I am stating the obvious, I know, but 2009 will be a rough year for the face-to-face events business, which includes everything from trade shows to custom events and conferences.  I have been hearing about cut backs and cancellations from colleagues for months, and then saw a cover story in the New York Times about the decline in business in Las Vegas, arguably the convention and conference capital of the US.  Over 30,000 hotel rooms canceled last month as many shows have postponed or decided to cancel.  At last month’s Super Bowl, the famous Playboy party was canceled.  Sources said a lavish party seemed inappropriate given the economy, but I would wager that the only thing that was inappropriate was the lack of sponsor dollars to fund it.

The costs associated with live events makes them easy to cancel during a recession and that is really too bad.  Live events are one of the best lead generation tools available and they do an equally great job for customer retention.  The powers of events are enhanced when they are paired with original and compelling content created for the target audience.  But all these benefits come with a high cost per lead (CPL) due to the fixed costs of running a first-class event.  While there is no substitute for personal contact with a prospect or customer, there is another way.

Webcasting has been around for over ten years now and is an established lead-gen tool widely used in the B2B world.  And webcasting doesn’t have to be flat and static:  many companies are taking advantage of the platform to create informative, educational events—known as virtual shows or virtual trade shows—that directly engage potential customers. Now, thanks to the dire straits of our economy, these shows are further gaining in popularity.

If you are not familiar with virtual shows, Wikipedia offers a helpful overview:

The structure of a typical virtual tradeshow often includes a virtual exhibit hall which users enter with specific permissions and capabilities, to either attend and view virtual trade show displays in the exhibit hall or build virtual booths to exhibit information related to products or services on offer, just as they would at a trade fair in a convention center. The virtual tradeshow may have other components such as a virtual web conference, or a web seminar or a webinar, or other educational presentations. The virtual show thus results in live interaction between all the users on many levels (one-to-one, one-to-many and many-to-many) and simultaneously. Detailed tracking mechanisms allow organizers to determine the flow of traffic in the virtual tradeshow.

And though a virtual show may not allow for the same personal contact of a physical event, they are invaluable in other lead-generating ways.  Because all work is online, your company (the event host) can aggregate incredible data on the visitors and the actions they take during the show.

With this essential information, you can now segment and score your leads before you feed them into your lead nurturing programs. You have a clear sense of their habits, needs, and interests, and this information allows you to create sales interactions that are relevant and valuable.  The virtual show also allows sales people can interact with prospects online during the show.

ON24 (full disclosure:  my company King Fish Media is an authorized reseller) is one of several companies that provide a virtual show platform and they just did some interesting research on the growth of virtual shows.  They surveyed 10,000 enterprise executives, and those surveyed reported that 53% of their companies have begun using virtual events and 23% plan to start using them this year.  The majority of these companies are also reporting that they will be decreasing their use of trade shows and physical sales meetings and training events.  In particular, virtual shows are reaching a critical mass in the technology and life sciences markets.

I can’t imagine there’s a company out there that isn’t struggling with its live event strategy right now, and it is the perfect time to explore the value of a virtual event.  It is important to understand that a virtual event isn’t without its own headaches:  it is a large undertaking with project management, selection of a platform, content creation and audience development all playing a big role in your plans.  However, the rewards will be worth it when you start filling your sales pipeline with very warm leads at a lower CPL than a live event.