Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Why Do Suppliers Join an Association?

Regardless of all other stated intentions, suppliers join an association because they believe it helps them drive more business to their doorstep. Membership in the association provides them with programming and services, which can result in new business opportunities.
To accomplish that, associations offer several tools to their members:
•    Networking events
•    Membership directory
•    Suppliers directory

In the offline world, these tools are valuable but limited - by time and location. But when placed online, these limitations disappear.  For example: members presenting webinars of interest to the association community brings networking opportunities regardless of location and time. And members sharing content like webinar recordings, videos, and white papers through the buyers guide, makes the guide a valuable source of information – far beyond simple contact details.

When the Association’s programming and services are such that any supplier member can ‘push out’ information – to demonstrate thought leadership, share content, and deliver a positive experience to potential buyers or business partners, it will help them feel good about their involvement in the association. 

Webvent provides networked webinars and buyers guides for associations – please comment below and let us know what issues your association faces with your online events and suppliers directory.

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Schools Abroad Benefit from Webinars

Many countries have school networks outside of their homeland, designed for their citizens working abroad who want their children to learn its home culture and language.  Typically, these schools are located around major world cities and schooling is offered for around 3-5 hours weekly outside of regular local school hours.

The main reason for teachers at these schools to join webinars about topics related to schooling is to achieve a higher level of education for their students.  These part-time teachers and school directors are isolated within their city, and want to learn and share best practices with their sister schools around the world.

The home country may schedule annual conferences with workshops and in-person meetings, however, because of timing issues and traveling cost, it’s only feasible for a limited number of teachers to return home to join these conferences.

Webinars can be scheduled on a frequent basis, and when recorded these can always be viewed afterwards from any timezone.  Additionally, webinars allow the schools to keep in touch with each other, and collaborate on a more personal level.

At Webvent, the Dutch schools are united into a global community, which makes it easy to connect any time for specific questions. Regional teams meet regularly online, and participants who otherwise would not meet get to know each other over time.

Recently, the Dutch schools community (NTC schools world wide) got media attention with their advanced online initiative in using webinars to educate and network with each other:
1. Dutch online expat magazine
2. Dutch education abroad magazine (Stichting NOB)