Virtual Events are GROWTH Accelerators in 2021

Author: Arun Pillai

Even in their wildest dreams, nobody could have imagined a pandemic of this magnitude, breaking at the beginning of 2020. But, it did, and varied aspects of our everyday life transformed greatly, especially the way organizations conducted business.

Working and attending meetings from home – an otherwise novel practice became the new normal. Naturally, this scenario led to the rise of virtual events.

Quick Note on Virtual Events

Source: Aventri

Put simply, virtual events are events ranging from small communions to 100+ headcount conferences held online. Some of the top web-based platforms like Zoom, Skype, GoToMeeting, etc., are used to connect thousands of individuals globally. Several virtual events often engage participants in interactive activities like Q&A sessions, polling, and group discussions.

While the term virtual events also extend to cover one-on-one conversations, aficionados divide this phenomenon into four types – webinars, virtual conferences, internal and external hybrid events.

Virtual Events – A Boon for Businesses in the Hour of COVID-19

It is important to note that going virtual has helped organizations save money without hampering customer engagement. Instead of canceling brand promotions and launches and losing indirect revenue, virtual events offered a host of benefits that helped various organizations stay afloat and even grow in the face of adversity.

Here are the primary reasons why virtual events will continue to be growth accelerators in 2021.

Budget-Friendly

Source: Markletic

In these challenging times, allocating colossal marketing budgets would be unwise. And, with virtual events, you don’t have to! The full-time adoption of this technology can reduce the overall cost of putting together an event by 75%.

Sounds unreal, but planners end up saving on staffing, venue, catering, and other logistical expenses when they choose to conduct a virtual event. Indeed, the only thing virtual event planners need to worry about is the cost of the virtual platform and whether it can seamlessly hold attendees in large numbers.

Less Time-Consuming

Since frills like traveling to the venue, sharing meals, and perhaps sightseeing have no place in a virtual event, they are far less time-consuming than an in-house event. This means you can host many more remote conferences, webinars, launches, etc., to ensure you stay within the public eye.

From Local to Global

Source: Ampliz

An organizer always wants to increase the reach and engagement of their event. With virtual events, that’s no problem! You can conveniently share your portal cloud link where you are conducting the event with anyone on the planet.

In a nutshell, hosting a live event virtually allows planners to draw and grow their target audience that eventually converts to qualified leads no matter which part of the world they live in.

Improved Networking

Source: Markletic

Individuals attending virtual events don’t need to move from session to session to extract all knowledge from the event. Since a virtual event handle’s one or more than one topic within a single session, attendees and speakers can easily make connections with each other.

Also, since the session happens online, participants can record it along with their presenter’s name and title, right on their phone or tablet, only to connect with them later.

Inbuilt Feedback Mechanisms

Source: Wild Apricot

A rather critical part of conducting an event lies in knowing whether it was successful or not. If an organizer can somehow collect quick and quality feedback from attendees, they can improve with each event.

During virtual live events, participants can quickly answer yes or no questions, polls, or surveys in real-time. Your portal can also feature a short feedback form displayed on the attendee’s screen right after the event. This real-time feedback captured and transmitted every day helps both presenters and organizers to gauge what’s lacking with the event.

Organizers can also deploy an extensive feedback channel when conducting virtual product launches to help businesses with omnichannel marketing in the future.

Parting Thoughts

Source: Aventri

Sure, the spike in virtual events came riding atop the coronavirus, but its benefits will stay long after the pandemic is behind us. Additionally, if you leverage this medium to get to know your audiences, you can champion data-driven audience generation.

New to the world of virtual events? Consider adding Lake B2B to your technology portfolio! Drive new inbound leads and create lasting brand experiences with our virtual management services.