How to Make a Video in Your Hotel Room Your Members Will Rave Over

WOW!  I know the first thing you probably thought of is, "Where the heck is he going with this blog post?"  Video...hotel rooms...how does that all connect in with my members?  Well let me tell you, there is nothing more powerful at your final night dinner than lowering the lights and combining the meeting mission, overall message, and pulsating music, to engage your members emotions with scenes of the entire conference they just attended.

Hear me out on this...  Video does for an association, what Steven Jobs did for Apple.  It portrays a brand that makes you more than just a product someone buys.  It makes you something people love and "WANT" to be a part of.   It builds trust, shows your members you care, and displays your passion.  You can't do that with text in any format, as well as you can video.

When I took over as CEO in November 2008, I replaced a CEO that had been here for 31 years.  He was an icon with alot of friends in the industry.  Typically the new CEO has real challenges following someone of that magnitude.  I needed a way to speak to the membership, which covered 40 states and Canada, in a way that they could begin to trust in me, see how much I care, and the passion and energy that I have for them.  Video was the answer, and it worked!  I've walked into member companies, without ever meeting the owner, and you would think we had known each other for years, because he was so familiar with me through our monthly videos.

Video empowers associations to communicate in ways they never thought possible, and for next to nothing, if you do it right.  The following are a few things we do with video (click on them to see examples):

Meeting documentaries
Promoting your industry
Bi-weekly news casts to share the latest excitement surrounding our association
Meeting promotional videos
Meeting highlight videos
Member testimonies
Introduction of a new program
Promoting our supplier's/sponsors to the industry

Everything we do as an association, has a video element to it to drive the emotion of our members to want to be a part of something big and exciting.   Some of the videos are produced by a professional team we outsource to, many videos are produced by me on planes, hotel rooms, or at the office.

Many think that producing videos takes a lot of staff time and a huge budget.  I'm here to tell you that it can take neither.  The following is all you need to begin to take advantage of all that video offers an association:

- HD video camera with a lavalier mic plug in:  $300
- Lavalier mic and extension for cord:  $15
- Tip-pod for camera:  $15
- Mac computer with iMovie software:  $1,300 (if you don't already have one in office)
- Portable video lighting:  $150

Basically, for about $480, if you already have a Mac computer, or $1,800 if you need one, you have a full blown portable video studio in your pocket to interview members, do news updates, take video highlights of meetings, and push it out to members through your website and e-communications.

Bottom line, if you are not pushing out some type of video to your members it's like feeding them food that has no taste.  Take the time to purchase the above supplies, and engage a video intern from your local college, or someone on your staff to help you produce some amazing videos.

It's easier and less expensive than you think, and the reward of member excitement, loyalty, and engagement is priceless.