How to Grow Revenue in a Hybrid World
Watch full-session videos from Streaming Media East 2022.
Monte Evans: How do you improve revenue in a post-COVID world? Content is still the most important thing. You have to have the content for people to watch content repackaging now becomes even more important. So you have plenaries and breakout sessions such as these. You should be able to reuse that content later for those who couldn't make the virtual event or the live event, to see it on demand also be able to reuse it for shorter sessions and information packaging open up the possibility for remote revenue streams for meeting planners so they can help improve their margins for hosting events and reduce the barrier to having meetings happen more frequently. So. move from the model where conferences happen once a year to having conferences happening once a month, so that they don't have to be such a large fanfare, but people can be more engaged more often and more frequently.\
And the industry must create compelling environments for remote attendees. We can't just make technology solutions. We have to make solutions that answer the question, "How do I stay engaged and focused with everyone else that we're collaborating with?" And most importantly, no technology is good without training and support of the staff and workers. So one of the things that we in the industry have found that we have to do is train people on how to use this new streaming technology. Just because we have two decades of experience, doesn't mean everyone else does as well.
So let's go revisit basically the TL;DR with a little modification. Face-to-face events are here to stay, but hybrid is coming. The hybrid's going to become part of the event space forever. So get used to it. And as an industry, how can we help? What tools can we make, and what services can we create that increase interactivity and make it easier for attendees to feel part of the event, whether they're in person, whether they're remote, whether they watch it on demand.
And virtual events do not provide the same revenue as face to face yet. That was the same thing that was true of linear television moving to streaming OTT. It hasn't quite produced the same as commercial revenue as as linear television, but they're working on it. The same thing is true with the event space, and we need to take actionable steps for hybrid technology, provide the best technology for the results we need to have, the best technology so that people can gather together and have an event that works well. And we need to change our streaming tools into streaming solutions, geared for planners, so that we basically create packages that people can use that help them fulfill their meetings and make things very seamless. And finally, technology is still only one part of the equation. We must figure out support training and help those so that they can learn how to incorporate streaming in hybrid events so they're as efficient and effective as in face-to-face, real-time events.
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