There’s no doubt, in-person events are a huge benefit to your members and your organization is going to continue to invest in them. A few times a year you are able to gather a community of like-minded professionals to learn, network and ultimately advance the profession. But, there’s a hefty price tag to securing venues, catering, speakers and all of the various expenses that go into an in-person event. And, what happens to the people that can’t leave the office for four days, fly across the country and participate in your fabulous event?
What if you could continue to grow your in-person event, reach the people that aren’t able to attend each year, still provide the learning opportunities and generate revenue?
You are already incurring the cost of hosting the event, your speakers are there, and you’re already offering the continuing education credits. Take your event to the next level by offering a few sessions online. There’s a variety of formats available today to consider that are a small incremental cost to your live event, but the revenue potential is huge!
I know what you’re thinking…you don’t want to jeopardize the attendance to your live event. Well, guess what—you aren’t! In fact you are selling it to future attendees. 82% of people say they attend a webcasted event to decide whether they should attend in person next year. It’s in your best interest to give people a variety of ways to interact with your organization, here’s a few ideas:
- Live Webcasts. By live webcasting some of the sessions, you are able to reach those that couldn’t attend in person, but still offer the content and generate some revenue for participating online. It’s as simple as having a videographer there to manage the logistics, provide a registration link to the event and voila! You’ve broadened your audience and revenue by allowing people to attend part of your event from the comfort of their home or office.
- Replay Webcasts. You’ve already captured the webcast, now offer that same session at a future date and time and moderate it. Depending on your certification requirements that session still qualifies as live continuing education. And, you’re getting more use and revenue out of content that has already paid for itself.
- On-demand. The same content that you captured from your live event can be converted to an on-demand format that your members can view anytime, anywhere. You can sell it separately or bundle it with other similar content for even more revenue.
- Distribution Network. By leveraging the InReach Sharing Network™, you can distribute your content to other organizations to sell on your behalf and benefit from a revenue share model.
- Video Advertisements. Having technology that will serve ads in front of your video content – like Hulu or YouTube – you are generating even more revenue with no cost to you whatsoever.
When thinking about taking your in-person event to the next level consider these ways to offer the content online and ultimately broaden your audience, advertise your event to future attendees, generate more revenue and give your members the options that they demand and deserve.
Want to learn more about webcast and on-demand services? InReach has a special kickstarter program that includes videography services for your in-person event and online delivery. Start with this trial offer and grow your online continuing education program from there!
