2020 has taught us the importance of being able to adapt and find alternate solutions to move forward when things don’t quite go as planned. One of the major changes that businesses have had to adapt to is the ability to host live and face-to-face meetings while keeping their audience engaged. The solution? To go virtual. Over the years, virtual experiences and events have slowly started to become the new way of doing business and now more than ever companies have been looking for virtual solutions to continue their training, conferences, trade shows and even bringing new employees on board.
As we start heading towards a more digital world, virtual events can be a great solution to bringing people together in a cost-effective and convenient way. While face-to-face meetings will eventually come back, virtual events and experiences will help so many companies, employees and clients to be a part of the event if they cannot make an international flight or have to be mindful of their budget that year.
8 Advantages of Hosting Virtual Events
We’ve only just touched on some of the benefits of virtual events. Let’s do a deep dive into how virtual events and experiences can help your business in the long run.
1. Cost effective
Hosting a virtual event might help your business to save money dude to the reduced cost of putting on the event! When switching to virtual, you can save on staff, setup and taking down costs, hotels, travel, meals and so much more. Companies have found virtual events to be 75% less expensive overall. The only cost you have is the event platform you choose to go with and of course, any additional features you might want to add-on to enhance the virtual event experience.
2. Saves time
Virtual events saves the host time by eliminating the process of researching and choosing vendors for meals, hotels and travel logistics. Planners can then focus on booking their speakers as well as creating and designing the virtual experience for the attendees. On the other hand, attendees are also able to save time that they would otherwise spend on travel for the event if it’s held in another country. All that is required is a stable internet connection and attendees can log on from anywhere.
3. Reach a wider and larger audience
With virtual events, you have the ability to reach an unlimited audience. With a good internet connection you can reach 100,000 or even more members of your audience because you don’t have to worry about reaching the audience capacity that comes with hosting an event at a venue. Without this limitation, your event can be attended by anyone who has an internet connection. The networking opportunities are endless!
4. Global reach
Jumping off from our earlier point, not only can you reach a vast audience but you can reach an audience who is sitting across the country or even on the other side of the globe! With the convenience of being able to attend from anywhere, attendees will most likely sign up and attend the conference or event they are interested in.
5. Event data and feedback
From attendees having to register online, you can gain analytics that can help you improve and plan your future events. You can see how many people attended the event, how many were interested, what their activity was and who they were most interested in listening to. Measuring the engagement of your attendees is a great way to ensure success for your future events since you are able to truly understand what your audience is looking for and cater future experiences towards their interests.
6. Innovative experience
Virtual events are still a new phenomenon and as companies figure out the best way to host events, you have the opportunity to wow your clients by being the most innovative company out there! Your business can create a special and personalized feel to your event and improve the networking ability of your attendees as you plan your events. You can theme your events by hosting a wine tasting and sending wine to your attendees, add a cool space theme element to your conference or customize your offices to really make your meeting or event have a unique touch.
7. Enhances value to sponsors and exhibitors
There is so much value that comes out of virtual events, especially when it comes to sponsors and exhibitors. Why? Because sponsors and exhibitors are able to collect data on who visited their booths, what attendees were interested in learning about, how many times someone looked into their products and so much more. Again, the ability to reach a larger audience is made possible by virtual events and conferences.
8. Flexible and convenient
You can’t beat the flexible nature of simply having to log on from anywhere, even if you’re relaxing at the beach! Virtual events are flexible and makes life easier for planners as well as attendees who otherwise would skip on the event because it might be costly or time consuming to physically attend.
Ready to Host Your Next Virtual Event?
With so many advantages and benefits to hosting virtual events, giving this innovative solution a shot is a no-brainer. As you come up with the necessary strategy on how to incorporate the virtual meeting or event in the most efficient way, you are taking strides in improving your employees’, clients’ and your target audiences’ experience that will keep them coming back for more.