5 Critical Mistakes Association Execs Make

When They Attempt To Earn Non-Dues Revenue From Webinars, Audio Conferencing

and Virtual Events...

…And How You Can Avoid Them

By Ann Werner

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5 Critical Mistakes Association Execs Make

When They Attempt To Earn Non-Dues Revenue From Webinars, Audio Conferencing

and Virtual Events...

…And How You Can Avoid Them

By Ann Werner

is © 2008 by KRM Information Services, Inc.® All rights reserved worldwide.

First edition: August 2008

No part of this publication may be stored in a retrieval system, transmitted, or reproduced in any way, including but not limited to digital copying and printing

without the prior agreement and written permission of the publisher.

Copyright 2008 by KRM Information Services, Inc. ® All rights reserved.

You have permission to distribute this document in its entirety

as long as it remains unaltered from its original form with all credits and copyright notices in place.

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About The Author

Ann Werner

Ann Werner is Event Services Manager at KRM Information Services, Inc., a leading provider of virtual conference services for associations. For 10+ years Ann has been helping associations get unexpectedly rewarding results from their virtual events. She has helped association execs and their teams “learn the ropes” during the earliest days of the virtual event revolution. A veteran of over 1,000 major, virtual events, Ann has helped a diverse group of clients master the process of delivering quality news and educational information to appreciative audiences in locations world-wide. She began her adventures in virtual event services working in the cable television industry doing live training and coaching of customer service personnel. She discovered that she had a “knack” for helping her trainees quickly master the complexity of their work. She brought that expertise to KRM in 1997 and immediately began applying her skills to the virtual event. Ann is energized by virtual events where she can bring together the talents of her team in customer service, communication, administration/logistics and personal relationships to help new clients develop effective non-dues revenue programs. When Ann is not helping associations master the art of non-dues revenue from virtual events, she enjoys life on the family beef farm with her husband, two teenage children and their two Australian Cattle dogs.

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Mistake #1 – Association Execs Not Including Teleseminars or Webinars In Their

Members’ Service Mix

“35% Of Associations Are Already Utilizing Virtual Events” ---KRM Survey (March 2008)

A recent KRM survey of associations showed that 35% of them are already actively promoting, executing and receiving revenue from webinars and teleseminars.

The implication for the 65% who are not doing this is that they will be left out of the bounty of non-dues revenue and member loyalty.

One of the downsides of not doing teleseminars is that you're seen by your members as being behind the times. They see webinars advertised, they see a lot of content is available, but none of it from you.

No Toe In The Water?

It is understandable that you might not be doing teleseminars or webinars in part because it is such a new tool.

You’re accustomed to doing face-to-face events and that’s something that your organization is familiar with. If you’ve not done a webinar or teleseminar before, there are a lot of details to worry about – a lot of details that you’re not accustomed to.

Most association execs haven’t had the training and the schooling necessary to execute an effective event without the risk of considerable embarrassment or potential loss of revenue to their organization.

A lot of members could have the perception that teleseminars and webinars aren’t interactive; and for a lot of people, ready access to and interaction with your speakers is important.

Many that first looked at teleseminars and webinars saw that there were just a myriad of solutions out there but it wasn’t clear-cut.

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Too Many Options?

It seemed like there were people who’d help with registrations or someone else who could teach you how to do screen sharing or the email communication. Someone else

said they’d train your speakers; some organizations claim that they had good help desk support. And then of course there’s the technology itself and the delivery of the program.

But there were a lot of things out there and it was difficult to know how to get started; it was difficult to know what to do first.

The high labor costs of coordinating all those activities were a significant burden on organization staff.

Welcome News...Finally...

The good news is that now there are organizations that can handle the complexity of managing a virtual event for you, and leave you free to focus on what you really know well. That’s your members and your content.

There are also even organizations today that can help you with the content.

And Now The Nightly News A good comparison is television news from years and years ago. At first, when we were younger and watching TV news programs, they were kind of disorganized and the broadcasts were long. Now when we look at television news programs, they’re short, they’re succinct, they’re eye-catching and they capture your attention. Other organizations have learned from that and can help you figure out how to deliver your content to your audience better. Recently I worked with a client that is seen as an association leader in covering late-breaking legislation and national news. They need to be fast, they need to be on top of it. They had reserved a virtual event, a webinar, and they had taken registrations knowing that as soon as this legislation broke their members were going to have to know about it right away.

Burning The Midnight Oil So, they had their legislative groups staying up all night to review what passed so they could present the new information to their members the next day. They’ve been doing webinars for a long time. Organizations that don’t do webinars and teleseminars are going to be outpaced.

