If you’re still deciding whether or not to livestream your next conference or corporate event, you should read this article.
The covid pandemic saw an unprecedented rise in the popularity of meeting online. Social distancing measures meant that for many people, face-to-face contact was out of the question. Services like Zoom and Microsoft’s group chat service, Teams became household names. Alongside this, the idea of virtual events went from niche to mainstream almost overnight. Many businesses, associations, and societies refused to be stopped in their tracks, taking their conferences and other events online.
Those who chose to livestream their conferences during this period quickly saw the long-term benefits. Even as normality began to resume, livestreaming became a keeper! However, many of those who organise conferences and similar gatherings are still tentative about the idea.
The remainder of this article looks at some of the compelling reasons to livestream your next conference while debunking one or two myths about livestreaming.
Learn more about my livestreaming services.
Meet your objectives with a livestream of your conference.
Your main conference objective is to educate delegates. In other words, you want as many people as possible to leave your event armed with key information. That being the case, why restrict your offer to those who can attend in person?
No matter how appealing your conference programme is, many people will be unable or unwilling to attend physically. After all, taking time out for a regional or national conference can be disruptive, costly, and time-consuming. Reason enough to make many potential delegates think twice about needing to be there. A livestream extends your reach and brings your conference to those who, for whatever reason, aren’t there in person.
Create a more immersive viewing experience with a professional multi-camera livestream.
Livestream your conference as a promotional tool.
Online communities are a great way to promote your conference. Typically, many of those who attend your conference online won’t yet know enough about your offer to fully commit. However, sharing your conference online can convert those with a more passive interest into future face-to-face attendees. In addition, breaks in conference proceedings are an ideal opportunity for you to promote other activities to online delegates. Thinking about your conference livestream as a promotional tool makes a good deal of sense.
However, the promotional possibilities don’t necessarily end on the day of the livestream. You can also have your livestream recorded, giving you conference footage that can be recycled into a future promotional asset.
Think of your conference livestream as a revenue stream.
Many conference organisers still view adding a professional livestream to their offer as an expense. However, the reality can be quite the reverse. Typically, with an online registration fee set at just 20% of the in-person registration fee, your conference livestream could easily break even with as few as 25 online delegates*. The potential for revenue is, therefore, very real. You should, in fact, start to look upon a conference livestream as a business opportunity rather than a business cost.
*Based on figures published on page 22 of the Business Visits and Events Partnership report from 2020. Average UK in-person conference registration fee = £160 for domestic delegates.
Reduce risk.
So, you’re planning a conference, but, despite your market research, you’re not really sure of how many delegates to expect. Do you hire a space and book catering for 250 or for 500? How many copies of your takeaway literature should you get printed? Should you play it safe and potentially disappoint a lot of people? Or should you go for broke and take a hit on the potential losses? Getting it wrong at the outset could prove a major organisational or financial headache further down the line.
Why not plan for 250 delegates, but still have the option for more to attend virtually? Extending your conference beyond the confines of a physical space can help to reduce your risk considerably. As we’ve seen above, a relatively small number of online delegates can offset the costs of a conference livestream.
The recent pandemic has shown us how easily unexpected factors can ruin even our best-laid plans. OK, thankfully, events like this are very rare, but not so for things such as weather and transport disruption. The ability for delegates to switch quickly to online attendance is a clear advantage for those affected.
Sustainability, forward-thinking, and courting millennials.
Regardless of the sector you occupy, green credentials are increasingly important to your organisation’s profile. Transport to and from an in-person-only conference can generate a lot of unnecessary carbon. A livestream shows the world that you’re serious about sustainability by including online attendance in your conference offer.
The benefits of your apparent forward-thinking won’t end with the sustainability agenda, however. Those who are fully engaged with the online world will find the option of online attendance very attractive. In particular, many millennials will respond positively to conferences offering a livestream, as this fits with their zeitgeist. Ignore this at your peril, as we approach the point where the majority of most conference audiences will inevitably be millennials.
Go international with a livestream of your conference.
One of the great advantages of livestreaming your conference is the opportunity to easily accept online delegates from overseas. Your conference may only attract a relatively small domestic audience if held as an in-person event only. However, with more than 4.5bn active internet users worldwide, the opportunities speak for themselves.
Global livestreaming market to hit $247bn by 2027.
A few myths about hybrid conferences debunked.
Online delegates can’t take part in Q&A?
Even the most basic conference livestream to YouTube has the option of taking questions from online attendees, via live chat. Those who integrate their livestream into a service like a Zoom meeting can even go as far as sharing incoming video feeds from online attendees. In reality, managing online questions is often less problematic than passing a mic around your in-person audience.
Won’t I lose in-person attendance to my online audience?
Even in the cases where this happens, the increase in overall attendance will almost certainly compensate for this. However, it’s far more likely that the effect on in-person attendance will be negligible if it exists at all. Experience in the sector shows you’re your online audience will almost certainly be in addition to your in-venue audience.
Online delegates always get a poor experience.
Where conference organisers try to cut corners by simply putting a webcam at the back of the room, this is inevitably the case. However, if you handle your conference livestream well, your online audiences can enjoy high-quality video and crystal-clear audio throughout. This is where the support of an appropriately equipped and skilled partner is essential to success.
A panel discussion can easily be accommodated with multiple microphones and auto-mixing for crystal clear sound.
Learn about multi-camera livestreaming.
A final word.
The UK conference industry is estimated to be worth almost £20bn annually and growing. All sorts of organisations see conferences as a vital way to disseminate information to stakeholders. However, as with everything else, conferences will be markedly different in the third decade of the 21st Century than previously. The COVID pandemic saw an unprecedented rise in acceptance of online gatherings of all sizes. As a result, the already growing trend towards hybrid conferences has accelerated significantly. With the growth of relevant technologies, livestreaming can now be offered easily, even at small conferences held in local hotels. Can you afford to be left behind?
If you would like to know more about Mooma Media’s conference livestreaming and other event services, click the button below.
Stourbridge-based Mooma Media offers event audio-visual support, event filming, live-streaming, video production, and still photography services to businesses, the public sector, and other non-commercial organisations throughout the Black Country and the wider West Midlands region. To discuss your project, or for a competitive quote click the button below.
Livestreaming for conferences by Mooma Media. Livestream your conference in or near:
West Midlands county: Birmingham, Solihull, Sutton Coldfield, West Bromwich, Dudley, Walsall, Wolverhampton.
Staffordshire: Lichfield, Tamworth, Stafford, Cannock,Burton upon Trent.
Shropshire: Telford, Shrewsbury, Bridgnorth, Kidderminster, Ludlow.
Worcestershire: Bromsgrove, Reditch, Droitwich, Worcester,
Warwickshire: Warwick, Stratford upon Avon, Leamington Spa, Coventry, Nuneaton,
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