The Future of Events & Monetizing Video Content 

We talked to Blaire Martin of ViewStub about its hybrid events during the pandemic.

First of all, how are you and your family doing in these COVID-19 times? 

Blaire Martin: It is a strange year. I have been checking in on family and friends to make sure they do not feel isolated or depressed. 2020’s chaos has made me think about what is important and how this pandemic will change our social norms. 

Tell us about you, your career, how you joined ViewStub.

Blaire Martin: I’ve hosted hundreds of events related to entrepreneurship and venture capital. I’ve experienced how a mix of in-person and virtual attendees provides more ticket revenue, reach, and ROI. I’ve known our CEO and founder, Spencer Elliott, for about 10 years and joined ViewStub to support our rapid month over month growth.

How does ViewStub innovate? 

Blaire Martin: ViewStub focuses on customer discovery and aligning with complementary solutions and providers. Our platform is simple for low tech users, and they can generate revenue on the same day without upfront costs. ViewStub’s platform is sticky. 91% of our customers have launched a recurring event on our platform. Our promotional tools and platform become vertically and horizontally integrated into our customer’s strategic marketing initiatives. They are utilizing our tools for their virtual events today and their hybrid events in the future. Our success reps build trusted relationships with our customers through our online communities, video tutorials, and email drip campaigns.

How the coronavirus pandemic affects your business, and how are you coping?

Blaire Martin: The event industry has been devastated by the pandemic, but ViewStub has grown by over 3,000%. Remote access to content is here to stay. Event organizers, brands, and content creators experience the benefits of virtual access to events and are now seeking a low-tech, reliable, and complete solution for hybrid events. The hybrid event market is a blue ocean opportunity. We are focused on establishing thought leadership within key customer segments to become the preferred vendor for virtual and hybrid events. The platform is intuitive, so customers can launch an event in minutes without our team’s support.

Did you have to make difficult choices, and what are the lessons learned?

Blaire Martin: The pandemic caused us to be flooded with inbound requests from event organizers struggling not to cancel their previously scheduled in-person events. We quickly raised some venture capital to hire a larger team and enhance our self-service tutorials and support. We learned a lot about our customers’ needs and added many new features to the platform to support virtual events and make our platform work seamlessly through our API with complementary solutions. 

How do you deal with stress and anxiety? How do you project yourself and ViewStub in the future?

Blaire Martin: I’ve found that I need to take each day at a time. It is valuable to make plans for the future, but I have become comfortable with those plans changing as new information, partnerships, opportunities, etc. become available. I stay focused on communicating our upcoming growth milestones and leading our team to do more each day. 

Who are your competitors? And how do you plan to stay in the game?

Blaire Martin: Adjusting from an in-person event model to virtual and hybrid requires rethinking which tech platforms are utilized. One approach is to pay expensive event management companies to put together multiple isolated platforms to achieve desired results. Another is to hire extra staff to manage challenging technical integrations to set up and manage the event with fragmented solutions.

Unlike other solutions:

1. Our custom PHP platform is designed to support hybrid events (mix of in-person and virtual attendees),

2. Our white label solution drives traffic to the creator’s website and puts their brand front-and-center,

3. ViewStub enables low tech users to start generating revenue same-day without expensive upfront consulting,

4. Creators can sell various access levels and can create a mix of multiple concurrent livestreams and pre-recorded videos on their own website behind the paywall,

5. Our API integrates directly with other platforms,

6. Our checkout tool can process merchandise, product sales, and digital sponsorships,

7. All of ViewStub’s features work through an internet browser on any device without downloads,

8. Promotional tools enable creators to effortlessly increase their audience and revenue: incentivizing and paying-out affiliates to promote the event, administering ticket promotions, and collecting actionable marketing data.

Your final thoughts?

Blaire Martin: The future is a mix of in-person and virtual attendees. Check out ViewStub.com to learn more about how your brand and network can benefit from our white label solution driving traffic to your website to engage in unique video content and events. 

Your website?

https://viewstub.com/