Events: e-Fashionably Late
The virtual networking possibilities of Web 2.0 can supplement the networking benefits of a real-world event, the scheduling of which will unlikely suit everybody. And it can give the event greater longevity in the minds of at least some of the participants.
Networking for commercial, career and/or social gain is perhaps the key reason individuals register for events. Nothing will replace the real-world face-to-face get-together for the sense of authentic connection with people of like mind.
However, events also serve other purposes, including forwarding an advocacy agenda, presenting latest research and intelligence, providing an opportunity for sharing best practices, and discussing and debating key issues affecting the target delegates.
When the conference is over and delegates have gone home, many event organisers traditionally compile the presentations and proceedings, print them in hard copy, and/or post them onto either the public or delegates-only zone of a static web page.
Unless the event organiser plans a follow-up show with the same themes, the insights and inspiration delegates may have gotten from a great conference unfailingly fade away.
A Web 2.0-enabled website, however, offers event organisers the opportunity to extend the virtual lifetime of their conferences and the mindshare of their (presumably important) themes.
Delegates (and those who couldn’t make it) can be given the opportunity to not only review the proceedings, but also comment, critique and contribute further insights.
Even a market-oriented event, such as an annual trade fair, where buyers and sellers along the industry value chain convene for a day or more of intense commercial networking, can through Web 2.0-enabled virtual booth spaces and a messaging system, become a 24/7/365 value proposition to delegates.
A good example of a Web 2.0-enabled events site is—appropriately, I guess—the Web 2.0 Summit, which has been taking place this week in San Francisco.
