Live or virtual: analyst events

2009 was a busy year for us here at Schnitger Corp. I attended a number of analyst events, some live and some virtual. SageCircle, “an advisory resource that delivers AR strategic planning” published a piece during the break that predict that vendors’ analyst relations teams will be planning more virtual events in 2010 because of their lower cost and broader reach. SageCircle also listed a lower carbon footprint and the ability to record the proceedings as benefits; the first is important but is really only a PR benefit right now while the second is possible in physical meetings, so I don’t really count either as true advantages over physical meetings. SageCircle says that many analysts expressed dissatisfaction with virtual meetings because of technology glitches and that increased AR expertise and improved technology will lead to more widespread use in 2010 and 2011. You didn’t ask, but before the AR teams that read this blog spend a great deal of money one way or the other, let me chime in with an opinion. Yes, virtual events are undeniably cheaper to stage. BUT you get a fraction of the attention of a face-to-face meeting; you cannot see the facial expressions and body language that indicate disbelief or displeasure that someone might never articulate over a telephone line; you cannot nurture a personal relationship with the one-to-many interactions in a virtual event; and, perhaps most important, you miss the sidebar conversations over lunch or at the elevator that often lead to the most interesting insights. After all, analysts are not journalists. We are paid to analyze, offer opinions, criticize, consider long-term and competitive implications, help plan. That’s hard to do in a crowd and even harder to do when in the artificial atmosphere of a web meeting, even with exceptional technology and facilitation. I prefer to have at least one physical meeting every so often, balanced with virtual updates. At the face-to-face meeting, lay out longer-term strategy, ask for opinions on those things that can still be changed. Also tell me why what you’re telling me matters to your customers. Then reinforce this with periodic virtual updates that focus on short-term product releases, tactical moves and competitive responses. The best of all worlds, for me, mixes the personal and virtual.