Recently a lot fingers have been doing a lot of typing regarding the Virtual Access Pass as proposed by Meeting Professionals International (MPI) for the upcoming World Education Congress (WEC). The dedication and earnest concern of the various bloggers should be commended, for this debate about using the Internet to extend the reach of conferences beyond the venue itself is overdue.

The meetings industry faces challenges related to its environmental impact and the economic cash crunch,. Combine this with the serious questions currently being asked about the true benefits of meeting face to face, and we need to examine all options.

I am relieved to see that the debate so far has not questioned the validity of a virtual pass, but the cost to the individual to use it. For months, our organization has been examining the methods, benefits, and challenges associated with putting the content of a conference online. We have examined the issue from a number of different angles, and come to the truly astonishing conclusion that no one answer is right all the time.

There are as many different methods of posting the content of a conference online as there are of paying for it. Do we work with volunteers or professionals? Do we do use text, audio/visual, or a mix of both? Do we post verbatim transcripts (in their entirety) or some form of summary? Do we charge the audience, sell the branding opportunity to sponsors, or give the material away free?

Overall, the answer we kept coming up with was “YES”. Whatever works best. The circumstances of the event, the intended audience, and the subject matter itself will help determine which online solution works best in each case.

The one rule we did discover was that if you are providing a professional, value-added service, you are entitled to charge for it. You may choose the sponsorship route, include the service in an association membership fee , or charge a registration fee. But one way or another, there is a cost to the service that must ultimately be paid, if that service is to be sustainable.

I am perfectly capable of cooking a steak. In fact, I think I do a pretty good summer bbq. But if I go to a restaurant (a professional service), I expect to pay for the steak to be prepared for me. And if I were invited to a friend’s house for a bbq, I would be shocked if they asked me to pay for them to cook that same steak. They are providing a volunteer service.

To carry the analogy further, I would have no problem complaining if a restaurant did not prepare the steak to my liking, but I would never dream of criticizing a steak prepared by a friend. After all, they volunteered to do it.

There are many factors driving conference organizers, communication directors, and CEOs to attach some form of virtual attendance to onsite activities. Their decisions will be shaped by the overall goals of their meetings, the content and structure of their programs, and financial opportunities open to them. Their solution will be as unique as each audience, sector, or event.

Verbatim video might be the best way to present a dynamic keynote speaker or a continuing medical education session, but would fail to capture all the elements of a panel discussion with break out roundtables. And it would fail to hold an audience if there were 20, 40, or 100 hours of session time to sit through.

Volunteers might be able to record the minutes of a board meeting, but would be lost if asked to produce accurate, timely chronological summaries of a conference with 5,000 participants and 13 concurrent workshops.

Our industry has known for some time that every conference should be structured with its initial objectives and eventual outcomes in mind. And we’ve learned to be cautious of clients who are prepared to replace experienced, seasoned meeting professionals with untried volunteers…after all, they ask, how hard could it be to organize a meeting (or plan a party)?

Now, the virtual revolution is forcing us to learn the same lessons about the content we deliver onsite. As we’ve suggested in past blog posts, the ground rules are still taking shape, and the underlying business models are not at all clear. This is new, unexplored territory for large segments of our industry, but we will be stronger and better for the learning that lies in our immediate future.