online Michael Doyle

On the Air With virtual emcee Emilie Barta, APWA’s online audience was made to feel a part of things during its 2012 exposition.

annual meetings, “clearly, there’s a huge number of our membership that isn’t able to attend the conferences and get this training for whatever reason,” said Patrick Andrus, ASHE’s director of business development. “So we wanted to try a hybrid and see what kind of feedback we’d get.” Andrus was pleased with the two

hybrid launches’ online participation. Approximately 250 unique remote attendees logged on to ASHE’s PDC Summit and its Annual Conference — and were willing to spend the better part of a day in front of their computers to engage with the programs. Meanwhile, on the show floor,

ASHE’s ambitious 40' x 40' booth — intended primarily to stream original content to online partici- pants — became a magnet for in-person attendees. “We held what we called

‘Continuing the Conversation’ ses- sions,” Andrus said, “where we had plenary-session speakers and keynote speakers present. We specifically used our higher-level speakers, and set spe- cific times for the booth presentations. We promoted them during their key sessions and through signage around the show floor. It was really fantastic, because it was a benefit for the on-site attendees and a draw for the online attendees as well.”

46 PCMA CONVENE DECEMBER 2012

ASHE also used three other areas of

its booth space to launch new products, hold focus groups, house an Internet zone, and conduct a “Meet the Can- didates” program for board elections. ASHE previously had not had its own booth at its events. Exhibitors noticed that it was a draw for attendees, and are now clamoring to be near or a part of it, opening up sponsorship-package opportunities for next year’s events. While online participation was

complimentary this year, the high scores that remote attendees gave ASHE’s PDC Summit in their evalua- tions make the idea of offering future online attendance options for a fee seem viable. Ninety-two percent of remote attendees found the virtual experience “beneficial” to their work; 32 percent reported that they’re more likely to attend in person next year as a result; and 97 percent said they would recommend a virtual ASHE experience to others. One more telling statistic provides further evidence that hybrid events do not cannibalize an existing attendee base: Fifty-seven percent of online participants had never attended an ASHE event in person.

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Michael Doyle is executive director of the Virtual Edge Institute. He can be reached at mdoyle@virtualedge.org.

BREAKOUT

Virtually Better ASHE’s own booth at its annual

meetings — where it housed a studio to stream live interviews to an online audience — was an unexpected magnet for in-person attendees. That model can work for most associations, said The Expo Group’s Dana Freker Doody.

“The more ownership the event organizers take of that space,” she said, “and the more they can create [a] ‘town-hall’ atmosphere on the show floor, the more benefits they’re seeing.”

Sometimes an association might need help branding its organization. “Using a space like this as their booth and their hub of activity is a great way to do that,” Freker Doody said. “One association was thrilled because they usually sign up five to 10 new members at their booth in any given year, but with the addition of the theater and virtual studio, they ended up getting 40 new memberships.”

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› Watch virtual emcee Emilie Barta’s on-site interview of APWA’s new president at convn.org/APWA-virtual. › For video highlights of ASHE’s Annual Conference, visit convn.org/ASHE-video.

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