Social media platforms combined with 4G, increasingly 5G systems and smartphones with high quality cameras have created a boom in users broadcasting live video to the world.
There are many benefits in turning physical events into hybrid events and even creating stand alone virtual events. Potentially the most valuable one for marketers and event planners is the ROI that it yields.
If you’re interested in finding out how you could live-stream your events, request a free live-streaming consultation below.
Below are five reasons why you should consider using Glisser LIVE for an upcoming event.
Increase Physical Attendee Size
You'd be forgiven for thinking I mean physical and virtual attendee size. But PCMA discovered when they introduced live streaming to their event portfolio, they saw an average of 23% virtual attendees converted into physical attendees over the next 24 months.
This is primarily due to the virtual attendance of an event acting as a qualification of the event for the attendee. By viewing the event from the comfort of their home or their office, an attendee will be able to determine if your event justifies the resources needed to attend in person the following year. Budget, scheduling conflicts and travel restrictions are the most important reasons attendees chose to virtually attend initially. It also helps negate the fear of the unknown.
Engage Attendees
With Glisser LIVE you’re getting the best of both worlds; live video and interactive slide sharing and participation.
Unlike clunky webinars that require software downloads or have a complicated on-boarding experience, with Glisser LIVE all delegates have to do is type in the event’s unique URL. They are then able to view the live stream. Moreover, the presenter’s slides are delivered in real-time, and delegates have the option to make digital notes and interact with speaker content directly from their device. At the end of each session, the slides can be downloaded. The result is a seamless user journey for the delegate and less administrative tasks for event organisers.
The multiple forms of audience response, including live polling, interactive quizzes, audience Q&A and social feeds are brought into a single analytics and info-graphics platform. This can be integrated into CRM systems. This is gold dust for sales and marketers to follow up with!
New Revenue Opportunities
Live streaming events can open up a plethora of new revenue generation opportunities helping to boost your event ROI.
For example, you can sell sponsorship packages. Here are five scenarios:
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You could sell sponsorship of the entire event whereby their logo and name appear on the sign on page and throughout the event’s stream.
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Alternatively, you can sell sponsorship for each of the event’s sessions. This could be individual speaking slots, stages or days.
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Another option would be to have sponsored time slots. This would be a great use for companies looking to demo their latest product offering or new feature to a qualified extended audience.
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When streaming via Glisser LIVE, you can monetize live polls. In this example, when a poll is pushed to attendees, both physical and virtual, the sponsor’s logo will be displayed on the main screen and stream.
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Finally, as you’ve live-streamed the event, you’ve no doubt recorded it. In addition to boosting your marketing arsenal (more on that to come), you can archive it on your website, industry publication or even distribute key snippets via email to a key demographic. These could then be associated with a post-event sponsor.
Shave Event Costs
Live streaming events can help you save money. Turning events hybrid enables event planners to have a more accurate estimate of total attendance. This means you’d be able to allocate resources to a finer degree.
It also helps qualify the attendance, leading to a greater potential ROI. By creating a hybrid event, those that are physically attending are effectively signalling their interest to exhibitors. As part of the sales team, this is a very strong indication that they are looking for a solution.
Another factor helping you to save money is through remote speaking. Instead of having to fly keynote speakers to events (which can eat up your budget), you can live-stream them into your audience.
Increase Marketing Efforts
As touched upon above, because you’re more than likely recording the live-stream, there are now several avenues you can explore in addition to simply archiving the entire event.
Now your mind will probably immediately venture to next year's event. The recording can be transformed into short bite-sized clips which are ideal for marketing. Perhaps a series of teaser clips. These can be used to help increase exposure across Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube.
By clipping the recordings into snippets, you can use them to create more targeted content. These can be weaved into blog content. If they contain sponsors, you can use them as case studies to help convince potential sponsors for next year’s event.
Utilising these clips will supercharge your marketing ROI leading to an increase in the number of attendees for next year’s event. In turn, this will help bring in bigger sponsors who will be willing to pay more.
Concerns
It’s worth noting a concern often highlighted - event cannibalisation. The concern is that by live streaming your event, you’re going to see your event shrink. Yet, as touched above earlier in this blog, live streaming often acts as validation for potential attendees and the recording can be used to maximise the marketing efforts for the following year!
When it comes to live-streaming, event organisers are also often concerned about the potential cost of live steaming equipment. Most events already have cameras, microphones, lightening etc. So the additional cost would more than likely come from additional bandwidth. This can be mitigated by scheduling your event to limit bandwidth requirements.
Many event organisers want to avoid the additional hassle of live streaming. Glisser LIVE can be delivered as a fully managed service that includes video streaming partners and professional hosts. We can help you map out a virtual and hybrid event series that will deliver engagement audience, save you money compared to fully physical events, and provide event analytics that proves ROI from your Glisser LIVE investment.
