In this post I want to cover some experiences on how I helped associations generate revenue by using eLearning technology to develop courses that can be offered online. I want to emphasize that, although we are talking about repurposed content, the final product must be designed using sound instructional design and eLearning principles. Don’t just slap a video and some PDF files and call it an online course. Even if you are on a tight budget, you still can produce courses that can support learning.

Table of Contents

Yearly conferences are still the main source of revenue for associations. It is during these events when they offer, their members and non-members, access to other resources and events not available during the year (scarcity effect, I suppose). To have access to these resources and activities, you would have to pay above the price for attendance, and these activities usually run before the main event. These resources are in the form of courses, private sessions, training, and the opportunity to meet other well-known professionals in the field (aka meet and greet) so that other aspiring professionals can have the opportunity to expand their network.

eLearning Technology Offers more Sources of Revenue for Associations

What are Some Sources of Revenue for Associations?

Like I mentioned, associations can charge for extra content, events, and resources that occur outside of the main conference event. Another source of revenue is the fee they charge to exhibitors, sponsors, vendors, and others who want a chance to access that desired database of attendees, for marketing and lead generation purposes.

The conference will likely produce an attendance similar to the size, influence and scope of the organizing association. Some associations resort to bringing popular speakers within the community, or they will offer courses not found elsewhere outside of the conference timeframe (other perks might be included).

The price of attendance is becoming increasingly high for many organizations looking to send their members for training, networking, or promotional purposes. They not only have to pay the conference fee and additional items, there are other expenses: lodging, meals, transportation, etc. If the conference fails to live up to the expectation, many of those attendees will not come back, and that is lost revenue.

How Can Associations Use eLearning Technology to Increase Revenue?

A new trend that has gathered momentum is the offering of sessions that member and non-members can access online through some kind of virtual platform that has eLearning tools such as live interaction with the speaker, chat to ask questions, and the possibility of quizzing attendees. With a little more investment, they can turn these into eLearning courses later on.

In these selected sessions (associations will not be moving whole conferences online any time soon. UPDATE: then COVID 19 happened and many conferences were conducted online), attendees pay an additional fee (usually smaller than the conference fee), to access specific content in the form of courses, talks with important speakers, and so on. This allows attendees, that cannot afford the trip to the conference, access to some valuable parts in the event. This has become another source of revenue for associations.

So, how can we use eLearning technology to produce online or eLearning courses that can produce additional revenue? First of all, you will need the help of some professionals. I have seen large associations bring in eLearning and instructional technology experts (some course producer too) to help them transform webinars, recorded sessions, and other multimedia content into eLearning courses. They will help associations develop well-designed courses through the applications of sound instructional design principles, and eLearning good practices (how to lay out content for the screen) that can support learning. You can grant certificates based on course performance, for example, using points accumulated during the length of the course, or through passing a final examination.

eLearning Curriculum for an Association

Now, let’s talk about how we will use eLearning technology to achieve the goal of increasing revenue inside an association. If you want your association to offer this product (online course) for members and non-members, there a few things you need to do, beyond contracting a webinar service such as a learning management system (LMS). These systems usually have eLearning tools and processes that can help you manage your entire curriculum. So, let’s review them:

  1. You need to train your presenters on how to properly conduct an eLearning webinar. This is critical because you only have one chance to make a good product that you can make into an eLearning course. If that is not your goal, you can sell access to the recorded webinar as a different product (I’ll explain in another post what I mean by a different product),
  2. Make sure you have a video streaming service that can handle the amount of enrollments in your course. Your LMS should support that amount of enrollments and demand due to the access of many students at the same time. Some LMS systems have a video stream service embedded, these usually require additional payment,
  3. Evaluate the content the presenter will deliver, and you should make suggestions to improve it, I cannot stress how important it is that the sessions be engaging and interactive, this will guarantee that your attendees will come back for more,
  4. You may have to hire a video recording crew, if you want to stream plenary sessions live during the conference (for those who couldn’t attend). For those eLearning webinars you will need a webinar software service, many offer all the features you need to create the videos for your online classes. If you only want to record an instructor delivering content, there are many solutions that allow recording of screen events, you will need a quiet room for the presenter to record the session,
  5. If the presenter does not have any interactive content, help them create some, this is very important. Have you heard of “death by PowerPoint”? I have seen countless of slide decks created by experts that had each slide packed with content, which is not a good practice since learners will have cognitive overload during the presentation with so much information thrown at them. You need to make the learning events into eLearning experiences that supports learning,
  6. But your eLearning courses will contain more than videos. You need to build eLearning modules that include more learning events such as games, activities, assignments, tests, written content, readings, and so on. Check out my post on how to design eLearning modules.
  7. You may need to create a whole section in your association that will take care of the eLearning courses, handle customer service, and resolve issues with courses,
  8. Contract a good ecommerce solution so that, whoever wants to attend an eLearning course or recorded webinar can pay immediately and have access to it. I developed eLearning courses for associations that even delivered certificates, the whole process was automated,
  9. Make sure there is follow up on customer satisfaction and overall impression of the session. This will help improve your eLearning products for future deliveries.

Parting Thoughts

I hope this post will help you in your process of extending your conference offering that will help you in increasing the revenue into your association. You can repurpose content that you recorded during the conference sessions and apply instructional and eLearning design principles to make full eLearning courses that run asynchronously.

You can produce content that your members (or non-members) can consume outside of the conference (recorded plenary sessions, for example), using online tools such as LMS, eLearning webinar software and screen recording software. You can offer these products year-round until the next conference when you can record some more sessions. These will become passive sources of revenue for your association.

Finally, your can automate your whole curriculum into a LMS system that can let members or non-members enroll into an eLearning course, which they can take asynchronously. Maybe customer and support services will require additional staff but it is worth it. If not, your whole system can run automatically without too much supervision other than tech support.

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