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There is no disputing that the pivot to digital and virtual, so tenuous over the last year, is now firmly here to stay. And in this new normal, marketers are increasingly appreciating the value that virtual mediums, such as virtual events, offer today. 

Virtual events are an effective way to reach new prospects, engage (and re-engage) existing ones, increase conversions, and track results. They're also easier to organize, are less expensive, and are more accessible to attendees than traditional in-person events. All this means that virtual events are also the perfect vehicle for brand marketing.

How so? Read on to learn how you can effectively leverage virtual events to effectively market your brand.

A quick recap - what is brand marketing?

Brand marketing is the process of promoting your products or services in a way that draws attention to your overall brand. Its purpose is to connect your identity, beliefs, and personality to your target audience through successful targeted brand communication.

It’s more than just slapping your logo and company name on as many surfaces as possible and hoping for sales. It entails representing your company's identity from who you are, what you do, the level of quality you offer, and your reputation.

So why are virtual events are brand marketing’s new BFF?

While the advantages of virtual events are fairly obvious, the ways in which marketers can creatively use events for brand marketing are less. So here's how you can drive better awareness and impact via virtual branding

1. Express your brand identity throughout the event

Virtual events give you unlimited opportunities for creating touchpoints between attendees and your brand.In other words, you can use every event asset, from your event landing page to your stage backdrop to bring customers and prospects closer to your brand.

Take, for instance, event branding. To get customers and prospects to feel excited about your brand, a generic image with your logo slapped on it just won’t do. Instead, markers can use branding creatively, such as through a visually spectacular welcome video, to reflect a distinctive look and feel, that attendees instantly recognize and remember afterward. Here's an example of a great welcome video by Razorpay for their FTX 2020 event, hosted on Zuddl.

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2. Relationship marketing via a micro-virtual events strategy

Micro virtual events are a series of smaller virtual events that eventually feed into a larger marquee event. These events give marketers an opportunity to nurture brand intimacy ie kindle a personal relationship between them and the brand.

For instance, you can give attendees the opportunity to participate in activities like a Digital Round Table or a Panel Discussion at a virtual event. Rather than talking about yourself throughout your event, you can give your attendees opportunities to express themselves and ask questions.

3. Boost brand loyalty by leveraging the advantages of a virtual event platform

According to a recent study by Invesp about returning customers – those loyal to your brand- are 50% likelier to try more of your products and spend, on average, 31% more than newly acquired clients; yes, brand loyalty is essential.

You can increase brand loyalty at your event in a variety of ways, thanks to how you utilize the features and tools of your virtual event platform. For instance, why not invite your customers to be speakers at your event? Not only does this show existing customers that you value them, but it’s also a great way to show other attendees who are potential customers why they should try your products or services.

Another way to build brand loyalty is by setting up networking sessions for attendees at your virtual events. Enabling current customers to talk to prospective ones is an indirect but positive way to drive brand awareness. Furthermore, it’s a simple way to add value to your customers’ lives. Helping them match with professionals who can add value to their businesses will earn you a lot of goodwill.

Finally, you can also drive loyalty by rewarding loyal customers with exclusive in-event experiences. This could be anything from arranging 1:1 virtual meet-and-greets with your brand’s ambassadors or enabling exclusive access to specific Stages at your event. 

4. Use giveaways to promote brand recall

Everyone loves free goodies - but it’s good for business as well. Just look at these figures in a report by The ODM Group: 

• 85% of clients enjoy receiving marketing products
• 58% retain these products for up to four years
• Eight out of 10 attendees remember the promoted brand
• Approximately 21% of the attendees buy products after receiving promotional items
  

You can send giveaways - both physical or virtual - to your attendees immediately after the event is over. This can be made easier by using virtual event platforms like Zuddl that have integrated ticketing, so that you have a complete list of attendee details such as email or office addresses to which you can send the mementos. 

5. Extended brand coverage through social media and other channels

It’s a no-brainer that social media can drive more business for your brand, which is why marketers put in time and effort in planning campaigns, reposting testimonials, and curating good-looking Instagram pages. 

Virtual events can contribute to amplifying your brand on social media, through the use of in-platform tools like an integrated Social Wall . This would be a simple, fun way to encourage attendees to share posts about the event (without requiring them to download and install anything) that will appear on-screen within seconds.

For example, using hashtags can help you gain reach, putting your brand awareness virtual event in front of people who might not have heard of it before. Or you can also get your attendees to share photos and videos of the event using the same hashtags so that you can reshare user-generated content. This will help bring your brand to life.

Continue sharing memorable moments from the event and ask attendees to share their favorite discussions and experience. This will keep them excited about attending your events, and keep your brand in the spotlight.

The social wall will also let you drive more visibility and awareness long after the event is over. 

6. Leverage event analytics to drive better value for customers

One of the best things about virtual event platforms is that they are a data gold mine. At in-person events, it can be extremely difficult to source feedback and opinions from your attendees. Virtual event platforms make this a breeze.

Marketers can use Polls, for instance, to gain insight into the needs and wants of your attendees about a variety of things - preferences and complaints about products and services in your industry or topics that attendees want to know more about. This information can then be used to tailor your brand’s offerings down the line. And needless to say, asking your customers and attendees their opinion is a simple but significant way to tell them that their voices and opinions are important thereby fuelling brand loyalty.

In conclusion…

It’s clear that there is plenty of opportunity in using virtual events to market your brand - they offer unlimited opportunities to create touchpoints between your brand and attendees. All it requires is for marketers to be inventive and creative in the way they use virtual event platforms to meet their goals. 

Need any advice? Our team is full of ideas. Just connect with us for a quick conversation on how to deliver better virtual event branding - we’re happy to chat! Let’s talk.

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Zuddl is a unified platform for events and webinars that helps event marketers plan and execute events that drive growth. The platform has clients across the globe, such as the United Nations, Kellogg’s, Microsoft, HSBC, VMware, Google, StackCommerce and Cipla amongst others. In January 2022, Zuddl announced that it closed $13.35 mn in Series A funding.

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Did you know that around 77% of people in business use virtual events and conferences to connect with remote employees and around 78% of businesses use video conferences to hold team meetings? Given these stats, it’s quite clear that virtual events are becoming the new normal. They’re here to stay.

But what point is it holding a virtual event, if it fails to make any impact whatsoever?

The  key to holding a virtual event that drives value isattendee  engagement. 49% of marketers believe to be the  largest contributing factor to running a successful virtual event - but many  organizers do not know how to effectively engage their attendees. Indeed,  according to Meetings in America, around 91% of people in businesses admitted  to daydreaming during meetings while 39% admitted they fell asleep at some  point.

Why is engagement such a challenge? 

Many organizers think that virtual event engagement issues can be solved by simply inviting famous speakers to the event, and having them present or lecture on a given topic - but this is a mistake.

Keep in mind that virtual events can be interactive spaces - where attendees can learn and connect with experts and thought leaders, as well as chat and network with other professionals. The differentiator between a flat event and a memorable one is having active attendees instead of passive participants.

If you’re a business that’s struggling to increase engagement at your virtual events, don’t worry, we’ve put together 9 ways you can make sure your next event is interactive, interesting, and impactful.‍

‍1. Define what good engagement means to you and how it can deliver ROI‍

Boosting virtual event engagement can lead to better business outcomes in terms of quality lead generation, increased brand awareness, and much more.

So, before you host a virtual event, set your event goals, and then understand how good engagement can help you meet them. For instance, if one of your goals is to drive leads for your business or that of your sponsors, then encouraging attendees to watch a product demo, or consume marketing material can help you run effective and targeted post-event nurtures.

