Are we in a recession or not?

It is an interesting phenomenon I see occurring across this great country. The economy is down, and businesses are complaining that their sales have dried up.

So how do most companies respond to this phenomenon? You got it – they slash their marketing and incentive budgets, cut travel and meetings to a bare minimum, and hunker down for the economic winter. This is like saying you’re on a diet and committed to losing 25 lbs. while eating a “gotta have it” at Cold Stone Creamery.

We all know how important it is to have a powerful and effective internal and external communications strategy and yet, this is one of the first departments to be cut.

So how do you continue to get your message out while acknowledging that budgets have been cut so drastically?

I am going to help you answer this question by breaking down and explaining three powerful technologies that stand out in the mix: Web Conferencing, Web Broadcasting, and Digital Cinema.

Web Conferencing

Web Conferencing (think Webex) makes it possible for you share what’s on your computer with people in other locations, in real time, over the web. By implementing virtual meetings, you can save time and money, get a thumbs-up from the “green crowd,” and offer new ways to communicate, market, and sell.

Though this technology is not an effective presentation tool to replace live meetings, you can still increase productivity for online collaboration. A few of the major drawbacks with web-conferencing are as follows:

• Your voice is delivered over a phone line rather than streamed with the presentation.
• It does not take full advantage of rich media like video and flash.
• Your audience will need to install custom drivers on their computers which typically delays the start of a presentation due to technical errors (most people wait to install this software until they log on to the presentation).
• You are literally sharing your desktop with your audience. This could lead to embarrassing moments.

Web Broadcasting

Web Broadcasting is a cost-effective, dynamic way to deliver your strategic message, align your team, provide training, and build a knowledge base over the web, all with the power of video.

Capturing events, presentations, and trainings as they occur and delivering them to end users over the web, either in real time or on-demand through any Web browser, is an ideal solution for sales, marketing, training, and development. Web Broadcasting uses media rich technology. This means your audience will see and hear real time video with audio and PowerPoint, all in a neatly packaged in a branded screen right on their computer, with the use of any standard browser.

Here is a snapshot of how it works:

1. A web broadcasting specialist will show up to your meeting or your office with a special computer.
2. Video, audio, and graphics will be fed into the computer, synchronized, and encoded for the web. If the meeting is to be broadcasted live, the media will then be transmitted over the Internet and delivered to your audience.
3. The meeting/presentation/training can also be recorded and uploaded for on-demand viewing. This means that people can navigate to your site and watch or review presentations 24/7. You can put in an e-commence front end if you want to charge for the content. A CD can be created right there, just minutes after the presentation, for distribution or for sale to attendees.

Even though people are watching this from their computers and not engaging in any type of group experience, the key advantages are as follows:

• Cost savings from traditional meetings and other video networks.
• Rich media presentations and interactivity with polling and questions.
• You can broadcast meetings, deliver a high impact presentation, or train from your office to your entire company.
• Creation of powerful on-demand web casts for future viewing and development of a knowledge base.

The disadvantages of this technology are as follows:

• You will need to rent a proprietary computer and hire a trained technician.
• Because of the higher quality, you will want to contract with a one or two-person video crew.
• There is limited direct interactivity with your audience. Audience members will be able to submit questions in writing and participate in polls, but since you will not be using a conference call bridge, they will not be able to ask verbal questions.
• Due to the high quality video and presentation, a hosted environment is required.

Digital Cinema

Digital Cinema is an innovative option that lets you showcase your content and deliver a high-impact message to your audience. With the capability of reaching audiences in more than 500 theaters across the nation, this cost effective option allows for a live or pre-taped presentation to be multicast into the digital theaters chosen for the event.

Though the cost to produce this type of event can be expensive (although much less than a meeting), and there are logistical issues such as satellite uplink, production costs, and the cost of the movie theaters, Digital Cinema delivers a high quality experience in High Definition and High Fidelity.

Digital Cinema creates an impact-driven group experience in the movie theaters. You can even serve lunch and show the movie with popcorn to add to the theater-going experience. In addition, there are options to include a pre-recorded key note from the world’s top speakers to kick-up the event.

This choice is great for financial seminar marketing, professional sales training, corporate product launches, and employee or customer reward and recognition programs.

In Summary

We all have to work faster, better, and cheaper. By embracing these technologies, you will reduce budgets by avoiding unnecessary travel, be kind to the environment, and save on lost opportunities by not having key executives sitting in airports.

Communicating to your audiences with an impact-driven experience, whether its special events, conferences, break-out sessions, briefings, corporate communications initiatives, training courses, or workshops, these digital technologies will put you at the top of your game!