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Your competitors are going to see this medium as a wonderful way to get information out quickly and you don’t want to be left behind. You want to be the first one out there with this late breaking news.

Conclusion: Taking that first step can be difficult. Selecting the right partner for the technology and logistics can smooth your path considerably. For a free check list entitled “10 Characteristics of a Good Virtual Event Partner” send an email to:

checklist@nonduesrevenueexperts.com

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Mistake #2 – Association Execs And Associations Disappoint Their Members By Producing Events

Plagued With Technical Issues

“You Never Get A Second Chance To Make A Good First Impression” --Anonymous

Foiled by the technology! Have you ever been on a teleconference or webinar that didn’t go well because the technology got in the way? Here are the 5 most common technology glitches:

o Can’t dial in.

o Password invalid.

o Can’t see screen.

o Can see screen but can’t hear sound.

o Call dropped in middle of conference.

We’ve probably all been through every one of those...and could add to the list. The net effect is that you were unable to get information that was probably important to you. And I’ll bet after you got over being frustrated, you were pretty angry. Nothing worse than carving time out of your busy schedule just to learn that you’ve been tripped up by a technology glitch...

Multiply that anger by the number of members in your association and you can see “big anger.”

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Financial Impact Is Staggering That “big anger” has a direct impact on your bottom line. In my 10 years of experience in helping associations plan audio conferences and webinars, I’ve found that members who experience a bad event are not going to pay to attend your next event.

Worse...they’re going to look elsewhere for the information they need. The most significant consequence of producing a low quality event is that your members just quit participating. It takes time and focused effort to produce a webinar or audio conference program that will be a robust source of non-dues revenue. I’ve often heard association execs claim that they have tried these kinds of events and their membership is not particularly responsive.

More often than not, it has nothing to do with the members! The association leadership said, “Let’s try it!” and put together an event to see what happens. What happened was an event that had several “glitches” from beginning to end – confusion over registration, no or late confirmations, late materials, unclear or inaccurate log-in instructions, technical difficulties, poor sound quality, and on and on and on. There are many things that can – and often do – go wrong along the way when associations attempt to “do it themselves.”

It’s Not Your Fault... The technical savvy required to pull off an event is very often underestimated. It’s not your fault because you know on the surface it seems easy to produce a teleseminar, an audio conference or a webinar.

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But it really isn’t; the details are many and the technology is complicated. And all it takes is for one key person in your membership base or on your Board to not be able to get into the event or to not be able to participate and your event is labeled a failure.

Good News The good news is that there are more ways now than ever to ensure that the technology is as reliable and flawless as it possibly can be. I’ve experienced many times when I’ve been working with association execs and meeting planners and associations where they’ve told me, “Ann, I’ve got to have this meeting go absolutely right. My Board of Directors has told me: ‘This is it. We cannot have a problem. It has to go right’.” And so it is a big deal to make sure that your events are high quality. A lot of association execs will tell me, too, that the brand image of their association is tied to their ability to deliver high quality in everything they do. Their members expect them to be on the high end; so it’s easy for you to take charge of this. The first thing you have to do, and one of the most important things to do, is to determine that you’re going to have a good event. You must make the commitment to your members to deliver the high quality that they expect from you and from your organization. You need to seek expertise in content development; you need to seek expertise in the technology of audio conferences and webinars; you need to seek expertise in the logistics.

There are people in organizations that can help you with planning your event from beginning to end... people to help with refining the content to appeal to member needs...to help with marketing...to help with registration...to help with the technology...to help with speaker training...to help with order fulfillment. The resources are out there. It’s up to you to decide to have a really good first event ever from your organization by choosing the right partner to help you deliver high quality from end to end. Or you could find yourself working with an organization that doesn’t deliver. Or, taking a chance on doing it yourself.

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Conclusion: Although technology improvements make it easier than ever before to produce virtual events, it still represents one of the greatest sources of glitches. As your members demand more interactivity, the event technology becomes more complex. To ensure you have the best interactive technology, coupled with

the safety net of a proven supplier, it is critical that you select your partner wisely. For our free report 47 Questions Every Senior Association Executive Must Ask Their Audio/Webinar/Video Conference Provider In Order To Avoid Making Embarrassing Mistakes send an email to: 47questions@nonduesrevenueexperts.com

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Mistake #3 – Association Execs Often Tax Their Staffs Beyond Their Level Of Expertise

“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

Albert Einstein, (attributed) US (German-born) physicist (1879 - 1955)

I’ll bet your staff is already pretty busy. In today’s environment much of the “excess capacity” has already been chopped from most associations’ staffs.

