Virtual, Your Way
Since my last post on Cisco Live Virtual 2009 there have been a lot of folks buzzing about the upcoming show. Some great feedback coming in on the environment and live agenda and of course we hope to get more, i.e. keep it coming!
One theme that has been cropping up frequently is regarding a perceived ‘shift’ to a web based virtual program from a virtual world program. Just want to clarify that there is no shift really as we have been using both web based and virtual world platforms for more than 2 years now, since we made the shift from an online portal in 2007. See below for a list of what we use and why. 
Virtual WEB based platform – we use a 3rd party SaaS platform for many reasons including:
- Scalability – Able to support a huge load of concurrent users
- Customizable – We wanted something that wasn’t going to cost us hundreds of thousands of dollars every time we wanted to do minor changes like swapping out a banner ad or navigational element
- 3rd Party Integration – Able to easily integrate with third parties for registration, gaming and more
- Always On – Accessible at any time and from any where with an internet connection
Virtual WORLD based platform – we use Second Life for virtual world programming for many reasons including:
- Audience – We started in Second Life because there was all ready a Cisco user group in world before we had established any presence…so we went where our audience was. I would love to explore another virtual world for our programming but so far none have risen to the surface with the correct audience for our technical events.
- Adoption – So there isn’t a ton of virtual world adoption amongst our audience but Second Life is definitely the most widely adopted outside of World of Warcraft which isn’t as amenable for an event platform but we have considered it for a professional networking platform.
- Accessibility – We wanted a virtual world that would not require a fee to get the application or maintain an account. This was another reason a World of Warcraft is problematic for us to use as our main virtual world platform.
- Rich Engagement –Being able to customize your avatar and interact with 3d concepts can allow audiences to get more engaged. I get a request a day to engage in more virtual world activity, mostly from students or new to the work force types which I think is telling about what the next wave of worker thinks of in relation to virtual events.
Both of these platforms provide us with the ability to mix reality within our physical, virtual web and virtual world events. So not really an either/or situation…You will see this in our upcoming live show on June 30 and July 1 both in Cisco Live Virtual and in Second Life.
- Cisco Live Virtual being the primary destination for the dozens of live technical sessions and keynotes…and web based gaming in our interactive scavenger hunt.
- Cisco Live in Second Life being the primary destination for our interactive panel discussions on the Virtual University and the Internet of Things and our virtual customer appreciation event…hard to dance in a web based environment.
Learn more about these virtual engagements now and register for Cisco Live Virtual 2009!
Posted by Dannette Veale at 10:00AM PST
free virtual worlds May 29, 2009
here goes the perks of Web 2.0 - virtual worlds. keep it up!