Oracle OpenWorld 2013 Reports 2.1 Million Online Attendees

Last month, 60,000 Oracle technologists, customers, and partners from 145 countries converged in San Francisco for the annual information technology event organized by Oracle.

Oracle OpenWorld is the software giant’s “largest and most important educational and networking event”.  The five-day gathering at Moscone Center featured over 3,500 speakers and 500 partner and customer exhibits in addition to 400 Oracle product demos.

Perhaps the stat that most caught our attention this year was the 2.1 million online attendees – a 100% increase over last year.  Oracle OpenWorld’s huge online participation means that it was able to effectively increase its gross attendance (live plus online) by 35x.

Virtual attendance options enable organizers to time/place shift their value proposition – and even layer in variable pricing – to vastly enhance the potential universe by enabling participation from people who would not otherwise attend in-person due to travel issues, budget limitations, scheduling conflicts, etc.

One thing that was clear from the Oracle OpenWorld marketing we analyzed, they supported their virtual attendance offerings with dedicated promotion.

For example, check out this Facebook post, which was just one of several… “We’re live streaming from Moscone Keynote Hall. It’s not too late to live stream and catch Larry Ellison’s welcome keynote”.  Other dedicated Facebook posts employed “virtual centric” copy points such as “tune in on-demand” and “join us via webcast”.

If you want to capitalize on the full virtual attendance potential of your show, then consider running a separate marketing campaign for your online participation options with dedicated creative assets, messaging, media plan, etc. – and yes maybe even a separate budget.

Like this article? Then check out this previous post… “Global Conference, TED2013, Expands Audience Universe with Virtual Attendance”.

  Want to discover more innovative marketing ideas for exhibitions and events?  SUBSCRIBE TODAY FOR FREE TO OUR MONTHLY ENEWSLETTER >>

Posted on October 28, 2013