The virtual event industry is among the few businesses which have seen a drastic upmarket in the past few years. The globalization of the world and the emerging transmission of internet accessibility is creating a big market for businesses and corporates for branding and marketing. Well, the event organisers are quite happy with this new transformation as now they have a distinct audience but a wider one.
The need to meet in-person and on-ground events is inevitable, but still for every event, traveling to new locations, accommodation, and other expenses increase the cost. While also the activities contribute to increasing carbon footprints. The advantages of virtual webinar platforms are plenty, but still, the big question is what the future of virtual events will be.
This is an extremely important question for all businesses, event organizers, and for the whole event industry. If there is no future, then the huge investment by the companies in R&D and in developing such event live streaming services will be disappointing. So here in this blog, we are going to touch on all the important aspects that showcase the undeniable future of virtual events.
Virtual Events Are Here To Stay
When we talk about Virtual events. It isn’t new to anyone, but their acceptance of them is increasing these days. Virtual events are not just limited to streaming your events live or creating events with a virtual component. But there is much more than that as there are different formats such as meetings, webinars, meetups, etc. Lots of events in the market go AIR, but with limited features.
However, the development of virtual webinar platforms and cutting-edge technology is significantly helpful for many corporations for their meetings, conferences, training, and workshops. All this popularity and easy-to-use system are making big tech companies invest in such webinar platforms and SaaS for them. Well, the best part about virtual events is that you don’t need to travel or make time as you can attend such events from anywhere in the world (even from your bedroom without any hustle).
Many customization offerings nowadays are given by event live streaming services in terms of interface, gamification, emoticons, chats, polls, and whatnot. Many tech companies are now making efforts to do a hybrid event that includes both parties who are ready to attend in-person as well as virtually.
Virtual events are a great way for businesses and marketing professionals to connect. to showcase their products and services. Additionally, you can also launch your new arrivals or products online by giving them live demos of how they work. You can provide attendees with an interactive event so they can experience everything you have to offer. You can also include live chats with subject-matter experts who can respond to attendees’ inquiries and provide them with additional details about what you’re selling. No matter what, virtual events are a fantastic way to advertise your business and attract new customers.
Are Hybrid Events Becoming the New Normal?
This is a question of great debate or discussion, but as we say, time is the greatest teacher. So we will soon see in the coming years if this is the new normal or not. With the technology advancements and the addition of new features, it will definitely be adopted at a vast level. For example; Earlier phones were not easily accessible but now most of the population have smartphones and that too with the internet in hand.
So with time, everything will be changed, and more on that, we are moving at a fast pace towards digitalization. Furthermore, the benefits include things like no travel, accommodation costs, venue (finalising and costing) and, lastly, reduced carbon footprints. In addition to having a built-in backup plan in case there are local issues that necessitate the closure of a venue or the cancellation of in-person activities, hosting virtual events makes a lot of sense to cater to a larger audience.
Necessity is the mother of invention, and this phrase is appropriate for the virtual event platform. Earlier, these sorts of platforms and services were used minimally. But the easy accessibility of people to the internet makes it possible to host such events. Today’s virtual event platforms are incredibly more advanced and are able to duplicate and empower highly engaging, interactive, virtual experiences that supplement and, in some cases, even outperform their in-person counterparts.
Virtual Events Benefits
There are many benefits to virtual events and using the virtual event platform.
For many reasons, such as travel, health, or torment, not everyone is available to come to an in-person event. So virtual events give them an advantage of not missing any event by joining that from the comfort of their home. There are limitless possibilities as anyone across the globe can attend virtual events with just a click. Live events kept it lively, but a sizable number of participants were unable to attend online events due to a variety of difficulties. Some of these difficulties were logistical, while others were personal. However, virtual events allowed everyone to participate regardless of location. With the aid of virtual event solutions, many businesses have even developed long-distance selling points.
Virtual events are proving to be very cost-effective for the audience as well as the event organizer too. And with the flexibility to host a single event across multiple channels or spaces, helps the organizers to increase their revenues. By providing multiple language options, cutting-edge virtual event platforms also increase the event’s accessibility and interactivity. This also enables you to attract more participants.
The other benefit to point out about the virtual event is the ability to record data and statistics about the audience. Their contact details, mail id, contact number, their behavior, etc. All this information is great from a marketing point of view for businesses.
Keynote
In the end, what one can conclude from all those mentioned discussions is that the potential of virtual event platforms is great and their usability is high. The advantages are countless, the only thing is that it depends on the people how they choose. But one thing for sure is that for meetings, conferences, and some business-related work it is a great tool. For events like music festivals, expos, and fairs there is still time to imply it.