VW open House Virtual vs Design Summit in person

[Don Seidel]

Offered in genuine constructive criticism for the improvement of the VW public and User marketing. I'm pretty sure I'm saying what many users are thinking.

 

From a 30-yr VW veteran, Summit or Open House on-line is massively disappointing. Having attended Design Summits in person in the past, there's simply no comparison. Covid is over, let's move on from that excuse.

 

Design Summit Success:

In-person VW Conferences make Users excited to be associated with product. In-person conversations w/ VW Engineers and key staff creates strong product loyalty. Users feel they have "real" input into future development. VW Engineers learn how Users make the software accomplish things they didn't think of, and/or understand a better way to implement features. The extra-curricular events of a Design Summit are HUGE in bonding the VW community together.

on-Line (epic) Failure:
It's time to abandon on-line Design Summits (aka Open House) . They accomplish nothing noted above, and are, frankly, poorly executed. Boring, unengaged, recycled content. More than 2 sec of "dead air" is bad...and there were LONG pauses of people trying to get connected, find their notes, etc, etc. I didn't attend more than 20 min total across several classes, it was so hard to participate. Engineers must admit they are not marketing professionals, and everything will improve from there. Even if VW hired a professional AD firm to run it, everyone I know dislikes Zoom-type meetings vs in-person. This is NOT the future of successful Design Summits.
 

Edited April 28, 2023 by Don Seidel

[jamesrenegadedesign]

Though this may be tough for some to hear (read) it's all honest and needed criticism. Thanks for taking the time and providing feedback.

[Jeff Prince]

I’m finding more and more that people want to come together in person rather than do online stuff.  We are social creatures and there is something special about the collective energy in a room that can not be replicated through a monitor be it a meeting, play, or speaking engagement.

[Kevin Allen]

49 minutes ago, Don Seidel said:

From a 30-yr VW veteran, Summit or Open House on-line is massively disappointing. Having attended Design Summits in person in the past, there's simply no comparison. Covid is over, let's move on from that excuse.

 

Going back to in-person should  not be done with the idea that covid is over.

 

I am a proponent of Hybrid events. I might go to an on-peson Summit, depending on location.

[Christiaan]

Personally I loved it last year, but didn't have time to make this year's.

[Josh Schulman]

We are in the "new normal". In person is much more valuable than remote. The latest sessions were plagued with technical errors. They should more back to the design summit format. The cross pollination between the different fields was valuable on its own. You're not going to get that with remote. 

[zoomer]

I am also for hybrid events.

 

I profit from all these extended online event offers since covid.

I have nothing against watching videos where is real audience involved

though at all !

 

But I understand that it is easier to produce non-live videos without

that live pressure and the option to redo failed parts and edit it later.

Also the costs of real events are to concern.

(I also see more and more trade fairs starving, switching to online events

and especially leaving the former fixed trade fair time frame)

I think the video quality can be as good or bad as can be a live presentation.

 

But e.g. Apples WWDC, many interested people can't afford to travel

and even not all people that can, could really attend.

 

And I am happy to have that extended online offer and be able watch it

whenever I have time and muse.

 

For sure a real in person event will be much more impressive and having an

important extra social dimension.

So for all able to attend such events, I hope these real events will come back.

Edited April 28, 2023 by zoomer

[TArabian]

 

Don,

Thank you for your feedback. Open House and Design Summit are two different events. Open House is an virtual organic open conversation that we offer. Customers can wander in and out of rooms at their convenience throughout the day. While Open House was conceptualized during Covid, we continue to host this event due to the positive feedback we get from many of our customers. I think we can all agree that nothing will replace the in-person experience of an event, but virtual events will continue to have a place in the market and won't be disappearing anytime soon. We agree with you, the beginning of this year's event did not go as smooth as we hoped, despite test runs and a successful event the night before. We are working on resolving those issues before our next event. As for Design Summit, which is our in-person event, (with the exception of 2020 and 2021) we do not have one planned for 2023, but do have some smaller in-person opportunities planned for the fall. We look forward to seeing you sometime soon in-person. In the meantime, if you have feedback that can help us shape our events in the future, feel free to complete the Open House post-event survey that was sent to you after the event. 

 

[E|FA]

I can’t see myself traveling to an in-person event and appreciate the newer online opportunities and hope they continue. 

[Don Seidel]

6 minutes ago, E|FA said:

I can’t see myself traveling to an in-person event and appreciate the newer online opportunities and hope they continue. 

Have you been to a VW Design Summit in the past? If not you don’t know what you’ve missed.

[E|FA]

@Don Seidel I’m sure they’re great, but I don’t have the time or inclination to travel to conferences, etc.  

[Kevin Allen]

3 minutes ago, Don Seidel said:

Have you been to a VW Design Summit in the past? If not you don’t know what you’ve missed.

I think I've been to three of four? Philly, Chicago, Baltimore, and Phoenix (or Phoenixish, I should say). I preferred the cities to the resort. That is why I really didn't consider the last one. Might it have been canceled? In any event there seems to be much more 'design' in the city than in the desert. Also, the resort in Phoenix was a half hour from anywhere, so if a small group wanted to leave the resort for a drink, at least an hour was was required for a taxi/uber/lyft.

[markdd]

I was going to fly over for the last one in San Diego and had everything booked. It was to be my first time. Sadly cancelled as Covid struck. Will definately make the trip if the Design Summit happens again.

[Mark Aceto]

Acknowledging that this is heavily skewed toward entertainment, could the Summit overlap with LDI? Would be great to kill two birds with one stone. Plus, there's a rage room not far from the strip in case anyone in this thread needs to work out their emotions.

[Kevin Allen]

39 minutes ago, Lunar Waneshaft said:

Acknowledging that this is heavily skewed toward entertainment,

I do not agree, plus as someone said; the cross pollination is very valuable. I know I started to read the mailing lists before I had much of a clue and I have learned a lot from people in and out of my field. I think the 'architectural' bus tours of Chicago were valuable to all.

[Mark Aceto]

4 minutes ago, Kevin Allen said:

I do not agree, plus as someone said; the cross pollination is very valuable. I know I started to read the mailing lists before I had much of a clue and I have learned a lot from people in and out of my field. I think the 'architectural' bus tours of Chicago were valuable to all.

 

Acknowledging that my suggestion was admittedly heavily skewed toward entertainment (not the Summit itself).