For decades, physical or in-person events have dominated the corporate world. However, with digital and technological advancements, physical events are now being replaced by online/virtual events, and rightly so. Today, meetings and conferences are being held online through a virtual events platform. Likewise, hosting a virtual event has become easier with these online platforms. However, it was not until the pandemic that organizations recognized the need to go virtual. Now, virtual and hybrid events are considered the future.
Wondering why enterprises turn to virtual events? The sole reason for companies to connect with an online events platform is to maximize their reach by targeting remote audiences and getting them onboard through virtual recruitment events. Therefore, the corporate sector is the most likely to benefit from innovative and immersive virtual event features.
Let us explore what a virtual event is and how important it is for your business growth!
What is a Virtual Event?
Virtual events are just as carefully organized as physical events; only the venue and on-site attendees are missing. Here, attendees gather online instead of a physical location. Which makes it convenient for people to attend a conference or virtual fair from the comfort of their homes. In fact, virtual events are held through online events platforms, including; webinars, conferences, virtual expos, virtual career fairs, online job fairs, virtual open days, or trade shows. It is now an accepted fact that the world is pivoting to host virtual events.
Partnering with a virtual events platform is the key to a successful virtual event.
What is a Virtual Event Platform?
A virtual events platform is software enabling organizations and universities to host virtual webinars, conferences, meetings, online trade shows, virtual expos, virtual fairs, career fairs, open days, and more. That’s not it! A virtual platform offers a wide variety of immersive features that help engage and connect people from across the globe. It features live polling, Q&A sessions, surveys, chatrooms, auditorium halls, etc.
To illustrate, a virtual platform does not just support 1:1 interactions but also group interactions with chat rooms and audio/video conferencing. As a result, you can fully integrate your company’s culture and branding into any event. Similarly, it allows attendees to quickly join the event using a mobile device or web browser. However, the best thing about this platform is that it welcomes thousands of attendees at once.
Now, the most crucial part is to look for a virtual events platform that offers all the following features:
What to look for in a Virtual Event?
The key to a successful virtual event is partnering with the right virtual event platform. To achieve this, choose a platform offering a stimulating virtual environment, immersive interactions, and real-time event progress. That means you would need a platform that covers your hassle from beginning to end. Here’s a list of features that work best for a wholesome virtual event experience.
Personalized Landing Page
To start, you need to present yourself in a way to be noticed by people worldwide. Presenting your brand is the best way to achieve this. You can customize your branding page to attract your target audience. The page would describe the motives, overview, and details about keynote speakers. Moreover, your landing page allows them to register for the event. So, fully secure registrations by completely personalizing your landing page.
Branded Booths
Next, virtual event organizers need to set up branded booths at the event. You will offer your audiences a digital experience that accurately replicates their in-person experience. So, when designing the booths for your virtual event, make them as realistic as possible. For example, you can allow each exhibitor to create personalized avatars of the company representatives. Moreover, provide your exhibitors with options to forward attendees to different event segments. You can also equip them with tabs that lead to different content.
Virtual Exhibit Halls
Customizing the event is the best approach to win the leads worldwide. You can entice the attendees with personalized exhibit halls that are interactive and easily navigable. You can also personalize the exhibit hall as per your brand. Virtual platforms offer a set of interactive booth colors, designs, and graphics exhibit halls to choose from. Here, attendees can schedule meetings with the exhibitors using meeting schedulers or book appointments.
Quick Navigation
One of the essential features of a virtual events platform is its ability to guide attendees efficiently. With a truly immersive experience, virtual events should let audiences quickly move about the event. For example, you can create a user-friendly environment to help attendees move from one booth to another or one hall to another. Therefore, it is crucial to test the entire event before running it live. So that attendees can quickly navigate throughout the event.
Interactive Webinars
Webinars are an efficient approach to win 1000s of leads. To educate your attendees, live or pre-recorded webinars hosted by industry experts work best. They can share helpful insights with audiences and interact either individually or in a group. This will also keep the audience engaged. A virtual platform also allows you to create realistic 3D designs for an immersive webinar room experience. Later they can be engaged through Q&A sessions, polls, and quizzes. Thus, the event would prove successful if your attendees leave all informed.
Live Chat Options
Just as an in-person event, a virtual event also allows attendees to interact with each other. They may interact through live text chat, audio, or video meetings. These interactions, however, are safe and secure. For example, students easily connect with faculty or speakers to discuss terms in detail, or job employers chat with shortlisted candidates to reach a decision. Thus, the chat feature makes it easier for the event organizers to network with remote attendees.
