Within the past year, virtual events have become more and more relevant. With many people spending countless hours behind a screen for work and socialization, there is a much bigger need for events and social spaces that take place online. As such, virtual events and conferences should not be seen as the second-best choice for event planners. There are numerous advantages to running virtual events, which include the following.
More attendees
Unlike physical events, the barrier to entry for virtual events is a lot lower. This means that people who don’t have the means to travel to a traditional physical event due to monetary or time constraints are a lot more likely to turn up at a virtual event. This gives virtual events a unique opportunity to reach a much larger swath of the population. For example, if someone lives in Kalispell, Montana, it is unlikely that they will attend a marketing conference in London. However, with a virtual event, their attendance is more likely, and event marketers can target them based on demographic data and interest instead of location.
Decreased Cost
Another great benefit of virtual events is the overall decrease in cost, both for attendees and event planners. Unlike physical events, virtual events don’t require travel or a physical hosting space. There are quite a few expenses associated with hosting a virtual event, from accommodation and meal cost for staff, to event space rental charges and stall setup fees. In decreasing these costs, a company can increase their ROI for a bit and also pass some of this cost on to event attendees in the form of decreased ticket prices.
Better Analytics
One of the best parts of hosting and running virtual events is that you can use many digital tools to track registration, attendance, and more. Instead of using a third-party platform, you should consider using your own website for event registration. If your business website is hosted on WordPress, you can use a WordPress event registration plugin. There are many advantages to using this over Eventbrite or other third-party event registration platforms. One of the biggest ones is that you can register multiple attendees through group registrations and collect information for each attendee. T
These event registration features are extremely helpful when you pair event registration with monitoring real-time user activity logs. This will give you a better idea of who registered to attend the event versus who attended. You can also directly track what is said in the live chat of the event, who got in touch with which exhibitors, and attendee location and demographic information.
Virtual events in many ways are more streamlined than their physical counterparts. With work and networking moving increasingly online, they are certainty here to stay. When planning a virtual event, make sure that it provides value to the attendees and that you market it within the proper digital channels. With virtual events, you can offer things such as more curated speaker sessions, virtual breakrooms, and more interactive panel discussions. This will help significantly in helping your event standout from a physical event and providing a fantastic experience for attendees.
