Auditorium Sessions On Demand

Learning Lounge Sessions On Demand

“Virtual Product Launches that Rock the Globe,” is just one of more than 60 presentations given during the 2012 Virtual Edge Summit – and one of dozens to be presented in the VES Virtual Epic Event on Thursday, Jan 26. There are deep-dive presentations, 15-minute snippets, 30-minute conversations, interview sessions and technology demos. And the entire event is free.

After some discussion on the merits of physical versus virtual events, Bridon and her team decided a virtual event would be the best way to drive engagement, satisfaction and efficiency in marketing spend. Going virtual allowed the team to reach a wider audience (including translating the material into 10 different languages) and to showcase and demo the software.

Bridon and her team planned over seven months working through their platform, design, content, localization, marketing and launch plans. Bridon suggests staying away from “shiny objects and ideas that take too long to implement.” It’s important to keep timelines and the customer in mind at all times, she says, because one of the worst things to do is push back the date and lose traction.

SQL Server 10 will launch on March 7, 2012 in 10 languages and four time zones, each nine hours apart. The goal is to attract 200,000 unique attendees over the course of the launch. Bridon expects 4,000 to 7,000 attendees on the first day. Considering typical attendance for on-site event—usually a few hundred people—going virtual represents an important opportunity to capture a larger audience.

Watch this session – and dozens of others – during the VES 2012 Epic Virtual Event, January 26. In addition to the captured content, we’ll have subject matter experts on hand all day for live Q&A. Design your own day, and get just what you need!

“Social Media Strategies to Drive Your Virtual Event,” is just one of more than 50 presentations given during the 2012 Virtual Edge Summit – and one of dozens to be presented in the VES Virtual Epic Event on Jan 26. There are deep-dive presentations, 15-minute snippets, 30-minute conversations, interview sessions and technology demos. And the entire event is free.

To plan a social media strategy, first decide what you’re trying to achieve, and who your target audience is, Brown says. Start by developing your brand’s personality, which can be anything—from “straight-shooter” to “confidant” to “comedian.” The one personality type to avoid is “aggressive salesperson who hammers people with pitches.”

To better understand your target audience, Brown suggests creating a persona for them that goes beyond basic demographics to describe their personality and social background. Delving deeper can help you create content that specifically targets an audience’s needs.

Brown suggested adopting the “social media by thirds” strategy, which involves spending equal time observing conversations, participating in conversations and creating your own conversations. To create conversations, look for opportunities where the audience’s needs and interests overlap with your event brand. If you can communicate this content in a compelling way, you will create great posts.

Another method is to “seek focused challenges” by looking at who you know, what you think, and what you do, and creating posts around those points.

As social media content continues to grow exponentially, getting noticed can be a challenge. One of the most effective ways to reach an audience is by investing in search engine optimization (SEO). This includes using Google Analytics and AdWords to gain familiarity with keywords and phrases people use to find you online, as well as which keywords your competitors are using. Brown advocated starting a blog, as this demonstrates expertise and serves as a powerful tool to improve SEO.

Watch this session – and dozens of others – during the VES 2012 Virtual Epic Event, January 26. In addition to the captured content, we’ll have subject matter experts on hand all day long for live Q&A. Design your own day, and get just what you need!

It seems everyone is seeking a strong community these days, particularly when it comes to events. The point was brought home last week by Michael Kushner, VP of Digital Media Strategy for UBM Studios, during a Virtual Edge Summit session entitled, “Virtual’s Next Stage – Going Beyond Events.”

After revisiting the history of the virtual event, from it’s beginning as a webcast through it’s growth into a full virtual tradeshow mimicking a physical event, Kushner stated that his company now builds “immersive digital environments.” He made particular note of the fact that he did not use the words “virtual” or “event.”

The online “destinations” that Kushner spoke of focus much more on the experience, content and journey and much less on the platform, he said. These digital environments seem more an extension of physical events where users can start conversations, see a live stream, ask questions, peruse resource libraries and more. In addition, organizers of these destinations can see everything users do in the virtual environment.

The focus in nearly every case Kushner shared seemed to be creating a community around an event or product that interacts with the digital environment throughout the year. The uses were many.

Road Show

UBM developed a webcast theater for Dupont – a destination where the company can repurpose their road show content on a regular basis. Once a user registers, he or she continuously receives updates of new content. The perpetual environment contains a welcome video and resource center. It can also host chats.

