SAN JOSE, CA--(Marketwire - July 15, 2010) -  Setting its sights on revitalizing the global events industry, Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) today introduced Collaboration for Events, a new approach to planning, executing and extending the impact of trade shows and conferences. Collaboration for Events provides event planners and executives with customizable options for using collaboration and business video technologies like Web conferencing, telepresence, digital signage and enterprise social software to dramatically expand an event's reach beyond the physical limitation of an event venue.

With these network-based technologies, organizers can conduct highly interactive physical and virtual events, more effectively measure return on investment, expedite the planning process, and attract the best speakers from around the world, all of which can help raise attendance and revenue.

Cisco® Collaboration for Events is being introduced at a time when the need for global knowledge exchange is critical, yet travel budgets and corporate spending continue to be scrutinized. In addition, traditional in-person events may find it difficult to make their intended business impact because of a lack of scheduling flexibility and a less-than-optimal, one-size-fits-all approach to diverse attendee interests.

Fortune magazine and ExCel London, a host site for the 2012 Olympic Games, are two customers focused on using collaboration and business video technologies to bring about events of the future. Cisco has also achieved cost efficiencies by deploying business video and collaboration technologies for its own events, helping the company realize event-related cost savings of more than $100 million to date.

HIGHLIGHTS:

With Cisco Collaboration for Events, event organizers can:

Extend the Reach of an Event

• Remote Presenter -- With Cisco TelePresence™ technology, which enables lifelike immersive virtual meetings via high-definition (HD) video, attention-getting high-profile speakers and other remote presenters can be brought to event attendees "live" from all corners of the globe. This solution allows organizers to deliver impressive speaking rosters capable of garnering greater audience appeal while reducing scheduling problems and travel expenses.
• Remote Attendee -- Using video-enabled Web conferencing via Cisco WebEx™ Event Center, event organizers can offer highly interactive virtual participation as an alternative to physical attendance. Event managers can easily grow their attendance numbers and diversify their audience with new voices and perspectives from around the world.

Enrich Participant Experience

• Extend Participant Conversation -- Cisco's webcasting and video sharing platform, Cisco Show and Share, can help significantly extend the scope and impact of an event by providing access to content before, during and after the live event. This allows people to access content, including video presentations and speaker and exhibitor videos, according to their own schedules, location and personal preferences. In addition, participants can share their own videos or engage in online chat sessions, enabling a unique dialogue and a greater sense of community among event participants that extends beyond the event itself.
• Interactive Digital Signage -- Important content, video and marketing campaigns can be broadcast via Cisco Digital Signs from a central source to large numbers of people in multiple locations at an event, and can be instantaneously changed to display new content when needed. Touch-screen capability allows attendees to interact with digital signs directly from the event floor, instantly accessing information and content that is most relevant to them.

Increase and Measure ROI

• Video Analytics -- Permanent or temporary video surveillance paired with powerful video analytics software can deliver a new level of real-time insight into attendee activity and interest level throughout the event. For example, by monitoring traffic flow, exhibitors can better understand how certain booth exhibits fare at attracting attendees. Additionally, exhibitors can determine how effective specific advertising signs are at garnering attention and a desired number of impressions. Operational staff can monitor traffic patterns along with the time of day, to more efficiently staff certain areas of the venue during the duration of an event.
• Environmental Impact -- With increased virtual participation, Collaboration for Events can significantly decrease carbon emissions associated with business travel.
• Value -- By driving greater interactions between speakers and attendees in multiple ways, event planners increase the overall value and effectiveness of an event. The ability to bring remote presenters and audiences together from various locations addresses cost concerns and helps to significantly strengthen the event's impact.
• Planning Efficiency -- Event planners can streamline pre- and post-event planning by sharing documents with agencies and event providers, coordinating schedules and seamlessly integrating updates while managing version control through shared workspaces and video collaboration solutions.

