While the events industry has suffered from cyclical economic changes and reduced event marketing and communications budgets, interactive has been evolving and thriving. I remember managing my first webcast in the late 1990’s, for SGI, at a company all-hands meeting broadcast on the corporate LAN. Even before broadband internet, the writing was on the wall; interactive was coming.

Not long ago, this author wrote in an event-centric blog that, “there is really no adequate substitute yet for meeting people face to face.” While I still believe that this is true (why would there be such a thing as the Web 2.0 Conference?), I am beginning to understand the subtle difference between interactivity and interactive, and the importance of making this distinction. Simply defined, interactivity is face to face communication between two or more people, while interactive is the active response of a computer system to a user.

Seen in this light, interactive doesn’t replace interactivity, but powerfully complements it in ways that are being explored every single day. We are only beginning to scratch the surface of what interactive is capable of contributing to humanity in terms of social interaction, politics, and culture. Interactive technology is rapidly evolving and creating richer experiences and more control over information for people around the world. As an abstract and egalitarian venue for human expression, interactive makes it possible for us to present ourselves and communicate our ideas on a grand scale. It enables community formation unbound by geography, economy, culture, and language.

It challenges us by fostering a social environment in which the rules of engagement are being redefined as rapidly as the technology that drives the user experience. Every existing social institution has been forced to reconcile commonly held assumptions in relation to interactive. Our notions of security, privacy, human rights, and ownership (to name a few) have been and will continue to be tested by the possibilities that interactive will enable.

If we employ interactive from the perspective of conventional business practices, we are missing the point. We must look not only at how interactive impacts us, but how we can make an innovative impact with it. The rapid social and technological change that interactive brings will accelerate and its influence will expand. Many of our established notions about ownership and control over brand equity and about the value of traditional marketing and sales channels are no longer valid. We must approach interactive with an open mind and look for new ways to leverage all of the new opportunities it offers.

Companies finding success in interactive are creating communities around their brand; leveraging numerous interactive methods, entertaining and educating their consumer, establishing transparency, soliciting feedback, and listening and responding to the needs of the market via a rich and growing box of tools at their disposal. They are doing this with a highly accurate measure of ROI at a fraction of the cost and turnaround time of traditional advertising. They are gaining competitive advantage and growing market share.

I believe that Pop Art’s trademark, “Lead with Interactive™,” reveals the coming of age of interactive as the new foundation of successful corporate marketing strategy. Economic and social pressures will continue to beat up the traditional modes of communication, and those that survive will do so as an extension of the interactive space.

We should continue this conversation. Hook up with me on Facebook. And if you get to Portland, we can sit down over a cup of coffee.