Product Launch Pad

A product launch pad that provides a video platform for editorial and tutorial videos was built for Aflac. Sponsors buy slots, thereby monetizing the site and its content.

365 Community

This model takes existing online communities with a high level of engagement, ie forums, blogs, message boards, and combines them with a perpetual virtual environment.

Career Recruitment

Kushner noted that he’s seeing more and more company centered recruitment. A digital recruitment center can be available year round or can go live with recruiters available in an environment that can host one-on-one video chats. Content can include career advancement and development resources. Career Recruitment sites have high levels of traffic, Kushner said.

Interactive Event Companion

These digital destinations are designed to engage and inform attendees before, during and after a face-to-face event. They provide a single destination for all things related to an event and are accessed on any device including mobile, tablets and web browsers. They combine a show guide, conference bag, content management and networking in one location. They also enable attendees to create a personal agenda, schedule appointments and see which fellow attendees are there. Keynotes can be streamed live or recorded and provided on demand.

Kushner concluded by sharing some keys to success when organizing virtual events. They were:

* Identify opportunities: make the business case, develop a game plan
* Know your audience: deliver value; if you build it, will they come?
* Define objectives: set goals, establish benchmarks
* Get support: identify champions, involve the stakeholders
* All hands on deck: seek proper staffing, moderate and host

Once you’ve decided to live stream your face-to-face event, learning from those with experience can save time, improve the quality of your content and limit costly mistakes. Peter Hackes, Vice President of Content and Programs at INXPO, shared some helpful information about virtual event production with Virtual Edge Summit Attendees recently during a behind the scenes tour of the PCMA/VES Hybrid Meetings. The following are five tips from his talk.

1 – Be redundant.

Having two cameras can really save you if one goes down. You don’t have to pay for two camera operators. Just make sure you have a backup camera that the operator can use, in case of problems.

2 – Make sure to have an audience microphone.

An audience member with a strong voice may be heard by your face to face audience, but without a microphone, your remote audience will experience dead air. So also educate speakers that they should remind audience members to use the microphone.

3 – Make sure that those who will be captured on video have signed a release form.

This would include all of your speakers. For audience, you might consider putting up a sign at the door that says something like, “By entering this room you are granting permission to be filmed or photographed for event marketing purposes.”

4 – Remind speakers not to spend long periods of time in front of a projector.

Standing in front of the projector can create a weird, ghost-like image. It makes for a poor visual on camera.

5 – If you have a camera crew anyway, have them shoot a promo.

If it’s a big tradeshow or expo, have the camera crew get the opening of the doors on the first day when there are lots of people. Interview the event organizer, a coupld of sponsors, attendees. Get b-roll of people walking around on the first day when attendance is higher then get interviews the second day to make a 5 minute promo.

On January 26^th the Virtual Edge Summit full virtual program will begin and the environment will be lite up with all of the sessions from the Summit, all of the Learning Lounge programs, Technology Demos and much more. This is an event model concept we’re launching to give in-person attendees an opportunity to catch all the sessions and programs they missed in San Diego – and to allow us to bring together the in-person and virtual audiences in one place at one time. The January 26^th event will feature a full networking suite to allow attendees to see who’s in attendance, establish connections and meet with people they missed in San Diego.

Sponsors that supported the education in the Learning Lounge in San Diego will have the opportunity to interact with the virtual attendees, which can be challenging during a hybrid event. It’s hard to be in two places at once even if one is virtual.

With the time in between the events, we’ll be cleaning up our content and lining up subject matter experts to be available for live Q&A throughout the event. We hope you’ll join us again on the 26^th to test this event model firsthand and catch all the action you might have missed at the hybrid!

Though the 26^th will be the Summit finale, we have on demand options for people to get the education all the time and expect to be adding events and content on a perpetual basis.

After a career start in the real estate practice of Peat Marwick as a CPA, Tony began his career in event marketing in 1988 with a boutique shop, and then founded ProActive in 1992 in an endeavor to develop an organization where experienced and talented individuals would thrive in the fulfillment of communication objectives of the world’s most respected brands. He set the standard for ProActive’s services that differentiated the agency from other providers of live and fully integrated experiential marketing services.

In 2001, Tony co-founded with John Rowady, rEvolution, a premier sports marketing firm which now is comprised of over 50 people who drive value to a number of industry leading brands including Samsung, ESPN, Dyson and the NFL.

