Study Indicates Virtual Events Are an Untapped Solution to Rising Costs

EAU CLAIRE, Wis., April 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Airline delays. Rising gas prices. Economic slowdown. Talent management challenges. These and other issues are prompting organizations to consider alternative options for training and educating their members, workforce and customers. Virtual events may be the answer.

Surprisingly though, a recent study conducted by MarketVision Research (http://www.marketvisionresearch.com/) for KRM Information Services, Inc. (
While 52 percent of respondents point to efficiency (not having to waste time traveling) and 34 percent cite cost effectiveness as advantages of webinars, concern about participants not being able to interact with each other is the primary barrier to adoption.

This barrier may be more perception than reality. The study indicates that KRM clients were almost 20 percent less likely to cite this as a barrier than those who had hosted a webinar with a different vendor. Among those currently hosting virtual events, the "most important" features are:

-- Ability for participants to ask present real-time questions
(91 percent)
-- Cost (81.4 percent)
-- Access to telephone technical help (75.2 percent)
-- Ability to customize webinar package offerings to fit needs
(74.5 percent)
-- Online technical help such as FAQs and access to customer service
(67.6 percent)

Those not currently hosting webinars indicate a high level of interest in doing so in the future -- likely related to rising costs and inconveniences of travel: almost 50 percent of respondents indicate that they "definitely or probably would" consider hosting a webinar.

Virtual events will never entirely replace live events and the opportunity for in-person interaction. However, in an era of rising costs and the need to closely monitor expenses and demonstrate ROI for training and education activities, webinars present an affordable and convenient alternative particularly when covering hot topics and emerging issues.

KRM virtual events offer organizations an array of flexible options for their virtual events with value-added services including customer service and help desk support, live Q&A, moderators and a variety of recording options. For more information about this study, or about how virtual events can be used to augment training and education efforts, contact KRM at 1.800.816.2640 or info@krm.com.

First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact:

Source: KRM Information Services, Inc.

CONTACT: Linda Pophal, Marketing and Sales Manager of KRM Information
Services, Inc., +1-715-833-5484, lpophal@krm.com

Web site: http://www.krm.com/
http://www.marketvisionresearch.com/

2008-04-15 19:32:37 0336877 PRNEWSWIRE