Over the weekend I’ve been invited to offer further perspective on our decision to charge members and non-members for accessing WEC content on-line. And I’m happy to do so as part of our commitment to engaging and listening to our community of members in their Web 2.0 space:
(1) This decision is part of an overall initiative to make more and richer content available to members in order to Elevate the member value proposition. Specifically, we want to provide the MPI community and the meetings industry at-large with highly relevant and timely digital content, accessible 24/7 across geographies. Particularly as our industry goes through unprcedented shift. As part of this strategy, we recently offered new educational content (like our webinar series, which attracted thousands of members) for free and we continue to make research documents (EventView and FutureWatch) free as well with the support of partners and the MPI Foundation. The debate over the Virtual Access Pass to WEC cannot be isolated from the broader member-informed strategy for increased member value that management has been made responsible and accountable to execute.
(2) It has never been as important for as many people as possible to connect to the content, community and marketplace at WEC. We know the economy is making it difficult for all those that want to attend WEC in-person but cannot. But because of the shift that’s going on in our industry, we have invested significantly in making more educational content available live on-line than ever before. We’ve also invested in the content itself based on the most intense peer review process we’ve ever deployed. Charging for on-line access is not a money grab. It is to help pay for the investment in the future of our members and our industry at a critical time.
(3) Pricing structures for on-line content currently have no hard and fast rules. Newspapers do it one way. Sport does it another. Entertainment another. These are consumer-fuelled enterprises, very much distinct from trade or professional communities in the breadth of their appeal and connections. As has been pointed out, associations are just coming to grips with this. We recognize that associations are subject to this shift and so we are trying something new and do not claim to have the magic formula. We benchmarked other organizations and industries and consulted members and volunteer leaders alike to get guidance. I’ve seen a number of prices suggested and models offered and we will take a look at them and fold them in with our own experience and evolution of our pricing structure. There’s probably even a white paper or ONE+ article in formation as well so that our members, increasingly facing the same challenges, can learn from our experience.
And we will always be transparent. That is the true essence of web 2.0. Some good feedback has been provided quickly on our VAP. But we don't just use 2.0 since many of our members are still getting comfortable with it. We also hold town hall meetings. I visit 15-20 chapters per year as does our Chair. We co-create with members face-to-face through our committee and council structures, have blogs, use twitter, etc to gain additional information and pulse beyond the pure data that we receive from our members’ and chapters’ satisfaction survey research (almost 7,000 total submissions). I would encourage you to continue the conversation on web 2.0 platforms and beyond and you can be assured that we listen and assess all our members feedback and ideas against our strategies in order to deliver the most value for all.