Moving online:
BD Metrics’
exhibitor videos
Untold brainpower is
being exerted these days trying to figure out how companies can
capitalize on the online video revolution, and that includes the
best and brightest in the meetings industry. It’s tricky, because
the video world is so awash in distractions (skateboarding dog,
anyone?).
Still, last summer, three different
companies quietly launched video sites for planners, confident that
rich media content will become as integral to planning as photos on
the web are today. MeetingsTelevision.com (a product of Chicago-based
OnSite Events Inc.) and StarCite.tv (from the eponymous Philadelphia-based
meetings company) are platforms for venues to show off videos or
virtual tours of their facilities. Each site has interactive
elements -- blogs, forums, ways to contact sales reps -- but so
far, the sites have been one-way conversations. Executives at both
companies claim low early usage -- 100 registered planners at
MeetingsTelevision.com; 42,000 brochure views at StarCite.tv -- is
due to the fact that they haven’t orchestrated marketing blitzes
yet and the amount of content on the sites is still limited.
Baltimore-based BDMetrics has taken a
different tack, developing My-TradeshowNewsTV (www.virtualnewsdesk.net), a service that turns event
and exhibitor press releases into 90-second video spots, read by a
news anchor and uploaded to the web. “The market is asking for it,”
says Kim Suerth, director of media products. So far, the market for
the company’s Text2Video service has comprised some of BDMetrics’
existing clients.