How to Successfully Monetize Session Content as a Strategic Advantage

Freeman’s latest Trends Report on Event Attendance emphasizes the importance of value, specifically how education impacts the decision to attend your event.

49% of the ~3,500 respondents said the biggest reason not to attend an event was because travel cost/time didn’t match the value they would get from the event.

Cost will always be an issue and likely continue to rise. But, that’s out of your hands. The part that you control is value.

The top response (54%) of the participants said they determine if an event will deliver the ROI they require to attend by “identifying if there are learning opportunities that meet my needs”

However, most events have struggled to monetize the value of their education content and use it as a strategic advantage.

Typically, organizers associate this strategy with selling session recordings. But, that’s one dimensional thinking.

You’re not just selling content. You’re selling a learning experience.

That experience also differentiates your event from the competition.

It reinforces why 60% of attendees surveyed in Freeman’s report said the education experience was the top reason they could get past travel and registration cost implications.

The best strategy is to approach content monetization from all directions.

Indirectly:

Your event has competition that shouldn’t be ignored. Attendees can get similar education online and at other events.

Content programming was debunked as a unique differentiator in Freeman’s Trends Report on Learning at Events.

In that report, 89% of attendees said better interaction, impact, and enhanced engagement is the biggest differentiator for in-person learning/education sessions compared with online learning/education.

Yet, most events are still delivering a passive "sit and listen" learning experience that’s stuck in the Stone Age.

The event-engage playbook helps you to meet attendee expectations by turning your event education into an engagement magnet so they choose your event and keep coming back.

This experience opens up new sponsorship revenue opportunities. But, the most tactical takeaway is the behavioral intelligence that you get from measuring real content engagement.

It tells you exactly what content to program, repurpose, and promote to drive action from exhibitors, sponsors, and attendees.

To learn more about using content engagement behavioral intelligence to generate new revenue, see the Case Study: How SpaceCom Upsold Exhibitor Revenue +30%

Directly:

Most events have struggled to successfully monetize session recordings for many of the same reasons why hybrid events failed. They focused on the wrong strategy.

Hybrid models involved complex productions and expensive platforms with high upfront costs in an attempt to merge the in-person and remote attendee networking experience.

Those same fears still worry organizers that monetizing session content could impact their in-person attendance. So they wait until after the event to sell session recordings to their audience that didn’t attend.

But, it’s the most difficult time after the moment has passed to try and re-engage an audience that already made up their mind a long time ago and found an alternative solution to get their education.

There’s a better strategy. And here’s why it doesn’t impact your in-person attendance:

The decision to attend in-person is not impulsive.

According to the Freeman data, 84% of the ~3,500 attendee respondents said they decide to attend an event 4 weeks or more before they actually register.

If they can’t attend, they move on and find another way to get similar education online or at another event.

This is why pre-event monetization of your session content is so important. The best strategy is to offer a livestreaming/on-demand registration option promoted alongside your in-person attendance.

The goal isn’t necessarily to have remote attendees engage live. Although that can be an outcome if you have the right tools to deliver that experience.

The main objective is to capture the attention (and revenue) of those prospects that couldn’t attend in-person for whatever reason. They would have found a competing education alternative online or at another event.

Livestreaming is just a trojan horse that allows you to monetize session content alongside in-person registration.

The data shows they’re not choosing your livestream over attending in-person.

61% of respondents said in-person learning/education provides more value.

Most notably, it doesn’t interfere with the top reason to attend in the first place: Networking.

85% of attendees said face-to-face interaction for connecting with peers/experts was the top reason for attending in-person.

This can’t be duplicated online and was a valuable lesson learned that makes livestreaming education different from the hybrid era strategy.

Year-round:

Medical and Scientific events have been successfully monetizing education for a long time. Most even charge the same amount to purchase the livestream/on-demand session content as attending in-person.

Yes, they’re selling continuing education credits. But, they have a ton of competition for the exact same credits online or at other events, even within their same association.

Yet, their events still crush it with this model.

They also take it to the next level by repurposing that education into their LMS for year-round learning and revenue opportunity.

However, traditional LMS software lacks the ability to deliver an interactive learning experience that provides a continuous resource.

Most LMS experiences are passive and cyclical for short term memorization to obtain certification. Knowledge fades fast and then it’s nearly impossible for learners to efficiently recall specifics within the content.

Engagement is typically measured in sprints for renewal purposes rather than measuring direct content engagement to know what content is working or not and what’s missing to support professional development, reduce turnover, and generate new revenue.

The same content engagement behavioral intelligence that you can uncover from events and use to drive action can also be implemented for year-round indirect content monetization.

This strategy positions you as the thought leader to own the education and mindshare within your industry or brand community.

It also allows you to monetize content directly for year-round revenue as part of membership, subscription, or pay-as-you-go models.

NoteAffect’s Learning Experience Platform (LXP) turns year-round education from a cost center into a strategic asset.