Or let’s say your goal is to drive awareness around a product launch during the event. You can run a social media contest for your attendees, encouraging them to post about the product and event, for a prize. This should help to boost your reach. Of course, the virtual event platform you choose should have the functionality to link from within your event to social media platforms.

It’s also important to choose a virtual event platform that lets you easily track and view the impact of engagement on your ROI. For instance, begin able to see which session topics had the most engagement, and the questions attendees had at those sessions, can help you plan your post-event marketing strategies and campaign messaging more effectively.

Also read: Event trends in 2023

2. Choose a virtual event platform with customization capabilities‍

Customizing your virtual event with intuitive tools is a parameter you cannot ignore if you’re looking to increase engagement. 

A platform that offers a customizable interface, different types of widgets, and interactive tools will allow you to leverage interactivity and participation in creative ways, offering your attendees so much more than a set of speakers on a stage

Don’t get us wrong. Having great speakers is definitely important, but it’s not the solution to engagement in itself. Your platform should have in-built tools to encourage your attendees to ask questions and take part in conversations, such as Q&A or a Chat at the least. Without this, the discussion will be one-sided - and nobody likes that.

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Additionally, keep in mind that even the best of us have limited attention spans. Give your attendees a variety of ways to stay engaged at your event. When they want a break from Stages, give them other spaces to connect and interact with others at the event. Customization will enable you to create breakaway rooms for example, and limit the number of attendees per room so that smaller group discussions can take place. ‍

3. Create Polls‍

One of the best ways to drive engagement from your audience is through the use of polls. It’s also the easiest way to find out what your attendees think of your event, product, and brand

When you are managing a virtual event, you can share different types of polls about the event or about anything specific that happened during the event. The attendees can share their opinions, evaluate the virtual event, and provide feedback if any. Understanding what your audience thinks of your event can help you set up the next event to be bigger and better. For example, if a poll result showed that attendees like a certain track or session topic than others, you can include them in your next virtual event, which will likely increase the engagement for that event.

4. Hire entertainment 

Listening to a lecture or a presentation hour after hour can be too reminiscent of sitting in school or university, so schedule in some entertainment to keep things interesting and fun. 

For example, at the virtual summit, the organizers of (Almost) HYBRID brought in NYC’s Premiere hip-hop improv team North Coast for a live performance. And North Coast made their performance even more interactive and personalized by asking the audience questions about their favorite parts of the event. Even before the act started, attendees were already reminiscing about the best moments from the event in the Chat.

Afterwards, North Coast delivered a customized improv hip-hop sketch that was pulled from the unique experiences that the attendees had shared.

Just like North Coat, book entertainment acts that will keep your attendees attentive and active. Bringing on comedians, creative videos, sketch artists, and even magicians is sure to keep everyone riveted.

5. Leverage gamification‍

Gamification refers to the application of mechanics that are traditionally associated with video games in a non-game scenario - such as in a virtual event. Incorporating gamification adds a competitive but fun element to your events, and it’s a proven way to promote higher virtual event engagement levels as 59% of organizers use gamification as a way to improve engagement.

For example, for visiting a virtual booth, an attendee can receive some points. After gaining enough points, they can win a prize. You can even have smaller contests at each virtual booth so the attendees have to interact with the sponsors, leading to a win for you, your sponsors, and your attendees. 

Or, you could award points based on interaction as well, like taking part in a poll or asking a question. This way, your audience knows they need to pay attention to the session as a poll could come at any moment, as well as listening to the content in order to ask a relevant question.

There are many ways to use gamification strategies to improve virtual event engagement but you need to remember to track participation and clearly communicate the rules.

6. Use translators to make your content more accessible‍

One way to substantially increase virtual event engagement is to improve inclusivity and accessibility. One simple way to do this is to have your content translated into different languages. Unless the event was specific to the locality that you’re in, you can assume people from different countries will attend your event, considering the event is online.

If the content is translated, your attendees will feel more comfortable participating. It’s reported that around 65% of non-native English speakers prefer content to be in their native tongue although they are proficient in English.After all, simply translating your website for the United States, China, Germany and Japan can give you access to 50% of worldwide sales potential.‍

7. Schedule breaks during your virtual events‍

It’s been proven that planning breaks can increase attentiveness, prevent fatigue and improve motivation. You can use a push notification to inform attendees of breaks, and even encourage them to grab a cup of coffee in the interval, which everyone is sure to appreciate.‍

8. Use a mobile app‍

Mobile phones are used 58% more than computers and laptops, which means that when you make your virtual event accessible by mobile, you make it so much easier for your audience to access it quickly, no matter where they are.

Now, we know phones can be a great source of distraction during any virtual conference or meeting, but you can counteract this by making engagement via mobile simple and seamless. 

Moreover, mobile apps can offer businesses further insight into their event and brand. Do people interact with sessions differently when they are on mobile for instance? Do they have more conversations with attendees? These are all interesting points to consider.‍

9. Promote interactive real-time sessions

A lack of real-time conversations ruins the momentum of an event. By introducing opportunities for real-time interaction with your online attendees, you can help develop a sense of community within your event.

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Just like how impromptu conversations take place at offline events, you can also help your attendees forge new relationships and connections if you create spaces for real-time socialization. Enabling networking is an important part of this.

Conclusion

With the right platform, you can increase virtual event engagement, and make it truly valuable and memorable for everyone involved. Keep in mind the tips mentioned in this piece, and choose a customizable platform that can execute all of them.  With a little creativity and customizability, you can create an amazing, engaging virtual event experience that everyone will be talking and writing about for years to come. 

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Zuddl is a unified platform for events and webinars that helps event marketers plan and execute events that drive growth. The platform has clients across the globe, such as the United Nations, Kellogg’s, Microsoft, HSBC, VMware, Google, StackCommerce and Cipla amongst others. In January 2022, Zuddl announced that it closed $13.35 mn in Series A funding.

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Can you remember the last time you were at a networking event? You were probably in a room full of other guests, all wearing their name-tags, and making small talk. At the end of the evening, you would have probably talked to a few dozen people and made 4-5 relevant business connections.

Today, virtual networking gives you the unprecedented opportunity to build and nurture business relationships at a scale far greater than you ever did before. At an event on a virtual network platform like Zuddl, which is accessible to 1000s of people around the world, you can easily connect with the right kind of people - whom you may never have been able to meet otherwise. If done right, virtual networking through ai-powered matchmaking can drive real value for attendees, and turn a good event into a fantastic one. To host virtual events in 2021, organizing effective networking is critical.‍

A timeline of the evolution of networking 

While the world is continuously switching between online & offline, online meeting platforms seem to be the winner by being accessible to people around the world.

The earliest forms of digital networking for the masses can be traced back to the 1990s when dial-up messaging, emails, and web portals were being just introduced. In the last 30 years since then, we've been spoilt for choice over the channels for communication.

We have seen the evolution from wired to wireless, text to speech, and now speech to video discussions. While all of these forms are retained in some form or the other, the evolution of networking has rather played a key part in how businesses today network with their audiences. 

But if the scope of communication and the channels to deliver content have been so convenient and powerful, how come the majority of the events have always been offline in nature?

It is primarily due to the level of virtual event engagement on offer and one not-so-secret ingredient, networking!

Events have evolved and so should networking

The events industry has seen a major transformation over the last year - largely because of seeing the opportunity in catering to the needs of an audience that expects a lot more Virtual events have enabled organizers to bring in people across the world without worrying about the venue, logistics, and whatnot. But amidst all of this, networking seems to have been left as an afterthought. 

