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Although virtual events have been around for quite a few years, there has been an exponential rise in demand and popularity since the pandemic struck in 2019. Virtual event platforms are now becoming a part of the new normal in both social and business circles.
Some experts have revealed that the event landscape will never go back to the pre-pandemic days and that virtual events are here to stay. They reckon that even if physical events were to come back, people will always be conscious of safety measures such as social distancing and would rather attend events virtually.
So, it’s clear that virtual events are here to stay. In fact, some big players in the event space have already leveraged virtual opportunities and seen their benefits. For instance, Made By Google is being live-streamed since 2016 and Disney went virtual in 2019 when it hosted the D23 Expo fan club event.
Nevertheless, many event organizers are still hesitant to plan their events virtually. Let’s look at a few reasons that emphasize the power of using a virtual event platform.
Virtual Event Platforms Help Reach A Wider Audience
It’s been established that the primary reason for the unbeatable effectiveness of virtual events is that they can meet people wherever they are. Geographical barriers and time zones don’t really matter anymore.
You can literally take the event to the home or office of anyone interested! All that the participant needs to do is register and have a stable internet connection and a device that they can stream your event on.
Virtual Event Platforms Provide Extended Accessibility
Most of the exclusive technology conference tools out there, which were the predecessors of today’s virtual event platforms, are much more expensive in comparison. Many of these also limit the number of participants.
By hosting your event with a virtual events platform, you can accommodate a larger audience in the virtual room. Hilary Hartman Mostofi, the technology industry manager at Facebook remarked that virtual event platforms are an exciting opportunity for the tech industry to make information more equitable and open.
Virtual Event Platforms Offer Better Flexibility To The Audience
Virtual events offer flexibility in time commitment to the audience. The essence of an event is to deliver engaging virtual experiences to the participants with relevant content. Shifting a physical event to a virtual or hybrid one allows participants, who may not be able to attend the event in person, to catch at least parts of the event.
Sometimes, talks that a participant might what to attend may overlap with a physical event. Many organizers even pre-record videos and publish them for people who’ve missed them at the live event. Adobe followed this strategy when it organized its annual summit virtually. They recorded about 140 videos and made them publicly available so that people can watch them from anywhere at any time.
Tip: Plan your virtual event so that participants can engage with the content of interest continuously.
Virtual Event Platforms Empower Community Building
There are plenty of engagement features and options available on virtual event platforms that attendees can leverage to build their social and business networks. Live chats and video conferences, live emoji reactions, roundtable discussions, and network lounges are some of the engagement features that virtual event platforms such as Wiz365 offer.
While using a virtual event platform, an attendee can even participate in more than one event activity. For example, they could take part in more than one group chat at the same time. Even if the participant misses a live stream, they can engage with the speaker and other attendees in the chat rooms later.
With physical barriers having hardly any influence over virtual events, participants who join are from diverse cultures and backgrounds. This diversity of thought also aids in building valuable relationships.
Virtual Event Platforms Reduce Financial Commitment
Attendees will no longer need to think ardently about traveling or lodging fairs. In addition, since virtual events incur lower overheads when compared to in-person events, you can price tickets at lower rates.
Many virtual event planners, allow basic registration free and only price elite tickets. This is a great strategy that benefits potential audiences who may not consider attending your event otherwise. Lowering ticket costs also nullifies the barriers to knowledge and information, which can further motivate more people to join. To an event organizer, the more the merrier!
Virtual Event Platforms Offer Higher Sponsorship And Exhibitor Benefits
Despite events moving from physical to virtual, most exhibitors aren’t considering discounting exhibitor fees. They continue to see value in putting up stalls and showcasing their products at virtual fairs.
Sponsors and exhibitions o in fact have much to leverage out of virtual event platforms. They can generate drilled-down analytics to measure who visited the virtual booth or virtual session, at what time, and how many times.
Virtual Event Platforms Are Greatly Customizable
Yes, you read it right! As opposed to initial myths that virtual event platforms are rigid and cannot be personalized, it turns out that some of the best platforms pride themselves on this feature.
Just like how you will be able to customize and arrange things at a physical event’s venue, you can work with technology experts to customize your virtual venue too. This includes everything from what backgrounds you want and how many auditoriums you’ll need to which engagement options you want to include and whether or not you want to gamify the virtual experience.
Conclusion
Hosting with a virtual event platform does go a little easier on the pocket for the organizer. However, that isn’t the only factor that they’re as popular and thriving as they are. A platform brings all of a virtual event’s aspects together and you can dish out content that is appropriate for a global and diverse audience effectively.
Wondering where to get started? How about booking a demo?
