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The Future of Virtual Events

Towards the beginning of 2020, industry events and conferences like The Event Planner Expo were forced to go virtual after years of being a favorite in-person event. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the pivot was mandatory and event profs all over the country were soon buying tickets to register and attend the conference virtually for their first time ever.

But it wasn’t just The Event Planner Expo that found the need to change their venue from offline to online because companies that produce events like trade shows and corporate events were rushing to learn and implement new digital platforms to host their events on. Then boom! An entirely new structure that would provide event producers with a platform that would change the events industry forever.

Now that in-person events are back on the table in 2021, what does the future of virtual events look like? Well, one thing is for sure – virtual events are here to stay and have completely changed the way we engage with our target audiences.

After being valued at nearly $78 billion dollars (and growing) in 2020, virtual events have opened up the floor to hybrid events more than ever. While hybrid events are not a new concept, the pandemic caused for this event model to soar and will allow for physical and virtual participation of attendees, speakers, and vendors.

As more organizations take to hybrid events, the full ability of participation offline and online is a part of the new event production checklists. That means that event management will take an entirely new spin, and by using platforms like Vsummits you will have the ability to seamlessly deliver and manage a virtual experience for your attendees.

 

 

Tips For Hosting Virtual Events

 

If you’re looking to ace your virtual or hybrid event production (on the online side), here are some tips to follow:

  1. After attending meetings, workshops, classes, consults, and more via Zoom, the public is ready for a more visually creative experience. Using green screen to help improve the scenery will not only come in handy but is also inexpensive.
  2. Event profs can add elements to their virtual events that will spice things up a bit such as placing people in breakout rooms for some speed networking, live conversations, and some Q & A.
  3. Include some prerecorded videos from celebrities, influencers, industry pros, etc. to play during the event.
  4. Get familiar with the digital platform you will be utilizing to host the event so that you can get creative with the visual elements that will allow you to add animations and other features that will attract the audience more.
  5. Have questions ready for your audience to keep their attention and have them answer in the chat feature. Be sure to have event staff ready to reply in real time.
  6. Provide a true personalized hybrid experience by sending the online attendees something that will help them feel a part of the in-person portion of the event. For example, you may want to have a corporate lunch where everyone receives vouchers via email.

Going online with your events does not have to be disappointing. There are so many ways to get creative and provide an entertaining and engaging experience, all while managing your hybrid events from a desk (or a mobile device). For learn more on the future of events after COVID-19, be sure to get your tickets for the annual Event Planner Expo.