Two key players in the Toronto event industry give advice on how — and why — you should repurpose recorded presentations. Some hints: registration prompts and that all-mighty first-party data.
If you aren’t recording keynotes and other event presentations, you may be missing an important opportunity to repurpose your conference material. Here are eight post-event ways to drive more engagement and extract more value from your business event content.
"We're seeing planners thinking through the event life cycle in new ways. There’s been an 'aha' moment in understanding that there’s power in making that content available.”
– Trish Knox, founder and CEO of TK Events
1. Share your recorded content online.
The simplest way to share recorded sessions — and to measure engagement — is to upload the videos to your website where they can be accessed year-round, suggests Mitch Malinsky, head of sales and strategic partnerships for PheedLoop, a Toronto-based event management software provider.
“It's a missed opportunity to do nothing with that content. At the very least you should be recording on-site, so that you've got a number of options to repurpose it after the event,” he says.
Trish Knox, founder and CEO of TK Events, a live and virtual event company, agrees: “We're seeing planners thinking through the event life cycle in new ways. There’s been an 'aha' moment in understanding that there’s power in making that content available,” Knox says.
2: Generate post-event revenue or collect first-party data.
Make event content available in an on-demand resource library. Provide access in exchange for an email address or newsletter sign-up, or add a paywall with tiered pricing for members of your organization and non-members. “This also allows you to capture revenue from new registrants who did not attend the live event in the first place,” Malinsky notes.
3: Keep your portal open for a longer period of time.
“Often, we’re keeping virtual venues open, post-event, for up to three months.”
– Trish Knox, founder and CEO of TK Events
If you hosted a hybrid event with a multi-featured online portal — offering video and audio recordings, interactive polls, discussion boards, networking lounges, a trade show floor, sponsor activations and other features — keep access to the portal open for several weeks or months following the live event. “We're connecting with audiences in new ways and delivering content on their own terms and on their own time,” says Knox. “Often, we’re keeping virtual venues open, post-event, for up to three months.”
4: Gamify your online portal or resource library.
Make it fun by awarding points for watching videos and completing surveys. Encourage participants to redeem their points for discounted registration to your next live event.
5: Bundle high-value content.
“We find that this works extremely well for associations and organizations that require members to earn credits towards accreditations and certificates.”
– Mitch Malinsky, head of sales and strategic partnerships for PheedLoop
If your live event offers professional development content that enables participants to earn continuing education credits, extend the reach of this content by making it available online. “We find that this works extremely well for associations and organizations that require members to earn credits towards accreditations and certificates,” Malinsky says.
6: Repackage topic-specific material.
Take content from sessions held throughout the year and repackage it into a focused webinar series or online training course using either a subscription or pay-per-view model. Value-added, downloadable materials can include checklists, tip sheets, white papers and case studies.
7: Offer year-round ROI.
A resource library or portal can offer event partners ongoing bang for their initial sponsorship investment. “You’re not just providing eyeballs on them at your event, you're giving them real estate and highlighting them throughout the year,” Malinsky suggests.
8: Use edited content to boost registrations for upcoming events.
Create awareness and FOMO (fear of missing out) around the next conference or convention by editing photos and video into short clips and sharing them in email campaigns and blog posts, on YouTube and microsites and on social media with links to a registration page.