In a digital world, events hold great importance and value for businesses as they provide real-time interactions & brand promotions with their customers. However, in recent times, there has been a huge increase in virtual event hosting regardless of it being between the corporate houses or the brands. This article will share everything that you must know related to the rise of virtual events.
Virtual Event
A virtual event is a gathering of people in a virtual environment (online platform like Zoom, or Google Meet) with the motive of interaction, communication, and promotion. There are several types of virtual events. Some essential types are seminars, online conferences, meetings, fairs & exhibitions, webinars, digital summits, promotional campaigns, digital summits, and brand events. A small virtual event can have 10-20 participants while a large online event can have hundreds or thousands of people connected virtually together around the world.
In-Person vs. Virtual Event
A virtual event and an in-person event are quite different. For instance, a physical event requires a location to organize an event while you don’t need a location to organize a virtual event.
Likewise, an in-person event requires event planning and management for organizing an effective event. Conversely, you don’t need to do much planning to arrange an advanced and successful virtual event for your creative marketing agency.
In addition, an in-person event is more human-driven and demands loads of resources and physical effort whereas an online event is digital media-driven with better utilization of technology & minimum human effort.
In short, there are many differentiating things between a virtual and an in-person event. Let’s find out what are the benefits of a virtual event.
Benefits of Virtual Events
The virtual event holds great importance in this digital world. The following are some benefits you can avail via a virtual event
Easy & Quick Planning
Virtual event lets you organize an event quite easily and within no time in comparison to an in-house event. It doesn’t mean your planning will become short, rather you have a few elements to organize your event. You don’t require any physical elements or resources in this scenario. You just need simple planning and management to hold an effective virtual event.
Wider Audience Reach
A virtual event lets you reach a wider audience through digital platforms like Zoom, Google Meet, etc. In an online event, you can enable your audience to participate using a digital media platform with just a few clicks. This increases your reach to untapped prospects and builds good brand awareness. You can also get exposure to individuals that you might not have been allowed to reach via an in-person event.
Accessibility
A virtual event does not require a massive physical as the participants can join the virtual event from their respective places. Planning and managing a physical location is a difficult task for an event manager due to various constraints like capabilities, capacity, distance, and other factors related to an on-site location. These crucial factors won’t influence a virtual event as you don’t require any physical location to hold an online event.
Better Engagement
The engagement and interaction of an audience define the success of an event. A participant’s engagement is merely dependent on his/her level of comfort with the environment of the event. A virtual event can be attended by the participants through their respective locations giving them a good comfort and letting them engage or interact more effectively in the event.
Effective Performance Measurement
You can easily measure your virtual event’s performance as compared to an in-person event. In an online event, you can access information like how many participants attended the event, which sessions were more interactive, and popular, the virtual data for the attendees etc. However, if you integrate an external tool then you can get detailed insights into the audience sentiments, traffic sources, feedback & review collections, event experience, etc.
Less Budget
An in-person event ideally requires a good amount of money as you need to invest in the venue, travel & food, IT equipment integration, etc. Conversely, budgeting becomes quite efficient in a virtual event as you don’t need to arrange a venue and other physical facilities.
Counter Unplanned Issues
An event manager will understand that there are several external issues like extreme cold, heavy rain, etc that can come across while organizing an in-person event. So, it becomes difficult to overcome them and at times it leads to event cancellations. A virtual event is a brilliant solution to counter these unplanned issues as you can easily organize your event in virtual space.
Hosting a Virtual Event
Hosting an online event may seem challenging, but with the right tools and correct steps, it won’t be that difficult! Following are the crucial steps that you need to take in every phase of the event.
Before the Event
You must determine your goal, set up the event budget, select your target audience, send invitations to the participants or attendees, content creation and promotion, branding, participants registration, and test the virtual platform to avoid any technical issues during the event.
During the Event
You must share crucial information with your audience to keep them engaged in the event. Also don’t forget to give short breaks to the participants to help them remain energized during the whole event.
After the Event
Collect feedback from the participants once the event has ended and analyze their responses. You can also post pictures or videos on social media platforms to leave a better impact on your virtual event.
Summary
The rise of virtual events isn’t for a shorter period; rather it’s a lasting trend. It’s here to revolutionize the way people can connect and share information. Its cost-effectiveness, accessibility, and flexibility make it an appealing choice for businesses and attendees alike. However, hosting an effective virtual event requires careful planning, interactive content, and an accessible platform. In addition, you can follow the essential tips shared above to organize a successful online event.
