virtual conference technologyIntel has chosen virtual conference technology to power its high profile corporate event – Global Sales Conference that links thousands of sales and marketing executives from 15 time zones. This is the first time the semiconductor market leader has launched international training event on this scale through this new medium using new technology.

Intel used the WebEx system to organize 5000 participants into nearly 276 virtual sessions. Virtual event logistics has been managed by Boyer Communications Group. A recent market forecast Virtual Conference & Trade Show Market Forecast 2010-2015 explosive growth in all segments of this emerging virtual event market. Intel’s event is a classic case study of the current virtual conference market state:

  • it’s corporate event
  • it’s powered by tested web conferencing software provided under SaaS (Software as a Service) model
  • Boyer Communications Group, a consulting company, bridges the gap between new technology and end user

Actually Intel is not a novice in using virtual event technology. Linden Lab’s blog describes the following case study:

When Intel’s bi-annual Embedded Channel Conference (ECC) was canceled, the conference organizers sought a less expensive means to deliver the same content and level of interaction to 150 employees and business partners. Encouraged by the work other groups at Intel were already conducting in Second Life, ECC organizers unanimously decided to execute their conference in the virtual world. The virtual ECC conference (vECC) saved Intel $265,000 of the $300,000 budget for the real world event that they cancelled–not including saved travel expenses. The vECC was executed the pilot event using The Immersive Workspaces™ solution by Rivers Run Red, a virtual world meeting and collaboration product developed exclusively for Linden Lab – for both Second Life and private networks that hosted numerous keynote presentations, live product demos, and social networking.

Virtual event market, driven now by mostly corporate events, is slowly moving to main stream – traditional conference and trade show market.