The ECC Webinar #1: ‘Responding to Lockdown’ for Workshops, courses and classes
Webinar roundup…
The Event Creators Collective kicked-off its ‘Responding to Lockdown’ series with a webinar focussed on how event creators running workshops, classes and courses are approaching the lockdown.
The webinar kicked-off with a review of a recent survey (carried out by Ticket Tailor) which asked event creators how they were approaching the lockdown.
Survey results
The question in every event organisers mind is “When can I start running my events again?” From the survey of over 150 event organisers, it’s clear that event organisers are working on the assumption that if things don’t start returning to normal by September, then it’s likely everything will be getting pushed to 2021 — and this is when we’ll see the “new normal” emerge.
That said, when it comes to workshops, courses and classes, it’s clear that this is a portion of the industry where there is more scope to run events virtually and continue to keep revenue coming in. Most respondents say they are running events in a different way, as opposed to cancelling, and this was definitely reflected by our panelists…
Panelist discussion
We had 5 great panelists join us from a diverse set of industries and backgrounds:
// Suzy Bolt from 360mindbodysoul
// Nick Church from Nick Church Photography
// Kerry Bowness from The Foraging Course Company
// Kasia Bielicka from Fit&Fab Training
// Sierra Dator from Wise Girl Workshops
Each event creator was taking a different approach to how to keep their businesses going through the lockdown, for some this didn’t require huge changes, whereas others this has amounted to a near career change over night.
Here are some of the themes we covered:
Pricing
Almost the entire panel reported reducing their prices during this time. Whether that was in support of people struggling with finances, those who are key workers/vulnerable or simply because the expectation that lower costs equals a lower ticket fee. A live poll on the webinar confirmed this was a near universal approach. This had definitely been reflected in the data that Ticket Tailor has seen on ticket prices.
That said, there was a clear opinion that they shouldn’t be dropping prices too low as this could affect expectations once things return to normal.
Technology
With remote events we are at the mercy of big tech companies ensuring we have great quality. It’s difficult to give Google a call to say you had trouble on your Hangout!
That said there were some great tips on how to ensure you don’t come unstuck.
First of all, ‘Preparation’! Find a willing volunteer to do a test run on. Think about how you are going to share your screen and check that your audio and video are coming through clear.
When you are live, have at least one person on the call who you know will drop you a message if something goes wrong. You might not be able to tell that you are talking to yourself and everyone else is seeing a frozen screen!
Human connection
‘Zoom fatigue’ will probably be in the English dictionary by the end of the year. All virtual events miss out on some of that human-to-human connection, but that doesn’t mean you can’t do your best to breakdown the barrier and go beyond your laptop.
One great idea that was shared was bringing your events into the real world by posting things to your attendees or vice versa — this will bring your sessions to life. This could be as simple as sending each other postcards, or it could even be a bottle of wine for a wine tasting evening. It’s a great way to make your events more creative.
And lots more….
Watch the video below to see the full webinar. Including live polls, discussions on balancing the need to produce content versus making cash, and what life might look like when things get back to normal…
Join our next webinar and find out more about The Event Creators Collective here.
