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While listing things in the new-normal that we as a community have to embrace, one that could affect most industries and businesses is virtual events! Yes, physical events have ruled the business and marketing spaces for years now. However, there has been a surge of organizations that have chosen virtual event platforms to host their gala events and sales expos in recent times.
Especially with the pandemic of 2019, almost every major event has gone virtual! Apple hosted the WorldWide Developers’ Conference virtually and HubSpot’s INBOUND also turned out to be a virtual event in 2020.
Although people may miss being with other people and socializing in person, the pros of hosting virtual events are manyfold. Here are 5 key benefits of virtual event platforms that could change your perspective.
#1. You’ll be reaching a global audience.
#2. You’ll be creating a fresh online event experience.
#3. You’ll be reducing costs for everyone.
#4. You’ll be able to incorporate roundtables and expos within the event.
#5. You’ll be receiving detailed event feedbacks and analysis.
Let’s dive into each of these benefits and see how they can help you!
#1. You’ll be reaching a massive global audience.
Did you know that 10,000 people attended the physical event hosted by Saastr, a premier tech-business conference, in 2019? That’s a pretty good number, isn’t it? However, Saastr went virtual in 2020 and had over 50,000 attendees. Now, that’s ‘wow!’
Being present at a physical event involves a commute. A person in Mumbai wanting to attend an in-person event in New Delhi needs to make travel and lodging plans. Hosting your event using a virtual events platform, enables you to breach geographies and reach a massive audience.
The same applies to speakers too! It’s not uncommon that most of the best speakers are pre-booked to attend events all around the world. When you use a virtual event platform to host your event, speakers can easily fit you into their schedules without having to alter them.
Other than that, there are other physical limitations such as the venue availability, auditorium’s capacity and seating arrangements. For a virtual event, however, attendees and guest speakers will only need a Wi-Fi connection.
#2. You’ll be creating a fresh online event experience.
Business events are all about networking! While the feeling of being seated physically in an auditorium for a speech, taking a look at trade booths and stalls or networking with other professionals in your industry can’t be underestimated, who said they can’t be made nearly as good through virtual event platforms?
Virtual events, when organized right, can bring about that change in perspective in your audience. They can provide unique and new experiences that audiences have never before witnessed.
Some of these are things that can only be experienced virtually. For example, it’s usual for seminars to overlap during physical events. Some attendees may want to attend both seminars. While that isn’t possible in physical events, virtual events provide this content to participants 24x7. Voila, dilemma solved!
#3. You’ll be reducing expenses for everyone.
Hosting via virtual event platforms mitigate the event planner’s expenditure. Businesses spend almost one-fourth of their marketing budget on events according to research by Bizzabo. By going virtual, you can save up on big expenses such as booking a venue, paying event staff, physical branding and advertising, and creating a welcoming experience for your participants. This also means you can invest more in digital marketing services and other aspects of your event that could widen your reach. Also, with fewer budgets spent on each virtual event, you can increase the frequency and conduct more events online.
From the participant’s perspective, the registration for most virtual events is either free or very minimal when compared to if they were being hosted physically. Weighting their boarding and lodging costs, the odds are that more people will prefer registering for a virtual event.
#4. You’ll be able to incorporate roundtables and expos within the event.
With technology, virtual event platforms have also grown and are trying to incorporate more features to enable organizations and event planners to host engaging events. The goal is to allow participants to experience all that they could at a physical event and more.
Some of these features include live chats and video conferencing with fellow participants and the speaker and live emoji reactions. There are also networking lounges and roundtable conferences that are arranged for participants to seamlessly interact. Some platforms even provide little online games that attendees can participate in.
You also have the option to host virtual expos with exciting engagement options including in-stall chats, video calls, and augmented reality product showcases. Meeting scheduling and lead-generating tools are added features offered by some virtual event platforms. With Wiz365, exhibitors are also allowed to alter different aspects of their stalls while the event is live.
#5. You’ll be receiving instant event feedback and detailed analytics.
Towards the end of any event, the event’s planners are in a frenzy to collect a good amount of feedback from the attendees. They’d either be asking people what they liked or didn’t like, which speakers were most engaging, etc. or be handing out feedback forms for participants to fill in.
One step ahead is when event planners use an event app or send out an email a few days post the event to collect the participants’ feedback. Either way, the collation of details and analyses would be time-consuming (not to mention that most attendees don’t want to spend time filling up feedback).
When planning an event with an online event platform, however, feedback can be collected instantly from every participant during or immediately after the event. A drill-down of analytics also becomes easier as the virtual event platform will track the screen time and engagement of each individual participant. This makes it easier for you to provide your attendees with a better experience the next time.
Leverage Virtual Events Platform For Your Business
The advantages of online events are holistic and by picking the right virtual event platform you can maximize your event’s outcome. As you start thinking about going virtual for your next big event, we can help you with everything from creating a landing page to boosting your event to curtain call!
At Wiz365, we want to help you give your audience a virtual experience that is brand new and unforgettable. We make sure to customize all aspects of the platform to best help you deliver. Book a live demo with us, today!
