Fork In The Road Blog

Events: Technology. Design. Strategy.

Monetizing Digital Events

Apparently it’s fairly easy to monetize a virtual event if you have the customer base, an understanding about what works and what doesn’t for your audience and a platform with ample monetization opportunities. A recent Thought Leaders Live Webcast from INXPO shed some light on the myriad ways to earn revenue from digital platforms. Attendees also received a copy of the company’s white paper (registration required, but it’s worth it) detailing the assets (banners ads, messaging, Webinars, directories, lounges, etc.) and bundling strategies that event hosts can deploy.

Ali Libb, online event manager, American Marketing Association and a Webcast presenter, explained that she takes her cues from live event sponsorship opportunities.  A veteran of 11 virtual events since February 2010, Libb outlined her success using tiered sponsorships—each level having a different mix of offerings from speaking opportunities to logos in email and branded landing pages. She offered three specific takeaways in her presentation:

  • Matching presentation topics with sponsors who would like to be associated with those specific subjects, while taking care not to allow overt selling, is a successful approach for attracting sponsors.
  • Content—Webinar presentations, videos, white papers—is easier to monetize than sales opportunities such as virtual trade show booths.
  • Making the content (and the sponsorship opportunities) available for at least 90 days after the virtual event is a good selling point for prospective sponsors and a benefit that physical events can’t offer.

Danielle Belmont, senior online events manager, BNP Media was the second presenter on the INXPO Webcast. Having produced 15 virtual events, she offered a long list of revenue earning tactics from her experience:

  • Virtual booths
  • Event sponsorship packages including a virtual booth, marketing collateral distribution, booth survey, promotional piece in attendee briefcase, attendee list and a podcast
  • Resource center sponsorship
  • Networking lounge sponsorship
  • Exhibit hall video sponsorship
  • Prize sponsorship

Matt Goodwin, senior account executive, INXPO, offered additional monetization schemes including entrance actions (slides on a screen or video playing as attendees take their virtual seats), interactive web space, sponsored polling in slides, product placements in the virtual environment and exit actions (directing attendees to a web site or booth at the conclusion of the presentation). Goodwin also left open the possibility of using game mechanics and mobile extensions as monetization platforms.

As with live events, the revenue potential is only limited by the sponsorship “real estate” and the event organizer’s imagination.  As virtual and physical events continue to merge into hybrid experiences, the potential for monetization becomes even greater with online and offline strategies combining virtual and physical event properties.

Have you implemented any monetization tactics at your virtual events that were particularly lucrative?

 

Open Source Event Websites and Apps: Same Functionality, Lower Cost

It’s no secret that advances in technology have rocked the event world. From mobile apps to virtual trade shows to social networks—not to mention gaming, geo-location, and cloud computing—tech is driving major innovation. But somewhere in the bowels of this business, there is another movement afoot. Open source platforms—free applications that are built by an individual but evolved communally by sharing the source code with other programmers and enthusiasts —could be the next big thing in trade shows, conferences, and meetings.

Pros and cons

After years of development, group experimentation, and refinement, open source platforms are stable, full-featured, easy to maintain, and less expensive than prefabricated applications. The communities that support the tools provide 24/7 tech support. And according to Pat Pathade of Fantail Consulting, open source tools now exist to power Websites, CMS (content managements systems), ecommerce, CRM (customer relationship management), conference management, (floor plans, education, speaker coordination, registration) and computer operating systems.

“One of the main advantages of open source is that you have a choice. You can make changes or customize your applications and Websites and you don’t have to depend on a vendor. If you build a house, anyone can fix it for you. You don’t have to go back to the original builder,” says Pathade. Plus, he adds, “You don’t have to be a programmer to work with open source tools.”

The perceived downside of open source tools is the issue of support. Some event organizers could be concerned with a solution that no one really owns. However, commercial companies are available to provide the support if organizations are squeamish at first and plenty of large corporations including General Dynamics and Lockheed are using open source platforms to run their businesses.