Networking has always remained a sought-after activity in real-life events and most event platforms today fail to deliver a way for attendees to connect with the right people. What if virtual events can do much more than what an offline event can. Think about it - in an offline event, an attendee spends about 4 hours meeting X number of people.  Out of these X numbers, only a handful of them are actually of value to them.

We believe this has been taking away the many precious interactions that speakers and thought leaders such as founders, leaders, mentors, etc. have with the attendees. But should we just accept this is how networking works in a virtual world?

Definitely Not!

At Zuddl, we like to keep pushing the boundaries of what a virtual event is capable of. Today, we're proud to show you what we've been working on behind the scenes over the last 3 months. 

With this, we add a lot more value to business networking, by helping the attendees have more meaningful and insightful discussions throughout the event. We achieve this by not only taking feedback from our clients but also ensure to receive even the tiniest of feedback received from an attendee. Today we're proud to bring out our latest feature to the table - The Smart Networking.Smart Networking is Zuddl's effort to ease the cumbersome process of networking at a virtual event. Our AI-powered matchmaking algorithm ensures that your attendees are matched with individuals who share common interests just like you. ‍

How Smart Networking through ai-powered match making transforms the attendee and organizer experience

With other virtual event platforms, attendees are aware of just the speakers and have little context on who else is part of the event. This is not only a challenge for the attendees but for the organizer as well since they’d like to have some more control over the quality of interactions between attendees.‍

Here's how Zuddl's Smart Networking takes networking to the  next level:

Creates meaningful connections:

We enable interest-based matchmaking for your attendees, to ensure maximum value in an interaction. ‍

Create Attendee Profiles

Give your attendees a chance to create their own attendee profiles by updating their personal details, occupation, interests etc.  ‍

Generate More Leads 

With Smart Networking attendees or sponsors can find prospects by sharing what all services they are open to discuss about. One can also list out what they are looking out for and what they are offering to have an added level of filtered matchmaking.‍

Curated Connection List

‍Within smart networking, Zuddl curates a list of individuals you’ve already connected with so that you can reach out to them all through the event.‍

Interacting without limits

Your attendees can access the entire list of attendees and  schedule 1:1 conversations or 1:1 quick based on mutual interest. Get the option to schedule a 1:1 at a date and time convenient to both the attendees.‍

Exchanging virtual business cards

Generate more leads by sharing your business coordinates right on Zuddl, just like any physical event. All virtual business cards get saved in your briefcase, which can be downloaded while you leave the event.

And it is not just about the attendees! 

Enabling smart Networking is as simple as switching your wifi on and off on a mobile device. All you do is click on a toggle and the feature gets instantly activated. 

Smart Networking also ensures that the right people get matched, and by default, you can choose numerous interests and matchmaking filters your attendees can choose from. Want to further customize this? You can always add custom interests and matchmaking filters based on the type of audience invited for the event. These filters also act as Tags, which can be used during or post the event to segregate your attendees as per their interests, jobs, personas etc.‍

So, are you ready to impress your attendees?

Zuddl's Smart Networking elevates the way networking has been done until today. Whether it is an online or offline event, networking still remains one of the key aspects that determine the event's success in the mind of an attendee. In our quest to ensure your events stay engaging and immersive, Smart Networking is a breakthrough to ensure your attendees stay engaged till the very end of the event.

So, are you ready to try it out? Get in touch with our event experts here! 

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Zuddl is a unified platform for events and webinars that helps event marketers plan and execute events that drive growth. The platform has clients across the globe, such as the United Nations, Kellogg’s, Microsoft, HSBC, VMware, Google, StackCommerce and Cipla amongst others. In January 2022, Zuddl announced that it closed $13.35 mn in Series A funding.

Incorporating virtual events into marketing strategies is almost inevitable for businesses due to their apparent benefits, such as enabling access to a broader and more global audience, better opportunities for attendee engagement and lead generation, and more. As a result, virtual event registration has become a crucial aspect of event planning. The presence of a million distractions in the online world leads to a dearth of virtual event ideas that can efficaciously convince your target audience to sign up for and show up to your event.

If this is a challenge you’re facing, here are 8 steps that help you, your business, agency, or association boost virtual event engagement.

Step 1: Offer early-bird registration‍

If your event is going to be a paid one, it’s wise to run early bird ticket sales. This is a reliable virtual event idea to boost interest and hype in your event.

To encourage early registration for your virtual event, you can offer a discount that expires on a certain date. By releasing the full price and the early bird offer simultaneously and setting a deadline for the discount, you create a sense of urgency and exclusivity that can drive more registrations.

This should help you obtain better results in terms of ticket sales. Furthermore, attendees who opt for the offer are also likely to tell their friends or colleagues about it, creating a snowball effect.‍

Step 2: Showcase your event speakers to build hype‍

One effective way to increase virtual event registration is by featuring celebrities, industry thought leaders, or subject matter experts as speakers.

One of the best examples that demonstrates the benefits of leveraging celebrity power for virtual events can be seen in Vanity Fair’s Live Cocktail Hour that took place in April 2021. The event was carried out as a charity fundraiser, with donations going to Covid-19 relief efforts.

The event featured a huge roster of celebrities. The list included names like Serena Williams, Gal Gadot, Michael B. Jordan, Julianne Moore, Laura Dern, Amanda Seyfried, Sacha Baron Cohen, Paris Hilton, Jessica Alba and many others. The event schedule featured discussions and conversations on a variety of topics relating to the entertainment industry. There were also live performances, games and trivia challenges. With that line-up, who wouldn't want to attend this event?‍

Step 3: Leverage promos to kick curiosity and excitement up a notch‍

The lead-up to your virtual event is as important as the event itself, so marketing it in the right way can lead to a rapid increase in the number of people who want to attend it. 

What this means is that your promotional content, in the form of videos and graphics, needs to really showcase the USPs of your virtual event as opposed to a physical one. For instance, you could have video sneak peeks of your virtual venue completely covered with company branding.

Get creative with tools on social media! You could use Instagram stories’ for attendee engagement or Facebook Polls to amp up curiosity and enthusiasm. Twitter Spaces is a great way to have a small interactive session before the actual event takes place.

The power of digital marketing is limitless, and you should harness different platforms in the right way to make sure your target audience is interested in attending your event.‍

Step 4: Keep attendees invested pre-event‍

Once the number of registrations start to swell, the next challenge is to keep your attendees interested and engaged. Here are two ways to do this:

Send an in-depth pre-event attendee guide

A pre-event guide gives your potential attendees an exact idea of what they can expect from the event not only in terms of the agenda but also in terms of the timeframe. Additionally, a pre-event attendee guide serves as a reminder of the valuable learnings that attendees can expect to take away from your virtual event. In that sense, it works to further the excitement that surrounds your virtual event.

Create a resources hub for attendees

As the title suggests, a resource center is a directory of the tools and information that your attendees might need to access before, during, and after the event.

Depending on the scale of your virtual event, you could create a dedicated website for your resources, or it could be something as simple as a Google Drive folder. The main aim is to ensure that it has any tools or information that your attendees may need - for instance, a Frequently Asked Questions in your resource center would be very useful.‍

‍‍Step 5: Give your attendees reminders through multiple channels‍

The internet is full of distractions, and it can be hard for attendees to keep track of your virtual event. 

Usually, the virtual event platform you use to host should have automated reminders that are sent to attendees weeks before the event - or whenever you schedule them. It’s also good practice to send reminders across multiple channels, just in case some attendees lack access to a specific platform.

Be careful not to spam your attendees, however, as this can be a huge source of annoyance.

We hear you, Kim.‍

Step 6: Keep your attendees engaged through creative activities‍

Scheduling small activities before the event helps to generate a buzz, as well as keep it top of mind for attendees - and the more creative, the better. 

