Take Away

Deliver Value Virtual-event business models and value propositions are evolving quickly.When crafting your strategy, always look to your organization’s mission and strategy. Often those include educat- ing or advocating for your profession. I pre- dict that organizations that take a gamble and deliver value with a virtual-event strat- egy will be rewarded with loyalty, retention, and future purchases.

Dave Lutz, CMP, is managing director of Velvet Chainsaw Consulting (www .velvetchainsaw.com), a business-improvement firm specializing in the meetings and events industry. His company assists organizations in realizing top- and bottom-line growth by delivering customer- focused solutions in business development, best-practice and process improvement, strategic planning, and training.

People & Processes By Dave Lutz, CMP

Virtual-Event Strategies For 2011

I’m a believer in the benefits of extending your reach through hybrid events. Associations that go down the hybrid road—and make it financially attractive for participants—are putting their profession ahead of profit and will reap long-term benefits.

Butwhenitcomestopurelyvirtualevents,I’mnot there yet. Here’swhy: Attendees value the content, not the commerce. Virtual events tend to attract a lower-level professionalwholacks enough buying influence or authority to deliver ROI to exhibitors and sponsors. Verylittlenetworking reallyhappens in this space. It’s difficult in a virtual booth to build the kindof trust that leads to purchase. When education is offered for free and archived, it’s easy to find something more pressing to do. Archivedviews are less valuable thanliveones. Mostwebinars stink. Icancountononehandthe good ones I’ve experienced.

For the past year or more, I’ve been saying that

virtual events won’t cannibalize your live ones. I believe that’s the case with hybridmodels. Recently I realized that lowered costs to streamandhost ses-

synched to audio will work for on-demand CEU delivery, but not for experiencing real learning. 2.Virtual events are not a numbers game. If

youwant todelivervalue,youneedtoshootwithan arrow and plancontent that attracts a very specific vertical segment. Ifyouplan contentandmarket to a general/horizontal audience, you won’t deliver sufficient value to the participants or sponsors— unlessyouare delivering just-in-time content. Using virtual tech to be first tomarketonacritical issue is asmart practice of real leaders. 3.Sponsorsand/orexhibitorshavelowerexpec-

tations. The cost-per-leadof a virtual business card might be only 25 cents on the dollar versus a lead from a live event, but virtual leads rarely result in sales-ready opportunities. They work best for list- building.Yourno-showratewill be high for virtual events. You need to think twice about selling the names of the no-showsto your sponsors. 4.Free allows marketing.Paidblocks it.Most

Very little networking really happens in the virtual space.

sionshaveenablednewcompetition forthoughtlead- ership and quality content. Some associations are beginning to feel the competitive pressure from unlikely sources, including their best exhibitors, publications without events, and self-organized communities. If you are considering conducting virtual events

or webinars in 2011—andwant to rise above the competition—take into account these five consid- erations: 1. Slides synched to audio are not immersive.

After you attend a virtual event with video, slides, and live chat, there’s no comparison. Sure, slides

mobile apps and online subscription models have adopted this pricing model.Thinkaboutways you canapply it to your virtual offerings.Maybemem- bers attend for free andnonmembers pay. 5.Viewvirtualeventsascampaigns,notprod-

ucts. Use virtual events to promote your physical eventsorto attractandengageless activeornext-gen- erationmembers. If you approach virtual events as money-making versus value-creation endeavors, you will likely be disappointed. Sure, you’ll be able to partially or fullyfundthemthroughsponsorships, but the virtual decision isonethatmapstoyourmis- sion and your missiononly.

ON_THE_WEB: One of the best ways to keep up with the latest in virtual events is to read Dennis Shiao’s “It’s All Virtual” blog: http://www.allvirtual.wordpress.com.

ILLUSTRATION BY BRAD YEO pcmaconvene January 2011 35