Who’s using open source

Fantail recently completed a new Web site for TSEA. The site was built using several modules of the flexible, open source, Drupal content management system without requiring any custom programming. The new no-code website runs on Rackspace Cloud Hosting, and includes on-demand videos, blog/twitter feeds, a buyer’s guide, several large and small lead and data capture forms, and automatically creates user accounts in their new Salesforce.com CRM.

Programmer and environmentalist, Stephen Cataldo is launching a new company called Verdant Event that will build Websites for conferences incorporating technology, social sharing, and green values into the design. He is also using Drupal to build sites that will integrate green education, matchmaking, speaker management, and resource (especially paper) conservation into the fabric of typical conference Websites.

SEMI, the association for the microelectronic, display, and photovoltaic industries is switching to Drupal to address slashed staff, budgets and reduced internal resources. They have contracted an outside vendor to build and manage the sites. Semi’s local regional offices will upload content in their native languages and manage their own pages. According to Thomas Viano, director, interactive services, Drupal will minimize the marketing department’s reliance on IT.

“We chose Drupal because of it’s low cost, because it’s open source, and because of the available vendors to build our new sites and manage the sites over time. We chose Drupal, then we chose the agency. We plan to build 24 sites in multiple languages on Drupal,” Viano says.

Open source platforms have come a long way over the last decade. Much of the Internet is powered by open source. “Now things move so fast that you are forced to move faster with open source. Drupal is ready for prime time. Using an average skilled programmer you can quickly set things up for a conference. It’s a great tool. It’s there and it’s got a community behind it,” Says Verdant Event’s Stephen Cataldo.

The Takeaway: More and more event Websites and applications will be built using open source tools in the future. They provide event organizers with significant advantages including a lower cost to build and maintain. A move toward DIY content management, customization, and experimentation is the next logical step for our industry. Open Source is a less painless way to get there.

Buyer’s Guide to Mobile Apps Released

The MeetingTechOnline Buyer’s Guide to Mobile Apps for professional event organizers and corporate meeting planners has just been released and will be available (in print) at the MTO Summit in November. I wanted to give you a preview of the guide which I had the pleasure of writing and pass along some of the insight I received in the process. This and other guides to follow are designed to give buyers all of the information they need to make an informed purchase. Plus, it lists all the providers that helped me with the guide and others that are leading the field of mobile app development.

The Table of Contents of the 35-page Buyer’s Guide includes:

  • Introduction
  • Why mobile?
  • Developing a mobile app strategy
  • Mobile possibilities—what can you do with a mobile solution?
  • Native apps or mobile Web sites—pros and cons
  • Pricing models
  • Revenue opportunities
  • Time frame
  • Best practices
  • Choosing a provider
  • What to include in a Request For Proposal (RFP)
  • Case Studies
  • About the author
  • Acknowledgements
  • Provider Directory
The guide is a neutral, non-commercial (except for the advertising) overview of third party mobile apps for events. When I was putting together the publication, I learned a couple of things:

  1. Most event organizers do NOT approach vendor selection from an informed perspective and very few actually put together an RFP when entering into the selection process. One reason is that there is so much information to sift through. Another reason is that there are so many apps to choose from (and many more on the way). What do you put in an RFP if you don’t know what you don’t know?
  2. The two camps (native apps vs. Web sites) are equally vibrant and can argue either way for their solution. Some providers offer both options and that is definitely an alternative that buyers should consider (depending on their audience and the connectivity of the venue).
  3. Selecting an app is only half the battle.  Adoption is the other half. Event organizers have to do a better job of promoting the app and training users. Although one of the goals of developers is ease-of-use, organizers can play a substantial role in reducing the learning curve that still exists.

The Takeaway: Read the guide. Get in the game.

Day 2 of Trust Agents: How to Overcome Fear

In the second of several video clips from the Q&A during the Women Tech Council meeting, Trust Agents Chris Brogan and Julien Smith discuss how to overcome fear and some other ideas for you to think about. I love how they take on any question whether related to social media or not. These responses in particular helped me better understand Chris and Julien as people.

Julien recommends embracing the uncomfortable and teaching your mind to overcome certain things. He says to give in to the desires of your future self (the one that is already better than your present self) and make decisions based on him or her.

