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8/2/2019 MPI Value of Virtual Research Study
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8/2/2019 MPI Value of Virtual Research Study
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mpiweb.org 69
The role of virtual meetings is evolving. Previously perceived by
many industry professionals as one-off event experiments, they
now seek entry into strategically managed meetings portfolios.
And, according to new research from the MPI Foundation and
Maxvantage, some organizations are managing hundreds of vir-
tual meetings each year.
But the virtual event is still in its infancy; its a child of the
new millennium. And most organizations are still trying to un-
derstand just exactly what a virtual event is.
!The researcha combination of online survey and qualita-
tive interviewsshows that industry professionals agree in prin-
ciple on the definition of a virtual meeting, but the details of each
event are variable. There are eight major virtual event formats,
each with six or more vendors. And the planning, execution and
benefits of each format are unique such that switching vendors
requires a learning curve for all stakeholders. Virtual meeting
technologies continue to expand and can now even capture con-
tent and track participant data in ways live events cant.
Anecdotal data shows that travel budgets are still driving the
adoption of virtual meetings. In several interviews for this very
report, meeting professionals reported that their internal clients
had the necessary budgets to hold meetings, but their target del-
egates didnt have the travel budget to attend. Virtual meetings
programs allowed these groups to continue to meet.
But virtual meetings wont just be emergency budget stopgaps
for long. Organizations are beginning to add virtual meetings
to their core business processes. IBM, for example, has tied its
virtual platform into its lead management system and post-event
lead follow-up procedures. As a result, it knows how much
revenue its virtual event center generates.
As the industry continues to experiment and develop more
experience with virtual meetings, event professionals will find
new and innovative opportunities to use this format to deliver
business value and accelerate the pace of commerce.
Feb Feature_Virtual Meetings.indd 69 1/19/12 12:08 PM
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!"#$%&'(&')*VIRTUAL MEETINGS OVERVIEW
1. Meeting professionals lack a standard definition for virtual meetings. More
than 75 percent of respondents didnt think their organizations had astandard definition or policy for virtual meetings.
2. There are many technology formats for executing virtual meetings. The
virtual meeting technology marketplace offers eight types of technology
solutions, each one offering a different virtual experiencewhich means
there are multiple answers to how a virtual meeting works.
3. Of these, online meetings and videoconferencing are the most popular
formats. More than 90 percent of meeting planners prefer online meetings
and videoconferencing systems, and 70 percent said they would
recommend online meetings as a virtual event platform.
4. Organizations make virtual meetings shorter than others, because of
limited networking opportunities. Meeting planners are convinced that
virtual meetings were not suitable for networking.
STRATEGIC VIRTUAL PROGRAMS
5. There is no one-size-fits-all virtual meetings approach. Organizations take
different approaches to managing their virtual meetings strategies. Some
offer 2-D virtual worlds, others online meetings or online-video conference
combos. The scope depends on organizational needs, resources, maturity of
process and internal staff capabilities.
6. Meeting departments help drive the adoption of technology. In some
organizations, meeting departments wrap good event processes (objective
setting, planning, speaker training, measuring) and consulting around
technology to drive adoption and format success.
7. Meeting professionals recommend virtual meetings. Three-fifths (61
percent) of respondents recommend virtual meetings in place of face-to-
face meetings, most often when travel budgets interfered with a meeting.One organization enacted a default virtual meetings policy; face-to-face
meetings occurred on a case-by-business-case basis.
8. Success in virtual meetings depends on internal support and integration.
Meeting professionals know what helped them start their virtual meetings
strategies. Leadership support, setting up an internal support team and
integrating with other business processes helped adoption.
9. Key barriers include user adoption and technology and organizational
challenges. Technology and perception of technology challenges from
skeptics put virtual meetings teams on defense early. And many meeting
professionals say that success requires strong cross-functional partnerships
among their meetings, travel, learning and development and IT
departments.
STRATEGIC SOURCING
10. Organizations are strategic sourcing, but dont know why. Some
organizations have strategic sourcing in place for virtual meetings, but lack
a definition for virtual meetings or formal virtual meetings policies.
11. IT leads purchasing decisions. IT traditionally sources virtual events
technology and manages procurement. In some cases, first-wave virtual
arrived via IT to combat early adopters who were sampling technologies by
trial and error.