With many platforms nowadays allowing you to customize your virtual event, it’s a smart move to use it for your pre-event activities. For instance, within your platform you could create different rooms for attendees to wait in and socialize before the main event starts, or you could host a small ice-breaking introductory activity to help attendees learn more about each other.‍

Step 7: Share resources post-event‍

After your virtual event, you should send out tools, brochures, or resources that may help your attendees. This is also extremely useful if you are going to have another similar event in the future, as it makes your audience feel valued, and shows them that you are trying to drive value for them.

It’s also a good practice to reach out to those who registered for your event but didn’t show up. This not only shows them what they missed out on, but it can also help you find out why they could not attend your event, which can assist you in improving your next virtual event registration strategy.‍

Step 8: Ask your attendees for feedback‍

Collecting post-event feedback is a significant part of the process. Through this, you can find out what went right and what went wrong with your event, from the perspective of your attendees — offering you insights into improving the next one that you might be planning. Additionally, feedback also shows your attendees that you care about their experience at your event. Click here to read which important questions you should ask on your post-event survey.‍

Conclusion ‍

Maximizing virtual event attendance can be a daunting task, requiring significant organization and management. By utilizing this comprehensive list of steps, you can drive registrations and attract attendees, resulting in a successful and fulfilling virtual event.

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Zuddl is a unified platform for events and webinars that helps event marketers plan and execute events that drive growth. The platform has clients across the globe, such as the United Nations, Kellogg’s, Microsoft, HSBC, VMware, Google, StackCommerce and Cipla amongst others. In January 2022, Zuddl announced that it closed $13.35 mn in Series A funding.

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It’s probably safe to say that you’ve attended at least one virtual event over the last year – and that’s probably an extreme underestimate. As businesses pivoted to using virtual meets, they became a frequent part of everyday life. More than just conferences becoming virtual – product launches, trainings, classes, panels, virtual job fairs, meetings, happy hours and more took place virtually as well.

In 2019, the global virtual events market was valued at $77.98B. Now, the industry is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 23.2% from 2020, with an expected valuation of $404B in 2027.

To provide inspiration as you elevate your live and virtual strategy moving forward, here are some of the best virtual event examples in 2020 and 2021 that stood out as they took a new approach, elevated experiences or engaged audiences in a new way,

1. CES 2021

For the the first time ever, CES was all-digital, and made history as the largest digital tech event. Close to 2,000 companies launched products, the worlds largest tech companies exhibited, and industry leaders from Verizon, GM, Microsoft and more led keynotes. The event featured more than 100 hours of programming. Attendees from more than 150+ countries were able to attend sessions, receive personalized experiences and recommendations, and connect and network with others from around the world.

Online conferencing software - Zuddl

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2. Salesforce World Tour Sydney

Salesforce World Tour Sydney was transformed into Live: Australia and New Zealand for 2021. It featured keynotes, interviews with industry leaders, panels with innovators, partner product launches, and workshops designed to inspire action. Held over more than a month, the event focused on segments for key verticals and audiences.

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3. Zoomtopia

Zoomtopia is Zoom’s annual user conference and in 2020 it went completely virtual. With world-renowned speakers, deep dive technical sessions, product announcements, demos, networking and grammy-award winning music performances, the event was open to all and focused on both entertaining and educating.

4. Microsoft Ignite

Microsoft pivoted their annual event and changed its week-long in-person conference into a global, 48-hour digital gathering. With customized language localization, digital local community meetups that included instructor-led technical learning, skill building, certifications, keynotes, product updates and more, the company ensured that their virtual event was impactful and unique.

5. REACH 2020

G2 took their annual conference online and jam-packed it with over 100 speakers and sessions from entrepreneurs, sales, and marketing leaders. The event was built in collaboration with attendees who had input from registration to the event schedule (they shared the topics they were most interested in). The speakers then incorporated these requests into their keynotes and presentations.

6. Inbound

Hubspot took its annual user conference, Inbound, online for a two-day immersive digital experience. They held fireside chats that each had a pre-recorded and live component, and had educational sessions with live Q&A, debates, AMA’s, case studies, 1:1 meetups, audio-only sessions and virtual networking. With surprise guests, office hours with speakers and live entertainment, each attendee was able to stay engaged and enjoy a personalized experience.

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7. NASSCOM's Technology and Leadership Forum

NASSCOM is the premier trade body for the tech industry in India with over 2,900 member companies, including the world’s leading technology companies. In February they held their annual Technology and Leadership Forum virtually. No longer limited by geographical or scheduling constraints, more than 1,600 attendees from 30 countries joined sessions with 94 speakers from the world’s leading companies. Additionally, they decided to hold the rest of their events, virtually. This included a total of 8 virtual conferences with over 1,000 speakers, and 80,000 attendees.

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8. Tomorrowland Around the World 

A fully immersive digital festival with eight stages featuring the best artists in the dance music industry. With 60 artists performing, the event included chat rooms, games, interactive meetings and workshops - more than one million people attended. The event was converted from in-person live festivals, to one worldwide digital event in just 2.5 months.

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9. Oktane 21

Okta took their industry conference, Oktane2, virtual with keynotes, exhibitors, networking, breakout sessions, certifications and more. Attended by thousands of industry leaders, IT executives, security professionals, developers, product leaders and more – the conference prioritized small group and 1:1 networking.

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10. SXSW

South by Southwest celebrates the convergence of interactive, film, music and tech industries and in 2021 it moved online. Attendees had the opportunity to join via an online platform, television, digital devices or an XR platform streamed daily on five channels. With keynotes and sessions, film screenings, music showcases, exhibitions and professional development opportunities including mentor sessions, roundtables, networking and more, SXSW connected attendees in new and meaningful ways.

11. Think

IBM’s THINK is the premier hybrid cloud and AI event, and in 2020 it was re-imagined as a premiere digital experience. With live streamed content, interactive sessions, certifications and locally hosted smaller digital events. Over 100,000 clients and business partners registered, more than 3x their typical audience for the in-person event.

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12.  NRF

Retail’s Big Show, NRF, went virtual in 2021. With 330+ speakers across 130 sessions, a virtual expo with 300 solution providers, AI-powered matchmaking, lunch and lounges, interactive discussion rooms, musical entertainment, cooking with a celebrity chef and a startup zone – they elevated the attendee experience and made diversity and inclusion a central focus.

According to the Content Marketing Institute, 67% of B2B marketers utilized virtual events in 2020, and the use of livestreaming increased 19% to 29%. Those same marketers said virtual produced the best overall content marketing results for their organization in the last 12 months. 

As virtual events continue to grow and see increased demand, how can you create an engaging, unique and memorable experience for your next event?

Learn more.

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Zuddl is a unified platform for events and webinars that helps event marketers plan and execute events that drive growth. The platform has clients across the globe, such as the United Nations, Kellogg’s, Microsoft, HSBC, VMware, Google, StackCommerce and Cipla amongst others. In January 2022, Zuddl announced that it closed $13.35 mn in Series A funding.

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Cover image credit: Austin 360

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It’s time to plan your next virtual event. But as expectations evolve and technology improves, how can you make sure to drive the success of your event through a holistic strategy, defined goals and most importantly - measure what you’ve achieved?‍

Why this event?

The reasons for hosting an event go beyond budget and convenience. As the frequency and scalability of virtual events become more prominent, it’s vital that you define both the goals of your event and build a virtual event strategy to reach them. The first step? Start with your why.

You need to be able to articulate why you are holding any particular virtual event, which will help in defining the overall goal of the event for both your company and your attendees. So, what is your why? Most can be categorized in one of the following areas. 

