Adding Value With Virtual Events

Over the past eight months, people the world over have seen every aspect of their lives transition to a virtual space. Dinner with family and friends? There is a video conferencing software for that. Grocery shopping? Hungry for delivery from your local restaurant? You have dozens of food delivery services to select from.Despite the sudden advent of technologies that we couldn’t have imagined years ago (or even a year ago), some companies are still evaluating a path toward moving events to a virtual space. Virtual and hybrid events are here to stay, and the companies that create a virtual contingency plan will be poised for success, no matter what the future holds. In evaluating how virtual events can fit within your company model, there are many value adds within the virtual events space that can be of benefit to any company. The following four value adds can provide cost savings for companies while increasing event revenue.

1. Virtual events have no geographic limits. Long gone are the days when thousands of employees from across the country and even around the world needed to coordinate flights and book hotels. With the advent of virtual events, an event attendee from Portland, OR can share a screen with attendees from New York, Canada, Italy, and Japan without ever leaving their home. Not only does this allow employees to stay connected and up to date on current industry trends and ideas, but also encourages companies to expand their reach beyond their city and state. More attendees + lower cost of events production = increased event revenue.
2. Increased attendee engagement with tracking and other features. Going virtual can provide big boosts in the number of attendees for your event, so attendee engagement and tracking (with their permission) become more important than ever. No longer are you bound by badge scanners. Now you can pull precise data on which sessions your attendees engaged in, understand the quality of the information being presented based on whether attendees stayed for the entire session, and collect valuable feedback from attendees immediately post-event. Virtual gamification (without cheesy Atari-like graphics) also simulates the in-person feel in a virtual space and keeps your attendees excited about new and informative content from the comfort of their homes.
3. Increased sponsor engagement. Figuring out how to integrate sponsors into a virtual event space can seem intimidating, but virtual sponsorship can be a great opportunity for both sponsors and event hosts alike. Virtual sponsorship allows for the unique opportunity to integrate sponsors into every step of the event process without asking for increased sponsor spend. From ticketing distribution to virtual room sponsorship to opportunities for sponsor-supported goodie box and swag delivery, your sponsor is never an afterthought in the virtual space.
4. Ease of use. You don’t have to force your attendees to download anything to participate in your virtual event and they do not need to register externally for your virtual event experience. You can decrease the friction of attendees joining your event and increase the engagement and you don’t need to advertise Zoom, Teams, Meets or WebEx but you can focus on your own branding.

The virtual world is new to everyone and understanding and adapting to virtual events can seem overwhelming. With a supportive platform at your side, the value add associated with virtual events can elevate your experience beyond standard video conferencing and provide numerous opportunities to wow your company and attendees. — written by Camille Jacobson-Ingram, Lead Client Partner at Eventcombo