Few industries are escaping the impact of the current cultural and economic forces.

Web 2.0 technologies like social networks, blogging, 3-D worlds, live streaming, hybrid events with real-time virtual chat, and low-cost video cameras and production tools have created new ways for people to create experience, share and consume digital content.

This shift is causing dramatic changes in many established business models and opening up new markets. Media like magazines and newspapers, the music industry and now conference producers and association leaders are feeling the heat. Many association leaders, and conference and event organizers are jumping on the bandwagon thinking they can just add a virtual experience, a social platform or use social networking as part of their current core services, maybe charge a fee for it and continue down their path toward increased revenues.

What's your place in the brave new world?

But can they afford to do that? Will their existing revenue strategies work for them? Can they continue to bank on a rebound of the economy hoping things will return to the way they once were?

How are other industries and business using emerging technologies of Web 2.0, social computing and service-oriented architecture to improve performance and value creation? How are they using the full power of the Internet and innovation to create increased value for their customers and attendees? Some are still figuring it out, others have caved and still some have their head in the sand.

Let’s consider the music industry.

The music industry is a perfect example of the shift. Many have written about how new technologies have broken down bi-directional, pay for use industry business models. While the music industry in general has viewed this as a threat, overall music consumption has actually grown. People are listening to music everywhere, accessed from a variety of devices including mp3 players to phones to laptops. Consumers are finding value in the ubiquity and liquidity of their digital music, and therein lies the business opportunities.

Who would have thought that Apple would become a big brand in the music industry? Could anyone have seen the disruptive innovation they would throw at the traditional music industry? And if not Apple, some company would have done something similar.

As the music industry’s value is visibly and sometimes painfully redistributed to companies able to reconfigure their business elements and models, new models are emerging. Bands are releasing their recordings on the web with “name your price” or free business models. They are bypassing traditional music labels and self-promoting through social networks. These bands use their giveaways to stimulate demand, buzz and focus on creating revenue from limited edition premium content or live concerts. (Hold on there, it’s not just unknown names doing this. Big names are doing it too such as Prince, Radiohead and U2.)

Take this same analogy and consider the annual conference, education workshop or webinar series. Associations and conference organizers have depended upon bi-directional, pay for consumption of their content or their conference experience for years. Dissatisfied attendees have started creating their own Unconferences with no or low fees. Suppliers and vendors have started giving away free content through webinars and programs instead of through the association or annual conference. Some associations have offered free attendance to industry practitioners for years. Some well-known speakers and authors are distributing free eBooks and online versions of their content. I’ve even been involved in some education events where organizers paid people to attend a full day of training. (There’s a twist for you and no it was not to get people to purchase a product!)

So what if your professional association offered a “name your price” for attendance at their next annual conference? What if they were completely transparent and showed you the costs they were incurring to hold an event? What if a detailed budget of the event was given to you before attending so you could decide your own fee? Would you attend? And would you pay for it? If yes, how much?

What if your annual conference became so forward thinking that it became a TED-like model for hyper-connected industry thought leaders? What if the registration cost increased dramatically and it was an invitation-only event with video snippets of last year’s sessions released throughout the year to the general public?

What if conference organizers gave free Webinars on all of the content being offered at the annual event before the conference started? What if those organizers then offered premium content and advanced education continuing each Webinar’s content for paying registrants at the face-to-face event only?

I don’t have the answers to many of the questions I’ve raised. As a matter of fact, some of the questions I’ve raised leave me even more perplexed than when I started thinking about them. One thing I do know, things have changed and will continue to change in the future. Change is the constant and ignoring it will only cause harm.

Can we learn anything from those successful in today’s new economy? Do the music industry’s innovative disruptions have any application to conference revenue models or association membership?

Here are some tenets that some successful companies are following in the new economy:

1. Capitalize on new markets and business models quickly.
2. Your customers value digital content. Give it to them.
3. Get closer to your markets and your customers. Let them have your ear. Embrace them and ask them to collaborate with you.
4. Trust the network; it truly knows more than you do.
5. Think about leveraging a small group with extraordinary talent to increase value for large audiences.
6. Use social networks to create new value and new solutions.
7. Become fast, friendly and flexible able to adapt quickly. Fail fast, get back up, and try again.
8. As Steven Pressfield says, “Resistance is ‘The force be against you.’ The more important a call or an action is to our evolution, the more resistance we will feel toward pursuing it.”
9. Transformation requires being outside-in, not inside-out. Identify opportunities for growth.

Few enterprises are escaping the impact of this vast cultural and economic force. Those who ignore it do so at their peril. Those who understand and act on this new insight will be positioned to capture real value.

So, how can associations and conference organizers break from the traditional bi-directional funding model and capitalize on new trends? Got any thoughts to share with readers?