In April 2007, Tony sold ProActive to Freeman, an industry-leading exposition and exhibit producer. Freeman creates and delivers many of the industry’s most recognized face-to-face marketing programs every year. In July 2009, after taking responsibility for the rest of the Creative team at Freeman, he fully integrated ProActive into Freeman where he lead Freeman‘s creative function.

Tony served as executive champion of an alliance between Freeman and Maritz, an alliance he originated with the President of Maritz in July of 2009. He serves on several industry and civic boards including Business Marketing Association, Children’s Memorial Hospital Foundation and the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce. He is an immediate past chair of the Marketing Taskforce of the Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA).

Tony Holds a BS in Accounting from Indiana University. As a life long learner, Tony carries full alumni status with the Harvard Business School through its Owner President Management (OPM) program, a three year program crafted for successful entrepreneurs who have an objective to take their business to the next level.

Tony, his wife Terri and their daughters Katie and Emily reside in Wilmette, IL.

Scott Lum is a Digital Marketing Manager on the Events team at Microsoft. He manages many of the hybrid and virtual events for the technical audiences. His team also produces webcasts, audio podcasts and hands-on virtual labs for most of Microsoft’s commercial products. Scott works with the product marketers to integrate their digital and in-person event efforts with their social media and traditional marketing efforts to engage communities and think through the lifetime journey of their audiences.

Mike Brown is an author and Founder of The Brainzooming™ Group. He writes daily articles on strategy, creativity, innovation, and social media based on his extensive experience at the forefront of leading Fortune 500 culture change.  He’s been recognized for developing simplified tools for strategic planning, designing and implementing award-winning sponsorship marketing programs, and aligning sales and marketing tactics for maximum impact.

He’s been a frequent speaker for organizations, associations, and universities, including the MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics, American Marketing Association, and the Business Marketing Association. He shares the Brainzooming approach with thousands of business people annually, helping them adapt it to business strategy, branding, marketing, and social business.

Caroline has seventeen years experience in instructional strategy, design and development, working on custom and generic projects for Fortune 500 clients. Currently, she is known for her work on developing strategies and practical applications for use of Web 2.0 technologies in learning. She leads a team of strategists and developers who design, develop and deliver solutions in 3D-virtual worlds, quasi-3D, m-learning, mobile tagging, social networking tools and other Web 2.0 technologies such as the use of iPads as a learning kiosk. Her teams have won industry awards for simulations and gaming.  Currently, she is working with Xerox Research to explore the use of Game Mechanics in learning. She has assisted clients with strategies for use of social technologies in blended learning, assessment of technologies for use in client environments, and lead teams for learner propensity and preference studies.

She has assisted clients with development of learning paths, competency models, curriculum design, needs assessments, learning media selection guidelines, as well as, strategies for curriculum deployment and development of informal learning. Caroline has experience in a variety of media including instructor-led workshops, webcasts, multi-media, live experiential simulations, games, resource guides, competency profiles, curriculum development, executive workshops, resource support materials such as job aids, learning events at conferences, and most recently a web-based training with simulated learning paths. Additionally, Caroline has worked to launch a BPO learning team for a major, global firm. In this responsibility she has co-developed the tools, processes, infrastructure, staffing, and staffing development for this outsourced team.

Prior to her work with ACS, Caroline has 15 years experience as an investment banker/financial consultant to Fortune 500 clients. Her industry experience includes transportation, health & pharmaceuticals, finance, natural resources, energy, electronics, consumer goods, banking and telecom. Caroline has developed materials globally for use in Europe, Central Europe, the Pacific Rim, India, and South America. She is an experience facilitator for leading executive learning strategy meetings, design sessions, and subject-matter resource workshop sessions.

Caroline is a featured speaker and author for Training Industry, Masie Learning, DevLearn,  and CLO for her work in Web 2.0 strategic initiatives for clients. She won the Innovator of the Year award for ACS, acknowledging her work in providing creative and cutting edge distance delivery solutions for clients.

Kathleen Connolly, VP Sales & Development, West for UBM Studios, is responsible for business development and consultative services focused on leveraging virtual environments to engage with audiences all of types. Connolly has 20 years of sales and management experience in IT media and events.  Most recently, Connolly was the Strategic Director with Everything Channel where she worked with leading Channel Chiefs to help meet their Channel objectives from strategy to recruitment and enablement to demand generation. She is an expert in blending the right products and services to suit the unique needs of each client.  Prior, Connolly held both sales and management positions with Internet Week, InformationWeek, and Network Computing. Connolly earned a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration with an emphasis in International Marketing from California State University at Fullerton and received a certificate from the Leading and Managing People Program from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business.