•  Generate demand‍

From demand for a product or service or more information on a specific topic, drive attendees who are engaged, who may have watched a webinar or read a blog already, and are looking for more information on what is being presented.

•  Build awareness

From brand awareness to awareness around a specific product or service the aim is to get in front of your target audience. Maybe the event is a product launch. For attendees this is an opportunity to more closely align with your brand or learn specific details and even increase awareness on an offering you have that may fit their needs. Drift built awareness with their target audiences by hosting the Rev Growth Summit virtually, bringing together leaders and executives across sales and marketing, providing keynotes and courses.

• Increase thought leadership

From experts sharing their vision on the state of a niche segment, or detailed explanations on a technical topic – educate your industry. The opportunities are endless, but this is an opportunity to educate and elevate key figures in parallel with your brand. G2 hosted REACH 2020 virtually, bringing together thought leaders across sales, marketing, customer success, operations, and product from a variety of companies, including their own to share their strategies, expertise and playbooks.

• Customer, partner and employee engagement, education and retention

Education is one of the most valuable opportunities for a brand to connect directly with their most closely aligned audiences – partners, customers and employees. From trainings and educational sessions to retention driven events, continued engagement with these audiences is imperative.

Once you’ve decided on your why, and overall goal, how do you better specify that goal, make it SMART and define KPIs to keep you on track?

First, align these goals with your business goals. Be specific, make sure it’s measurable and achievable along with having a timeframe to accomplish it.

In fine tuning your overall goal you will want to further specify exactly what you are aiming to achieve, and how. This also means better defining the type of event along with your audience so you can more clearly specify your goals and ultimately measure success with KPIs that you set, and finally - build your strategy. ‍

Defining your needs and deciding your goals often means hosting multiple events to achieve different goals or different audiences so you can deliver the highest level of value possible. NASSCOM, the premier trade body for the tech industry, has leveraged this strategy to great effect, having hosted a variety of virtual events over the last year, building on the success of each. Here's Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaking at the most recent conference, the NASSCOM Technology and Leadership Forum.

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If you are hosting an event to generate demand around a product, is it for industry contacts, customers or both? Or if you’re looking to increase thought leadership who will your attendees be? Be clear on who your audience is and make sure you understand what the goals of your attendees will be.

For example, when WhiteHat Jr. hosted a Creator Summit for young students from around the world, they wanted to create an exciting and impactful learning experience for them.  Because children get more easily distracted, the company needed to design a thrilling virtual venue that was colourful and exciting, which was achieved through their Lobby.

The company also organized interactive virtual sessions between leaders in coding, math, and space, with engagement tools that encourage them to ask questions, share opinions and get involved.

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There will always be a multitude of possibilities for your event goal and event format such as increasing thought leadership via an industry panel or partner education via a live learning course – thus in deciding which type, it’s important to prioritize what will help in achieving the clear goal set forth for the event. 

Building your strategy

Goals are imperative to build your road map and strategy for an event. Without setting goals, it is difficult to define whether the event, means and channels utilized drove beneficial outcomes for your organization. The key is to have a strong vision and simultaneously make sure that you do right by your audience.

In building your event strategy there are multiple components that are vital to executing a successful event and achieving your overall goal. This includes content, promotion, engagement and technology.

• Content plan. Who is participating in the event, when will the content be created and when will it be shared prior, during and after the event?

• Promotional plan. Where are you promoting, communicating and distributing information for your event? How frequently?

• Engagement plan. How will you engage your audience, drive networking and create a memorable and unique experience?

• Technology. What platform will you be using to host and deliver your event effectively and reliably?

Further defining your goals with data

Once you specify the efforts you will focus on as the core of your strategy to drive towards your overall goal, it’s important to finalize the KPIs that will help you measure success and understand your progress. The most successful events set clear goals and build a path in which steps can be taken to achieve them.

With this, it’s important to understand event data and utilize it properly. The metrics used can vary widely as different events and audiences will require varying priorities of what is important to measure. Deciding on KPIs in advance of your event will help you in digesting the data, because without clear direction and intent it is difficult to sort through and prioritize the appropriate data. There are typically four key areas to measure.

• Promotional Data‍

This includes information on performance of promotions across email, social and websites prior, during and after the event.

• Registration data

This includes how many people registered, sources of registrations, who registered, specific audiences that registered and more.

• Engagement Data

This includes participation in sessions, polls, networking, chat, questions and more.

•  Attendee Data

This includes information on attendees’ activities within the event, duration of attendance, attendance rate, demographics and more.

At the end of an event, it’s important to holistically evaluate it in its entirety – and reviewing data and comparing against your KPIs will help you to define your level of success in driving toward your overall goal. By taking attendee, engagement and registration data you can build a picture to understand the stage and relationship each person in your audience has with your brand in relation to your overall goal, and even use lead scoring for each.

While virtual events require different strategies and goals than in-person events and other marketing channels – to find success you ultimately will still aim to entertain, engage and educate your audience.

Interested in learning more on setting goals for your next event? Join a demo with our team here.

Zuddl is a unified platform for events and webinars that helps event marketers plan and execute events that drive growth. The platform has clients across the globe, such as the United Nations, Kellogg’s, Microsoft, HSBC, VMware, Google, StackCommerce and Cipla amongst others. In January 2022, Zuddl announced that it closed $13.35 mn in Series A funding.

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In the last year so much of our lives beyond business have undergone digital transformation – schools and organizations, family celebrations, concerts and more – absolutely every type of event we participate in. Even mundane parts of our everyday lives that we never expected to become digital, have. With this, behaviors have changed, as have our expectations and preferences of how we experience interactions, exchanges, and events. 

As businesses look to stay competitive and to connect and communicate with our audiences, new strategies, mediums and channels are imperative to not only be used in extenuating times, but to integrate and scale for the future. At the forefront of this are virtual events and the solutions that power them. But it's more than just the technology, it’s the opportunity to globalize and scale events unlike ever before. In my time in the event industry there has never been a time of such change and with it, excitement.‍

A new era

‍Even as we return to in-person gatherings, events are forever changed. We’ve gotten a taste of the opportunity to unite people around the world with ease, without limitations of geography or scheduling.  Events that were previously 1,000 people are now becoming 10,000. And events that weren’t even able to exist due to varying limitations, are now thriving not only because they are more cost effective, but logistically simpler. The increased value of events now is their ability to easily scale both in size and frequency.

‍Events wherever you are‍

We are entering a new era in which events will no longer be defined by the channel, location or medium in which they exist, they will automatically be expected to be fully integrated and accessible. Can you remember a time when you couldn’t watch your favorite sports team because you didn’t have the budget to purchase a ticket or the time to travel to the city to where they were playing? Probably not, because in that scenario you would just watch it by streaming it on one of your many digital devices. But what if the only way to view it was by attending in person? It’s almost unthinkable.

Most of us have lived in a time where the teams we cheer have always been able to be viewed remotely on television, and more recently, our phones or any other digital device nearby. Today, where you watch is often arbitrary. The channel could be a venue or a digital medium – but almost always, you have the option to choose.

As events continue to transform, the expectation will be the same for business events of all types - from trade shows and conferences to product launches and trainings. That you will always be able to join in one of two places: the venue itself, or the virtual event  platform where it is streaming from. Both will have attendees and while each will have varying experiences, the result will be the same. They will each provide you with the ability to network and engage with other attendees, listen to speakers and most importantly - have a memorable and unique experience.

