By S. Scott Grizzle M.A
In the early days of streaming there were a lot of ideas of what to do with this new technology. Some of the earliest adopters were content producers for entertainment but the largest market was education. Education has been more than just colleges and schools. Some of the largest trade and professional associations needed continual education credits or just wanted to get their message out.
Trade Associations and Member Education
It was very common before the .com busts and still today to see the various trade groups stream their keynotes and some breakout sessions. This is vital for the health of any association with travel costs and taking time out of the office less people are traveling. Associations adopting video they can improve their overall member experience. This can be a great post event training tool. There are those who go to events but after the event they want to review what the breakout and keynotes are. With all of the activities and networking happening it's going to be almost impossible to remember everything that was said. If you can get a year subscription of the post event breakout or sessions then the member can review all year long.
You may be thinking yeah be we are a trade or industry association and what do we know about streaming and production. Truth is you don't. It makes sense to find a platform or location that offers production services. They will record, stream and edit the videos for you. They can do all production including graphics and lighting for you. You might have a large venue Keynote and several breakout sessions where you need to focus on getting speakers and attendees. You shouldn't be focusing on the recording side of it. It's possible to record all of these and stream very fast and cost effectively. This gives all of those members who couldn't attend to still feel connected and engaged.
Association Conventions
A few years ago a large American legal association did joint event with their sister association in the United Kingdom. They streamed both conferences so both of their members could hear about key issues globally but also relevant issues for each of their associations. So they had breakouts that would be used to their education credits.
There was also a medical trade group that had their yearly conference in a smaller hotel so it was impossible to get all of their members there. However they were able to do some cool seminars and show procedures that they wouldn't be able to do in a larger event. So their concept was to make their convention very intimate. This was a perfect fit for a production and webcast. The production guys were able to get up close and personal. So the view from the camera was a POV style. The view was as if the viewer was right there with the presenter and able to see all of the various procedures. Including one disturbing one where the presenter was working on a cadaver and one of my camera operators passed out. This is one reason at some trade shows I recommend multi-cameras and PowerPoint integration. Besides being key information but it allows for shot selection and helps reduce viewer fatigue.
Any association can make great use of video and streaming. It's a great revenue generator if setup properly. But it also allows your members to feel engaged even when they can't attend your latest meeting or events. Video can transform your annual or recurring meetings into must watch or attend meetings. if your meetings are only in person and perceived to be more of a party and networking events then that can be hard to justify the time and cost. But if you can make them into an education event there are a lot of financial benefits besides just the education sessions that were learned. It can also turn your association an education resource for the world and be a key influencer on industry topics that may apply.
Summary
Education and Associations are one of the most intriguing use cases for live media and streaming. They have known viewers who have interest in the content and are already paying to be a part of the trade association. For a trade group to offer expanded post event services like VOD or even offer live video streaming of the event can go a long way to help grow any association. It can also help get the message out to the community.
An Association or Trade Group does not need to spend a million dollars to get this done. There are some great companies out there that offer competitive deals. But also since you will probably be doing some keynote and have some video production there already. Offering live streaming as an add-on isn't that much of an extra expense. You will recoup your investment in hardly anytime. Your members will find more value out of their membership and you can always sale as a separate convention or membership event to help raise money for your group.
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