A First Class Event on Second Life
Yesterday I appeared as a panelist in a “virtual brown bag forum” organized by Trade Promotion Management Associates (TPMA) and hosted on Second Life. The forum was structured like any real-life event would be with vendor exhibition booths, scheduled panel discussions, quality networking time…and, yes, even coffee was served. More than 160 CPG industry executives registered and the panel discussions were engaging and interactive. The forum went off without a hitch, and everyone seemed to have a lot of fun.
As I described to my colleagues after the event, virtual events combine the fluid interaction of a traditional conference call with the rich multimedia value of a Webex meeting. In fact, it felt about as close to a real-world event as you can get. While at first the idea seemed a little gimmicky, I think we all recognized the business value of this medium. Should virtual events replace real-life events? Definitely not. But they certainly have their role, especially in cash constrained times like now.
Congratulations to TPMA for trying something different and pulling off a great event!
Armen: Thanks for the kind words, and for your participation.
We really had a lot of fun putting it on, and I agree that it was a valuable learning experience for all of us. There will be more such events in the future and marketers will begin developing more innovative ways to use the medium.
Bob Houk
TPMA