Should you charge for your online webinar?

Covid-19 has resulted in the move of many conferences and events to online platforms across the world, and the webinar format has become more popular now than ever before. But the “anytime, anyplace and anywhere” format has its strengths and weaknesses: are we really ready to value the online experience over the physical...and ready enough to want to pay for it?

Think back to the events you attended pre-lockdown? If you were attending an academic conference overseas, these presented you with the opportunity to leave your emails, students and duties behind for a few days. You would spend weeks planning and preparing for the journey and what to take with you. When you arrived at your hotel you would have an opportunity to freshen up before heading down to enjoy a drink in the hotel bar, or meet delegates for the pre-conference workshop, training, drinks reception and meal.

The conference itself would provide you with an opportunity to meet up with colleagues you know, or connect with delegates you have not met before, and there are often poster presentations, and promotion stands that provide an opportunity to learn and discover new products as you move from the main conference hall to break out rooms, to refreshment lounges and restaurants. Talking of restaurants there are the opportunities to chat to delegates over a prepared lunch, rather than the usual sandwich al desko that you would have in your normal working week.

Compare all of this with the webinar or online seminar experience where all those extras are stripped away and you are sat at home, dressed from the waist up, sitting in front of a screen where who you listen and speak to is managed by the event host. No opportunities to enjoy a break away from work, as you answer calls and emails between (and even during) the talks, and no opportunity or ad hoc conversation opportunities with other delegates. However, despite this, you do have the opportunity to connect via social media platforms such as Twitter and LinkedIn, and for those who are less confident at meeting people in person, this can create opportunities that reduce the need for awkward interruptions and self-introductions during refreshment and lunch breaks.

Despite these and other benefits, many organsiations are not charging for their webinars. We spoke to a few of them and asked them why. We outline just some of their reasons below.

Firstly, webinar hosts informed us that people simply do not want to pay: many found that people would not pay for an online event because there are so many that are free, so why choose a paid for event over a free one.

Secondly, they did not charge because the webinar was a mechanism for generating interest in their future events: for many event hosts, the current situation presents an opportunity for organisations to create interest in future events, and direct attendees to their other (paid) products. Gathering users’ emails and preferences enables organisations to share details of other events in the future and sell other products to them.

Thirdly, businesses offered webinars as part of their social responsibility strategy: many academic organisations such as Universities, Colleges and Institutes, and large multinational organisations, have opened up their conferences and not charged, and in particular those that help scientists and researchers address the global Covid-19 pandemic. According to Chen, Nasongkhla and Donaldson, in their article entitled “University Social Responsibility (USR): Identifying an Ethical Foundation within Higher Education Institutions” (The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology – October 2015, volume 14 issue 4), “University social responsibility, is a philosophy or principle for social movement, which can be perceived as a philosophy of a university to use an ethical approach to develop and engage with the local and global community in order to sustain the social, ecological, environmental, technical, and economic development.”

However, despite these 3 key reasons, offering webinars, online conferences and online meetings for free is neither sustainable nor desirable - whilst universities and large organisations may be able to subsume the costs, this will squeeze smaller organisations out of the loop. Training providers who rely on this as their sole source of income will no longer have a market for their products and to some this devalues the knowledge and expertise they bring to a webinar, online conference or training. The result of squeezing some out of the market will lead to a situation where we only see some of the picture - and where the picture is structured and presented by these large players. In addition, we need to continue to value the true contribution of messages and learning through a seminar, conference or event, rather than it just being the hook that advertisers will use to push their products and ideas.

So, when you search for those webinars, do not discount those that charge, you may find that these will better suit your needs, and after all, remember what they say: you get what you pay for.

Image courtesy of Sharon Mccutcheon