Virtual Meetings – A Case Study

Virtual Meetings – A Case Study

Dr. Ajay KakarDr. Ajay Kakar

Who am I ?

• A Periodontist/Implantologist• Secretary of the IAP• Secretary of the IAACD• Creator of BITEIN

• and

• A self taught computer geek

Flow of my presentation

• Genesis of this virtual meeting

• What happened at the meeting?• Am I happy and satisfied with it ?• Will I do it again ?• Do I want others to do it too ?

GENESIS OF THE VIRTUAL MEETING

Reasons that drove me to create a Virtual MeetingReasons that drove me to create a Virtual Meeting

• Belief in the technology• The novelty value of being different• Knowledge that the technology could be tweaked to

mimic the real world• The financial implications for

– The organizer– The seller– The buyer

What happened at the meeting?

A Trade Show

• One Principal Sponsor• Four Supporting Sponsors• Thirty participating Suppliers

Virtual Online Lectures

• Eight Lectures• Across cities in India• Egypt, USA• Tool Used –

www.instantpresenter.com

E poster presentations

• Sixteen submissions• Judged by deans of various

institutions• Certificates awarded to winners• Prizes given away to multiple

participants

Who Attended

• Approximately 1600 delegates in total

• A full house of 60 delegates for each of the lectures. This included about 70% repeat attendees for the 8 lectures

• Promoted solely by soft media – Emails, SMS, Facebook

Am I happy and satisfied with it ?

NO !!!!!!

• Number of delegates

• only hit the 50% mark

• Exhibitors• Did not participate with complete

seriousness• Were technologicially extremely

unprepared

Problems faced

• No hardware glitches• No programming glitches

• Only soft people glitches constantly

Lectures

• Simplest possible interface• Completely non technical speakers

lectured from their individual locations across India as well as Egypt and USA

• Interactive with PPT slides, Voice and Video

Will I do it again ?

Most certainly

• How Often – Once again in December this year or January next year

• It will be a bi annual affair• It will not restrict travels schedule,

location, etc.

Will the format modify

• Yes

• A live video chat • Text Chat• Further improve the existing

messaging system

Do I want others to do it?

Once again - Most Certainly

• Others in the dental industry• Others in non dental industries

• Almost anybody could do it• Is it Expensive – NO• Is it profitable – YES

The Future - The Real and Virtual Integrating and Differentiating• Maybe I would be making this

presentation without travelling here• Maybe you would be sitting in your

home/office and listening

• Does it mean I don’t want to meet in person ----- NO !!! I WANT TO MEET IN PERSON !!!

Thank you