Monday, December 10, 2012

The American Academy of Audiology Launches the Audiology Solutions Network


Reston, VA, December 10, 2012–
The American Academy of Audiology today launched the first of its kind “Audiology Solutions Network”, where suppliers can share their products, expert personnel, content and media with the Audiology marketplace year-round.

The Audiology Solutions Network is built upon Webvent’s Adaptive Media Network technology, that leverages the relevant content from each supplier’s website, YouTube channel, Social media feeds, Blog – filtered by the keywords that are relevant to each individual user in the Audiology community. Audiologists now have one place to shop and compare different suppliers – within a community that understands their needs as only expert peers can. 

The Audiology Solutions Network is available through the Quick Links on the American Academy of Audiology website or at www.audiologysolutionsnetwork.org/sites

For suppliers, a company profile in the Audiology Solutions Network places your business in front of audiologists worldwide, with yearlong visibility. It allows your organization to use thought leadership, social media and your existing Website content to reach new customers and accelerate the sales process.

About American Academy of Audiology
The American Academy of Audiology is the world's largest professional organization of, by, and for audiologists. The active membership of more than 11,000 is dedicated to providing quality-hearing care services through professional development, education, research, and increased public awareness of hearing and balance disorders. 

Thursday, December 6, 2012

NeuroLeadership Institute and ASTD deliver the first ever Brain-Based Learning Virtual Summit


Alexandria, VA, December 6, 2012– 

On Tuesday, December 4th, The NeuroLeadership Institute and American Society for Training & Development delivered the first-ever Brain-Based Learning Virtual Summit - a full day virtual conference with five presentations from leading academic experts in brain-based learning, developed especially for corporate learning and development practitioners.

ASTD’s Juana Llorens, Community of Practice Manager L&D, moderated the presentations and stated, “The Brain-Based Learning Virtual Summit exceeded my wildest stretch goals – for attendance, participation, content, and performance of everyone involved in making this inaugural event a huge success. THANK YOU to all who attended and worked on the virtual summit – and look for more events like these from ASTD in the future!”

Hosted on the Webvent for Webinars platform, the virtual summit signed up 939 people, including 122 participants from 41 countries outside the United States.  521 attendees joined live throughout the day, coming and going based on their local schedules and sessions of interest.  All of the sessions were recorded and are available for 90 days at www.astd.org/webcasts.  Additional content from the presenters is available at www.neuroleadership.org/astd-virtual-summit

David Rock, Co-Founder & Director of The Neuroleadership Group, kicked off the summit with the opening keynote session, followed by four academic thought leaders and a closing message from Tony Bingham, CEO of ASTD.  Presentations included:

About NeuroLeadership Institute 
The NeuroLeadership Institute helps individuals and organizations fulfill their potential through better understanding how the human brain functions, at the level of individuals, teams and whole systems. 

About American Society for Training & Development 
ASTD (American Society for Training & Development) is the world's largest association dedicated to workplace learning and development professionals. ASTD's members come from more than 100 countries and connect locally in more than 120 U.S. chapters and with more than 20 international partners.  Members work in thousands of organizations of all sizes, in government, as independent consultants, and suppliers.

Thursday, November 8, 2012

The Job Search Solution Launches Free Webinar Series

Dallas, TX, November 8, 2012 – The Job Search Solution launched in July 2012 as a custom Webvent community site, targeted toward people looking for jobs.  Now, in addition to a series of tutorials, books and on-demand videos, job seekers have a free webinar series available to help them find a new job.

If you are looking for a job or soon may be, join Tony Beshara for a FREE 60-minute webinar on the Top 10 Reasons You Might Have Trouble Finding a Job (and how to combat them).

