Has Your Organization Previously Held a Virtual Event?
I’m heading out to Las Vegas this week to speak on “hybrid” events at IAEE’s Expo!Expo!. Just in time for that, we’ve finished a new survey on adoption of virtual events by associations. The preliminary headline is that adoption seems to have grown quite a bit since we surveyed in 2010.
Our previous surveys suggested that somewhere between 12 and 18 percent of respondents had previously held a virtual event (e.g., conference, tradeshow, member meeting – something more than just a Webinar or Webcast). For this latest round, in which 106 organizations participated, the figure is 38.4 percent.
So, adoption has more than doubled, or perhaps more than tripled, depending on which earlier figure you use.
This was not a statistical survey, so there is plenty of room for “selection error” – e.g., people who have done virtual events may self select into the survey more than those who haven’t. We did, however, make it clear in our promotion for the survey that we needed organizations that have not done virtual events to participate. The percentages may not be exact, but based on this data as well as a wealth of anecdotal evidence, it seems clear that virtual events are quickly evolving into a key component of the continuing education landscape.
Jeff
P.S. – If you would like to receive the summary data from the survey when we release it in the next week or so, be sure to sign up for the free Tagoras Research Community list. This is free, we don’t bombard you with e-mail, and it is a great way both to receive and contribute to ongoing research on continuing education and professional development trends.
