Successful subscription sites know that its best to diversify revenue streams. And live events are often a great way to do that.But with the advent of professional networking sites like LinkedIn and recorded talks from TED, audience expectations for events have increased. You’ve gotta be more compelling and engaging than ever before.That means choosing the right speakers and making sure their presentations meet your audience’s expectations. Our sister site, Subscription Site Insider, recently published a guide on programming events that included the following questions every event programmer should ask him/herself before choosing speakers:
- Are your ideal attendees motivated solely by the topic and served better with fewer, expert speakers or heavy-duty training sessions?If so, your staff and key industry consultants may be the best speakers, each with intensive sessions.
- Are the attendees motivated by networking and the chance to brush up against competitors and peers?In this case you may want tons of speakers – in fact you may load your agenda up with panels that only require a speaker to sit on stage and chat with peers, which lets you plant tons of speaker headshots and brand names on your marketing.
- Are sponsors motivated by the chance to speak themselves?Many sponsors think that when they buy a booth, they are ipso facto buying a speaking gig for their sales rep, but this may not be what your audience wants to hear. At the same time, sponsor talks can be informative, so you’re going to need to think hard about how you can keep your sponsors happy while providing your audience with information they really want.
Of course, choosing speakers are just the tip of the iceberg. Creating a compelling agenda and walking the line between keeping speakers happy and meeting audience expectations for content require a whole different set of skills. To learn how you can program an event that sells tickets year after year, download Subscription Site Insider‘s guide now!
