There are several misconceptions around the virtual events industry that we feel the need to debunk.
The post-pandemic era has revealed a new landscape, fuelled by globally accelerated digital transformation. This has resulted in a rise of virtual and hybrid events. Your routes to market and brand engagement have likely seismically shifted from the way they were a few short years ago. Rapid change can leave you feeling uncomfortable, unsure, and nervous of what the future holds. How on earth do you upskill yourself at pace to meet the evolving needs of your respective stakeholders? Where there is change, there is opportunity. So, sit back, relax, and let us ease the burden of the “new normal”.
1) Planning a virtual event is too much work.
Let’s face it, regardless of its size, any event can be tricky to pull off. There will always be a plethora of different aspects to consider whether it’s in-person, virtual or hybrid.
There are, however, many benefits of embracing a virtual brand experience. It might just be the opportunity you have been longing for to increase global reach and offer a perpetual opportunity to engage, educate and inspire your existing and potential customers.
Without a doubt, planning any type of event takes time to plan and execute well. But, let’s be honest, how much time have you wasted in the last 12 months on spray and pray activity? Now is the time to focus your activity and streamline your routes to how your global stakeholders engage with your brand throughout the year. Remain paralysed by the excuse of time deficiency and there is a high risk of losing more ground and market share to your bold, agile, competitors who are already exploring the virtual opportunities that now exist.
2) Events won’t be engaging.
If you have fallen asleep whilst attending a virtual event, you may be a victim of what we like to call ‘death by PowerPoint 2020’ aka the webinar. There is a lot of stigmas around virtual events being stale, stagnant and laborious affairs. After all, many PowerPoint presentations were rapidly uplifted to a virtual event when we first entered the pandemic. However, during the last 18 months technology and the demands of the virtual event attendee have advanced tenfold.
Virtual events can be personalised, they can be creative and most importantly, they can be engaging. With Virtual Visitor, both virtual and hybrid events can achieve all the above. Being built using the very best 3D design software, events, exhibitions, and showcases can be experienced from the comfort of a visitor’s home. Attendees can interact via:
- Engaging with industry thought leaders through live, pre-recorded and live call to actions
- Reviewing, downloading and retaining technical content in your digital briefcase to revisit at at time that suits you
- Taking part in quizzes or polls, and interactive challenges
- Inspecting products in an interactive format previously thought unimaginable
If you think that virtual events are boring, you’re probably right. So find a solution as oppsed to falling in with the masses. Host an event through Virtual Visitor and truly lead the way in transformational brand engagement.
3) Data and analytics will be limited.
Virtual events never used to be able to provide quantifiable ROI. This assumption is derived from how virtual events were at the start of the pandemic, and yes, we are once again referring to the glamourised PowerPoints. Whilst seeing how many people attend is somewhat insightful, those names on a screen watching a presentation may not even be watching or listening. Without insight into how your audience is behaving and gathering opinions, your insight is pointless.
Our data and analytics platform solves this problem, as we now hold the ability to capture everything you need and more, right at the event’s host disposal. Collating visitor analytics from polls and quizzes to time spent browsing product showcases, you can now request this data to be directly fed into your personal CRM system to create meaningful follow-ups and visitor insights.
Let us know what misconceptions you would like us to debunk next over on our Instagram!