12. Cost savings were the primary incentive for virtual meeting adoption.
Given the current economic climate, cost savings were a huge driver for
virtual meeting adoption. In some cases, organizations have meetings
budgets, but no travel budgets.
13. Virtual meetings offer more than just cost savings. While cost savings areimportant, organizations also use virtual meetings to reduce out-of-office
VIRTUAL MEETINGS TOOLSVisit www.mpiweb.org/research to read
The Strategic Value of Virtual Meetings
and Eventsresearch paper, which is ac-
companied by an in-depth how-to guide
that demonstrates how planners can
establish virtual events strategies. Also,read through a concise lessons learned
paper for quick-hit tips.
VIRTUAL PLATFORMSMeeting professionals consider the following formats as
virtual meetings.
VIRTUAL OR FACE-TO-FACE?Heres where meeting professionals fell in the virtual
vs. face-to-face question.
Networking
Sensitive issues
Incentives
Celebrations
Client meetings
Team building
Company
updates
Product updates
Internal meetings
Project meetings
Daily meetings
Staff meetings
Recruitmentmeetings
Updates for fieldsales or regionaloffices
Most virtual platformshave limited network-ing capabilities.
These issues are bestdiscussed in person.
Strength of responsedepended on industry.
Simulation workshopexercises must bedone in-person.
One-way presenta-tions can be made oncorporate TV, web-casts or other formats.
Meeting Purpose In-Person Virtual Notes
Feb Feature_Virtual Meetings.indd 70 1/19/12 12:04 PM
8/2/2019 MPI Value of Virtual Research Study
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JENISEFRYATT;ROSAGARRIGA;R
UUDJANSSEN,CMM;RICHARDJO
HN;
a
ndSAMUELJ.SMITHconstituteT
heStrategicValueofVirtualMeetings
andEventsresearchteam.
time,diminishdemandonexecutivesandbackuplast-
minu
temeetings.Formarketing,organizationsusevirtual
meetingstomoveprospectsthrou
ghthesalespipeline.
PEOPLE
14.Virtu
almeetingscreateanewvoca
bularyformeeting
plann
ers.Thevirtualmeetingsvocabularyisfullofwords:
semi-live,bandwidth,player,synchronous,asynchronous,
switcherandstreaming.Virtualm
eetingplannersdont
have
tobetechexperts;theyjustneedtofeelcomfortable
arou
ndtechnologyanditslanguage.
15.Virtu
almeetingplannersaremore
content-focusedthan
their
peers.Contentdeliveryforvirtualmeetingsismuch
differentthanface-to-faceevents,
andsoplannerstendto
getm
oreinvolvedintheformer,includingvirtualspeakers,
presentations,contentrecordinga
ndrepurposing,
mod
erationandcuration.
16.Virtu
almeetingplannersneedgoo
dorganizationaland
custo
merservicesskillsandafearl
essviewoftechnology.
Resp
ondentsagreethatvirtualpla
nnersneedtobe
comfortablewithtechnology,but
noneofthemthought
plannersneededtobetechnology
experts.
17.Therearefewresourcesfordevelo
pingvirtualmeeting
plann
ers.Asorganizationsstaffupandscaleuptheir
virtu
almeetingsstrategies,theyarehavingproblemsfinding
qualifiedpeople.Mostplannersgettheirknowledgefrom
attendingvirtualmeeting
s,talkingwithotherplannersand
trainingwithtechnology
suppliers.
MEASUREMENT
18.Thewealthofdatainvirtualplatformsisunder-utilized.
Whilevirtualplatformsp
rovidedetaileddelegate-level
data,mostorganizations
onlyusebasicreportingand
measurementcapabilities.
19.Virtualmeetingscansegm
entanaudienceintoaunitofone
person.Sophisticatedvirtualmeetingsplannerssegment
datatotheindividuallev
el,comparedwithmostface-to-
faceplannerswholooka
tdatainaggregate.Some
companiesusetheformerforleadnurturingandeducation.
20.Performancemetricshelp
virtualmeetingplannersasse
ss
success.Inmuchthesam
ewaythatsportsusemetrics
to
assessathleteperformanc
e,measurements(registeredv
ersus
attended,repeatversusn
ew,percentin-platformtime
versustotalcontentavailable)helpsophisticatedplanners
calculateperformancean
didentifyopportunitiesfor
improvement.
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!()&$"#*+
",-./,01234,5.6.780,19.,5.78:1:.0,;0,>;:->,6:51278?,