Cisco Success Highlights:
By employing the Collaboration for Events approach for internal and external events, Cisco has seen quantifiable returns on the use of video and collaboration technologies, including:

• A reduction in overall attendance costs at corporate events by 78 percent as a result of increased virtual participation
• Notable savings in cost per attendee due to virtual participation
  • Reduced cost per attendee from $4,050 to $520 for Cisco's annual global sales meeting
  • Reduced cost per attendee from $2,500 to $1,400 for Cisco's senior leadership off-site meeting
• A record live attendance for Cisco Live! in 2009 despite the economic downturn
  • More than 5,000 virtual attendees represented 28 countries
  • Cisco Live! 2009 was recognized by Event Marketer magazine as the best event of the year

QUOTES:

PJ Boatwright, vice president of events, Fortune
"Cisco's Collaboration for Events extended the reach of this year's Fortune Conference well beyond our four walls and previous physical limitations. For example, by using technologies such as Cisco WebEx, we were able to unite our 300 in-person attendees with nearly 1,000 virtual participants around the world. In addition, by making video content available on the Web via Cisco Show and Share, we are converting our conferences into Web communities lasting long after the event doors closed."

David Pegler, managing director, ExCel London
"In building London's first international convention center, our goal was to create the ultimate venue for today's connected, Web-driven society. As the physical world increasingly converges with the virtual, we see video collaboration technology as a defining element of the next-generation event experience. As such, we are excited to use our existing Cisco network as a platform to deliver additional Cisco technologies such as Web conferencing, digital signage and Cisco TelePresence, all of which can help us deliver on our vision to make London's ICC a sought-after destination for events of the future."

Rick Hutley, vice president, Internet Business Solutions Group, Cisco
"Globalization, competition and an information explosion have increased the need for employees, customers and partners to come together to gain fresh perspectives, build networks, and nurture relationships. Today's global technology-savvy audiences, coupled with rising economic pressures, are driving the need for a radical transformation in how we think of meetings, events and trade shows. By applying collaboration technology capabilities to events, organizations can reduce costs, boost attendance, enrich the attendee experience and greatly increase the event's impact, and all while reducing the environmental impact."

Nancy Neipp, senior director, global corporate events, Cisco
"During the last three years, Cisco has accelerated the transformation of its own internal and external corporate events though the use of collaboration technologies like Cisco TelePresence, WebEx, digital signage and unified communications. In addition to delivering an exciting and innovative new experience to our employees, customers and partners, we've also been able to reduce live attendance costs by 78 percent, extend the reach and impact of our events, and reduce logistical overhead. This has resulted in more than $100 million in savings for Cisco to date."

Supporting Resources:

• Visit www.cisco.com/go/collaboration4events for additional details and information on Collaboration for Events including:
  • A white paper on enhancing events through collaboration capabilities
  • A video highlighting new approaches to events through collaboration technologies 
• To see how Fortune is using Cisco collaboration technologies to help transform their events, click here: http://newsroom.cisco.com/dlls/videos/fortune_070610.html
• For more information about Cisco's collaboration news and activities visit the Collaboration Blog, or visit Cisco's Collaboration Community or follow us via Twitter @CiscoCollab.
• Keep up with Cisco's news by visiting the company's Platform Blog. 

Technorati Tags: Cisco, Collaboration, TelePresence, events, Social Video, Event Planning, WebEx, unified communications, Collaboration for Events, Digital Signs, Video Surveillance, Meetings, Conventions

About Cisco Collaboration
 From award-winning IP communications to mobility, customer care, Web conferencing, messaging, enterprise social software, and interoperable telepresence experiences, Cisco brings together integrated network-based collaboration solutions based on open standards. These solutions, as well as services from Cisco and our partners, are designed to help promote business growth, innovation, and productivity. They are also designed to help accelerate team performance, protect investments, and simplify the process of finding the right people and information.

About Cisco Systems
Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO), the worldwide leader in networking that transforms how people connect, communicate and collaborate, this year celebrates 25 years of technology innovation, operational excellence and corporate social responsibility. Information about Cisco can be found at http://www.cisco.com. For ongoing news, please go to http://newsroom.cisco.com.

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