Information Desks
A virtual events platform allows organizers to install information desks at the event. Are you wondering why it is essential? In short, virtual platforms are new to most audiences. A resource should be available to guide the individuals throughout the event. Therefore, a help desk or information desk would be an excellent addition to the event. This shall answer their queries in time and guide them towards the rest of the event.
Real-time Analytics Report
Again, the success of an event is marked by its progress. From event registrations to attendance and booth activity, a virtual platform gives complete analytic reports. You can also check how your exhibit booths perform by booth visits, clicks, chats, content, and downloads. Additionally, the performance indicators help evaluate the overall event performance, ROIs, and event success.
How to Host a Virtual Event?
Once the event planners and organizers have decided to go virtual, the process of planning starts. Just as your physical event, a virtual event demands the same attention. Follow the best practices from your previous successful events and identify the goals and objectives. The more closely you work on an online event with updated content and marketing, the more chances to bring forth global leads.
1. Construct an Impressive Virtual Environment
Organizations use the services of reliable virtual event platforms to host their spectacular events. The virtual events software offers stunning 3D designs, animated avatar libraries, and interactive exhibit booths to leave a lasting impression on the audiences. Also, the immersive lobbies and auditoriums create a wholesome virtual experience for global visitors leaving a lasting impression.
2. Organize an Immersive Event
For your online event to be successful, know your target audience and create the event experience accordingly. Identify how the event will benefit you, your audience and what opportunities it brings for the attendees. Moreover, the organizations can schedule interactive sessions of keynote speakers to educate current or prospective leads. In addition, global candidates receive a wholesome immersive experience, including webinars and speeches. Finally, leave the technicalities to your virtual event platform and run an overall successful event.
3. Create Dynamic Content
Prepare immersive content for your custom build event presenting all the features of a virtual experience. You can format engaging and informative content for the presentations, including relevant directions and guidelines for the event. Organizers can make their events desirable with a cherry on the top’ virtual swag bags,’ document hosting, and video vault. Also, ensure attendees have access to downloadable materials and files.
4. Market your Online Event
Experts suggest that it is marketing that determines the success of your virtual event. If the target audience isn’t familiarized with the event beforehand, all of your efforts will go in vain. To reach maximum leads and final registrations for the event follow the following practices:
- Promote your event via website, email marketing, or social media marketing.
- Let your audiences know what the event is about, what it offers, and how beneficial it will be.
- Use multiple advertisement strategies to reach target audiences before the actual event
5. Formulate Attendee Engagement Strategies
Once a large number of registrations are secured, organizers welcome attendees with a robust online experience. Like, interactive and engaging webinars, seminars, and speeches can provide an exclusive attendee experience. To count your event as a big hit, keep your attendees involved and occupied throughout the event. For example, customize the exhibit booths to offer group or 1:1 chat to engage with fellow attendees or the speakers.
Hence, when hosting a virtual event, using multiple engagement strategies is the key.
6. Keep Tracks of Analytics
Maintaining a real-time event analytics report is just as important as creating an immersive event experience. First, track the return on investments to gauge how the event is going. One of the easy measures to monitor reporting is through the audience attendance and behavior data. You can also keep track of your booth visitors and navigation statistics throughout the event. Lastly, the post-event reports provide a detailed picture of the overall success.
How does a virtual event work for you?
There are many guidelines on the internet for hosting a virtual event. However, some tips are shared for corporations and universities organizing their job fairs or open days online to understand how a virtual event really works.
A virtual event allows you to host thousands of audiences from far ends of the world without the need to travel to a physical location. Your keynote speakers can attend the event from the comfort of their homes. The costs of travel, food, accommodation, and event location are altogether extinguished. Thus, a virtual event works best in favor of remote audiences who easily attend the event connecting through the internet without having to travel overseas. Organizers and event planners can easily host virtual trade shows, expos, career fairs, or virtual conferences through a virtual conference fair platform.
To expand your brand network, professionals from different industries gather together at the events platform and jot ideas to help the business grow. For example, you can invite remote teams to connect and network with in-house employees through an online event offering a better virtual experience. However, at a virtual onboarding fair or an open day, the use of ice-breaking activities or gamification features helps you easily connect with attendees worldwide.
