A blog post written in English, but with a French title caught my attention. It was written by Duncan Beale and he was remarking on the growth of those who say that virtual events will replace offline events.

Duncan said that this argument sounded like the ones where people said email would destroy paper communication (hence the reason why he called his post “the more things change, the more they remain the same”).

I liked that he said that both virtual and offline events can exist side-by-side. Yet, there is just one thing that he wrote that I disagree with. Duncan stated that:

“The content of the message should dictate the mode of delivery.”

I believe that no matter how good your content is, if you don’t provide the mode of delivery that your community or your network is asking for, this will spell doom for your event.

I’ve been seeing alot of online marketers show their desperation as they try to fill their offline events. Things like extending payment deadlines, throwing in extra bonuses and adding celebrity speakers at the last minute are just some of the things online marketers are doing to make their offline events look more attractive.

I bet if they just surveyed their audience, they’d find out that if they offered the offline event virtually, they would definitely achieve (and maybe exceed) their sales goals.

Content is one thing, but if you ask your audience how they would like you to deliver that content, you may be leaving money on the table.