Authored by Joanne Rigby, Marketing Director, Asia Pacific

HONG KONG, Nov. 24 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- According to the findings of Frost & Sullivan 2009 unified communications user behaviour study, in which a total of 370 CIOs and IT managers were interviewed for their views on technology investments were gathered, nearly 35% of respondents indicated an interest to deploy on-premise and hosted web conferencing solutions.

Recession, travel restrictions and seriously time-crunched workforces. Under these circumstances, it's not hard to see what's driving the rapid growth of the virtual events and meetings in the market.

With constant pressure to reduce cost per lead and maximise reach and ROI, virtual event is the answer to marketers' search for an innovative way to increase conversion rate. It is a perfect alternative to either replace or complement a physical event, and serves as a cost effective medium to complement the marketing mix.

Physical vs. Online

Well before the onset of the current economic downturn, companies were already looking for interactive alternatives to the traditional way of hosting conferences and seminars. The key reasons are convenience and cost, which saw the promotion of web-based events as a viable option.

Virtual events are multi-faceted, highly interactive and user friendly. Depending on your requirements, virtual events can also be designed to look and feel remarkably like their physical counterparts, while delivering the same knowledge-sharing and personal interactions.

Benefits of Virtual Events

When properly executed, the benefits of virtual events can be enjoyed by everyone who is involved in coordinating, managing and attending the event. First, let's consider the benefits that virtual events bring to participants and speakers:

-- There is a lot of flexibility for the presenters or speakers to manage their schedules as their 'physical' presence is not required at the event

-- For participants, not having to travel to attend the event represents huge savings not only in time but also in terms of productivity, travel and accommodation

-- Speakers have full control over the flow of entire online presentation and questions asked during Q&A

-- More C-level executives will be able to attend because they have the luxury of popping in for a couple hours

-- The headaches and frustration, as well as the productivity losses of physical meetings are bypassed with virtual events, while affording audiences the opportunity to learn and network from the comfort of their desks

-- Virtual events can be recorded by both participants and speakers to build a library of future references

-- Participants can share documents, edit them in real time while chatting with other attendees. They can then exchange e-cards with one another and view corporate and professional profiles while, virtually, being present at the event

Other job functions such as Event Management, Marketing and Public Relations can also reap the benefits of virtual events. Here's why:

Event Management

-- Cost-effective and time-efficient alternative to running a physical event

-- Eliminate logistical hassle of organising a physical event, resulting in faster deployment time

-- Wide reach to geographically dispersed target audiences

-- Run in conjunction to physical events by using online events as pre- event teasers to promote physical event and help sell delegate tickets, or as post-event follow up sessions based on delegates' areas of interests

Marketing

-- Excellent lead generating tool with low costs and effective reach, resulting in higher marketing ROI on reduced budgets

-- Supports existing marketing initiatives by integrating online event as part of a multi-channel integrated marketing approach

-- An effective platform to keep the consumer lifecycle alive and kicking - from awareness to acquisition and from retention to growth

-- Able to obtain instant feedback using real-time interactive features like polling and Q&A to improve other marketing events in the future

Public Relations

-- An effective alternative to running physical press conferences and announcements to media, clients, analyst, investors & stakeholders

-- Ideal for crisis communication when needing to reach a target audience quickly and effectively

-- Ideal for damage control exercise when needing a fast, flexible and easy-to-use communication tool

-- Run in conjunction to physical PR events by using online events as pre- event preview or as post-event follow up on queries

The cost savings and convenience benefits that a virtual meeting or event offers is something that today's Marketing, Public Relations and Events professionals should consider when they are faced with limited budget and reduced travel requirements but need to bring together a group of people around a specific topic.

Today, the marketing data that comes from a virtual event is the richest available. Everything the attendee does can be tracked, and since there is so much to do, see and say at a virtual event, the depth of the marketing data is much greater than any other marketing vehicles that are currently available.

Want to know more? A Frost & Sullivan Market Snapshot on how virtual event are beginning to take center stage in Asia Pacific is probably the answer to your burning questions. For more information, please click http://www.premierewebinars.com/WebinarDetail.aspx?WebinarID=87

Notes to Editors:

"Exploring and understanding the benefits of virtual events" is the first series of Premiere Global Services' two-part byline articles on virtual events.

Joanne Rigby is the Asia Pacific Marketing Director at Premiere Global Services. She is responsible for driving Premiere's marketing strategies across Premiere's full communications offering throughout the Asia Pacific region.

    Media contact:

     Sandy Yu
     Premiere Global Services
     Tel:     +852-2299-9018
     Email:   sandy.yu@premiereglobal.com.hk
     Website: http://www.premiereglobal.com.hk

SOURCE Premiere Global Services

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