‍Experiences built by data‍

In-person events have notoriously had huge data gaps, and with it they continued year after year to attract the wrong audiences - from individuals without buying power to those just aiming for an all-expenses paid trip out of town. But remote events are providing a more detailed understanding of attendees. They will accurately help leaders qualify individuals, taking into account micro-engagements beginning with attendance at virtual events through the entirety of their digital journey with the brand. This information will change the way attendees are communicated with, further driving personalization and ultimately increasing the value of every event, for attendees and hosts alike.

‍Scaling event frequency‍

Traditionally many of the world’s largest events have only been held once per year. But only having annual events diminishes new opportunities and the ability to better engage and nurture key individuals. Just as most types of content have become episodic and often series based, so too will events - in their own way. Beyond scaling in size, events will scale in frequency as remote events will be held more regularly. This means marquee events will no longer be siloed. Virtual events will provide support with regularity and consistency as they become a pipeline for physical events – driving relevant audiences to them and providing unique experiences. With this increased opportunity to scale, individual divisional events with engaged audiences will have the opportunity to become niche, full scale global events.

‍Increased expectations‍

Boundaries that once limited guests and speakers to some of the world’s largest events, have been reduced, if not eliminated. Meaning the accessibility to any expert or thought leader has been leveled. New innovations and technological advances will continue to create opportunities to differentiate interactive communication such as AI-powered networking, parallel sessions and more.  In short - you are able to tailor your events, to your customized needs.

As all of these changes lead to a significant increase in the number of events happening, it will become extremely important to create unique experiences that are not just run of the mill, and are truly unlike any other. Otherwise, you will get lost in a sea of events that both look and feel exactly the same. 

Steve Jobs once said that he reinvented the phone to completely change your expectations. Events right now are being reinvented. So, as you plan your next event it’s important to ask yourself - how will you make it memorable, how will you differentiate it, and how will you change expectations?

If you've stayed with me this far, thank you.

In the wake of the deadly second wave of Covid 19 in India, please join us in donating to Give India, a non profit organisation that helps support COVID patients, affected families, and care centers needing support. We're all in this together.

Zuddl is a unified platform for events and webinars that helps event marketers plan and execute events that drive growth. The platform has clients across the globe, such as the United Nations, Kellogg’s, Microsoft, HSBC, VMware, Google, StackCommerce and Cipla amongst others. In January 2022, Zuddl announced that it closed $13.35 mn in Series A funding.

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If you’re an event marketer or organiser, we’re betting the one question you get asked about most often is also the one you loathe the most: what’s the ROI of your event?

Needless to say, ROI is one of the most important KPIs for marketers and businesses - this isn’t a point of debate. But what most (honest) event organisers also know, is that most of the time calculating the ROI from an in-person event is more of a guessing game. 

There are so many components that go into the calculation, of which many are difficult to track accurately, that it’s almost impossible to know if your event is the reason a customer decided to purchase your product or service. Any attempt to answer “what’s the ROI of your event” is a trap many marketers fall into.

‍Virtual events and ROI‍

So while ROI for in-person events is usually difficult to measure, it’s clear from the increase in the number of virtual events and people's response to them, that virtual events are helping organisers generate quantifiable results for their businesses and their partners. Here are some examples:

Have your event attendees ever spent an average of 2 entire hours in discussion rooms?

‍Top-ranked engineering institute in India, IIT Madras, accomplished this at their virtual Entrepreneurship Summit on Zuddl this year.

What about being able to boost registration for your events?

‍NASSCOM, the apex body for the IT-BPM industry in India was able to drive the number of registrations for their first virtual event from 1000 to 6000.‍

And how about generating leads for your partners? Sponsors generated 10,000+ leads from NASSCOM’s virtual conferences.‍

You need not be frightened of calculating the ROI from a virtual event. Driving and measuring returns is way easier than you think.

By virtue of being hosted on platforms that enable the tracking and collection of a range of measurable indicators, be it engagement, time spent at the event, average time at a Stage etc, organisers need to know that ROI tracking for virtual events can be easily understood and better leveraged for future events. Further, with better quality data, lead generation and nurturing happens more organically and effectively because there is empirical evidence to back it.

But considering ROI data is the lifeblood of effective event planning, organisers can benefit from a better understanding of how to actually measure the impact of virtual events.  

‍Set your KPIs and know the tools to measure them

Unlike the traditional measure of ROI, virtual events demand that you measure based on the ‘Return on Engagement’ (ROE) and the ‘Return on Objective’ (ROO). Just like on-ground events, there may be certain intangible mechanisms within these categories, which is why it pays to clearly define the indicators.

To help, here is a breakdown of these 3 key categories.

ROI is measured based on:

• Revenue
• Profitability
• Number of attendees
• New business
• Leads gathered
  

ROO is measured based on:

• Educational session comprehension
• Educational session surveys and evaluations
• Brand awareness for sponsors and the organization
  

ROE is measured based on:

• New business
• Leads generated
• Retention
• Attendee reach
• Brand awareness
  

To measure ROO and ROE, virtual event organisers need a platform that firstly lets them execute activities within their event that can help them reach their goals, and secondly has the tools to track the impact of their activities. 

For instance, when the objective is to help generate brand awareness for an event, the virtual event organizers or sponsers should be able to leverage the features of a virtual event platform to drive visibility in myriad ways - displaying the sponsor’s logo at a welcome lobby for example.

Or giving a sponsor a dedicated Expo booth wherein they can play product demos or share downloadable marketing collateral.

And the virtual event platform should be able to measure the results of these activities - for instance, by counting the number of people who watched a demo or downloaded the marketing collateral.

Get the most out of tracking technology 

To reiterate, measurement functionality is critical, so the event platform you use must have the capability to track online interactions effectively. Features that enable live analytics and post-event analytics are equally important. Ideally, post-event analytics should include the following data.

Registrations

• Total
• Registrations per day in case of a multi-day event
• Number of returning attendees

The number of registrations can help you understand how interesting or valuable your content is, and you can use this insight to plan future events that better resonate with attendees.

Attendee demographics

• Age
• Country
• Industry

Demographics will tell you the type of persona that finds value in a specific session or an interest-based room, or a product or service showcased in an Expo booth. You can use this insight to better market your offerings based on the consumer group you’re targeting.

Leads for sales

• Number of leads generated

Virtual events can drive leads for sales far more effectively than their in-person counterparts. Attendees can indicate their interest in specific products or services within a virtual event - for instance by watching a product demo, claiming exclusive deals or downloading marketing materials. Booth owners can then nurture the lead post-event.

Attendee engagement

• Polls
• Surveys
• Q&A
• Chat options
• Average time spent at a session, Rooms, Expo Booths or Networking
  

Data on attendee engagement provides more insight into an attendees interests and needs, allowing you to execute more highly targeted campaigns post-events. And at the end of the day, the more engaging a virtual event is, the more attendees will engage with an organiser or sponsor’s products and services post-event.

Connections and networking 

• Total number of connection requests 
• Total number of connections 
• Connections by attendee

One of the main reasons for people to attend events is to make new, valuable connections. Asking for an attendee’s data during onboarding not only allows you to match them with the right people but gives you a wealth of demographic information to effectively segment your audience after your event, and create targeted campaigns.

Sponsor engagement 

Data on booth traffic, conversations, and how many attendees watched product videos or downloaded marketing materials gives sponsors valuable insight on attendee interest, such as where they are in the buyer’s journey. It helps pave the way for sponsors to turn leads into customers.

All of this data and more should be available as reports, summaries or charts for easy analysis. With this, you can easily define data-driven goals for future events.

Use real-time data for better event ROI

Real-time data can even help you make improvements on the fly, especially if it is a multi-day event. You can use a virtual event platform’s features such as Polls to take quick surveys to truly understand what your audience wants – right then and there.

