How have you seen virtual events evolve since 2001?

BA: In today's economic climate, virtual events have a new relevance. Case and point is a recent corporate travel spending survey by the Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE) that found 33 percent of companies will spend less on travel in 2009. Similarly, more and more green corporate policies are restricting travel in order to decrease carbon footprints.

But while travel may need to go on hold for a variety of reasons, key business objectives like lead generation and talent recruitment cannot and our virtual events provide a viable alternative. In some cases, they are generating leads and demand at 50 to 80 percent of the cost of a comparable physical event, and have the potential to dramatically reduce an organization's carbon footprint.

For example, one Unisfair client hosted a one-day virtual event that generated 1,701 leads. The costs associated with hosting it equaled less then total shipping costs for its previous physical events.

Another U.S. manufacturer wanted to reduce costs associated with its annual multiple-city road show, but still generate the same leads and demand as the physical shows. The company took its road show virtual and attracted 2,000 engineers-equal to the total number of participants in the three-month road show the year prior. Also, the virtual event cost 50 percent less than the physical events.

In another example, the impetus was not to cut costs, but carbon. The design technology company eliminated five under-performing locations from its 20-city road show and replaced them with virtual events. In doing so they not only saved massive amounts of carbon, they reduced their cost per lead from $200 to $26.

So how do your virtual events work?

BA: You decide the scope of the event (number of booths, number of conference sessions, and so on) and how you want it to look and feel based on our catalog of templates, or we can create something custom. Then you work with our event managers on all of the logistics that need to be taken care to put on a successful event.

Aren't there a lot of negatives? I don't see what I gain over just reading coverage of a lecture later; and how good can networking really be when it's not face to face?

BA: The momentum for embracing Web 2.0 technologies and social media tools is accelerating dramatically. The use of blogging, wikis and social networks has become second nature for most corporate cultures. 30 million LinkedIn users across 150 countries have proven that professional networking is both agreeable and effective, even when it doesn't occur in a traditional face to face manner. And our virtual events offer a great deal more interactivity than sites like LinkedIn or Facebook.

Unisfair's Virtual Events simulate every aspect of a physical event, including a grand entranceway, a conference hall for conference sessions, an exhibition hall with exhibition booths, a lounge and a resource center. Professional networking and interactivity is available throughout the virtual event. Our virtual events provide opportunities to connect and interact with all of the event constituents (attendees, speakers, organizers and sponsors) across the entire event.

What does your system offer over holding events in, say, Second Life?

BA: With Second Life, people have to download a 40mb applet, create an avatar, learn how to get dressed and fly. Unisfair Virtual Events are immersive yet pragmatic business solutions for users that that do not have the time or patience to create an avatar and expect the learning curve to be 15-30 seconds. We fundamentally believe that balancing immersiveness with intuitiveness is the key to user experience.

What does the future hold for virtual events?

BA: We predict that all face-to-face events will have a virtual component. Virtual events will morph into year round collaborative environments or business communities. Events invigorate communities and will likely transform into collaborative business In other words, Virtual Events are already starting to turn into virtual communities, or persistent environments that are available 24/7, 365 days a year.

Companies are leveraging these ongoing environments to create collaborative communities centered on their prospects, customers and partners. They are also using them as collaborative communities for internal purposes, such as employee trainings and continued education.