Rethinking revenue: How to monetise your online events.
18 Febrauary 2021, By Stefaan De Corte, Founder of LAUREA, Learning experiences and community building.
Thinking to charge “0” euro for your next online event? That is a pity. In this blogpost I provide 5 do’s to set a correct price for your next online event.
First, let me disappoint you: there is no magic formula in this post. Setting a correct price is hard work and requires analysis and most likely some challenging internal debates with senior management.
In addition: online events are here to stay:
You like to organise them because they attract more registrations (30% more on average), you can invite international speakers without the travel costs and some of them are cheaper to organise.
Your participants like them as there is no travel time, they are never ‘fully booked’, they are on average much cheaper to get in and networking at online events is much more efficient.
Wow, this all sounds great! But… how to make money with online events?
1. Focus on ‘impact’
And for this, I refer to the important work of the Event ROI Institute led by Dr Elling Hamso whom developed the ‘event ROI’ model.
Dr Hamso summarizes very well the model in one sentence: “Changing the behaviour of participants is the only mechanism known to mankind for creating event value”
Online events are very good at offering specific experiences to different target groups as it is more easy to shift participants from one room to another and to offer ‘customised learning journeys’ through the event offering.
We all need to use this unique feature: maximise differentiation. For example: have a key note for 20 minutes and next, throughout the event, you offer a 20 breakout session with the key note speaker and different types of participants to focus specifically on their challenges/issues.
Where many event organisers have created added value with their focus on creating a create learning environment, I am convinced that for online events, we should focus on the actual learning experience: what techniques and methods do we use to maximise the actual learning.
2. Create a novel experience and do not to replicate your existing ‘on site’ event.
A first obvious technique is to spread the learning experience over a longer period of time. An example is shown here, where we have transformed a 3 day live event into a yearlong learning experience by combining recorded webcasts, live webinars, face 2 face events and downloadable learning content.
A second technique is to apply different learning formats. Online events are perfectly suited to break-out (Zoom!) or to set-up a networking carousel where you get 1 minute with each participant. And there are also more complex tools like Mural that foster brainstorming in a very effective manner.
A third tip is to make space in the brain through techniques that let you use your ‘other side of the brain’ (during events we often use our left, analytical side of our brain): a live concert where the band creates a pop song based on the key messages of the conference activates our right, creative, side of the brain. Or an inspirational short show of a magician demonstrating a key value you want to transmit to the participants etc. Again, top performers that might be too expensive in terms of logistics become available for this.
3. Choose the right technology platform
For smaller events, we use Zoom, Teams and GoToMeeting.
And I must admit I was at first very sceptical about Zoom, but their user interface and list of functionalities is outstanding as compared to many other competitors.
Where needed, we’ll capture remote speakers via tools like vmix and integrate them in one visual experience that is streamed to the participants.
Off course, sometimes we work with a studio to record the moderator or panellists.
And some of these tools offer registration functionalities with payment functionalities, automated reminders, question panes and/or chat during the event and post-event surveys.
A big effort lies in coaching and training our speakers and moderators to make use of just the basic functionalities.
Overall, the cost of using these tools is ‘limited’ and they allow to create much more content as compared to using only online events.
There are many more advanced tools out I will just share our experience.
First, each e-conference platform has its own ‘key features’ and its important to choose the right one for your own event objectives.
My prediction is that going forward, we’ll see some very successful platforms that become ‘the Eifel tower’ or ‘London Excel’ of the meeting venues: very popular platforms that become a ‘brand on their own’.
At LAUREA, we have experience with B2Match (key strength: hybrid and match making) and MeetYoo (key strenght: exhibition) and are a fan of Let’s Get Digital (key strength: ‘vibe’).
4. Define the correct value of what you offer.
The key point is: Changing behaviour has value. Events should never be ‘gratis’.
The value of an online event lies in the following attributes:
Content (Authority of the speakers, etc)
Networking opportunities (Easiness, value of other participants, exhibitors, etc)
Scarcity (Exclusivity of the content?)
High or low demand (‘large/limited’ audience)
Technology platform (Features of the platform)
Fringe benefits (Unique happening, unique piece of art as a gift, learn something ‘off-topic’)
Partners of your event (non-profits, sponsors, …)
VIP Offerings (Early access, special access, free access)
5. Set a correct price
Once you have defined the value of what you offer, you need to set a correct price for it.
Our recommendation is to set an affordable entry fee for online events that is topped up for each addition value attribute and depending on the participant segment. It is used as such in the gaming industry and we should learn from them for online events.2
Please review below the webcast I gave on this topic at IBTM World Virtual 2020 .