Virtual Edge Summit Holds First-Ever Conference to Explore Virtual Event Technologies & Practices

PRLog (Press Release) - Feb 25, 2009 -
The emergence of ‘Virtual Events’ for business is getting more ink in business headlines, but business executives, corporate marketers, meeting planners and IT professionals need to know the best ways to get started and stay engaged with customers, partners and employees using ‘virtual events’.

Virtual Edge Summit 2009, to be held May 28-29 in Santa Clara, Calif. , will be the industry’s first-ever conference event to provide a venue where business executives, corporate marketing professionals, meeting planners and IT professionals can learn more about the best ways to use virtual events for their business goals.  

At Virtual Edge Summit 2009, attendees will learn how to evaluate, choose and implement virtual event technologies.  Attendees will also learn the entire ‘virtual event process’ – from pre-production, content preparation, production, marketing and how to support attendees at virtual events for the best attendee experience and ROI. Until now, there has not been an event that professionals interested in virtual events and meetings can attend to get the information, guidance and access to experts they need.  

Virtual events can cover a broad range of marketing and meeting types including virtual trade shows, webinars and webcasts, webconferencing, virtual job fairs and large and small internal and external virtual meetings.
 
“Corporate interest in Virtual Events is skyrocketing, as companies today are looking for more efficient and engaging ways to reach out to customers and prospects, brief partners and analysts, and conduct day-to-day business communications,” said Michael Doyle, General Manager and Executive Director of VirtualEdge.org, producers of the summit. “The corporate initiatives to ‘go virtual’ have never been greater and the need to find and train more event and marketing professionals as well as event management agencies to support this growth is critical.”

More About Virtual Edge Summit 2009 – May 28-29 in Santa Clara, Calif.
The Summit Advisory Council and VirtualEdge.org have published the preliminary program and registration is now opened. An early registration discount remains available until April 1st. The program is designed to help marketing, meeting, media and technical professionals learn ways to evaluate and leverage the latest virtual event technologies, and to learn the emerging Best Practices for how best to structure and market events for retention of current customers or to bring in new customers through lead generation.  

The VirtualEdge Summit 2009 speakers have signed up to help attendees answer the following questions:

•   What are the best ‘Virtual Venues’ for business events and meetings?
•   What are the ‘Best Practices’ for holding virtual events?
•   What are the ‘Best Technologies’ and how do you determine what is the easiest to use, offers the most compelling user experience, etc.?
•   Should I take this event or meeting virtual or should it be mixed? What will it cost me? How can I generate revenue?
•   What are the most effective easy to measure ROIs from virtual events?
•   How can I use virtual events to ‘extend-not-replace’ my existing meeting calendar?
•   …and more

Specific tracks at Virtual Edge Summit 2009 are scheduled to include:  

•   The ABC’s of Virtual Events, Meetings & Marketing
•   Going Way Beyond Lead Generation-Driving Customer Relationships that Drive Revenue
•   Get the Virtual Edge! Virtual is here to stay, learn how you can play
•   Event & Marketing Professionals--Skills for Virtual Worlds
•   Revenue Development--Exhibit, Sponsorship and Custom Revenue Streams  
•   Planning & Strategies--A case study  
•   Revenue Development--Getting attendees to pay for content & charging registration
•   Integrating Social Networking Strategies
•   Measurement, Tracking & ROI
•   Defining & Creating Virtual Communities
•   The Future of Virtual Events & Meetings--After the recession ends
•   Audience Acquisition Strategies
•   Virtual Worlds for Business--Second Life & Others
•   Solution Provider Open House
•   Content Development & Format/Experience Strategies
•   “x”Casts & Telepresence--The state of the technology in virtual meeting and marketing tools
•   Solution Provider Program--an educational period that is set aside for more in-depth demos and discussion with experts from technology and services firms
•   Workshop: The 30 Day Plan!
•   Workshop: Virtual Booth Building for Traffic & Traction

Advisory Council
The Virtual Edge Advisory Council is comprised of many leaders in the virtual events sector, and includes:  
Chris Sullivan, Vice President, Managing Director of Everything Channel’s ChannelWeb Network, a division of United Business Media; Donna Lenart, Director, Corporate Event Marketing for VMware; Eric G. Myers, Director of Internet Marketing for Quest Software; Kelly Graham, Manager, Virtual Events Team, Cisco Systems;
John Grosshandler, eComXpo Founder and Virtual Event Consultant; Margaret Launzel-Pennes, Vice President, Worldwide Events, Distributor Communications and Video Production for Herbalife International; Mark E. Heimberg, Director, Technical Strategy, PennWell Corporation and Vance McCarthy, Online Events Content Director, Integration Developer News, Michael Doyle, General Manager and Executive Director VirtualEdge.org.