Turn this insight to inform strategic decisions around the relevant messaging they’re responding to, such as additional activities within the event, post-event email journeys, social media or other touchpoints.

Drive better ROI for hybrid events from virtual events

Better insights translate to effective strategizing - there isn’t an iota of doubt that virtual events can deliver in this regard. A good way to leverage this benefit is to use virtual events, in a hybrid setting, to drive better ROI for the on-ground event. In such instances, the on-ground event is preceded by a series of virtual events, which act as tools for identifying a truly engaged audience

Based on the data, you can handpick attendees who check all the boxes that define a perfect attendee. These members can then be invited to the on- ground event, thus ensuring better returns.

To sum up...

The bottom line is that with virtual events, that dreaded question of returns on your event is no longer a trap.

With virtual event platforms giving you the features to host an event that targets your KPIs, as well as the tools to track event data, you can easily tell your bosses how many leads you generated, how much engagement you nurtured, how many (more) registrations you brought about, how much new business you brought to your partners, and what value the event brought to your business. 

To get a better understanding of how a virtual event platform can help you maximize ROI, book a Zuddl demo now. 

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Zuddl is a unified platform for events and webinars that helps event marketers plan and execute events that drive growth. The platform has clients across the globe, such as the United Nations, Kellogg’s, Microsoft, HSBC, VMware, Google, StackCommerce and Cipla amongst others. In January 2022, Zuddl announced that it closed $13.35 mn in Series A funding.

From virtual happy hours and new employee onboarding, to birthday celebrations and shareholder meetings – almost no event has been left out when it comes to their digital transformation. And most everyone has stories of varying experiences for a handful of these scenarios.

For the better part of a year, our primary communication and personal interactions have been virtual. So, it is no surprise that so many people are ready to get back to in-person interactions and this includes events. But what does it mean for events now that both in-person and virtual events have meaningful places?

‍Is it virtual events vs in person events, or in-person events AND virtual events?

As virtual events have become the dominant, and often only format for events over the last year – many have asked what this means for in-person events as some have said we should always opt for in-person events. But this is simply no longer realistic. So, for many it’s been a question of in-person events versus virtual events.

To start, it’s not in-person events versus virtual events, it’s and. In-person events provide a value and opportunity that can never completely be replicated by virtual - that human connection and spontaneity unique that comes from being physically in the same location. But virtual events provide new solutions along with scale to meet the demands of a more digitally aligned world, in parallel to changing costs, continued globalization and new behaviors.

Quite frankly, neither event type will ever return to be exactly as we knew it prior to 2020. How we define events is forever changed. And very soon, if not already, they won’t be defined by their medium – but solely by the experience and content.

While we are all eager to be in-person once again, a singular medium is no longer superior. Virtual events are imperative for businesses to connect with employees, customers, industry partners, prospects and more – around the world, regularly.

Technology can now remove limitations encountered through in-person events. Virtual events are now essential, and those who embrace them, will continue to grow. The advantages of remotely and virtually holding events far supersede their perceived disadvantages. And often that’s just what they are – perceived.

In-person events will be back, and virtual events will never leave

In the United States, 50% of respondents in a national survey said they are now ready to return to in-person events with proper Covid-19 safety precautions in place.  And a majority of event planners are planning to incorporate virtual events into their strategy in 2022 and beyond. So, it’s safe to say neither format is going anywhere, but the frequency in which they are each utilized will continue to change.

As audiences are becoming more and more distributed, virtual provides an option that is accessible to all.

Although we crave physical human interactions – it’s no longer the only defining component for a successful and purposeful event. As brands create innovative and differentiated virtual experiences, attendees and hosts aren’t missing the travel, logistics and budgets required of attending events in-person. Without attendance limits, opportunities for both attendees and brands alike have increased. Virtual event platforms provide a flexibility that wasn’t previously an option.

Building experiences and community‍

Over the last year business leaders have gotten incredibly good at building experiences virtually as we’ve lived online, pretty much exclusively. Moving forward we can all agree that we don’t want to exclusively live our lives online. But the value to businesses who are embracing changed behaviours and with it building online communities and communication channels to connect, educate and engage will be an incredible advantage moving forward.

This last year Salesforce’s Dreamforce Conference reached 75 times as many people through their virtual event, as it did in-person attendees the year prior. And in July of 2020, Ford Motor Company took the launch of their new F-150 virtual, going live in an interactive format. More than 690,000 people around the world tuned in live or have watched since, a stark contrast to the few hundred that were originally planned to be in attendance in Detroit, Michigan for the big reveal.

Brands are creating highly produced video content, that following an event can be accessed on-demand and used by industries and brands for sales, marketing, education and more. The value that is gained from continued usability of content from virtual events cannot be understated.

NASSCOM, the premier trade body for the tech industry in India has over 2,900 member companies, including many of the world’s leading technology companies. In March they held their annual Technology and Leadership Forum virtually and no longer limited by geographical or scheduling constraints, more than 1,600 attendees from 30 countries joined sessions with 94 speakers from the world’s leading companies.

Some of those speakers? The CEOs of Zoom, IBM, Cisco, Accenture, Infosys and Zoho, plus the COOs of Unilever and VMWare, and CIO of Adobe. These leaders of some of the world’s most prominent technology companies were able to join to speak and engage in a conference that they otherwise might not have been able to attend because it was virtual.‍

Redefining expectations

‍The future of how we network and interact has been forever transformed, powered by digital event platforms that allow us to connect regardless of time and place.  With this, the value found through virtual events extends more broadly than as a replacement for traditional, in-person events. While 80% of people join virtual events for educational purposes, the second biggest reason individuals join is networking.

Yet, seemingly one of the biggest faults of virtual events is that we can’t create the same experiences as in-person events. A little ridiculous, right? Just like the experience of riding in a car isn’t the same as taking an airplane. While they both might get you to the same destination, the experience, expectations and medium are very different, and understandably so

The goal of virtual events isn’t to replicate the event in its original format, but to build a virtual experience that in the end has shared the same purpose and achieves the goals set forth. It’s okay that remote and virtual events aren’t able to replicate the same experience of in-person events.It’s not a medium problem, it’s an expectation and experience problem.

Innovation in both technology and new experiences for virtual events will continue to change communication well beyond the confines of the traditional four walls of in-person events spaces. Otherwise, attempting to exactly replicate an in-person event, virtually, is a sure way to fail.

The definition of events, their mediums and how they are executed is evolving into something new altogether. And as technology and behavior continues to change, the expectations of what is needed to connect, communicate and educate continues to transform. Change is scary, which is why it took a pandemic to change the event industry and prominently drive virtual events.

One thing that we’ve all gained over the last year despite Zoom fatigue and technical mishaps is the expectation that we can attend more events because we can always watch them later. We can meet more people and learn more from others because geography and time are rarely an issue. And that we can opt out of attending events in person because our schedules don’t allow it, but we can still attend because the future of events allows us to remotely connect, circumstances aside. And that’s a big win for virtual events.

The ultimate power of virtual is that limitations and conflicts that were often defining obstacles for in-person events have been eliminated and channels to more easily communicate, connect and engage have been simplified. The future is live, remote and connected.

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Zuddl is a unified platform for events and webinars that helps event marketers plan and execute events that drive growth. The platform has clients across the globe, such as the United Nations, Kellogg’s, Microsoft, HSBC, VMware, Google, StackCommerce and Cipla amongst others. In January 2022, Zuddl announced that it closed $13.35 mn in Series A funding.

Businesses and audiences alike have now come to expect great things from virtual event platforms. Before the pandemic, a virtual event was either the last resort or an add-on to the live event, usually meant to include those that couldn’t attend it physically. However, this is no longer the case. Now, virtual events are anywhere, and everywhere.