Neda Mobasser is the Online Customer Engagement Project Manager for Dell’s Events Marketing team. She has been working to extendthe virtual reach of Dell’s events, and recently led the company’s first-ever hybrid event: Dell World. Prior to her position at Dell, Neda received her digital media management MBA from St. Edwards University in Austin, TX where she developed skills to meet the growing industry of new media business.

Eric Olson is general manager of SMB Events at Active Network |Events.  In this role he is responsible for driving the global strategy and P&L for the company’s business-to-business events solutions serving small to medium sized businesses, associations and tradeshow and expo companies.  These include event management and marketing technologies. During his tenure, Olson has grown the SMB Events business by more than 200%.

Before joining Active Network, Olson was VP of Media + Marketing at DEI, a prominent training and seminar company that specialized in online courses, virtual events and live workshops. Olson helped grow DEI from less than $10 million annually to more than $140 million, primarily through expansion of its events portfolio. Before that, he worked as a journalist, covering technology and special features for Northern Colorado Business Report.

Olson speaks at events around the world on the use of technology in event marketing, conferences and meetings. In his spare time Olson is a skier and a sub-par triathlete.

He is also a graduate of Colorado State University.

Open Monday through Wednesday

January’s Virtual Edge Summit lets you learn what you want — the way you want! We’ve got hour-long deep-dive interactive learning experiences, 15-minute snippets, 30-minute conversations, interview sessions and technology demos. We’ve even got a physical tour of the hybrid event! Design your own day, and get just what you need from strategy to implementation we cover it all.

Learning Lounge Featured Content

Get just the facts you need on a variety of digital issues.

• Copyright issues
• Getting good video
• Understanding streaming
• Syndicated content
• Streaming to Facebook
• Using Ustream
• Government 508 issues

Deconstructions – We take apart the best industry hybrid and virtual events to see what made them great.

Streaming Studio – Be a part of the audience as our virtual host interviews the best thinkers in the industry.

Tours – Join a behind-the-scenes tour of both the PCMA365 and VES Live virtual environments.

Technology Demos – Roll up your sleeves and test drive the newest advances in virtual products and services.

Key content from selected sessions will be posted online while the Summit is under way, so that onsite participants can catch up on presentations they’ve missed and virtual attendees can enjoy a more complete conference experience. The onsite coverage will demonstrate a unique service that The Conference Publishers has delivered at more than 3,000 conferences, in more than 200 communities across North America, and in 18 countries.

Text: The Most Useful Medium
“Meeting organizers can choose from more formats than ever before, but online access and virtual meetings make text the most useful medium of all,” said The Conference Publishers President Mitchell Beer. “A slide deck won’t tell you what actually happened in the session, and no one has time to sit through an hour of verbatim video. Summary text turns out to be exactly the right level of detail.”

After Event Camp Twin Cities 2010 in Minneapolis, The Conference Publishers reported on each session at two levels of detail: a short news capsule, and a two-page session summary. After the conference, organizers distributed one news capsule per week to an in-house email list and a selection of social media sites. The result: more than 69,000 page views in three months, almost all of them for the shorter news capsules.

Capturing Onsite Momentum
“One of the markers of a successful conference is the time it takes for participants to start asking when the session materials will be available,” Beer said. “At the best conferences, we begin hearing those questions about 20 minutes into the opening general session.” But without a plan to capture and repackage key content—quickly, efficiently, and in a format that works for online audiences—the moment passes and the momentum is lost.

“We’re thrilled to be working with the Virtual Edge Institute to demonstrate the power of onsite content to make meetings more effective,” Beer said. The Conference Publishers will have a pod onsite, or you can find them online at www.theconferencepublishers.com.

John Graham Video for Virtual Edge Summit

With more than 15 years of experience, Beaulieu has a track record of significantly growing revenue in both the virtual media and publishing markets.  Beaulieu held a variety of positions at Ziff Davis Media; most recently, she was Senior Vice President at Ziff Davis Enterprise – Event Sales. While at Ziff Davis Media, Beaulieu created and built a $6M virtual event business – eSeminars; led the company’s International Licensing group; and launched PCMagCast, a virtual event business created specifically for PC Magazine’s audience.  In addition, Beaulieu held several positions with InXpo where she implemented virtual event business strategy and managedkey publishing and enterprise accounts including Tech Target, Red7 Media, Ziff Davis Enterprise, Bank of America and EMC.  Earlier, Beaulieu held key marketing positions with several dotcoms.

