After recently speaking with a pal, we discussed the use of online social tools for b2b purposes. I thought about the variety of conferences hosted by b2b trade associations, and how they could really offer more value to their visitors/companies. So one easy avenue I thought of was live video streaming, which Jeremiah and others online have discussed before; primary example being uStream, an established enabler and host of live video and community chat services.
So of course there have oft been conferences that have offered tapings/recordings usually for an extended fee. I’m betting live video streaming will become more common. The A/V production quality will be great, tied into an extended communication tech platform that forms part of the online visitor experience. I see a possible scenario as follows:
A company is able to send 3 employees to a conference, and decides to purchase 8 virtual seats. Two senior managers get all day/area passes; Two departmental managers get 10-session packages; Four various employees get 6-session packages.
Each session is live streamed and recorded for later viewing (within one week). Presentational Content (slides, notes, graphs, etc) is available in the session ‘room’ sometime after the session has concluded. Chat functionality and visitor profiles are available. After the week is up, custom DVDs can be created from selected sessions for a nominal amount. These will be processed/fulfilled by 3rd party providers (similar to Amazon’s CreateSpace).
I like the opportunity it presents for conferences to extend attendance and the reach of their content through breaking up the product into smaller pieces for people to try out. I won’t go into further possibilities of online chats, bulletin boards, career centers, sponsors’ booths etc, which is another subject of its own. Checking out the MarketingProfs virtual show back in June was cool enough as a great demo.
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What do you think of the implications and potential? Have you seen some interesting applications used thusfar by trade associations or conference hosts?