Mark your calendar:  Thursday, November 15, 2012 8:00PM CST.
In this webinar you will learn how to deal with these questions:
  • How do I get started finding a job?
  • Why can't I get enough interviews?
  • Why can't I get any follow-up interviews?
  • Why won't they make an offer?
  • What if the offer is not what I want?
Tony is the author of The Job Search Solution, a fail-safe system that has helped more than 100,000 people find a new job.  With the Job Search Solution, you won't have to worry about results.  This system is not theory.  It's practical, in the trenches, reality!

Learn more about the Job Search Solution at www.jobsearchsolution.com

Thursday, November 1, 2012

SCRS – The New Trade Association for Clinical Sites Grabs Spotlight



Rockville, MD, November 1, 2012
The recently held annual Site Solutions Summit in Palm Beach, Florida was a high-energy gathering of 500 clinical trial professionals culminating with a big announcement -- the formation of the Society for Clinical Research Sites (SCRS).  This new trade association is intended to provide a much-needed collective voice and a community for global investigative sites, which are anxious for a place at the table as the clinical trials industry works to improve operational efficiency.

The Site Solutions Summit Resource Guide Network, hosted on a Webvent Adaptive Media Network, provides the industry’s most dynamic supplier to audience marketplace and has been renamed to SCRS Resource Guide Network.  Whether you are a Site, Sponsor, Contract Research Organization (CRO), or other clinical research business, you can continue to find the services you need to succeed there, right now.

About SCRS
The Society for Clinical Research Sites was founded in 2012 in response to the growing need for a trade organization to represent the voice of research sites within the clinical research enterprise. Christine Pierre, the founder of the Site Solutions Summit, was motivated, along with other research professionals, to provide sites with resources, mentorship, and new ideas through a membership organization dedicated to providing the sites both a voice and community.

Monday, October 1, 2012

NOB – Dutch Education Worldwide Launches Webinar Series

Voorburg, The Netherlands, October 1, 2012
NOB – Dutch Education Worldwide launches a webinar series targeting administrative boards and educational staff of Dutch schools abroad.  Built upon a Webvent standard community site, NOB sponsors free educational webinars to increase the quality of Dutch education abroad, and to exchange, collaborate, and learn from each other by sharing best practices between schools.

NOB invites NTC (“Dutch Language & Culture”) schools from all over the world to attend these webinars.  NOB typically runs each webinar twice, at different times, to meet the schedules of its global audience.  Anyone interested in hosting a webinar, or who has a suggestion for a topic, should contact Ingeborg Van Rooij.

About NOB
Thousands of Dutch children spend part of their childhood abroad.  When they return to the Netherlands, they (re-)enter the Dutch education system at anywhere from primary school to university level. The Foundation for Dutch Education Worldwide (Stichting Nederlands Onderwijs in het Buitenland, or NOB) is a non-profit organization that has been facilitating their smooth transition into the Dutch education system since 1980.  The Ministry of Education, Culture and Science has commissioned NOB to promote and support high standards of Dutch education for Dutch-speaking children around the world.

Saturday, September 15, 2012

ASTD Webcasts Reach Nearly 50,000 Registrants Annually


ASTD (American Society for Training & Development) is the world's largest association dedicated to workplace learning and development professionals.

Webvent produces over 80 webcasts a year for ASTD.  Roughly half of these have over 200 attendees, with occasional audiences of up to 1000 people – all interested in expanding their knowledge of emerging learning technologies, making business decisions based on best practices, pursuing the Certified Professional in Learning and Performance (CPLP) credential, or simply expanding their professional network in learning and development.

“Producing webcasts for multiple departments or communities of practice can be challenging.  Many people are involved in managing the relationship with the presenters, managing the events calendar, scheduling / hosting / moderating the webcasts, finding the right sponsors, etc.  Webvent uniquely offers ASTD a central application from which they can manage these processes as a team”, says Rick Borry, President of Webvent, Inc.

“To ASTD the real value is not just that we don’t have to worry about producing these webcasts, it also drives traffic to our Buyers Guide and our Store, which has become much more valuable for our sponsors and audiences”, says Brandon Finlen, Director of Marketing ASTD.

