Benefits of Virtual Events: Why They are Here to Stay

With virtual meeting marathons populating business schedules, Zoom fatigue is a phenomenon that needs no introduction. Companies are to the point of fighting it by launching best practices of 25-minutes or 50-minutes meetings and no-meeting days, like Citi´s push for Zoom-free Fridays. Although these are unequivocally relevant topics, it is equally worthwhile to highlight the benefits of conducting meetings and events in a virtual format.

Faced with the questions on whether a specific engagement or the entire future strategy of meeting and events should be delivered in a face-to-face or virtual format, event planners and companies should keep in mind the following benefits of a virtual set-up.

1.   Attendee population growth. Contrary to popular belief, virtual events have shown higher registration and attendance rates than their face-to-face counterparts. In general, virtual events are more accessible and efficient for attendees, which do not need to travel ad-hoc and browse the event in the comfort of their home. Word-of-mouth marketing fuels attendee count more efficiently: as early-birds register and share the news on their social network, their connections are more inclined to join in.

2.   More value and flexibility for attendees. Virtual events offer the opportunity for attendees to browse content at their own pace and zoom in on the topics of their choosing much faster. For example, in case of parallel sessions, attendees are not forced to choose one session over the other: they can simply catch one option live and play on demand the other. Additionally, virtual venues allow for post-event visits: depending on the contracted license, events can stay open post-live for a period of up to 12 months, offering more learning opportunities for visitors.

3.   Advanced analytics. Virtual venues have the capability of collecting more data on attendee and attendee experience than physical ones. Analytics on real-time event attendance, heat maps of visited areas, content consumption KPI´s provide the event planner with an image that is hard to grasp in a face-to-face event, where registration data might be the sole option for data gathering. 

4. Removal of geographical limitation. Taking your event virtual can change its geographical scope: rather than taking a show on the road to bring it closer to target attendees, a single event can now cover several states, countries and event time zones.

5. Cost reduction for attendees. It is without questions that virtual events are not just more accessible but also cheaper to attend: no travel cost and time savings are two huge selling points for attendees wishing to ask their manager for approval to attend a conference. To top it off, some congresses have decreased their rates and, in some cases, made their events completely free. Companies will benefit greatly from this, by being able to send more employees to event and hence offering more growth and development opportunities to them without significantly denting their budgets.

6. Event cost reduction, higher ROI. Savings opportunities are also significant for event sponsors: no travel costs for guests, sponsored attendees, speakers, logistics team and no physical venues costs. Virtual events, if supported by the appropriate subject-matter experts, can also be more cost-effective in the planning phase as they are faster to turnaround and save time to the panning team. Higher attendance in virtual format and lower event costs result in better KPI´s, above all the event ROI.

7. Effective Networking. Virtual platforms offer different ways for attendees to connect in 1:1 and group setting via chat, videocalls, topic-specific forums and meet-and-mingle sessions. Opportunities are countless and the option to integrate in attendee profiles their contact and social media information facilitates the follow up discussions once the connections have sparked.

8. Connectivity with exhibitors and sponsors. If you are hosting a virtual congress, your exhibitors and sponsor will benefit greatly by enhanced connectivity with your attendees. Virtual booths provide the ability for attendees to browse at their own speed: with booths just a few clicks away from each other, visits per booths are higher and exhibitors are able to collect data on the visitors, most consumed content and favorite topics.

9. Sustainability. Sustainability. Last but not least, hosting your event virtually will contribute to the green agenda of your company by removing the logistics component of a physical event, such as travel, hotel, energy consumption, etc. Platforms often have a widget to display the positive environmental impact of the event, by providing an estimate of the CO2 emission reduction based on attendees, agenda and complexity of event.

Summing up, the above benefits build a case towards continuing to host meeting and events virtually also in the post-pandemic world, as they provide efficient, effective and engaging experiences for attendees and planners alike.

Liked this article? Feel free to check out my previous piece on best practices to take an event from face-to-face to virtual here: Taking Events Virtual .