Ten ways Clubhouse must adapt to be a threat to events

Luc Benyon, marketing strategist, MCH Global, explores how the ‘Clubhouse’ app must adapt to make a real change to live events
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Luc Benyon, marketing strategist, MCH Global, explores how the ‘Clubhouse’ app must adapt to make a real change to live events.

One of the joys of clubhouse is how easy it is to set-up and run a ‘Room’. The platform lends itself perfectly to replicating panel session-style events, as well as more open conversations around niche topics.

In short – it seems perfect for hosting virtual events. But event professionals these days are tech-savvy, with suites of products they are already using – from CRMs to ticketing platforms, to marketing and content plans. Does Clubhouse fit neatly into all of these, or does it provide another distraction? With its great accessibility, can it even pose a threat to the real or virtual sessions we all know and love?

Well, fear not – it’s not quite there yet. At MCH Global we hosted our own room to find out, and we noticed ten features that we would add in order to make Clubhouse a real challenge to live events.

1. Notes and transcriptions

Clubhouse conversations are by nature ephemeral. But we need a way to be turned into other formats – like blog posts or video. An integration with a platform like Descript would be perfect.

2. Voting or feedback

Currently only one person can contribute to a room at any given time – the speaker. But by adding polling functionality or similar feedback mechanism (such as live likes), we could see in real-time how people are reacting to what is being said.

3. Slides

Perhaps this defies the point of the simplicity of pure audio, but sometimes, in a presentation, we just want to be able to show a graph, quote, or piece of film.

4. Record and playback

This a challenge to the instant nature of the conversations, but being able to record them in-app would add a lot of value to the content being created.

5. VIP Experience

Any good event planner knows that tiered access can boost revenue, and bring a new dynamic to events. If Clubhouse could add a way for exclusive access to certain people, we could start to design more sophisticated event strategies.

6. Branding and design

Clubhouse’s design options are basic, and people are having to get creative with emoji just to stand out. Adding ways to brand rooms and add graphic elements would be a simple way to enable rooms to distinguish themselves.

7. CRM integration

These days we are used to being able to track our customers actions. Don’t expect Clubhouse to start passing data into Salesforce any time soon, but when it does – imagine the knowledge at your fingertips.

8. Promotion

Getting your room noticed, and with it, high attendance, is a combination of luck and who-you-know. We need better ways to be featured and encourage people into rooms.

9. Discoverability

Linked to number eight, the current search function is haphazard, and room discoverability depends on a strange cocktail of houses, hashtags and interests. There should be more clarity on what rooms are happening in which topics.

10. Verification

Right now it would be very easy to impersonate someone else. We need to be able to verify that speakers are who they say they are, before deep-faking takes over. Nobody wants a Clubhouse full of ads or brands taking over, but these tweaks could see it provide a real challenge to conferences, trade shows and panel sessions. And at a time when reinvention is paramount, that competition is only a good thing.

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