Chris breaks “fear” down in categories such as the business fear of having to let employees go because he didn’t make his numbers, not knowing how to do a job (the difference between men and women), and not having a college degree.

In the context of social media and face-to-face events, there is still a lot of uncertainty associated with bringing social networking platforms, technologies and methodologies into the marketing mix. There is fear around privacy, investment of time, costs, negative comments, loss of control, lack of expertise, exposure, difficulty measuring ROI, and the risk of failure in such a transparent environment. After all, not only were we put in the hot seat by the recession, some of us were burned beyond recognition (lost jobs, companies out of business, marketing strategies obsolete).

Here are some of observations about the event industry and how to use social media more effectively to overcome our fears.

Stop speculating. Organizations have been accustomed to short term returns. If you invest X amount of dollars in audience promotion or booth sales, you will get X number of attendees and exhibitors for this year’s event. Social media success requires a long-term, sustained, and creative investment of time, energy and money without the expectation of immediate return. It requires that someone in the organization be working the social media levers all day every day and never asking the question, “how long will this take?” Instead they should be asking the question, “what can I do to help my customers today?” The result will be less fear (it’s more comfortable to help), more loyalty.

Quit trying to force twenty pounds of old school sales and marketing into a five pound social media bag. I see event industry companies and show organizers on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook every day selling their wares the old way on a new channel. I recently witnessed an individual on my #eventprofs Twitter “channel” being drummed out of there (by group consensus) because she was continuously selling her educational program and not contributing in any other way. There is an underlying mindset, philosophy, and liberalism of thought that underpins social media behavior. Organizations need to learn the rules of the road to prevent the much scarier scenario of driving off a cliff.

Stop the faux “I feel your pain” efforts. Over the years, I’ve written about exhibitor advisory boards and volunteer committees formed by organizations in an effort to get “feedback” from their customers. It’s a great idea on paper. In reality the same groups that allow these committees to “contribute” also restrict them from having any power to effect change. Second, the members of the committee are usually the large exhibitors, the biggest sponsors and the companies with the most “value” to the organization. They don’t necessarily represent the broader constituency.  Social media channels can empower customers, provide honest feedback, and represent a broad customer base more effectively than committees. When the community knows you have their back, they respond with increased loyalty.

Community first. Brand later. The reason why so many organizations are playing catch up in social media is that they are still trying to form a community around their brand. They soon learn that the only time their community members are jazzed about their brand is when they are at the show, being wined, dined and entertained. What about the rest of the year? Companies need to use social media strategies year round. Having a strong community helps companies overcome the fear of social media in so many ways–loyal, trusted customers ready and willing to offer honest feedback, promote their brand, and guide their continuous improvement is invaluable.

Be more human. (Yes I stole this from Chris Brogan). Be open to smaller group interaction. Stop marketing to thousands of people at once and try talking to only six people at once (I stole that from Mitch Joel). Maybe scale back the mega-events. Here’s what’s happening in the events industry. Attendees who are unhappy with boring speakers, the lack of personalization at large conferences, the same meeting formats over and over, and feeling like a number (thanks again Chris) are having tweetups, creating their own meetings (eventcamp) and burning up the Twittersphere talking about how to fix broken conferences and trade shows. Smart organizations will attempt to use social media to understand why this is happening and improve their own products.

Be very afraid. Be very afraid to overcome your fear? Yes. Here’s how. RD Whitney of Tarsus Online Media told me that one of the things that keeps him up at night is putting resources, time, and energy into creating a great event only to have the community siphoned off by some “guy” in his underwear at the kitchen table blogging about the same subject and getting people to listen. Wisely, RD uses social media to remain vigilant and ultimately mitigate his fear because either there isn’t anyone doing a better job than he is (the goal) or he figures out how to work with the underwear bloggers that have new and interesting ideas to support his community.

The Takeaway: In the end, these observations all point to the same mandate for overcoming the fear of social media–Listen, learn, and evolve or your customers will do it without you.

Are you afraid of anything?

Be Notified of New Posts via Email