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Event Management

Notes
We deployed different collaboration technologies to align with the business requirements
of the different session formats. For example, we employed IPTV for the large-scale sessions
with all 2,954 attendees, while Cisco TelePresence created a more intimate experience for
Cisco IBSG © 2010 Cisco and/or its affiliates. the leadership exchanges in groups of 20. A
virtual platform provided by 6Connex was used to build the virtual environment in
which attendees could interact and access content.
Results
Overall, the first virtual SLO was highly successful. We demonstrated that this virtual
format was effective in helping meet the company's communications objectives:

Eighty-two percent of attendees indicated they understood Cisco's updated vision
and strategy.
Seventy-four percent of attendees reported having a clear direction on where to
allocate their staff, time, and resources to achieve FY10 priorities.
Many of the presentation sessions were rated just as highly as they had been in the
prior year. For example, the keynote sessions scored 4.5 out of 5.0 in both the virtual
SLO and the prior year's in-person event.
As expected, we attained significant cost savings. Total costs of the event (travel, production,
and internal labor) declined from $6.7 million to $4.2 million, a 37 percent savings. On top
of these direct cost savings, the value-of-time savings from reduced attendee travel were
$1.8 million.
While all of these results were extremely encouraging, we did identify areas for
improvement. For example, we did not fully achieve our leadership development and
networking goals. Participants felt that the virtual format did not provide sufficient
networking opportunities or produce the same level of impact on leadership development
as the inperson event. To address this, we are considering options for evolving the format
to a hybrid physical/virtual approach. In the future, we may ask employees to gather in
person at our major sites, and link these sites using remote collaboration technologies.
Additional details on Cisco's first virtual SLO can be found in two case studies: one from
a business perspective and one from an IT perspective.
Table 10.2: Key Metrics for SLO

Traditional Event Next-Generation Event
Date May 2008 May 2009
Attendees 2,662 2,954
Total Event Costs $6.7 million $4.2 million
Cost Per Attendee $2,508 $1,408
Duration 2 days full-time 3 days part-time
Attendee Travel Time 2 days 0
Value of Time Savings from Avoided $0 $1.8 million
Travel
Number of Sessions: 15 64 40 78
- General/Breakout
- Leadership Exchanges
Real-Time Interaction No Yes, via text chat
Attendee Rating of Keynote Sessions 4.5 out of 5.0 4.5 out of 5.0
Source: Cisco IBSG, 2010
Contd...

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