Your Virtual Events Have Value. Stop Making Them Free!
Author: Ryan Costello, MemberSuite’s Chief Strategy Officer
At this point, I’ve seen hundreds of free virtual events being produced by associations—particularly events such as conferences that historically would have generated significant revenue for associations. And respectfully I must say, I’m frustrated! I’m frustrated on your behalf.
Please stop making your virtual conferences free. Stop devaluing what you do. Stop devaluing your members and community. My goal in this post is to inspiringly challenge you in the hopes I can help save an enormous chunk of your non-dues revenue and potentially your organization altogether.
When you make an event free, just because it’s virtual, you are publicly saying your event is worth nothing. When anyone who’s thinking about attending, exhibiting or sponsoring sees “free,” the message being sent is that you yourself aren’t placing any value on the event experience you’re promising. And to make it worse, a free conference devalues your most valuable and unique asset—your community.
I’ve Heard the Excuses.
“People won’t pay for virtual experiences.”
100% not true. We debunked that myth months ago repeatedly with dozens and dozens of organizations. What people won’t pay for is a poor experience. If the experience, community and content you’re offering is of value, people will know it and will gladly pay for it.
They paid for the conference they attended in person, why should virtual be any different? Because you’re not providing a free lunch and complimentary drinks?
“Our sponsors are covering the costs this year so we can afford to offer free registration.”
This is another one I hear frequently from associations. Nonprofit is a tax status, not a business or event model. Your event must make a healthy profit so you can invest more resources in the people and programs that help you fulfill your mission and serve your members.
With a free event, you’re leaving money on the table. That’s a rejection of your fiduciary duty to steward your financial resources responsibly. Is that the precedent you want to set? What happens next time when “free” is the expectation? What about your future conferences—will they be free as well? Will the registration cost be dramatically low because it only needs to cover venue costs?
“But people don’t have any money right now.”
While I recognize there are people out there who are financially struggling right now, they are by far the minority. You can always offer discount codes to accommodate people who truly cannot afford to attend. Don’t assume every person can’t afford your event. Instead, assume they can and accommodate those who can’t as needed.
What Free Really Means
What’s most important to attendees? Their time. Time is the scarcest commodity of all because you can’t get it back. Attendees are right to wonder if a free conference will be worth their time.
Because what is the value perception of “free” to an attendee?
- Your association didn’t spend enough of its time creating a meaningful and memorable virtual event experience.
- You didn’t try hard enough to find and curate the most compelling speakers, content and entertainment.
- You didn’t invest time or money into figuring out how to provide opportunities for your community to gather during the conference for conversations.
You offered these experiences in person and attendees paid. You’re offering them now online and they don’t pay?
Who’s Really Paying For a Free Virtual Event?
We all know who pays for a free service like Facebook. We do, with one ad after another, and with all our personal data and clicking habits up for sale.
Attendees are no fools. They know there’s a hidden cost for free conferences. “Free” means the tiresome Zoom experience, too many commercials, or attendee data shared with too many companies.
Sponsors and exhibitors end up being the only ones who pay. But when attendees don’t have any skin in the game, a free conference is too easy to skip or multitask through. In industry forums, people are reporting increasingly higher “no show” rates for free events, a disappointment for your conference’s revenue partners.
Your Virtual Conference Has Value so Put a Price On It.
Remember, your virtual conference has immense value for attendees, for example:
- Compelling speakers and content
- A connection to your community community
- Conversations with peers, mentors, partners, clients, leads, and/or hiring prospects
- Continuing education credits
- One-stop window shopping for exhibitor products/services
- A memorable experience they’ll talk about with others
They get all this value from the comfort of their home, with no need to spend extra time and money on travel. In fact, if you think about it, paying for your virtual event would likely be a massive net savings for them.
Attendees will pay for your virtual conference. They see the value in the community and content you’re bringing together for them. Don’t devalue your role as content curator and community convener. Your association, your conference and your community are worthy—worthy of an attendee’s time and money.
Learn how the Toigo Foundation successfully made the pivot to profitable virtual events. To learn more about the platform that made this possible, click here.