I’ll be perfectly honest with you, there is very little data available about online events hurting or helping face to face attendance. I get asked this question all the time and, based on the anecdotal evidence I’ve seen, it seems like virtual events either have either no impact or a positive impact on face to face attendance. Here are a few things to consider:
- If your company’s travel budget has been restricted and you can no longer travel to the annual *whatever* event, you simply can’t go. Period. This is still a reality, even as we pull out of the recession.
- To the participants, virtual events still don’t demonstrate an equivalent value to a face to face event. They come darn close if you really invest yourself, but if you’re authorized to travel, chances are you’re going to rather than sit in front of the computer.
To sum up those two points: if you can go, you will; if you can’t go, you hope there is an online alternative.
Looking for further evidence, I decided to ask both my Twitter and LinkedIn network what they all thought. Silence on twitter, as expected of a complex question. LinkedIn had some insight to share, however. Here are a few highlights:
