Expanding Your Conference Audience to Include Virtual Attendees
1. Declining Tradeshow/Conference Budgets: As organizations look for ways to cut costs, many are cutting back on the number of people they send to events.
2. Expectations for Virtual Participation: Live webcasting technologies are approaching mainstream, causing more attendees to inquire about remote options.
Enter the Hybrid Meetings Model, where you balance the needs of those who traveled to your event with those who would prefer to participate from afar.
Here are a few things to keep in mind:
• ALWAYS tip the scales in favor of face-to-face attendees.
While the remote option is attractive, make sure those who travel to your conference are receiving MUCH more value. Work to expand F2F networking and collaboration opportunities. Otherwise, you risk cannibalizing your core audience.
• Include recaps and teasers about onsite activities during webcasts.
When remote attendees join you for live feeds, make sure you’re talking about all the exciting things happening onsite. A quick recap of what’s been going on PLUS a sneak peek at what’s coming next may prompt virtual attendees to think about what they’re missing.
• Record webcasts to create new product bundles (and new revenues).
As you stream your event to virtual attendees, be sure to videotape these proceedings. You could create a post-conference bundled package to sell that includes the video footage, plus additional documentation, templates and tools. Check with speakers and find out what items they have to contribute to this bundle.
