Virtual events aren’t a new concept, but when the global pandemic struck, organizations found themselves having to forgo in-person events for virtual ones. At that time, research showed that virtual events were up 1,000 percent, but event planners were still playing catch-up. Though 60% of event planners were going virtual and only 40% of those said they were knowledgeable about how to plan and execute these events.

Planners were forced to adapt quickly, and the adjustment was challenging. As the months passed, virtual events became the norm. Even when in-person events are an option, virtual events will remain a part of an organization’s marketing mix. After all, there are numerous benefits to hosting virtual events. It’s just a matter of getting out of the mindset that virtual events can be planned the same way as in-person events or that you can take any old event and flip a switch to make it an effective and successful virtual one.

That couldn’t be further from the truth!

Has your organization ever held webinars to establish thought leadership or demo a product or service to a group of people? If the answer is “yes,” then you’ve already held virtual events.

Historically, the technology landscape had three, mutually-exclusive categories of events:

virtual conferences,
webinars, and
in-person events.

Although virtual conferences have been around for a long time, they didn’t grow much in scope over the years. Webinars served their purpose when it came to things like on-boarding employees or generating leads for your marketing department.

Then, seemingly overnight, virtual events went viral. At first they were stopgaps until in-person events picked back up. But once it was clear that wasn’t happening as quickly as originally thought, event planning professionals began to devise multi-year road-maps around virtual events. Except that this time around, they knew what they wanted fully-branded, end-to-end, interactive experiences that immersed attendees.In response, a new player in the virtual landscape is emerging, one that moves beyond the flat, passive experiences of a webinar and pulls in the interactive and engagement elements that make in-person events so compelling.

Some call this new space Live Digital Engagement. Whatever you call it, it’s something that every organization should have a strategy around. It’s important that you don’t run virtual events in a silo. Be sure to include these events in your overall event and marketing strategy and don’t treat them as one-off activities.

Uncovering the challenges of virtual events

Unfortunately, virtual events have challenges that you don’t encounter with in-person events. One of the biggest is that vir-tual events lack the face-to-face interaction that is one of the main draws for in-person events. With virtual events, you lose the networking happy hours and the one-on-one sales meetings that can crop up thanks to a chance meeting in the hallway. One result is that you risk losing a big portion of the lead generation benefits that naturally come with in-person events. The same goes for non-profits. Fundraising events are also missing out on the benefits that come from in-person events.In addition, there’s the challenge of keeping attendees engaged when they have so many distractions on their side of the screen.

For example, though in-person attendees would likely stick around for the Q&A session at the end of a presentation, it can be more tempting at a virtual event to wander away, resulting in the engagement rate dropping between attendees as well as between attendees and presenters.

Speaking of engaging attendees, how do you not only draw in attendees, but also keep their attention throughout the event? A huge part of that answer is content and its delivery. Virtual events are all about the content. You can’t entice attendees with a fun location, and you can’t promise they’ll get a Rolodex of physical business cards, so you have to reel them in with the promise of interesting and useful content.

Another common challenge event planning professionals must overcome is attrition. Even though more people tend to register for virtual events, fewer typically show up. Organizations need to develop strategies that maximize the “yield” from registrant to attendance. The final challenge, one primarily felt by virtual events whose purpose is to deliver revenue or membership, is conversion. Sure, virtual events tend to have higher registration numbers, but how well do these registrations convert?

Do attendees ultimately become customers? A great conversion rate hinges, in part, on how well qualified the virtual audience is, how well the event engages them, and how successful the post-event follow-up is.

The benefits of virtual events

Chances are, no one could’ve predicted that pretty much all corporate events would have to be virtual at any point. Event professionals work hard to develop successful event strategies all year long, and those strategies may not have included many virtual events, or maybe none at all.

That’s okay! Your work won’t go to waste . . .

You just have to look at it through a different lens. Though planning and executing virtual events presents challenges, it offers benefits as well:

