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.

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)

To Buyers Guide Publishers: "Allow Your Vendors to Join the Conversation"

Traditionally, Buyers Guides are static publications ranking the products of different vendors according to the insight of an industry expert. The publisher generates income by selling the publication and its updates, and by selling advertising space to vendors.

Sometimes these publishers are criticized for having a selection process of products determined by only a few individuals, and not actually having used all the products in contention. Also, people bring into question the accuracy of the information provided, and a bias towards certain vendors based on advertising revenue.

On the other hand, just listing contact information of all vendors in one place, without any selection process, misses several benefits. One of these benefits is search optimization: based on keywords or categories defined by the publisher, a buyer quickly gets focused search results.

With Webvent’s dynamic buyers guide technology, however, associations and publishers can allow any vendor listed in the Buyers Guide to join the conversation among buyers, industry experts, and competitors - and let them speak for themselves. Vendors can demonstrate thought leadership on specific topics through webinar presentations, and share success stories through videos, case studies, and blogs, without ‘harassing’ potential buyers with their sales pitch.

Buyers Guides are a great tool for organizations searching for a new vendor, or starting a new RFP process for a complex product or service. In a well-organized Buyers Guide, a buyer gets to hear all sides of the story and enters the purchasing process as a better-informed party.

The ‘Social’ Buyers Guide

Online “Buyers Guides” offer a one-stop shop for buyers to find and compare vendors in specific markets.  These often are used both as a service for their community members and a revenue source for the host organization, which include: Industry or Trade Associations, Chambers of Commerce, Online Marketplaces, Procurement Networks, Magazines and Media, Franchise Organizations, etc.

Today’s Buyers Guides are often static listings of vendors’ contact information and a brief description, surrounded by an abundance of flashing banner ads. Companies pay to be listed and pay extra for prominent placement or advertising.  These guides seem to be designed to sell as much as possible advertising space, rather than being the most user-friendly website for a buyer to search and compare different vendors.

We recently used Webvent to create a “Social Buyers Guide” for a large association.  Vendor listings in the buyers guide are connected to community members, digital content, and live Webinars.  Educational content remains separate from sales pitches, but sponsors receive enough promotion to generate leads from those who are actively interested in their products.   Within Webvent, listed companies can demonstrate their thought leadership on specific topics within their industry and participate in the ongoing conversation among members in the community.

A Social Buyers Guide is designed to balance the needs of the buyers first, and then the needs of the vendors.  Vendors become active participants in the industry, rather than sitting on the sidelines trying to “pitch” their message into the market.

Turn Temporary Efforts into Permanent Assets with an Events Archive

Events require time and money to organize, advertise, collect registrations, arrange speakers, and host.  Typically, this effort is lost once the event ends – the content and interactions that made the event so valuable no longer benefit the host.

Today, an effective events archive allows you to convert your events into permanent assets that drive search engine traffic and participants to your site long after the event ended.  Viewers can find information about past events and content in a variety of formats – including videos, recorded presentations, audio transcripts, and questions and feedback from the audience.

Here’s what Webvent.tv looks for in an Events Archive:

1.  Video Playback: Most live webinars are recorded and made available either for free, or for purchase at an additional cost. You should convert your webinar recording into a YouTube-compatible video, and store text transcripts of the content. This will boost your content’s usefulness to your audience and visibility to search engines.

2.  Presentation Materials: Slides, documents, and links that session Presenters used should be posted in the archive and available to participants.

3.  Public Content: We won’t join the debate about free vs. paid content here, but at least some of the webinar material should be public, for improved search engine optimization if nothing else.

4.  Organized: Content should be automatically organized into a consistent layout, on the same page as the event announcement and online event itself.

5.  Post-event follow-up: After each event is archived, the host should send links and updates to all participants and no-shows. Also, work with your Presenter to promote the recording to their social network (LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, etc.).

Archiving your events not only creates permanent assets for your community, but also can help grow your future events by moving your site onto page one in Google.

Webvent.tv believes that online events excellence should be easy and inexpensive.  Click here to receive a FREE “Webvent Score” that rates your events program against these best practices and more.  

Comment below if you’ve found other best practices for your Events Archive.

The Event Landing Page Turns Invitees Into Attendees

Your event’s landing page must do three things—give the complete context so the viewer can immediately decide if they should participate, provide a simple path to register, and allow participants to expand your audience through social networks and viral invitations.

Here’s what Webvent.tv looks for in the Event Landing Page:

1.    Event Context:  The event’s landing page should have at a minimum: Title, date/time, description, intended audience, cost, presenter, photo, and biography. Content is an important part of a landing page, but knowing what to include and what to omit is very important. It is important to keep in mind who your audience is and make sure that the information you provide is relevant to them.


2.    Registration:  The event’s landing page is useless if your audience cannot register for the event. The registration form should be simple, with a submit button that is visible “above the fold”, without the need to scroll down.


3.    Appealing:  Content should include an appealing reason to join, with an attractive presentation that is consistent with your web site


4.    Sponsors:  Sponsors name/logo should be listed on the event’s landing page with links to sponsor-specific information - to keep educational content of webinar separate from sales-oriented messages.


5.    Social:  To expand the audience beyond your existing community, participants and presenters should have a clear, single-click method to share events with their social network.

6.    Invitations:  The option to invite others via email to join, branded consistently in the same look and feel, and getting them on the event’s landing page in one-click.

7.    Reminders:  Participants often register days or weeks in advance, so the landing page should let registrants add the date and time (in the viewer’s time zone) to their calendar with reminders and links to join when the event is live.

Each event serves a different purpose, so each event should have a separate landing page. Organized this way, the event landing pages become a key part of your community growth strategy.

Webvent.tv believes that online events excellence should be easy and affordable.

Click here to receive a FREE “Webvent Score” that rates your events program against these best practices and more.   Comment below if you’ve found other best practices for your Event Landing Page.

The Events Calendar Demonstrates Activity In Your Areas of Expertise

Whether a simple list or graphical calendar, the events calendar charts your organization’s activities.  But it can be much more: by including topics and presenters, you demonstrate your expertise, leadership, and active participation in specific subject areas.

Here’s what Webvent.tv looks for in an organization’s Event Calendar or event list:

1. Visible: The calendar is worthless if your audience cannot find it; it should be obvious from your web site’s home page how to view your events.

2. Up-to-date: Automatically list and update events – nothing ruins a first impression like month-old events listed under “Coming Soon”

3. Inclusive: Include future and past events, web-based and in-person events, to show your audience when and where they can connect and learn

4. Comprehensive: Besides the obvious date and title, each event should include brief information about the presenter, description, and host - in an attractive and concise listing

5. Detailed: Click on any topic or presenter to view more details of what the event is about, biographies of presenters, who should participate, and how to register.

6. Permanent: Past events should have direct links to view recordings, slides, transcripts, questions, etc.  This converts your temporary content into a permanent, searchable asset.

7. Subscribeable: Your most die-hard fan won’t be visiting your events list every day to anxiously await the next posting.  Add a “Subscription” option with an RSS or email delivery mechanism to stay updated on additions to the events calendar.

Organized this way, the events calendar becomes a key part of your organization’s ongoing conversation with your community. It becomes a central place from where you schedule, invite, prospect, alert, and engage; and not a mere listing of dates and times.

Webvent.tv believes that online events excellence should be easy and inexpensive.  Click here to receive a FREE “Webvent Score” that rates your events program against these best practices and more.   Comment below if you’ve found other best practices for your Event Calendar.