And research shows that most staffs have far less time to train and become familiar with new ways of doing things because their work load is so high. If someone gives you a new project, you’re going to have to rearrange some things...juggle current assignments and push a few items to the back burner. So, when the executive director says he wants you to do a teleseminar or webinar, it is implicit that you will do it with your existing staff.

And That’s When The Problems Begin... The stakes are pretty high...you’re not just talking about doing some training over the telephone. You’re expected to create a high quality, engaging and educational conference call, teleseminar or video seminar. You may even be charging for the event. If this is your first time, it will take you 5-10 times longer to organize than someone experienced with the process. Even experienced event planners find that the many details can significantly stress internal resources.

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If you have a low quality event, the bad taste in your members mouths can “poison the well” for months (or even years) to come.

Where The Problem Starts... This is what typically happens: Your Board of Directors or your Executive Director comes to you and says: “You know what? I’ve been reading about these webinars and teleseminars and our organization needs to do them. Can you get going on that?” A well-intentioned but naive comment for sure... Like somebody watching the nightly news and saying, “How hard can it be? You can shoot a little video, sit on a set and talk about it.” If you’ve ever seen a newsroom in operation you know how difficult it is to put on a good show.

Why It Isn’t Your Fault... To the casual observer it looks deceptively simple to do...set up a phone line, people

call in, and someone shows a PowerPoint. But getting it right requires a lot more planning, logistical and administrative activity and execution than that. The problem is the “arm wavers”...they don’t want to hear about the difficulty of accomplishing the task...they want it done! That is a leadership strategy that can work in some situations...but not this one. The “arm wavers” wind up with a mess on their hands and

look for somebody to blame (usually you) for failing to deliver a good event.

What Can You Do? The first step is to go on record with a document that clearly demonstrates the most important aspects of executing a successful event and follow-up program. That document would ideally be comprised of the following 3 components: 1. A revenue estimate of the annual impact of a successful non-dues program.

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2. A list of all the tasks associated with a successful event. Included in that list would be an expert estimate of the time to accomplish each task and the skill level required. The goal of this part of the document is to produce an hour and dollar total.

3. A list of the activities that could be outsourced with approximate costs for supervising the outsourcing. This document can be used as a tool to brief board members, executive directors and staff so the expectations are properly set and the potential revenue well understood as a point of comparison for the relatively minor cost of putting on well orchestrated events.

Good News

The good news is that, for a modest investment, you can economically engage the services of other consulting companies or other organizations to help you with the planning, with the event production and with the logistics. There are other places you can go to get help so that you can pull off your first event like a professional.

Conclusion: It is easy to under-estimate the challenges of successfully producing your own, non-dues revenue event. If you’re a training director, Job #1 is helping your board or executive director understand the exact impact (in hours and

out-of-pocket costs) and the specific tasks required to pull off an event. If you’d like a spreadsheet that lets you fill in your labor rates and indicate total hours of resources required, send an email to: tasks@nonduesrevenueexperts.com

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Critical Mistake #4 – Not Concentrating On Content –Selecting A Topic That’s Unappealing And/or Not Structuring The Content So That It Is Engaging,

Interactive And Informative

“Build it and they will come!” Field of Dreams

That might work in the movies but not with virtual events. You can literally select the wrong topic and have no participants.

If your event doesn’t have a number of key elements, revenue and member satisfaction will both suffer. There are 3 warning signs before and during the conference that give you an indication that your content is not meeting your members’ needs:

1. Low advance registrations

2. Low percentage participation by registered participants – e.g. “no shows”

3. Hang ups during the call

When you experience these behaviors, you can be sure that as your audience tunes out your prestige will suffer along with your revenue. Once your members have experienced a poor event, they are much less likely to participate in the next one. Often my clients experience a factor of one third to one half fewer members willing to sign up for their next event. Selecting the “right” content – content that will appeal to your audience – is the most difficult part of planning an event. The content is one of the big tricks in planning any sort of meeting or conference.

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The Process Can Produce Overload

There are a few reasons that it is easy for the content to slide to the back burner when you first start doing virtual events.

There are a lot of technical and logistical details to master just to get your program “on the air.” Years ago, network news looked pretty bad...wooden newscasters sitting on bland cardboard sets speaking in monotone voices. The networks have spent years and millions of dollars getting it right.

But that presents a problem for you because you don’t have the millions and you don’t have years.

Latest Trend Do you know what the most requested feature of virtual events is? Its interactivity...the ability of the audience to participate in and shape the content of the event on the fly. It is also a largely un-met need because most providers are still coming up to speed on how to provide that interactivity. If you work with a vendor who already has that built into their system you have the potential to leapfrog your competitors.

Interactivity options:

1. Interactive polling

2. Q&A before, during or after the event

3. Submitting comments online.

4. Pre-event feedback

Do You Have An Expertise Deficit? This may be the most important concept in this entire white paper...