Benefits of Hosting a Virtual Event
Businesses have long wanted to shift to online events. Fortunately, the pandemic has discouraged the mass gatherings of people at physical locations. There is no point in organizing the event at a physical location and putting lives at risk. Therefore, it is imperative to host events online on a safer platform. Not just that, virtual events come with tons of benefits for the organizers as well as the attendees. Also, international traveling has been restricted, discouraging remote audiences from joining the physical event. So, a virtual event suits everyone when considering the SOPs of the current pandemic. Let us now check the wide range of benefits that virtual events offer.
Global Audience Reach
Most businesses move to a virtual platform due to physical limitations. For example, it is not possible to fit 1000s of attendees at a physical venue. Also, the limited seating capacity or venue availability limits the organization’s to host in-person events. Therefore, events are now being organized virtually with the ability to reach people across the globe. All they need is a web browser or mobile device with a strong internet connection.
Virtual events create brand awareness among people, which allows them to learn, progress, and meet others simultaneously. Moreover, companies also achieve leads and long-term clients through worldwide presentations of their products and services. Nowadays, people prefer hosting a virtual event as it brings remotely interested individuals onboard, limiting distances. Who wouldn’t like to increase their event reach? Thus, by hosting a virtual event, you can maximize your event ROIs and revenue. The more you get people to market and speak about your event, the more beneficial it would be in the long run.
Time Efficient Approach
We all are familiar with the hassle of gathering people at a physical location. Managing time to make room for 1000s of attendees is a daunting task. You might have experienced how traveling to a physical location to attend an event has caused time loss. Having to register for the event and then travel to the venue on the event day is all hassle. Moreover, it takes several hours to travel from the event to the hotel, and the physical exertion makes you all tired. All the time a physical event takes up is enough to discourage you from hosting one.
This is where virtual events come in to let people network and engage in a safe environment. Joining the event only requires an internet connection and a device. Online events also reduce the need to schedule, travel, and reach a physical location risking your valuable time. Now everything is a click away, and people from far ends of the world are connected.
Moreover, this time-efficient approach makes it easy for remote keynote speakers to join the event for a few hours and present their experiences. It also ensures the maximum turnout for people who do not lose all day by attending a conference or a job fair. Luckily, the virtual event also allows accepting last moment registrations. Thus, all the hassles of setting up a flawless event can be avoided, from event planning to venue arrangements.
Cost-effective Approach
According to statistics, businesses spend millions of dollars on hosting a significant company event. There are many expenses associated with physical events at each stage. It includes; the planning phase, booking the venue, paying location rent, arranging for remote speakers traveling, paying venue staff, accommodations for international guests, branding expenses, food and recreational expenses, and creating a unique experience for audiences. The company may bear all the expenses handsomely, but its costs are not worth all the time and effort.
Nevertheless, virtual events reduce the costs of physical events. Firstly, the event venue cost does not take up the entire budget. Event planners can now easily host 1000s of interested individuals at the virtual event. Furthermore, you can allocate the saved money to better objectives. A virtual event, however, is also cost-effective for attendees. These events cut on travel expenses, accommodation, and event ticketing costs. In addition, individuals can connect at any time from the comfort of their own homes. Therefore, you need a fully operational virtual events platform with a team backing up to run a successful virtual event.
Unique Virtual Experience
A physical event offers you the same bland experience of meet and greet. You reach the venue and move through the corridors to reach the halls. You do get the benefit of physical interaction with people, but it takes time and money. Therefore, a virtual event can replicate the physical event with a better online experience.
By creating an exciting virtual environment, you can instantly hook your attendees. Are you expecting to create a virtual environment just like a real one? Well, it is not difficult to duplicate your physical event. The use of 3D designs and animations creates a brand-specific event for you. Indeed, you are more likely to secure leads when your virtual event is customized and personalized. For example, immersive rooms, customized lobbies, exhibit halls, and auditoriums help create a unique virtual experience.
Thus, virtual events offer maximum benefits to businesses operating worldwide. So, why not leave the headache of organizing a virtual event to the pros? For sure, a virtual events platform can help you generate global leads and maximize revenue.
Summary
Hosting a virtual event may seem like a tricky business. However, with the help of a leading virtual events platform, it has become easier for universities and businesses to hold their events online and interact with global audiences. The platform of Lansera works like a ‘knight in shining armor for the corporate and educational sector worldwide. Using our platform’s immersive features and benefits, you can run a virtual event perfectly, from organization to execution. So, reach out to us today to host your one-in-a-million successful virtual event targeting your global market.
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