There was a great post yesterday from the always thoughtful and thought-provoking blog at Velvet Chainsaw.

It was titled ‘365-Day Conferences Are Unrealistic’ and it begs three questions:

1. Is it unrealistic for conferences to have an active presence all year around?
2. If so, why?
3. Can we reframe the question to make it more realistic?

There was a follow-up comment that posed another question too.  Even if it is possible, why should conferences aim for 365-day community and is there really a benefit to it?

The argument against was straightforward: Vendors are the ones pushing for this evolution, there is little impetus from organisers to actually embrace such an idea, so why keep talking about it as a worthwhile goal?

The argument for conferences moving towards 365-day coverage is that publishers, non-event businesses, entrepreneurs and just about every man and their dog can and do organise events – often original, high quality and well marketed – which are squeezing the traditional ‘event-only organisers’ from all sides.

Collectively, they present a real threat.

Unique content, premium/free, bigger digital audiences, more engaged audiences, industry clout or expertise, less need to maintain margins, the ability to run events as loss-leaders…they don’t all apply to a single new event, but there’s a hundred reasons why non-traditional event organisers, when taken together, are in a position to inflict some pain on traditional organisers’ business model.

It’s death by a thousand cuts.

So, how can organisers combat this threat? 

They need an audience.  They need fans.  They need loyalty, momentum and trust.  These are not things you engender by running a conference once a year, complemented by a bombardment of sales emails and calls.  Not even conferences with 3-month ramp-ups and ramp-downs that cover half the year.

Only communities, sustained with continuous networking and valuable content, can combat this kind of threat.

But is it realistic?  How can traditional organisers shift to this new model?

Here are a few ideas on how traditional, event-only organisers could start moving towards a community and content-first, 365-day a year approach for their events:

1. Imbue your community with a sense of purpose, something bigger than an event, something they can recognise in themselves and flock to.  Watch Simon Sinek’s TED Talk to understand the power of purpose; and check out this post for how to craft a compelling value proposition.
2. Make sure your event has a simple, memorable hashtag and use it relentlessly – including between events – so that there is continuity across at least one social channel after your event has ended.
3. Content can be a powerful way to keep people coming back, but you can’t recycle content from a single event for over a year. You should aim to have a blog that regularly publishes fresh – exclusive – industry insights, so people get in the habit of returning to you at least on a monthly (and ideally weekly) basis.
4. Curated content can be a great way of providing regular value to your community without having to invest too much time or money in creating original content.
5. Create regular catch-ups and mini-events (networking gathering, lightening talks, webinars etc.) to keep the momentum up and offer fresh value in between big annual gatherings
6. Extend this online too, with opportunities for your community to connect with one another outside of physical events.  This adds even more value to your audience and helps keep them loyal to your brand.
7. Recruit community leaders and champions to help facilitate discussions, mediate any discontent, promote your brand and encourage networking.  Having a super-loyal core of community members is key to the overall success of your 365-day strategy.
8. Stop worrying about cannibalising your annual event!  Firstly, if you don’t have an audience, you won’t have an event to worry about anyway.  Secondly, it’s been shown time and again that live events are only ever enhanced by having an open attitude towards content and community.
9. Agree to invest.  With the best will in the world, you can’t expect to enjoy all the benefits of community without investing a little in building and maintaining it with staff, tech and editorial support.   Just remember the rewards for doing so could be high; and the stakes of not even higher…
10. Adjust your commercial model.  You’ve got to keep the lights on, so adjust your sponsorship model to take account of display advertising, or better yet, sponsored content (i.e. native advertising) and you’ll find your online community can help generate revenue (and profits) throughout the year.

In conclusion and to address the questions we started with:

• Yes, we do need to reframe the question.  Rather than ask whether conferences can be 365-days a year, we need to ask whether communities are the right basis for sustaining successful conferences.  That way we can look at conferences being an essential part of thriving communities, and not something that stands apart from them, working on a transactional-only basis.
• Yes, framed in this way, it is absolutely possible for conferences to be 365-day affairs (and in fact it is essential they are).
• Yes, there is a good reason for events to pursue this model, based on real threats to their business model.  This is a legitimate defensive move to build brand loyalty and expand reach.

What do you think?  Let us know in the comments below.