13 Online eCommunity Options For Your Next Annual Meeting

Online conference eCommunities were the rage in 2009.

Did you offer one for your annual meeting attendees? I did.

So what are they? Online eCommunities are virtual communities of people that primarily interact via the
Internet for social, professional, educational or other purposes.

Online Conference eCommunities have become a supplemental form of communication between people
who are attending the same conference. The registrants of the face-to-face event use special online
social software to connect with each other.

Online Conference eCommunity users can:

• Create profiles
• Connect with others attending the conference before, during and after the conference online
• IM
• Participate in text-based chat rooms and forums
• Schedule itineraries
• Setup times to meet with exhibitors or vendors
• View live or archived presentations
• Share photos from the face-to-face event
• View venue and tradeshow floor plans
• Setup appointments with exhibitors and vendors
• And a host of other features

Many online conference eCommunities integrate with social networking platforms like blogs, Facebook,
Flickr, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube.

From free to low-cost eCommunities like MeetUp and Ning, to customized features of Social Collective
and Zerista, there are ample opportunities for you to provide conference attendee engagement
experiences through an online conference eCommunity. If you are thinking about adding one to your 2010
Annual Meeting or Conference attendee offerings, here are 13 online conference eCommunity providers
for you to consider.

BizBash SCHED
Offers Facebook and Twitter integration, attendee communication interface, conference scheduler,
detailed session and speaker information, mobile interface, video and audio integration and more. Not as
robust as other eCommunities but includes some unique conference organizer features. Clients include
BizBash Expo & Awards, BlogWorld 2009 and Exploit Labour Conference

CrowdVine
Offers Facebook and Twitter integration, blog aggregation, customizable conference eCommunity
website, attendee itinerary planner, attendee profiles, IM, speaker and session rating system, attendee
communication interface, mobile interface, third-party registration support of EventBrite, RegOnline and
Laser Registration, and more. Clients include PCMA 2010, Web 2.0 and IA Summit.

eventVue
Offers conference attendee registration package through partnership with Acteva, Eventbrite and
RegOnline, social media integration with blogs, Facebook, Flickr, Twitter and YouTube, customizable
conference micro-website (full conference website), attendee profiles, IM, embedded video and audio,
mobile interface, and more. Clients include Defrag, Mashable’s US Summer Tour 2008, and Mass
Technology Leadership Conference.

iCohere
An often over-looked platform that is well known in eLearning circles but lesser known in the events
industry. Provides opportunity for a full, exclusive, online virtual conference complete with attendee
registration, eCommerce, attendee profiles, IM, live audio, video and Webinar integration, virtual vendor
showrooms, blog feature and more. Limited customization for look and feel as compared to other
eCommunities. [We currently use iCohere at my work for our exclusive walled industry eCommunity for
our nonprofit members.] Clients include ASAE, National Defense University, US Forest Service and
WorldVision.

MeetUp
Offers a turnkey event attendee registration package, eCommerce, social media network integration,
customizable border for micro-website, attendee profiles, IM, message board, and more. Mostly used by
local self-organized groups.

NFi MemberFuse
Used more for member eCommunities than conference communities but can be customized for
conferences. Integrates with Association Management Systems like Avectra, offers RSS integration,
customizable eCommunity website, user profiles, IM, attendee communication interface, resource library,
and more. Clients include MPI WEC09, NMC09 and OmniPress Conference 2.0.

Ning
Offers full integration with social media networking platforms like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube,
customizable eCommunity website, user profiles, IM, surveys and pools, user communication interface,
mobile accessibility, and third-party event and registration support through widgets.

Omnipress’ Conference 2.0

Built on the Pathable platform, Offers Facebook , LinkedIn and Twitter integration, customizable
conference eCommunity website, attendee itinerary planner, session handouts and slides, attendee
profiles, IM, surveys and polls, attendee communication interface, mobile interface, third-party registration
support of EventBrite, RegOnline, eTouches, Certain or Cvent, and more. Clients include American Public
Health Association, DAC and IEEE.

Pathable
Offers Facebook , LinkedIn and Twitter integration, customizable conference eCommunity website,
session handouts and slides, attendee profiles, IM, surveys and polls, attendee communication interface,
mobile interface, third-party registration support of EventBrite, RegOnline, eTouches, Certain or Cvent,
and more. Clients include MPI WEC09, NMC09 and OmniPress Conference 2.0.

Social Collective
Offers a turnkey conference attendee registration package, eCommerce, Facebook and Twitter
integration, customizable conference micro-website (full conference website), attendee itinerary planner,
attendee profiles, IM, exhibitor and sponsor fan pages, crowdsourcing application, speaker rating system,
detailed session and speaker information, embedded video and audio, mobile interface, eMarketing
capabilities and more. (Yes, this is the conference platform that I used in 2009 and plan to use again in
2010.) Clients include IAEE, SxSW 2009 and SxSW 2010.

Yuku
Free community platform that includes user profiles, chat, photo galleries, polls, community calendars, in-
line video embedding, blogs, RSS feeds, customizable skins, and more. Similar to message boards.

Wild Apricot
Offers a turnkey conference attendee registration package, eCommerce, Facebook and Twitter
integration, customizable conference micro-website (full conference website), Digg-like rating feature,
online fundraising, membership management, attendee profiles, IM, detailed session and speaker
information, and more. Clients include GMIC, SITE Chicago and Healthy Start, Healthy Future’s Life With
A Baby.

Zerista
Offers customizable conference micro-website (full conference website), detailed session and speaker
information, attendee itinerary planner, attendee profiles, IM, exhibitor and attendee scheduler, exhibitor
virtual booth, embedded video and audio for virtual attendance, integrated webcasts, virtual tradeshow,
interactive venue maps, interactive tradeshow floor, integrated Google maps, and more. Clients include
Democratic National Convention 2008, SxSW 2009 and SxSW 2010.

I’m sure there are other eCommunity platforms as well. Which have you used?