Don’t Read This if You Want to Start an Online Event
If you want to start a live show/talk, you might not want to read this. Sorry.
One of the worst feelings is going out to perform for an empty stage, so why would you voluntarily do it over the internet?
If you’re looking for a performance-rush, I’m not sure you’ll get it from a Zoom show. The atmosphere is completely different. For the most part, your audience’s microphones may be muted. This immediately kills the atmosphere. For the people who have their microphones on, it’s pretty awkward to applaud at a computer screen, they may just sit in silence.
My point is, it’s awkward…
My Experience
Throughout the pandemic, I have performed 6 lectures (2 different lectures). Some of them sold out, and I’m extremely grateful to my friends for supporting me.
I purely wanted to do these lectures to share my ideas with an audience (and also pay for a neon sign I just had custom-made).
F.Y.I. I’m not writing this blog to sell the lecture, so I’m not going to link the ticket sales website. Also, I probably won’t do another online lecture…
I started the Zoom lectures at £9 per ticket and limited each session to 10 people.
The first 3 sold out, and went swimmingly. The next one also sold out, with more effort to promote it. The 5th one had 6 people in it, it was the last one (of that season).
I knew from the start that they wouldn’t go on forever. For me, hitting 5 was huge! I think everyone that wanted to see it, saw it. It came to a natural end.
A lot of the viewers asked if I could write a season 2 of the online lectures. And admittedly, I left it far too long. But reworking and creating new material takes time.
This September (4 months after season 1), I announced season 2. I planned to do 3 or 4 sessions. I sold 6 tickets… I did the session and hung out after with all the people that joined. I (likely) won’t be doing another one…
Shoutout to everyone that joined me x
Why Was it a Bad Time?
Of course, I’m no influencer. And so to even sell 6 tickets with my limited following, I’m thankful for.
However, after speaking with some friends who were also doing Zoom shows and lectures, they reported that they have also seen a huge decline in ticket sales. Some of my friends have even had to cancel their events last minute, due to a lack of ticket sales.
My theory is that people wanted to join my sessions because it was a fresh form of entertainment that they hadn't had in over a month. It was a way to learn new content, and occupy yourself (and your mind) during the lockdown. These are all pretty valid selling points.
All the reviews and feedback were great too, so I’d hope people didn’t book tickets to season 2 because the first one was sh*te…
One sales-affecting factor is that there are plenty of other real-life entertainment options out now.
Why should someone spend an hour with me, when they could be:
- At the pub
- At the cinema
- Skydiving
If you are currently writing an online event; whether it’s a show, a talk, or anything else. Just ask yourself, is this better than other entertainment options.
Even if you think your production is better than other options (and I think my lecture could be better than Tenet (sarcasm is hard to express in writing)), is it an immediately better option?
What’s easier… your customer buying a ticket to your event, or buying a pint.
Right now, people want to be with their friends and family, and not encouraged to stay at home. Rightfully, I don’t think we should be trying to glue people to their seats.
We could either watch as Zoom events take a slow and miserable death, or cut them off now. The choice is ours…
Little endnote:
I hope this wasn’t discouraging anyone midway through constructing their production. But, I needed to share my (and others) experience.
I might save one person some time, money, and disappointment.
You do you. If you think it’s a good decision to create an online event, I will support you (moral support, I’m not going to buy a bunch of tickets to your one-man Zoom play x).