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You tap into the skill set of those who have a track record of producing successful events from the technical, logistical and content aspects of the success equation. In order to be successful you will have to master those 3 areas. In a vacuum it could take years. With the help of a supplier who has years of experience you are free to fine-tune the revenue producing aspects of your event confident that the other stuff has been handled at a professional level and that the risk to your members of a program gone bad is virtually non-existent.

The Secret Repeat attendance is the key to a successful virtual event revenue program. And the way you attract your members and keep them interested is by following these 5 steps:

1. Fine-tune your content based on extensive “listening” to your members. 2. Understand your market. Today it is very easy to “not know what you don’t know.” Survey the marketplace you serve and understand the innovative trends that are emerging. 3. Adopt a “best practices” approach to your event production practices. Today there are thousands of these events running every day. Good best practices exist if you look. Your event “mechanics” should be nearly invisible to your members.

4. Boost interactivity with Q & A sessions, polling, PowerPoint, speaker video and you’ll be head and shoulders above the majority of what is produced today. 5. Follow-up after the event. Understand what the rough spots were from a member standpoint and more importantly ask them what they want more of...that is the real secret to quenching the thirst of your most demanding members.

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Can You Do It? Conclusion: Putting on world class, virtual events can seem like a daunting challenge. Building in interactivity can be rewarding and taxing at the same time. For your free checklist, “10 Ways To Build Interactivity In To Your Virtual Events” send an email to:

action@nonduesrevenueexperts.com

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Mistake #5 – Association Execs Don’t Effectively Market Events To Their Members

Many association execs “give up” on virtual events because of low registrations.

You put together a great virtual event! It is well organized, packed with great information, your event leader is polished and a very effective communicator. You send an email to your members and registrations are pathetic...all those hours of preparation, coordination and pre-event execution...only to have less than a handful of your members show up....very frustrating.

Your board thinks you may not know what you’re doing and some of your members may even be complaining about the email you sent announcing the event.

Blame Game With all the blame flying around it is small comfort that it really isn’t your fault. The process of promoting virtual events is very complex. The time of day you email your invitation can “make or break” your results...the copy you use to describe your event is another area where your effectiveness can swirl down the tube...and the way you phrase your event title can also cause a wave of member apathy. We’ve identified 3 reasons your members may be resistant to your virtual event...even if your organization has never done them before: 1. They had a bad experience with a poorly produced event somewhere else. 2. They don’t like to learn over the phone or web. 3. They don’t understand the “urgency value” of the information you are providing.

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These factors combine to produce low interest and low registrations. Your event then dies a rapid death.

Bright Spot On The Horizon The good news is that there are hints, templates and formats that can help you quickly overcome poor attendance. I’ve worked with clients that have produced more than 1,000 events in my years at KRM and clients who have worked hard to enhance their marketing strategies. In that time I’ve learned 3 critical components to marketing events effectively:

1. Begin your marketing sooner. It can be difficult to get on a member’s schedule. The more advance notice you give them, the more likely they are to put your event on their calendar. 2. Focus on the content, not the technology. Long ago airlines learned to “sell” the warm sands and gentle breezes of Hawaii rather than the 20,000 pounds of thrust in each engine. 3. Compare the low cost, high quality of your event to the alternative...a face-to-face meeting. Usually the latter involves an airline trip, security, dragging luggage, time away from home and family, a wasted day or two to get there and back and a giant pile of uncompleted work when you return.

Well marketed, your virtual events provide a great number of collateral benefits in addition to the resulting revenue.

Conclusion: Putting on an event that your members appreciate requires that you use effective marketing techniques. Properly used, they will help you bring in the largest number of appropriate participants.

Good marketing will also let your members who don’t participate know that your organization is actively providing information and value. If you’d like to get information on some “turnkey” content and promotion that will delight your membership, send an email to: turnkey@nonduesrevenueexperts.com .

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Conclusion

Unfortunately, there are a lot more than 5 critical mistakes you can make today! Instead of putting your energy, effort and money into fixing any critical mistake after the fact, it may be time to take a more careful look at how you can protect yourself with a comprehensive virtual event plan that saves aggravation and increases the value of your organization to your members.

Take advantage of the tools offered. Learn and understand the latest approaches to developing, delivering and monetizing your virtual events (it’s easier than you might think)... The association climate will continue to be chaotic...but with a little investment of your time, you can reap big rewards for you and your organization.

To receive a complete set of the documents referenced in this report, please send an email to: complete@nonduesrevenueexperts.com

and... instead of playing, "come from behind,” you’ll be ahead of the game...