Feature Enables New Opportunities

Introduction

When PresenterNet introduced showrooms in May 2005, the primary goal was to extend the company's media asset management capabilities. While achieving that goal however, Showrooms have found much broader value for innovative users.

A PresenterNet Showroom is a unique Web location automatically available with each user account. Entering a Showroom, visitors can control and view a standalone slide presentation at any time. The posted presentation may be a simple PowerPoint file. It can also include PresenterNet's Interactive PowerSlides, and slides built from MS Word, Excel, or PDF documents.

Generic Advantages of Showrooms

Although Showrooms can be selected as standalone applications, many users integrate them within a multistep marketing campaign, training curriculum, meeting strategy, or business operation. Regardless of how they are positioned however, Showrooms offer the following generic advantages:

• Anonymity -Presentations may be viewed by people who are unready to engage in discussions beyond passive viewing.
• Interactivity - Material may include PresenterNet slides with InterActors that capture and store viewer inputs, responses or requests.
• Availability - Presentations may be viewed by people who cannot participate during normal business hours.
• Flexibility - Presentations may be changed easily by substituting replacement slides or whole new files.
• Utility - Presentations may be launched from the user's Web site, an email, or an online ad.
• Security - Users can select a password protection option. They can also select an option that restricts printing of slides. Slides cannot be selected, copied and pasted.

Adding Showrooms to each PresenterNet account makes it possible to promote Webinar programs more effectively. Companies or individual professionals with no email list can promote Webinar programs with search engine advertising (e.g. Google, Yahoo, etc.) including a clickable link that brings the viewer directly to a showroom with a "teaser" presentation. A teaser presentation might use a few slides from the actual Webinar, giving a flavor of the material to be presented, without giving the actual presentation. This Showroom presentation normally contains slides with added InterActors that enable an interested individual to go to a sign up page to enroll, to leave contact information to ask a question by email or phone, or a link to directly write an email. InterActors might also be used to ask the viewer some qualifying questions, or to collect information that would help the Webinar presenter to customize the actual event.

Using search ads to attract people to a Webinar is far more effective when they are linked to a Showroom presentation, than if they were linked to a typical company Web site. The reason is that even the best Web sites cannot focus people on a single event, since they must create interest with only a small amount of text and graphics, within a sea of other information. Many people who click through to a Web site are distracted and may not easily locate a compelling description of a scheduled event. When sent to a Showroom however, prospective attendees can immediately focus on the event in which they have expressed an interest and review material that promotes the event in the best possible context.

Using the Showroom, Webinar promoters can also launch prospects from their own site or from email campaigns.

Showrooms for AfterEvent Followup

Showrooms provide an answer to the most commonly asked question at every Webinar: "Can I get a copy of these slides?" The answer is "Yes. You can review all of these slides immediately following this program at the following Web address (Showroom)." The actual Showroom presentation may be an edited copy, with any material deleted if it should not be available for copy.

Permitting large audiences to download large PowerPoint files is extremely resource consumptive and cumbersome to users. A more recent trend is to post the slides in PDF format, to permit download. While technically an improvement over posting or sending PowerPoint, PDF's do not retain the same impact as the live presentation. They cannot replicate video or audio clips effectively, yet the PDF permits easy copying of any slide and reprint as a Web image (i.e. a JPEG or GIF).

By comparison, a Showroom presentation uses the actual images from the Webinar, including animations, Video clips, Flash movies, etc. It may also have a few new slides promoting followon actions, or the next scheduled Webinar event. It might also have InterActors for after even feedback, or additional questions.

Showrooms Used as Brochures

A Showroom presentation can serve as an online brochure. When new prospects are not yet available for a fullscale presentation, they will very often request material that they can read to acquaint themselves with a company's capabilities or to view information about a new product. A Showroom provides a convenient way to offer a viewerdriven presentation that gives a focused introduction to this kind of information. Since the Showroom is at an online location, it is easy for salespeople to follow an introductory call with a thank you email containing a Showroom link that ultimately furthers interest.

Showrooms Used like Newsletters

Many companies use newsletters of various kinds to maintain their company's branded visibility, and to promote ideas that may result in more business. This is an effective strategy, but it is often an expensive and laborious program.

Several PresenterNet users now post monthly Showroom presentations and send email to their prospect lists to promote the newest presentation. Presentations are much less expensive and easier to maintain than newsletters. They require no Web publication or special software.

Using periodic Showroom presentations in lieu of newsletters is easy, since much of the material can come from slides already created for other presentations. They can also have interactive slides that permit viewers to spontaneously request more information, or take other desired actions.

Additional Showroom Uses

Material in this document resulted from the creativity of actual users. We're pleased to take this opportunity to thank all of our valued customers for their ideas and excellent examples. As time goes on, we expect to add to later editions of this report as users create new ways of taking advantage of the Showroom feature.