ASTD proves that many topics currently delivered as white papers, reports, or books become much more interesting when strengthened by a webcast delivered by the writer.  The huge number of attendees is clear evidence of that.  Visit webcasts.astd.org to see the ASTD site on Webvent.

For more information about Webvent and how we can help streamline your webcast calendar, please visit www.webvent.tv and Contact Us.


Thursday, August 9, 2012

Network Media Partners and Webvent Partner to Provide Media Sales and Marketplace Solutions that Build Association Revenues

Strategic partnership to include co-marketing of products and services

Hunt Valley, MD, August 9, 2012–

Network Media Partners, Inc and Webvent, Inc today announced a strategic partnership agreement for joint marketing and delivery of products and services to member-based associations, including existing customers of Network Media.

“Webvent’s Adaptive Media Network is an innovative, no-risk software and sales service that provides supplier-to-member media marketplaces for associations.  It is an intuitive, well designed product, and an excellent value-add for our customers,” says Chip Boyce, President of Network Media. “One huge benefit from a sales perspective is that the sales team already working with prospects, advertisers, exhibitors and sponsors is able to sell this product vs. outsourcing the sale to a 3rd party.” 

Nick Kuppers, Webvent Co-founder, adds, “Network Media’s customer base and reputation are very impressive, with the likes of Association Forum of Chicagoland and American Industrial Hygiene Association, to name a few. Our partnership with Network Media began in 2011 through a mutual customer (American Society for Training & Development), and we now extend it formally to offer the best of software and digital media sales and service to all kinds of professional and trade associations.”  The first customers have already signed up, and these new supplier-to-audience marketplaces will be announced when they launch in December. 


About Network Media Partners

Since 1982, Network Media Partners, Inc. (NMP) has worked with professional and trade associations of all shapes and sizes, nationally and locally, to grow their media and event offerings to their memberships and communities.  NMP is based in Hunt Valley, Maryland. 
Visit NetworkMediaPartners.com to learn more.

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Online Poster Sessions Are Becoming a Tradition at Clemson University

Now in its second year, the online poster sessions are becoming a tradition at Clemson University – Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering.  The summer Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) community for the latest research in advanced functional membrane materials conducted a series of five online poster sessions this week.


Rick and two participants of the online poster sessions 2012
This year’s group of 10 students shared their work with a national audience, while saving resources that would have gone into printing and travel.

Check out the recordings at: advancedfunctionalmembranes.webvent.tv/events

Thanks to Dr. Scott Husson for hosting, and the National Science Foundation for sponsoring this year’s event. We look forward to next year!

Monday, July 30, 2012

Principal Solar Launches the Principal Solar Institute



Boston, MA, July 30, 2012Principal Solar launches a new solar industry resource: the Principal Solar Institute, an online reference center and resource guide for solar development and installation professionals in the commercial and utility scale market.  Built upon a www.webvent.tv custom community site, the Institute sponsors free educational events, offers an industry resource guide and publishes White Papers, disseminating critical information to advance the knowledge base of solar industry stakeholders.

About Principal Solar
Principal Solar, Inc. (PSI; OTC Pink: PSWW), is a publicly traded solar energy holding company executing a unique roll-up strategy to create the world's first distributed solar utility.  PSI concentrates its resources on the acquisition, finance, development and management of solar power companies.  The Principal Solar Institute, an educational organization created by Principal Solar, Inc., is dedicated to spreading solar knowledge to the critical stakeholders in the ongoing energy debate.



Tuesday, May 15, 2012

I Wish I Had This a Few Years Ago

(Guest post by Nick Kuppers)

As VP-Sales of a technology company based in The Netherlands, I was challenged with introducing our technology to the U.S. market a few years ago.  We were selling an XML database - an excellent fit for managing very complex content, such as technical publications for aircraft.

