Update 12/22/2009: I uploaded a PDF of tweets containing the #FAiC09 hashtag, as they’re no longer available on the Twitter search site. Paragraphs below were updated.
Update 12/21/2009: Here’s an article from Davis Janowski at InvestmentNews discussing online conferences; No fuss, no muss, but forget about freebies. He highlights the Forbes iConference series among other events.
I attended the Forbes Advisor iConference Building a Rebound-Ready Game Plan on Wednesday of this week. I believe this is the second 100% web-based conference put on by Forbes. Note that InvestmentNews also recently held a 100% online event covering ETFs, but I don’t currently manage investments, so I skipped the event.
If you missed the event, replays are available for 90 days after the iConference. This FPPad post has details on how FPA members can attend for free.
Here’s my feedback on the Forbes event.
Format
Attending the iConference was easy; fire up an approved web browser (Internet Explorer 6 or higher or Firefox versions prior to 3.5), log in, and the iConference was underway. There were three main areas of the iConference:
- Presentation Area
- Networking Lounge
- Exhibit Hall
Navigating the Presentation Area was easy, and attending a live event was as easy as clicking the Attend button. This fired up a separate window that contained the presentation content.
There were two types of presentations that I attended. One type featured pre-recorded video of a Q&A session (e.g. the Steve Forbes keynote address) or a pre-recorded presentation (e.g. André Guillemin’s Mobile Technology presentation). The second type featured audio only presentations, typically of panel disucssions, accompanied by slides in the main window.
Both types of presentations were followed by a live Q&A session where questions submitted by attendees were addressed by the presenters. While I suspect many of the presentations were recorded, these Q&A sessions were live, as quite a few of the questions I submitted that day were read out loud word-for-word.
The Networking Lounge was essentially a chat room where all attendees could interact with one another. There’s nothing special to report here, but I never figured out how I could see who was logged in to the chat room. It was a crap shoot that someone would reply to questions or statements posted in the Networking Lounge (though Forbes staff members were always present to provide feedback).
Lastly, the Exhibit Hall featured virtual exhibit booths from vendors and sponsors. All booths featured a chat window, and here I could see the staff running the booth as well as the guests attending the booth. Some booths featured short video presentations about the company or organization, and electronic handouts and materials were available from most exhibitors.
Overall the iConference event was pretty much conducted just like live conferences, and I was impressed with how smoothly everything ran for me. I know other attendees encountered audio, video, and other technical issues, but I didn’t experience any problems throughout the entire day.
Format score: 10 out of 10
Content
The theme of this week’s iConference was Building a Rebound-Ready Game Plan, but it very loosely tied in the content from the presentations. So while I learned some new information, I don’t feel the iConference sets up attendees with a solid game plan to navigate the rebound.
I ended up posting much of the interesting content from the iConference on Twitter using the hashtag #FAiC09.
Click here to see search results of #FAiC09 tweets (PDF).
(So I fudged the formatting to make these search results look halfway decent when printing to a PDF file. Does anyone have tips on how to print more attractive search results from Twitter?)
Again, the content seemed recycled from other events and didn’t seem strongly tied with the game plan theme, so I’m scoring this a little lower.
Content: 6 out of 10
Execution
Again, the iConference ran without any technical difficulties for me, the questions I submitted were addressed, and the content was compelling enough for me to attend nearly the entire day.
Add in the fact that I didn’t have to travel, book a hotel room, or take a substantial amount of time away from my business, and the iConference model is a very attractive medium for the delivery of continuing education and professional development.
Execution: 10 out of 10
Summary
So with a total overall subjective score of 26 out of 30, you can see that I’m impressed with the concept of a virtual conference and pleased with the effort put forth by Forbes to conduct the event.
I really do believe that we’ll see an increase in popularity and availability of virtual events that stretch beyond the standard one hour webinar that are so prominent today. Don’t get me wrong: short webinars won’t go away, but combining the webinars into larger events with networking and exhibitor opportunities at low or no cost is very appealing.
