The recent economic downturn has turned many businesses upside down, and the travel-intensive business meeting market has been particularly hard-hit. We think this may be bad news for the hotels and travel operators in the long term, because as companies have had to cut costs, spending on extravagant travel was one of the first things to go. This has happened twice before in recent years, but this time there is a really viable alternative to the off-site meeting that we believe may bring a paradigm shift in the thinking of corporate communications and event planners. Since the last recession, the internet has grown to be a mature conversational communications medium, and we believe it will play a key if not defining role in the future of meetings. The internet is a powerful means of delivering information about any subject, cheaply and quickly.  In its initial form it was largely a one-way medium that delivered electronic “Brochure-ware.”  So is the model for most business meetings largely that of a really expensive one way communication. Presenters may take questions from the audience, but this is usually done at the end of the day, and is the one thing standing between everyone and lunch, dinner or cocktails. Audience response systems attempt rather lamely to allow an audience to respond to questions... which are prepared in advance, and which are invariably multiple choice questions.

The new web model is interactive, and demands the delivery of rich media.  Users are much more likely to watch a video or engage in chat about a subject than they are to read a press release, or a multi-page technical discussion on a topic.  The greatest weakness of business meeting formats is that they are largely one way communications tools. We have developed a new rich media tool, and an innovative delivery system... in multiple formats to bring the best parts of the meeting experience to your audience, and to add the benefits of total interactivity, the ability to reach your entire organization, globally, and to have a strong after use as a training tool. It embraces the conversational aspects of Social Media, with a robust presentation/video/print delivery component, and does it all in the Internet model of "Better, Faster, Cheaper." There are tools that do some of this, but we have uniquely combined the best of the web tools, with a Hollywood-polished origination model, and we support it all with our 30+ years of event production experience.

The 95%-5% Cost/Value Scenario

The cost to deliver in traditional broadcast channels, TV, Radio, Outdoor, and Print is right now about 95% of the cost of a media campaign. The other 5% is the cost of developing the content, and the traditional costs of developing and creating that content is expensive... the typical :30 second television spot will cost $100K-$300K to produce... to air that spot in American Idol will cost $632K for ONE airing of a :30 second spot. The economics of an offsite meeting work at about the same ratios. Meeting space, while probably more available now, has to be booked well in advance, and the larger the audience, the longer the lead time. An event then needs travel staff, hotel accommodations for the audience, airline flights, rental cars and other ground costs, meals, entertainment and handout materials. That does not yet address the cost of the AV services and crew for the event (although we do that very cost effectively), scenic, insurance, security, and all of the shipping costs all add up to explain very clearly why the corporate meeting budget is at the top of the "Places where we can save on Expenses" list. Of course the lost time in travel, onsite time for the audience, and the lost customers, while your best and brightest are singing Karaoke songs in the Icebar...

The delivery cost over the Internet is free. All of your employees already have computers. Rather than having your top sales people attend an event, our method brings your message to everyone... the best, and the worst (who might really benefit from some training and motivation). We bring the meeting to them, at their desks, and they can go buy their own drinks afterward. The production costs of the meeting are lower. We will register your users online and deliver all materials electronically. We will work with you to prepare your presentations, and coach you as we would otherwise. But the meeting schedule is not determined by the cost of keeping people in a five-star hotel, and we can change the schedule if a business priority demands it. Better, Faster, Cheaper

The Event Will Truly be Interactive

We always feel obliged to allow time in our off-site events for questions from the audience. Sometimes we put microphones in the room. Some clients prefer to collect questions in advance and select the ones they would most prefer to answer... and questions that are turned in before the presenters actually speak do not have much chance of being relevant. In an attempt to increase the interactivity in an event, a growing trend was the Audience Response System... the little keypads that allow an audience to respond to multiple choice questions. The problem with this approach is when you really think about it, how often is the answer to a question ever really "B"? And "E"... which is often "none of the above"... is really the correct answer, although research has shown that people are uncomfortable answering "none of the above" because they believe it paints them as indecisive, and so they choose the nearest incorrect answer. So we are collecting incorrect data, from people who figured their answers were close enough and that the questions were stupid anyway. Thinking about it a bit more, if we or "the Writer" are thinking of the questions, then they reflect our viewpoints, our beliefs, and in that we are most often really conducting a quiz than asking valuable thought provoking questions... thus we are more than likely asking questions that we already think we know the answers to. Oh, and we invariably lose some of the keypads which ads more to the cost of the event.

