– Top speakers– Very professional production standards– Backed by a great ‘brand’– Highly dispersed audience

• Seems to be working for exhibitor training in the US• But what of really international audiences with multiple time zones to deal

with?

• What that means– Budgets– Backed by large potential audience– This is not a DIY business– Medium-sized companies can probably not do this by themselves.

• Role for associations: national and international.• Role for effective businesses.

3rd March 2010 22

Thank you

paul@bsgasia.com

3rd March 2010 23