JOHN H. GRAHAM IV, CAE became the President and Chief Executive Officer of ASAE August 1, 2003.  During the first year of his tenure, ASAE and GWSAE completed an historic merger resulting in a new,unified organization.ASAE helps associations and association professionals achieve previously unimaginable levels of performance.  ASAE is more than 22,000 association executives and industry partners representing nearly 11,000 organizations,with a budget of $35 million and a staff of 135. Our members manage leading trade associations, individual membership societies, and voluntary organizations across the United States and in 50 countries around the globe, as well as provide products and services to the association community.

Before ASAE, he served the American Diabetes Association (ADA) in Alexandria, Virginia for 24 years, the last thirteen as Chief Executive Officer.  Prior to becoming CEO, John served the ADA in numerous capacities including Executive Director of the Greater Philadelphia Affiliate, National Director of Affiliate Development, Associate Executive Vice President for Operations and Deputy Executive Vice President.  In his tenure as CEO, ADA quadrupled in size, from $50 million to $200 million in annual revenues and successfully moved from 53 independent, separately incorporated affiliate organizations to one nationwide organization with one staff, one budget and one plan.

Before joining the American Diabetes Association, John served the Boy Scouts of America for nine years.  He has a bachelor’s degree from Franklin & Marshall College and serves on the Association Committee of 100, US Chamber of Commerce; Chairman of the Better Business Bureau Wise Giving Alliance Board of Directors; America’s Promise Board of Trustee’s; and the Board of Directors of Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity.

Emilie Bridon is a Digital Product Manager at Microsoft Corporation in their Server & Tools Division. She is responsible for the digital marketing end-to-end strategy for SQL Server. Under the digital marketing umbrella includes social media, digital advertising, and web strategy. Emilie has been with Microsoft for over 5 years and has previously worked in the Microsoft Online Services Division as a Search Strategist as well as the Corporate Marketing Group as a Social Media and Search Marketing Evangelist. She is passionate about engaging with customer online and increasing reach via social media. Emilie has two Bachelors of Arts Degree, Business – marketing/entrepreneurship and French, with honors from the University of Washington.

Michele Brouse, CMP, CASE is Manager of Distance Education, for HIMSS, the largest U.S. non- profit healthcare association focused on providing global leadership for the optimal use of IT. Brouse brings extensive association management, convention and meeting planning as well as registration, housing and speaker management to HIMSS, where she helps manage the HIMSS distance education programming, including the HIMSS Virtual Conference and Expo, eLearning Academy, Virtual Briefings, Virtual Forums and webinars.  In 2000, she graduated from Purdue University with a Bachelors Degree from the Hospitality and Tourism Management School (HTM) with a minor in Meeting Planning.  In fall of 2004, she attended the University of Nevada, Las Vegas to obtain a Masters of Hospitality Administration (MHA) from the William F. Harrah College of Hotel Administration with a concentration in Meeting and Event Planning.

Anthony Miller, General Manager, Active Network ǀ Events

Anthony Miller is the general manager of Active Network | Events. As such, he works closely with enterprise clients to drive results through expanded reach, extended lifecycle and increased attendance at events. Miller is able to achieve this for his clients by increasing engagement with event communities through live, social, mobile and virtual channels and implementing Active Network ǀ Event technology to create an ongoing dialogue between organizations and their target audiences.

Miller has spent much of his career working with marketing, sales and event teams to deliver strategic digital and live campaigns for clients such as Salesforce, HP, Cisco, Deloitte and the Saudi Arabian Government.

Known as an expert in digital event technology, Miller has a passion for driving business value through improving the effectiveness and efficiency of live communications. He is also a well-known speaker and thought leader within the events marketing sector, presenting regularly at industry conferences, tradeshows and webinars.

The Active Network, Inc.

The Active Network, Inc. is the leading provider of organization-based cloud computing applications serving diverse market segments including business events, community activities, outdoors and sports. Our technology platform, ActiveWorks^®, transforms the way organizers manage their activities and events by automating online registrations and streamlining other critical management functions, while also driving consumer participation to their events. Our flagship media property, Active.com, is the leading online community for people who want to discover, participate in, and share activities about which they are passionate. Headquartered in San Diego, California since 1999, the company has over 25 offices worldwide. To learn more, visit us on the web:

Corporate site: www.ActiveNetwork.com, consumer site: www.Active.com

Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/ActiveNetwork, http://twitter.com/#!/Active

Facebook: www.facebook.com/active#!/Activecom

Working with the speakers for the Virtual Edge Summit in January in San Diego, I get an inside look at their topics, their outlines and even their final presentations. And though I feel like I’m pretty well-informed about virtual and hybrid event planning and production, I’m getting great new ideas. These are my favorite “must-see” sessions.

