I get the strangest looks when I tell conference organizers that they should give their content away, for free, as podcasts on the Internet. Some of the looks are intrigue, most are horror.
I suppose that each community is different. My experience with conferences that I have organized and those for which I have been contracted to provide audio coverage is that making content available — for free — can create momentum for subsequent events. I have experienced this first hand and believe it to be true because of my philosophy about conferences. Let me explain.
I believe conferences sell three things:
- content
- time
- connections/interaction
Conferences have historically considered content to be their number one (and most valuable) asset and they’ve marketed themselves around the speeches and the innovative material that will be presented. Content is only one third (if that much) of what conferences sell. More significantly, most of the content that is available at any conference is similarly available as research papers, white papers, printed or electronic books, audio books, video programs, classes, etc… Knowing that to be true, why would anyone want to attend a conference, spending lots of money on registration, travel, accommodations and meals? Read on.
Many employers expect their employees to advance their knowledge and skills as part of their job, yet few offer the time and conditions in which to do this effectively. This is an even greater problem for contractors and consultants who must advance their skills to remain valuable to their clients. That means people must set aside time during their evenings and weekends — their “me time” — to self-learn. Life isn’t only about work. People have other responsibilities, such as family, which significantly reduces the available time, setting those people even further behind. Conferences offer dedicated and uninterrupted time to their communities, allowing them the opportunity to absorb and understand the material that is being presented. So, if you can’t read the book, the conference will provide you with a digest of the most significant information and perhaps the foundation to support self-learning. And because conferences are typically away from home and work, you don’t have to worry about your phone ringing, making dinner and mediating your fighting children.
The greatest asset of a conference is the gathering place it offers, a space that facilitates connections and interaction. Communities of interest are able to discuss and debate the presentations. This is an opportunity for speakers, subject matter experts, experienced professionals and newcomers to expand their networks. New conversations, relationships, projects, opportunities and even businesses are conceived and launched because of conferences. Minds, notebooks and address books fill up. And… since many conferences have communities made up of members of varied disciplines, the discussion is the opportunity to make the content that much more valuable.
To recap, I consider content to be the catalyst of a conference, time to be the value-add and the connections/interaction to be the main asset. Once you look at conferences through that lens you realize that giving away the content is your marketing strategy because what you really want is to give people a reason to attend that puts the value in an area they can’t create themselves.
Don’t market your event around your content,
market your event using your content.
Having said all of that, I don’t know that publishing the content verbatim is always the best idea. It’s certainly the easiest which is why many conferences (TED.com, meshconference.com, podcastersacrossborders.com, podcamp.org, etc…) take that approach. There are many ways to share content for free that isn’t just a verbatim recording and I have covered some conferences using those approaches both as a hobbyist and a journalist/audio producer. Those approaches include interviews with the presenters, audience and exhibitors, and journalistic reports of the conference sessions which include excerpts of the sessions. If interest is high, I’d be happy to talk/blog more about these approaches and offer some samples of work I’ve done to illustrate some options.
I believe that any conference would be crazy to NOT give away their content freely on the Internet. There’s a world audience and with it a world of potential conference-goers waiting for a reason to go to “your” event.
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