I didn't know this was going to be virtual events week, or I'd have posted a warning. But to wrap up previous posts on Tuesday and Wednesday, here are some more thoughts.

In terms of evolving the virtual event model, one part of the challenge is to free the imagination of the architects or directors of events who, inevitably, are very often looking through the prism of a traditional events background. Not surprisingly, people stick to what they know. They also need to migrate audiences who genuinely enjoy the comfort of familiar event formats. So it makes sense to use traditional event paradigms to engage them.

In these circumstances it is understandable why most virtual events start life by mirroring the trusted formats of physical events.

Interesting then to read this post - The Future of Virtual Conferences - which expresses a similar desire to find the Holy Grail of virtual events - it is from Gerd de Bruycker, one of the central marketing team at Microsoft. Now Gerd, really does know about running big successful events, but in his post he is quite open about still searching for the formula for success in virtual events.

To speed up that search, Gerd started to list a few ideas for the elements of a great virtual event. Take a look - what would you add?

Perhaps what is needed is a non-tech, risk taking brand (a Red Bull or a Virgin?) to push the current models forwards. They would be free of legacy thinking; could push the amazing technologies we have available today to the limit of their capabilities; take some risks around interactivity to better engage youthful digital native audiences; and liberate the rich content that originates within events, through more compelling user experiences.

To evolve the current model, boundaries need to be broken.

Perhaps examples already exist?

If you know of examples, point me to them.

Tags: virtual events, Gerd de Brucker, Microsoft