New Opportunities for Small Players to Sit on Discussion Panels
Portland, Oregon, USA – August 30, 2023 – BlaueXperiential Global Event Services, a consultancy providing event support and management services, introduces a new webinar business model. It replaces the “pay to play” model, in which brands pay a “sponsorship” fee to secure speaking positions for company representatives.
As a marketing channel, webinars help brands reach highly targeted audiences. Webinar producers can command thousands of dollars for what are truly plumb product placements. Tey Young, principal consultant, BlaueXperiential, explains that “the incumbent pay to play system favors brands that have the financial resources to cover what are often very pricey sponsorship fees.” He elaborated that “for many smaller organizations – which may offer comparable quality products and services, sponsorship fees are prohibitively expensive.” The end result is a panel of speakers who are chosen because their organization pay the fee. “The reality is, webinar audiences are really watching and hearing a really long commercial,” commented Young.
BlaueXperiential’s objective is to level the playing field where a panelist is chosen for their qualifications and knowledge, not because their organizations offered the highest bid. Young states “we have what I call a ‘vetted and validated’ model.” “It removes the favoritism that shuts out smaller businesses,” he offered.
The consultancy invites a subject matter expert to join a panel when their experience is relevant to a webinar’s topic. If a demonstration of a company’s products and services support a webinar’s topic, then that organization is vetted accordingly.
“Think of this as a model similar to Consumer Reports,” said Young. “The magazine doesn’t run print ads but it sells subscriptions to its readers. BlaueX doesn’t run ads or play commercials either. At Consumer Reports, the reader bears the cost of the subscription. At BlaueX, the attendees and their organizations indirectly bear the cost of the webinar when they are exposed to the consultancy through the webinar, inquire about its services, and hire it for a project,” he elaborated. To be clear the company will accept payment for advertisements or messages in other media channels.
The consultancy introduces the new system in a webinar series named “Second-Tuesday Webinars for Eventprofs.” The series presents each new episode on the 2nd Tuesday of every month. The first episode, “Nail-Biting Incidents Event Managers Survived and Lived to Tell,” performs on Tuesday, September 12 at 7:00 am Pacific, but viewers around the world can watch in their local time zone. The moderator is Candy Adams, known as The Booth Mom, a respected and well-known event marketing consultant. Panelists represent Genesis Exhibits, Kee Consulting, and Creative Consulting Partners.
Readers can attend the webinars at no cost. Registration for Episode 1 is located at: www.blauexpierential.com/webinar/bex_episode_1
To promote awareness of event sustainability, each episode will feature notable work that has helped advance the cause. Episode 1 features the MPI Foundation for research and scholarships it offers to advance the events industry.
ABOUT BLAUEXPERIENTIAL
BlaueXperiential Global Event Services, based in Portland, Oregon, USA, offers consulting and event management services. It was established in July 2023 by Tey Young, CMP. The company’s tagline is “Data Driven Experiential Events – Done Sustainably.” Visit the company website at www.blauexperiential.com.
FOUNDER
Tey Young, CMP, founder of BlaueXperiential, has worked on the front lines of events for over 20 years. Leading teams in North America and Europe, he specialized in experiential events and event analytics at several multinational organizations. He’s been recognized with industry awards and scholarships from Exhibitor Magazine, Meeting Professionals International, and the Events Industry Counsel.