At last week’s Business Video Expo conference in Miami, the change in the market for technologies that power video-enriched online communications could be measured in the types of questions attendees were asking.

For the full decade that Interactive Media Strategies (News - Alert) have been tracking the business video sector, the primary questions that roll off people’s tongues typically start with the word “Why.” Essentially, executives for years have sensed opportunity in leveraging online video but still had to be convinced on the reasons to implement the technology. They had to answer the “why” behind online video deployment, before getting to a stage where they would consider investment in the technology.

At this year’s expo, attendees no longer felt the need to be convinced of the “whys” of business video. Rather, their attention turned to the “hows” of video implementation. Instead of looking to be convinced of the value of business video, attendees were primarily seeking tips and techniques on how they can implement tools and technologies that leverage video more effectively.

Large crowds in Business Video Expo sessions learned strategies for promoting video more effectively with social media tools, tips for leveraging cost-effective automated video production solutions and fresh ideas for putting video to use in external communications. Attendance at the most recent Business Video Expo more than tripled that of the last Business Video conference held in 2011, illustrating the growing levels of corporate interest in video-enriched communications in the business sector.

Even with the growth and momentum witnessed at the conference, though, some might suggest taking the momentum factors witnessed at the show with a grain of salt.  After all, at a conference like Business Video Expo, you are highly likely to be gathering with the true believers of the industry – those who are already convinced of the value of using video more extensively in business communications.

Perhaps what was most telling for me is what happened on the plane ride home from the event itself. Over the years, I’ve grown accustomed to blank stares when I try to talk with strangers about my interest in - and passion for – the deployment of video-enabling technologies in the enterprise. In the past, people would ask about my work and quickly move onto a new subject after learning about my work in business video.

This typical response from strangers is a far cry from my days as a trade magazine reporter in the late 1990s when I was covering trends in the burgeoning narrowband Web industry. At that point, when people would learn of my job, we would spend the next hour talking about how and why they used the Internet.

Whether coincidence or not, the plane ride home from the Business Video Expo was like a flashback to my experiences in the late 1990s. My seatmate on the ride who learned about my job involved in covering the business video sector, proceeded to pepper me with questions and then resolved to hook up again to continue our business video discussion into the next week.

Taken together, these vignettes are telling. In short, the world outside the confines of “business video” is starting to get interested in the idea of using video to enhance communications and improve their competitiveness. And those who are going to conferences like the Business Video Expo are starting to refine techniques on how to do video better. The fact that you’re reading this column probably indicates that you have some budding interest in using business video more effectively in your organization as well.

While all these anecdotal samples are not as precise as some of the executive surveys regularly fielded by Interactive Media Strategies, they should speak volumes to all of us that something special is beginning to happen in the business video sector.