Cost savings: Virtual events tend to be less expensive than their in-person counterparts, avoiding expenses such as lodging for staff (and potentially some attendees), room rental, food and beverage, and the like. Of course, those savings are just related to event organizers. Attendees and vendors also realize a significant cost savings because they don’t have to travel to the location, pay for ground transportation, or pay for overnight child care or pet boarding. Though you’ll save money on certain things, you may incur new expenses for virtual events. For example, you may need higher quality audio visual capabilities to ensure all attendees have the best technological experience possible. After all, for virtual events, the technology is the venue.
Potential for exponential reach: With virtual events, attendees don’t have to be located in (or travel to) a different region, so the potential registration counts and attendee pool grow considerably, as long as attendees have a reliable Internet connection. It isn’t uncommon for virtual events to drive eight times or more registrants over their in-person equivalent.
Attracting new segments or buyers: Without the cost and time of a ticket to an in-person event, virtual events can reach segments that aren’t good candidates for your in-person event. For example, someone who is early in a buying cycle would be less likely to attend an in-person event. The same is true for someone with a senior-level title who is too busy to be away from the office for an event.
Expanded event repertoire: 60 percent of event planners who responded to a survey reported that they weren’t knowledgeable about virtual events. That can change! Now you have the opportunity to learn things you may not have had the opportunity to learn otherwise. (It’s a great resume builder, too!) Even after in-person events start back up, you’ll have the skill set and experience to continue having virtual events. For example, it’s a great way to strengthen relationships between marketers and event planning professionals, and that proves return on investment (ROI) long after the events are over. It’s another tool in your organization’s event strategy toolbox. And as the saying goes, variety is the spice of life!
Become more tech savvy: If your organization hasn’t taken advantage of the benefits of an event planning software platform, now is a great time to jump on board. These solutions are primed and ready to assist you with your virtual event planning and execution. They’ll cut down on a lot of the learning curve you’ll experience when pivoting from in-person events to virtual ones.

The Best Format for Your Virtual Event

Virtual events are held for the same reasons as in-person events for example, to deliver your company’s message to drive leads and revenue, for training purposes, or to build loyalty and lifetime value. That doesn’t mean all online events are created equal, however.

Two main types of virtual events play separate and important roles in your integrated marketing plan. They are:

Webinars: These events are one-time, short-lived, or packaged as part of a series and are typically between 45 and 80 minutes. They rely on video conferencing tools that allow Q&A, the ability to present live or a pre- recorded video, and more often than not, the option to be offered on demand after the event. You may choose to charge for a webinar if the content can be considered high-value (such as a training) or offer it for free if it’s a thought leadership or brand introduction presentation. Webinars have always been held virtually, so the concept is well known and well established.
Virtual conferences: These are live events and have complex, usually multi-day, agendas that can include keynotes, breakout sessions, exhibitors, sponsors, and more. Virtual conferences have multiple sessions and can utilize community engagement tools to get attendees involved and interacting with each other. Virtual conferences are live and allow attendees to interact and engage with presenters and other attendees in real time.

Although hybrid events, events that are running in person and virtually simultaneously, have their own unique considerations. Those are the main types of virtual events, but how do you know which type to go with?

The answer depends on what you are offering your audience. Are you planning to have multiple speakers and sessions with high-value content? Are you counting on networking to be a big draw for attendees? Do you intend for this be a multi-day event? If your answers to these questions are “yes,” then you’ll likely want to consider holding a virtual conference.

Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that any in-person event can quickly and easily be converted to a virtual event. Furthermore, don’t approach the planning and execution of a virtual event the same way you approach the planning and execution of an in- person event. When you think about your in-person events, there are key things to consider when determining if it would be a good fit for a virtual event: event goals, budget, the tech acumen of both your audience and your team as well as what additional technology you need, and audience engagement.

Defining Your Virtual Event Objectives

As with in-person events, virtual events should have clearly defined objectives. After all, companies don’t put on events for the sake of putting on events! The value to the organization and the value for the attendee may be different, but they’re both important.If you decide that a virtual event is the right option, the goals you establish ahead of time will dictate the structure of your event and the technology you choose.

Event goals don’t just apply to the business. It’s also important to have goals for attendees and vendors.

Business goals

These are the goals your organization is looking to accomplish. Examples of business goals are brand awareness, lead generation, immediate revenue, product adoption and lifetime value, consumer appreciation, loyalty, and membership growth.

These goals can apply to both the company hosting the event and the vendors who participate in the event.In addition to laying out the overall goals of the event, it’s important to decide how success will be measured. Although goals such as lead generation, immediate revenue, and membership growth may be easier to quantify, consider how you’re going to measure the more qualitative goals like consumer appreciation, loyalty, and brand awareness.

Don’t forget to take note of or benchmark the starting point of your goals. Make sure you’re paying attention to where your numbers are before the event takes place. Otherwise, you won’t know how successful the event was when it’s finished! Keep in mind that the goals and results of your virtual event may be different for the same event in person, so although you should com-pare, make sure you define goals specific to the virtual event. Don’t rely on your goals of the in-person event.

Attendee goals

These are the goals your attendees are looking to accomplish. Examples of attendee goals include networking, learning or training, entertainment, and celebration. Although learning and education are the number one reasons why people attend virtual events, networking is one of the top reasons people attend in-person events. Enabling networking in some fashion and ensuring you have compelling content are vitally important to the success of your virtual event.

But it’s also a top consideration when setting your virtual event’s goals. If education or training is the purpose of your event, a webinar may be the best option. Whichever format you choose, ensure that attendees take away lots of useful and helpful knowledge.

Another benefit of providing your attendees with an educational experience, if that’s the goal of your event, is that they can share that knowledge with their coworkers. Shared knowledge can lead to new and repeat attendees in the future.