We won several great deals in the U.S. with companies like Boeing, Harley-Davidson, and Northwest Airlines.  The only problem was that very few people knew about us.  We did not have an office in the U.S., and we did not have a huge marketing budget, so we could only attend a few trade shows each year.  And social media didn’t exist yet.

If only I had the possibility to present our company to the world in a resource guide network like the ones that are launched today and could have participated in webcasts periodically to show off our uniqueness to the tech pubs community.  I am sure we would have been invited to more RFI/RFP processes that were out there.  And we would have been able to grow our U.S. presence a lot faster.

Fortunately for us, we were ‘discovered’ by one of our big competitors and were acquired by them before we even began to establish our U.S. presence.

Check it out for yourself, the Site Solutions Summit Resource Guide Network recently launched for the Clinical Research Sites community: http://network.sitesolutionssummit.com/sites

Sunday, April 1, 2012

Bringing the ‘Latest’ on Your Industry 24/7

A Social Network is made up of a set of individuals and organizations, and the relationships, connections, and interactions between them. Social networking services - or social media - like Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Twitter focus on building relations among people who share a common interest and/or activities. Users of these services have a profile, they have social links to other users, and they interact through email or instant messaging.

Media networking services focus on sharing social and other media among professionals who share a common interest. Webvent for example, is focused on connecting buyers and vendors in specific industries or marketplaces. It provides buyers a rich media experience and interactive self-education opportunities, while controlling how they engage with vendors. Users can search on any keyword through the database of videos, white papers, case studies, and blogs.  They download relevant information, join webcasts, and learn from industry thought leaders. They see how they’re linked through social networks with other professionals, and connect through email.

Like social networking services, media networking services are free and easy to use. Income is generated through advertising.

Uniting the social networks of individuals and organizations in the context of a specific industry or marketplace offers great value to industry associations and publishers - and their members or subscribers. It helps them offer the programming and services to their members far beyond the monthly publication or annual event: it brings the ‘latest‘ on your industry from thought leaders, vendors, influencers, and other subject matter experts, to your member’s desk 365 days of the year. And it opens up whole new revenue streams from advertising and sponsorships.

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Buyers Guide 2.0

Most organizations today have a website, a blog, and newsletter; they publish case studies and white-papers, and run webinars - telling the world why they are so successful and great to work with. To this, cutting-edge marketing organizations add a YouTube channel, Facebook page, and Twitter account, because they want to join the conversation and leverage the social networks.

What’s often missing though is context. And context is very important because it influences the meaning of the content you are sharing. You can write a great blog post, but when it’s shared with the wrong group it loses meaning. Same with Twitter: you can tweet great things, but when you’re not reaching your target audience it has limited value. Having a great video on YouTube is wonderful, but only if the right people watch it. These activities have little meaning when found by the wrong audience, but may have a lot of meaning to a community who keep themselves informed on a specific topic.

Adding context to your marketing and communication activities is the biggest value that a networked buyers guide brings to the table. Buyers guides are already organized around a topic or specific industry. Organizations listed in the buyers guide seek exposure to people interested in that topic or industry. So as a vendor, uniting your communication and marketing channels in your buyers guide presence makes a lot of sense. It is the right place for your blog posts, videos, and white-papers to have the most impact, and it saves the buyer a lot of time searching the web for relevant information.

At Webvent we work hard with our customers to build the next generation of buyers guides. The Buyers Guide 2.0 so to speak, which provides the right context for your communication and marketing activities.

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Putting the Buyer back in Buyers Guide

In their widely-acclaimed book ‘Putting the Public Back in Public Relations’,  Brian Solis and Deirdre Breakenridge describe how social media changes the rules of public relations; how blogs, social networks, and online forums have changed the dynamics of influence. Today, new information is readily shared among peers and monologue has changed to dialogue, bringing a new era of PR.

