You may have attended an online seminar or joined a meeting using a video conferencing tool, or perhaps you have attended a conference while sitting comfortably in your office. These are all examples of virtual events. Therefore, a virtual event is an event where individuals attend and receive its content over the Internet instead of gathering in person. According to Google Trends, the world is increasingly moving towards virtual events today.
There are four main types of virtual events
When it comes to event planning in the future, you can add virtual events to the mix of events you host and attend, as well as your internal events. Virtual events are not a substitute for other types of events, but rather a new type to add to and improve your entire program. Here are the four main types of virtual events:
1. Online seminars
What is an online seminar? Online seminars usually last from 45 to 80 minutes in a location that allows attendees from all over the world to join and listen. One or more speakers present the content, and companies can charge attendees to join these seminars using online payment services or provide them for free.
Web-based educational programs usually use video conferencing tools that allow for questions and answers, the ability to present live or pre-recorded video, and are available on demand after the event. Due to their unique educational nature, online seminars with 100% virtual attendance have thrived. These can also include internal and external training.”
2. Virtual Conferences
Similar to many regular conferences, virtual conferences are created around a live and complex agenda that includes key topics, sessions, activities, and more. Virtual conferences also feature multi-session content and can include multiple tools and activities.
Although virtual conferences are not as effective in terms of acquiring potential customers and networking as in-person events, they allow attendees to watch keynote speeches in real time, build their agendas from relevant content on demand, and interact with other attendees. At Creativity Experts, we offer virtual event services and provide advanced technological ideas and solutions for virtual event planning. We can deliver a unique and seamless experience for clients online. For more details, you can contact us.
3. Hybrid internal events
These include launching sales and company-wide events, training courses, department meetings, and more. For companies that stretch across countries and even continents, hybrid internal events are used to share a message with all employees when not all employees can be gathered in the same location.
While it would be great to transport every employee to your company’s headquarters, it is expensive and time-consuming. Therefore, the better option is to host events that are part in-person and part virtual, and virtual team-building activities can work well in hybrid internal events.
4. External Hybrid Events
These events are held for those outside your organization and can be user conferences or industry conferences. These events require high levels of video production to provide perfect quality for virtual attendees. These events allow attendees who are unable to travel to the event to participate and learn. It is difficult to provide the same value in hybrid external events as in-person attendees can communicate more freely and interact with the content more easily than those attending virtually.
Why host a virtual event?
Virtual events are held for the same reasons as in-person events: to convey your company’s message to attract potential customers, increase revenue, increase awareness, and build lifetime value. Meeting and event planners have chosen between in-person, virtual, and hybrid events for years, and each type of event comes with its own set of pros and cons. However, consider what you hope to achieve from the event and how attainable those goals are.
You can get to know Creativity Experts’ services for managing and organizing exhibitions and conferences and learn more about the integrated and comprehensive services we offer here.
Here are some reasons to host a virtual event:
- Accessibility: While the event is still held in person, virtual options allow you to accommodate attendees who are unable to attend in person.
- Budget: If your organization needs to cut costs, it can use small virtual events and webinars, which can help save money for a large event in the future that attracts more potential customers. It is also beneficial to have a virtual or hybrid option when attendance and travel budgets are a concern.
- Other options: Whether it’s due to bad weather, travel bans, or something else, you may be forced to make your in-person event virtual or cancel it altogether.
Virtual Event Planning Essentials
- Virtual events, like in-person events, require good, purposeful, and effective marketing.
- Content is king, and in a virtual environment, your content is the event itself. Strong keywords and interactive sessions designed for attendees are of utmost importance.
- Maintain interaction with virtual attendees and offer multiple options and activities using effective online event tools for virtual events.
- Data is the only way to prove the success of the event. Measuring engagement and capturing attendance data is the only way to prove the return on investment from the event and use it in future events.
Elements of the virtual event
A virtual event is created around content, attendee engagement, and data. Although virtual events do not require food and drinks, they consist of many elements like any other type of event, and the quality of video production and connectivity will be important. In addition to the location, which includes the schedule and content, virtual events should contain a mix of live and pre-recorded content. The following are the elements that make up a virtual event:
Event website
Event Registration
Live presentation content
Unidirectional live audio and video
Q&A
Live polling
Note-taking/favorite slides
Recorded content
Interactive video conferences
Surveys
Questions to ask when planning a virtual event:
Will the content be live, on-demand, or a mix of both?
Have you created a guide for attendees before the event that explains how to join, attend sessions, and use messaging tools?
What are your key performance indicators for this event? While you may focus less on potential customers acquired, you can build goals around session registrations and polls.
What happens if you experience connectivity issues?
Will you charge a fee for your event or offer free admission?
What is the duration of sessions both on-demand and live?
What tools will attendees need for communication and scheduling?
Collect data from virtual events
Data available from in-person events to virtual events differ, but data is still collected before, during, and after the event and can be used to target potential customers, prove event success, and improve future events.
Data is collected during virtual events through:
Registrations
Attendee demographic information
Session recordings
Email lists
Post-event survey results
Potential customer interactions
Session evaluations
Session notes
Social media
Also, read about the stages of designing and implementing booths at different events
