Live-streaming will pull high-value speakers out of in-person rooms.
observation — attributed to Steve Gottlieb
Gottlieb's forward-looking observation is structural and sobering. Live-streaming has profound implications for in-person events. The first people who will take advantage of remote participation are high-value speakers who would rather not deal with travel. Once those speakers go remote, the incentive for sponsors and audiences to attend in person diminishes. The chance to rub elbows with high-value players, which was the draw, evaporates. The implication for event producers is that the in-person value proposition has to be defended against the gradual erosion of its top-of-card speakers. Producers who do not address this find their events hollowing out from the top.
For conference producers, sponsorship strategists, and association executives thinking about the five-year arc of in-person events. The observation is most useful as a planning frame, not as a reason to abandon in-person formats.
livestreaming, high-value-speakers, in-person-erosion, industry-dynamic