Steve Jordan talks to people in the industry about the prospect of a virtual IAM, what they are expecting and, most importantly, will they be taking part?
Now this is not a survey. It’s just me reporting on the thoughts of a few mates in the industry about the prospect of a virtual IAM meeting. It’s never been done before, so I was keen to know what people thought and whether they planned to attend.
The responses were a mixed bag. Everyone I spoke to wished IAM well and applauded the initiative. They thought it was admirable that IAM was doing what it could to maintain something that was as close to normal as possible in these strange times. But others just couldn’t get their minds around the prospect of paying for what they see as a series of Zoom meetings, that they could organise themselves for nothing. Still more felt that the real value of IAM, or any other conference for that matter, was the personal contact with people, the camaraderie in the bar and the opportunity to spend quality time together: without that there was not enough to attract them. Some of the larger groups were taking the opportunity of holding their own virtual events within their own networks, customers and partners ...