It is easy to draw a parallel with buyers guides. As with public relations, the old top-down ‘push’ model is becoming a thing of the past. Fewer people read generic messages and news releases because we have better sources of information: objective information from influencers and peers. The same counts for buyers guides. Buyers today are less interested in static listings, put together by which vendor pays the most. They want objectivity: to hear from their industry’s thought leaders and their customers. They want to hear success stories and learn from their peers. 

Solis and Breakenridge teach us in their book that social media is reinventing the aging business of PR. At Webvent we believe it is also reinventing the aging business of published buyers guides.

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Why Do Suppliers Join an Association?

Regardless of all other stated intentions, suppliers join an association because they believe it helps them drive more business to their doorstep. Membership in the association provides them with programming and services, which can result in new business opportunities.
To accomplish that, associations offer several tools to their members:
•    Networking events
•    Membership directory
•    Suppliers directory

In the offline world, these tools are valuable but limited - by time and location. But when placed online, these limitations disappear.  For example: members presenting webinars of interest to the association community brings networking opportunities regardless of location and time. And members sharing content like webinar recordings, videos, and white papers through the buyers guide, makes the guide a valuable source of information – far beyond simple contact details.

When the Association’s programming and services are such that any supplier member can ‘push out’ information – to demonstrate thought leadership, share content, and deliver a positive experience to potential buyers or business partners, it will help them feel good about their involvement in the association. 

Webvent provides networked webinars and buyers guides for associations – please comment below and let us know what issues your association faces with your online events and suppliers directory.

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Schools Abroad Benefit from Webinars

Many countries have school networks outside of their homeland, designed for their citizens working abroad who want their children to learn its home culture and language.  Typically, these schools are located around major world cities and schooling is offered for around 3-5 hours weekly outside of regular local school hours.

The main reason for teachers at these schools to join webinars about topics related to schooling is to achieve a higher level of education for their students.  These part-time teachers and school directors are isolated within their city, and want to learn and share best practices with their sister schools around the world.

The home country may schedule annual conferences with workshops and in-person meetings, however, because of timing issues and traveling cost, it’s only feasible for a limited number of teachers to return home to join these conferences.

Webinars can be scheduled on a frequent basis, and when recorded these can always be viewed afterwards from any timezone.  Additionally, webinars allow the schools to keep in touch with each other, and collaborate on a more personal level.

At Webvent, the Dutch schools are united into a global community, which makes it easy to connect any time for specific questions. Regional teams meet regularly online, and participants who otherwise would not meet get to know each other over time.

Recently, the Dutch schools community (NTC schools world wide) got media attention with their advanced online initiative in using webinars to educate and network with each other:
1. Dutch online expat magazine
2. Dutch education abroad magazine (Stichting NOB)

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

To Buyers Guide Publishers: "Allow Your Vendors to Join the Conversation"


Traditionally, Buyers Guides are static publications ranking the products of different vendors according to the insight of an industry expert. The publisher generates income by selling the publication and its updates, and by selling advertising space to vendors.

Sometimes these publishers are criticized for having a selection process of products determined by only a few individuals, and not actually having used all the products in contention. Also, people bring into question the accuracy of the information provided, and a bias towards certain vendors based on advertising revenue.

On the other hand, just listing contact information of all vendors in one place, without any selection process, misses several benefits. One of these benefits is search optimization: based on keywords or categories defined by the publisher, a buyer quickly gets focused search results.

With Webvent’s dynamic buyers guide technology, however, associations and publishers can allow any vendor listed in the Buyers Guide to join the conversation among buyers, industry experts, and competitors - and let them speak for themselves. Vendors can demonstrate thought leadership on specific topics through webinar presentations, and share success stories through videos, case studies, and blogs, without ‘harassing’ potential buyers with their sales pitch.

Buyers Guides are a great tool for organizations searching for a new vendor, or starting a new RFP process for a complex product or service. In a well-organized Buyers Guide, a buyer gets to hear all sides of the story and enters the purchasing process as a better-informed party.