I have fielded dozens of calls in the past couple of months on how to better design a digital event. Note, I use the word digital and not virtual. Something about virtual invokes avatars and a Minecraft-type environment to me and I can't take that seriously. Digital events are events that take place on-line. They are the next-gen webinar and they can be awesome! Why? Because geography isn't an issue, cost is mitigated as a barrier to entry and they only require that the gues

Lately, along with many others, I have been thinking a lot about engagement tactics that could work for virtual events. However, another question hit like a ton of bricks. How on earth are we going to capture the attention of virtual event attendees to even employ a great engagement tactic? Most event organizers are used to a captive audience all together at a "traveled-to" location for a period of one to many more days. When I think about this from the perspective of me, Ni

For much of my career, I have worked for B2B event organizers and publishers in a variety of industries from spa and beauty to software and event production. In almost every organization post-2009, an Events-First strategy was one we were encouraged to embrace. I witnessed the decline of print publications, shifts to digital content and inclusion of webinars and podcasts to product mixes. I loved watching the surge of events, large and small. I participated in senior strategi