Holy backchannel!
One of the coolest things about EventCamp10 was the backchannel. Being that such enthusiastic live and virtual attendees were participating both in the live sessions and on the backchannel, it could be difficult and somewhat frustrating to wait your turn to ask a question or make a comment.
Enter . . . the backchannel. It was certainly a lively one, and definitely enhanced the education and value of my time at EventCamp.
The best thing about 140 characters? It’s the perfect size for a key takeaway. With so many people firing them out, the #EC10 tweetstream is truly an awesome supplement to the real deal.
Now down to business.
Following the opening keynote of EventCamp10 was a breakout, Creating Hybrid Events, lead by a panel consisting of Mike McCurry, Paul Salinger and Rob Swanwick.
A hybrid event is a face-to-face event that has at least one virtual component to it, be it a live web cast, participants contributing via a chat platform, Google Wave, etc. The message of the panelists was that if we are successful in engaging a virtual audience along with the face-to-face audience, hybrid events will complement the content and extend the reach of the event.
There are a lot of challenges, unexpected and expected, when trying to engage the virtual audience. In my own experiences attempting to participate in webinars/webcasts and virtual events, I’ve encountered several challenges myself:
- Poor internet connection leads to delay
- If the event takes place during business hours and I want to participate live, instead of watching the archive, it’s nearly impossible to dedicate adequate attention to the event.
- For me, there is just something about being there live that helps me to get more out of it. I’m not just talking networking, my ability to really digest what was covered is lacking.
This doesn’t mean that virtual should be counted out. It just means that everyday distractions and technical challenges create obstacles for virtual attendees. Also, the reasons why we went to EventCamp are because we understand that this technology is fairly new, constantly changing, and has room for improvement. We went there to bounce ideas, questions and experiences off of one another.
Key Takeaways
- Virtual component gives you the valuable opportunity to track and measure participation, usage and reach
- Publish the hashtag on event website and invitations – get the word out, AKA “seeding”
- Kevin Richardson (virtual attendee) said this best: @klrichardson key to hybrid event – work in virtual space prior to event. Seed & then sow. Compliment content for virtual audience #ec10
- Consider turning your website into an event platform temporarily, for a week around the event. What everyone really wants, the organizer(s), participants, speakers and sponsors is to talk to one another. Make it easy.
- Freemium versus premium. This can be a touchy subject. Maybe free for members, low rate for non-members? Look at your audience and evaluate their expectations and what you are confident you can deliver.
- Andy Lawson of Freeman said it a bit more eloquently: @freemanco_andy: Cost should match value when deciding on pricing for virtual. Expectation is the wildcard. Each attendee/customer values differently #ec10
- My thought – what about a relatively low fee, but if the attendees RT a promotional message with the hashtag and/or subscribe to your blog, give them free access?
- Dana Freker Doody (another virtual attendee) of The Expo Group had an interesting question – would the pay-if-you-want-to model work?
- @theexpogroup: @klrichardson Thx I optimistically believe members want to see their organizations/communities succeed & want to contribute (if value) #ec10
- Embrace the virtual audience, one way could be designating a facilitator/moderator for virtual attendees.
Whether or not you were able to attend virtually or in person, the tweetstream and the great blog posts popping up reinforce what we learned while offering things to contemplate and fresh insight.
I’m sure I missed some great information from this session, if you caught something I didn’t, please share it in the comments below!
Here is a photo of part of “blogger’s row” that I snagged from McCurry’s Corner.
Moment of genius? Or just trying to look like one? 
Paul Salinger and I sitting on "blogger's row"
Wow, you are good at this note-taking, summarizing and posting stuff! Especially thanks for the weighted scorecard as i was unable to see online.
I like this post because it deals in specifics. Usage of examples and opinions is well blended and it’s still a concise piece. Interesting ideas on the Freemium issue. My position is the content is the marketing material (or at least part of it) and not the final take away, which is the F2F networking and experiencing of the live event.
Nice work here.
@clintonbon
Hey Christina!
So, awesome post. I had so much fun interacting with all of my #eventprofs at one time…usually it’s just a handful of us attending (either virtual or remote) an event together with another small handful listening and watching.
I would add a couple of tips for a hybrid event:
1. Fostering a lively backchannel, as you saw, is a key way to keep attendees listening and in tune to the presentation content. If you can provide an entertaining dialogue that transforms an attendee to a participant, you can essentially keep them tuned in and less distracted by the business on their desk.
2. Speakers should be coached explicitly on how to interact with a virtual audience.
3. Request that remote participants turn off email alerts, ringers, etc. and treat it as if they were sitting in the room. If on a laptop, you might even suggest they move to a conference room or away from their desk so they really get a sense of being “at” an event.
I’m so happy you were able to make it to the event, obviously you had a wealthy of knowledge and energy to share with the community. We’ll have to set up scholarships for attendance at EC West Coast…Margaritas and Mariachis!! HAHA!!
Best,
Midori Connolly, Chief AVGirl
http://www.twitter.com/GreenA_V
Christina thank you so much for this post. I’m going to bookmark it for future reference. As you know, I was at this session but didn’t get the detail in my notes that you did. One more reason why I think you are absolutely BRILLIANT! I especially love how you include the great ideas that come to you AS you are taking all this down. Thanks again!
@theexpogroup/Dana – Really wish you could have attended, it was a truly valuable event for my education, professional development and just how I feel about life in general. Your comment about getting to see the weighted checklist (in the previous post) reminds me to go back and look at my notes from that session in particular – I’ll bet there were a few other slides that the virtual audience missed some details on and I’ll see what else I have to share.
@clintonbon – I’m so flattered by your comment! Thank you! Great to see you in NYC.
@midori – everyone speaks so highly of you in our community that I really feel as though I am missing out by not having met you F2F yet. I appreciate your input as well!! As far as EC West Coast, I’m crossing my fingers that winning a “scholarship” this year doesn’t disqualify me for that scholarship. Cali is expensive, but I’d be devastated if I had to miss it!
@Jenise – I’m so glad my notes/post are helpful to you. Thank you so much for your kind words and compliments, very flattering to hear these things from people I consider mentors. I hope to see you again sooner rather than later. PS – when is your interview with Emilie going to be posted? I can’t wait to see it!