Guest Post by Brent Arslaner: The Next Generation of Lead Generation [AriWriter] – [link to post]

– Posted using Chat Catcher

For me, attending an event in Second Life seems to be much more engaging and interactive offering increased opportunities for networking. Because you are actually there with an avatar, you feel that you have more of an actual presence at the event. When I attend, I enter the site, sit down, look around, and sometimes read the profiles of other attendees while waiting for the event to start. This is a great way to find others with similar interests, introduce yourself, and start up a conversation. You can trade items, notecards, landmarks to other sites that might interest the other person, etc. You interact in a manner very similar to how you would at a regular conference or event.

Then when the event begins, if it is a presentation, there is much more interaction between the presenter and the audience. Attendees also tend to have private chats going on through these presentations. Although at first this might seem too busy, the end result is an increase in learning and knowledge.

Finally, I have been to a few “trade show” type events in Second Life. The benefit of this type of virtual world is that you can recreate your product and allow for simulations or interactions. In this aspect, there are even benefits that exceed those that are offered at a traditional conference in that you can create an experience not possible in the offline world. Such as entering the kiln of a cement plant while it is heating the clinker material.

I do enjoy attending the Unisfair and Active worlds events and will continue to do so. They also provide benefits as you stated in your blog. Just wanted to chime in with my other virtual world experiences. Thanks!