We find that when asked a question, our first response is to ask several questions ourselves, either to better allow us to understand the question and to therefore answer in a meaningful way, or because in many cases the answer to a question, is another question. Our system involves every audience member by bringing a live chat room to the process. The events site will be online before the event, as will the chat room. The questions that our clients want to ask will be on the site before the meeting begins, so that the audience can read them, and begin to think about their responses at more length than the 20 seconds that are available while keypads are "open for voting." The audience can and will submit their own questions in advance of the meetings, and our presenters will be able to take those questions into account in designing their messages. We suggest that besides taking questions during the event, the participants continue to take questions in the chat room for an hour or two after the event concludes.

A Model Designed to Foster Conversations, and to Schedule Meeting Events in a Way to Make Them Most Productive

Do we really believe that our audience can learn everything there is to know about the President's "Vision of the Future", the Operations Plan on "How We Are Going to Improve Customer Service", the six or seven new and totally innovative products, the "Financial Outlook and How We Will Make it Through these Tough Times", "How to Use the New CRM software package", the New Drive-Thru and the Marketing Plan to drive transactions in a day, or maybe even two days (with a few workshops thrown in...)? Really? Or does that seem like a sensible schedule for a company that has 1200 people staying in Hotel Rooms, and a crew of 41 people in the ballroom and a travel staff of 34, all onsite, all wondering what the next meal will be? People communicate and learn better when engaging single topics; they can focus on that topic and explore solutions to it together, often achieving significant results through those efforts.

Our meeting project is designed around one hour sessions. The first session, or the video posted to introduce the concept should be a message from the President acknowledging the shared disappointment that the team will not be going to Maui again this year... but that the savings will prevent that second round of layoffs. Subsequent sessions can utilize a talk-show format, an infomercial format, a leader-led session with a hands-on software simulation, a visually supported speech, with the audience getting their own interactive version of the speech to follow along with, which may take them to a product or support site, show them tools, install an app for them, or help walk them through new online order forms or tools. Marketing can show their new clips... both the TV ads and the viral video targeted specifically at the internet audience, we have an awards/recognition module, and after these webinars run, they are online forever... for new hires, anyone who missed them, or anyone who wants to hear the message and use the help programs again. By addressing one issue at a time, your team can get better results, and do so without radically neglecting the normal demands of your business.

These are not regular teleconferences. No one will have to go to a local theatre to watch the broadcast, or have to go to a specially equipped teleconference room to participate. This is an interactive experience they get at their desk. No one gets to travel, and stay in a hotel. But at the same time, no one HAS to travel and stay in a hotel. The production auspices for this technology can be either our existing studio, or we can put together a low cost system to live for the duration at headquarters. The system is multi-camera so it has a very professional look, and we have a whole variety of tricks to impart a real "event feel" to the process, while requiring only a tiny support crew, and providing availability for rehearsals, and last minute program changes. The executive support we will provide is as good or better than you have ever had, and you are keeping the lines of communications open. All of the meeting tools are there, online registration, content specific attachments and support materials. We can even conduct online testing to verify that employees have used the program... for compliance and certification of HR, legal and safety initiatives. The nature of the online chat-based experience has the advantage of bringing a social media experience to the meeting experience, and gets them more used to using these tools to engage in online discussions.

The Biggest Concern We Have Heard in Discussing this with Executives and Presenters has nothing to do with the Meeting Format

Consensus was that this was a much better learning and meeting model for most applications. The universal concern was that everyone we talked to thought there was really more value in the conversations that occurred outside of the meeting rooms at the social events. They in fact welcome the change in the meeting content structure and loved the idea of making their "broadcasts" into conversations. The good news is that everyone is out of the meeting rooms already, and one of the sessions available to you is a Social Media Training Course. This course brings industry experts together to extol the virtues of social media, but does so in a framework of how it will work for your specific organization. A follow-up session is a "how-to", detailing strategies for use, and best practices.

We are not suggesting that this format would replace all other types of meeting experiences. Trade shows will continue to be the best way to see and compare new products, and great ways to engage with potential customers. For fundraising events, banquets, auctions and fashion shows will continue to be the vehicles of choice, and they are valuable because they are social events, in which people have gotten together in order to network or to show their support for a cause. Real working sessions will not be replaced electronically, nor will events intended to motivate an audience through social involvement. However many of the sessions where the room lights are out and the presenters are talking to rather than with the audience can be improved and made more cost effective with our electronic solution. Now for those organizations that really want to have a junket... have one. But do this too. Do this for the rank and file, and the money you save... and the money you make on their increased effectiveness will pay for all that better a junket. We can help you with that junket by the way... Site Selection and negotiation, guest speakers and the required amount of business sessions to make it a qualifying business event, as well as the entertainment, golf tournament and spouses' program.