Video streaming brings events to a much wider audience

The Learning Pool Public Sector Learning Conference 2010, held last week in London, was an impressively-organised event that seems to have met with an enthusiastic  response from the 150 or so paying attendees. By all traditional measures for face-to-face conferences, this was a success. But much more noteworthy was the virtual attendance of thousands of additional interested parties courtesy of the video streaming facility which the organisers provided. According to Learning Pool Director Mary McKenna, this was the result of only a few days campaigning on Twitter. And, given that more people still will watch the recording of the various sessions, the reach of this conference has spread way beyond the norm.

My first reaction is to look at ways in which this model can be replicated. The eLearning Network (eLN), which I currently chair, runs five one day face-to-face events a year, each of which takes a great deal of organising, for the benefit of a comparatively small audience. We do our best to provide value to the 1000s of members who can't attend by sharing slides after the event, outputs from discussions and the occasional meeting reports, but these are not a comprehensive substitute for being there. If the eLN was to provide a video stream and then archive the recordings it would, like Learning Pool, reach a much greater audience and much more effectively leverage the effort put in by organisers and speakers. It's true that those attending the event in person get the benefit to participate directly in any discussions and to network with other attendees, but they've had to commit a great deal of time, effort and money to do this. Virtual attendees can dip in and out, and make their own contribution through Twitter and similar tools.

So what's getting in the way of this happening? In the case of the eLN, it is the cost of providing the video streaming. We could only afford this by upping the price for the face-to-face attendees, which somehow doesn't seem fair, by charging the virtual participants, which would probably cut the audience by 90%, or by sponsorship. The latter is probably the most realistic option and one which we at the eLN should explore.

But the eLN is a not-for-profit association, so what about the commercial conferences? My guess is that most will keep well clear of streaming for the simple reason that their profit comes from charging high admission fees and by co-situating the conference with an exhibition. Both require people turning up in person. In short, their whole business model would be threatened by streaming, which means they won't do it until they have to. My guess that time is not so far off.