Make Virtual Meeting-Goers Feel Included
Prevent People From Skipping the After-Party “By holding the cocktail hour in the same space as the conference, we don’t have to worry about finding another venue, and it enables us to sell additional sponsorships. We transform a breakfast or lunch area into a cocktail space with dim lighting, a DJ, lounge seating, and signature drinks. We try to make the atmosphere loungey so people can spend an hour relaxing and talking about what they learned while unwinding with a drink. You will always get people who bolt the second a meeting ends, but there’s not much you can do. Other people will think, ‘I’m tired, but I could use a beer and I’m here already, so why not?’” Lauren Minardo, conference director, Advertising Age, New York
Breakfasts That Aren’t Boring
Social Media Week’s kickoff press conference in New York always repeated, that board work is in real time on the remote students’ screen, and that they are called on to participate,” DeFeo says. She also recommends adding extra virtual sessions in addition to the keynote and main sessions. “A live chat with a panel of executives or other experts creates takeaway value for the audience and emphasizes the idea of your live and virtual events being almost interchangeable.” To hold everyone’s attention and avoid confusion, Rathenberg says shorter 15-minute sessions are better than 90-minute presentations. Virtual meeting attendees like swag, too. Rathenberg suggests sending welcome kits with T-shirts or other branded items, or providing a catered lunch in a central location.
Mini breakfast of steelcut Irish oatmeal with berries; quiche lorraine with crème fraîche; sausage, egg, and cheese biscuit sandwich; and a cheddarpotato cake with pork belly, poached quail egg, and sabayon from Lorien Hotel and Spa in Alexandria, Virginia (1600 King St., 703.894.3434)
A custom-made smoothie with strawberries, bananas, oranges, soy protein, and honey from Renaissance Boston Waterfront Hotel (606 Congress St., 617.338.4111)
44 bizbash.com spring 2010
PHOTOS: COURTESY OF ADVERTISING AGE, COURTESY OF SOCIAL MEDIA WEEK, COURTESY OF KIMPTON HOTELS, RENAISSANCE BOSTON WATERFRONT HOTEL
A party during Advertising Age’s Creativity and Technology Conference in New York
Sure, hosting meetings via a Web-based platform instead of in a hotel can save attendees travel time and money, but staring at a computer screen can also make them feel disconnected. Joerg Rathenberg, senior director of marketing for Unisfair (866.354.4030, unisfair.com), says virtual meeting platforms should make attendees feel like they are there in person, with the ability to collect contact information from other attendees, respond to questions via chat and polls, and interact with each other in other ways. “The environment should encourage them to explore, learn, and connect,” he says. “Attendees should not be jumping from one pop-up window to the next. Chat, polls, messages, and other components should all be part of the same platform, not a mash-up of different providers.” To improve individual sessions, Paula DeFeo, senior vice president and managing director of logistics for Jack Morton Worldwide (212.401.7409, jackmorton.com), suggests training speakers, presenters, and moderators to acknowledge the camera and address virtual attendees as if they were in the room. “We ask that questions are