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Your Conference, On Demand
I received a flyer (more like a catalog) for SD West 2007 in the mail today. My first thought was that it looked like content IT Conversations subscribers would enjoy. But as I looked closer, I saw that they sell the audio to the event.
You can pay an additional $95 with a full pass or $295 with a one-day pass and get unlimited access to the audio and slides from the conference for 365 days after the event. They call this “SD On Demand.”
I’m interested in hearing from anyone who has been to a past SD Expo and from anyone who purchased the audio. Does this seem like the kind of thing that you ought to pay more for? When you pay are you satisfied with a year of access? Is it the kind of thing you expect to be included in the price of a conference, or is it something you’re happy getting from places like IT Conversations as we filter it using editorial control?
Many conference organizers have concluded that IT Conversations is a good place to advertise. People who hear last year’s conference and enjoyed the talks are more likely to attend in the future. You might argue that no one’s going to go to a conference that they can hear later for free, but we all know that a huge part of the value of a conference is in being there, not just listening to the speakers.
As I’ve said before, speakers and attendees benefit when IT Conversations hosts the audio for a conference. Speakers ensure that their talk will be heard by tens of thousands more people than would hear it at the conference. Attendees ensure that they’ll be able to hear talks they enjoyed again or listen to a talk that conflicted with the one they went to.
Posted by windley on December 12, 2006 8:39 PM
Comment from Hamish MacEwan at December 20, 2006 1:11 PM
I think its a shame, but their loss, and perhaps for their market this is the right approach. But they certainly seem to be spending a lot on promotion what with the catalogue and all.
And what happens after the mysterious 365 days? There's a new conference you can pay again for the next conference audio etc?
Sad, grasping, desperate, uncooperative, selfish...
Comment from thomas hughes at January 3, 2007 7:24 PM
Providing recordings of any conference is an added benefit and well worth the additional cost. It actually costs a lot of money and production planning time to have the sessions recorded and hosted on a website for download. The fact that the information and content is being offered after a conference has concluded is a huge benefit. There are many events and conferences that do not take the time or want to pay for having the recording made and once the event is over the information is gone.
Please do not judge the SD West folks in a negative way for offering such a valuable resource. If somebody can't make it to an event during the actual show days, then at least they can access the information by getting the recordings and powerpoints.
Comment from Alexander at June 27, 2007 4:54 PM
Come on! Write audio session of a speaker costs lots of money? You just need to connect some recorder to the mike receiver. It is obviously much less than $300 they asked ($100 with VIP passes).
If they want to do make it non-copyable from their website, then it's doomed from the beginning (and it's pointless, cause people go to conferences not for materials, but to meet other people face to face and have interesting discussions).
And looks like it's indeed what's happening.
I was on SD West 2007 and ordered "SD On Demand". Can you imagine it's not ready yet? The conference was in March and now is almost July. Money is gone, recordings still absent. Meanwhile new conferences are in progress... You can see that on SD Best Practices they didn't go with "On Demand" option anymore...
Comment from Alexander at June 27, 2007 5:22 PM
Correction: they do suggest the materials for SD Best Practices 2007. However I can't imagine when they finish its preparation, if SD West On Demand is still not ready...
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