1. Creating Memorable Online Events
Jonathan Finkelstein, Founder & Executive Producer of LearningTimes is producing really creative virtual conferences for the Smithsonian, the American Association of Museums and others. He’ll be using real-world examples to show the types of experiences most memorable to online audiences, how to increase the interaction of event participants and how to teach your subject matter experts to facilitate and encourage virtual discussions.

2. Social Media Strategies to Drive your Virtual Event
Mike Brown, Founder of The Brainzooming Group, is a social media guru working with several virtual event producers. He’s speaking at VES on creating a comprehensive strategy to acquire attendees and raise event awareness and engagement before, during and after events using keywords, timing, content and metrics.

3. Driving Attendee Engagement via Gamification
Cisco’s Dannette Veale has an entertaining session on gamification and how it increases and improves attendee engagement, builds loyalty and enables an experience roadmap that drives attendees to the activities you want them to complete. And she’s giving away prizes, too!

4. 365 Engagement: Making the Leap from Event to Environment
Steve Gogolak, Director of Media & Webcasting at Cramer, is presenting a case study, along with his customer, that details how she went from a virtual event to 365-digital engagement. They cover the additional content, resources, engagement strategies, marketing plans and community building tactics you’ll need to ramp up.

5. How to Make Money with Virtual and Hybrid Events
For the association and media folks attending, I like this session. It identifies various monetization strategies and pricing models for virtual and hybrid events. Should it all be sponsor-driven, or can you make money from attendees? What should you charge per booth? And will you make more by live-streaming or archiving your event?

6. The Digital Future of Physical Events
John Jainschigg, CEO of World2Worlds, one of my favorite speakers for breaking down complex technology into understandable practices, will present this session on how online technologies such as streaming, telepresence, location-aware devices, augmented-reality, RFID and QR codes are being used to engineer vivid physical event experiences – creating more interactive, agile events with new services, navigation and models for sponsorship.

7. How Social Communities Contribute to Learning
Khalid Raza, Community Manager at IBM, has a great session on how a community contributes to the learning of its members. He focusses on how to create a plan for building your own informal learning community, and how to develop techniques to encourage and promote ongoing collaboration.

8. Deploying Virtual Event Self-Service Across Your Organization
Intel, Microsoft and IBM collaborate on a great session about managing the new self-service options across an organization to ensure quality and success. They’re combining best practices for managing engagements across multiple business units and differing use cases, and they include a discussion on building consensus and buy-in from within your organization.

9. Virtual’s Next Stage
Michael Kushner, VP of Digital Media Strategy at UBM Studios shares what UBM is seeing in terms of future use for virtual technologies. While the last few years have been about virtual conferences, they predict the next few will see a broadening into partner/member briefing centers, 365-exhibitor environments, product roll-outs, virtual road shows, editorial updates and tablet directories with interactive content.

10. Integrating Mobile: Pre, During and Post-Event Access
Events and learning are being impacted tremendously by the adoption of smart phones and tablet devices. Once thought to be just an on-site tool, attendees now want to connect with each other before and after the event, too. This panel discusses how to plan for a continuous mobile engagement and what it means for costs and revenue opportunities.

A few more favorites I just have to throw in, even though I’m over my word count!
Engaging the Empowered Customer or Member
The Integrated Event: In Person, Online and Mobile
Experimental Digital Event Formats
Using Virtual to Drive Physical Event Attendance
The Hidden Value of Content

See the full program by clicking here

Stacey entered into B2B high-tech marketing 17 years ago. At PTC for over 10 years as its worldwide product launch marketing director, she is responsible for all awareness, education and lead generation campaigns for new products.  Managing over 20 software product launches annually, she utilizes virtual platforms to educate PTC’s global customer/prospect base about the latest software releases.

Ron Allen is the Solution Manager for virtual events at Microsoft Global Marketing Operations.  He was instrumental in bringing virtual events to Microsoft and creating a mature service offering for marketers.  Ron has been with Microsoft in various product planning roles since 2005, supporting global marketing tools in every country where Microsoft does business.  Before Microsoft, Ron worked in a diverse range of industries including aerospace, GIS, and education.