Manufacturers attending Infor’s annual Inforum customer conference later this month won’t have to worry about lining up corporate travel approvals in advance or filling out those pesky travel and expense forms. That’s because Inforum, scheduled for Oct. 20 and 21, for the first time will be conducted exclusively online in deference to customers’ recession-impacted travel budgets.
“This year, our customers have a limited ability to be outside of the office,” said Julie Thompson, the company’s director of corporate meetings and events. “But we still wanted to provide the educational content that they want, so we decided on a virtual conference.”
Infor’s virtual conference will include video webcasts of keynote speeches and sessions consisting of audio and PowerPoint presentations covering 14 different content tracks. Customers also will participate in online “birds of a feather” discussions and chats, much as they would at a physical conference, Thompson said.
Infor isn’t the only software vendor canceling its in-person customer conference this year in favor of a virtual event that combines webcasts, online chats, and Web-based themed discussions. Syclo, a provider of mobile field service applications, also transformed its fifth annual customer conference in July into a virtual event. Officials from both companies said they decided on virtual conferences as recession-inspired travel restrictions threatened to significantly reduce on-premise attendance.