Every company that’s looking to host online events - whether a summit, online conference meeting, career fair or trade show - relies on virtual event technology.

So the question now is, how do companies vet virtual event platforms effectively? With the numerous options available to event organizers, it is both tricky and tedious to find an offering that can deliver without compromise. To streamline the weeding-out process and identify a truly well-equipped provision, take a look at these 10 questions to ask when choosing a virtual event platform.

1. How easy is it to set up a virtual event on the platform?

No one has the time or the patience to wade through pages of technical information or fiddle around with different modules within a platform to set up an event. So the very first thing organizers need to look for when evaluating a platform is how simple and effortless it will make setting up and running an event ie. how stress-free it will make their lives.

This is not to say that organisers must compromise on the scale of their event or their creative vision of it. It simply means that a platform must be able to offer ease-of-use no matter how large an event, and no matter what an organiser wants to do within it.

2. What are the communication features available to participants?

Networking and open communication is crucial to any virtual event and the platform in use should be able to offer this without any hassles or glitches. Ideally, the platform should have functionalities that allows participants to message speakers, attendees, vendors or hosts through an organized system where participants are easy to find and contact.

For instance, live 1:1 video chat options create an immersive experience and help audiences better connect with one another and the talent present. Private chat options are also great for building better relationships. Some platforms even give attendees to drive the direction of a group discussion via Q&A, or live polling.

These are value-added features that can enhance the overall experience at a virtual event.

3. What is the audience capacity?

This is among the first questions to ask as the platform you choose should be able to accommodate the number of attendees you need without any issues.

Some platforms have a maximum audience capacity, which could be as low as 50 or as high as 10,000. Knowing the maximum capacity the platform can handle while ensuring uptime is key to pulling off a successful event, and knowing that a platform can enable easy management of your large-scale event will give you a much needed peace-of-mind.

4. How can your audience and talent engage on the platform?

A virtual event shouldn’t hinge on one-sided interactions. Attendees should ideally be able to engage with different forms of media and some platforms have provisions to do just that.

There are platforms that will let organisers set up dedicated areas within the virtual venue to enable discovery, and better engagement opportunities. Some examples are lobbies to welcome guests, exhibit halls with Expo booths, promotional sections etc. And via touchpoints throughout the event, such as an exciting entry video, prerecorded audio clips or presentations and any other promotional material, organisers can help attendees in these spaces get more out of the event.

5. How well can you track event data?

Being able to track event data is, of course, crucial for any organizer. You need to be able to analyze data and align them with the goals for the event. Event data tracking is a feature that must be available when choosing a virtual event platform as only data can offer insight on whether or not the event was a success, for instance whether your content was engaging, whether it helped to drive traffic to your website or with lead generation. 

Moreover, event data allows businesses to notice gaps in strategy and better prepare for them in the future. Apart from the number of registrations, check to see if your shortlisted virtual event platform offers insights into visitors by location, average time spent in various zones, connections made by attendees, number of attendees who interacted with polls, used chats and clicked on urls. All this can help you take the guesswork out of ROI and use meaningful metrics to refine strategy and drive conversion.

6. Does the platform support live broadcasting?

It’s a no brainer that live broadcasting is a must for any virtual event. No one really wants to attend an event populated solely with pre-recorded videos; Netflix is a far better option when it comes to that. So platforms that support live broadcasting - and more importantly, can support multiple live broadcast sessions - enable organizers to offer better value to their attendees.

7. Can the platform support monetization or advertising?

It is common for in-person events to have sponsors present, and virtual events should be able to accommodate this as well. Thankfully, this is possible as there are platforms that offer organizers the option to choose from a range of monetization facilities, and give their partners or sponsors more branding opportunities.

For instance, branded, interactive Expo booths allow sponsors or partners to customize the design of their booth with their logos and signage. They can place media collateral such as product demos in their booth and can also share downloadable marketing material such as brochures or business cards with attendees that stop by their booth. Each booth can be manned by booth staff who can chat with attendees and answer questions in real-time.

Some platforms allow organisers to allow ticket-based zone access for attendees to facilitate exclusive experiences and therefore can monetize based on different audiences.

The opportunities are endless with platforms that offer more and better customisation features.

8. Does the platform have automated systems and functions?

Considering the backend work that goes into organizing and executing a virtual event, it is wise to look for a platform that leverages automation effectively.

Without it, the entire event relies on flawless manual inputs, which isn’t ideal and leaves room for error. Automated processes like email marketing also give invaluable insight into the platform as a whole, as it means that the event platform partner understands the need for seamless execution.

9. What can be customized on the platform?‍

This is the big question. Event customization is imperative to hosting an event that looks and operates exactly as you want it to, and the platform should be able to give the organizer complete flexibility in doing so. 

Customization enables effective branding, marketing, and audience engagement - all critical to the success of an event, and in generating ROI for an organiser. You should be able to make a Stage appealing for your target audience for instance.

You should be give your partners as many branding opportunities as you want to. You should be able to generate delight for your attendees throughout the event - for instance by setting up a Selfie booth. And you should be able to build a feeling of community, of togetherness through customisable design, such as setting up Networking or Watercooler spots for people to mingle, talk and connect.

Go big or go home. Full customisation will be the differentiator.

10. Are there any real-time troubleshooting facilities?

As any event organiser knows, last minute changes and challenges are to be expected. So, while you can offset most problems with effective planning, any event partner platform you’re considering should offer 24X7 support. 

Ideally, the platform should provide a dedicated troubleshooting team to address any technical issues during execution or help with any other problems that pop up. At the least, a platform should offer website chat support, and even help with onboarding. All these features of a virtual event platform become critical sooner than later and having a good idea of the resources you can count on is simply thinking ahead.

To sum up...

Getting answers to these questions allows businesses to easily vet virtual event platforms for their event needs. From event registration tools to data tracking and easy set-up to the extent of customisation available, when choosing a virtual event platform, organisers need to be as circumspect as they can be - the success of your event depends on it.

But it takes the correct virtual events platform partner to make the difference. Take a Zuddl demo today to explore how you too can host a virtual event that is unique and branded, and drives engagement and ROI.

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Zuddl is a unified platform for events and webinars that helps event marketers plan and execute events that drive growth. The platform has clients across the globe, such as the United Nations, Kellogg’s, Microsoft, HSBC, VMware, Google, StackCommerce and Cipla amongst others. In January 2022, Zuddl announced that it closed $13.35 mn in Series A funding.

Early in 2020, the global pandemic imposed many great disruptions on our everyday lives. However, the world quickly adapted. We learned on the fly. The world of events specifically, saw widespread cancellations due to COVID-19. Event organisers began innovating, adopting new technologies, and moving to a new virtual normal. The simple webinar quickly evolved into full-fledged virtual experiences. But that evolution meant there was going to be a lot of trial and error.  And with each passing event, we learned how to host a better experience.

Today, the world has seen the benefits of virtual events. No matter what size or kind of organisation you are, hosting an engaging virtual event experience is now a necessary skill.

So we have compiled a list of 5 common mistakes that organizers should avoid in virtual event planning. Eschewing these could keep your engagement and attendance up, and have your customers coming back for more.‍

Not planning content for your virtual event properly 

At the heart of any great event is a great design. No matter what domain you are in, designing a great agenda requires engaging content. To make matters more challenging, virtual events require you to work harder to retain your audience's attention. As your attendees are in a digital space, you can safely assume that your audience may easily be distracted - online shopping, Netflix and social media channels are only a tab away. To go back to online shopping, Over 60% of U.S. adults today consider mobile shopping a necessity.

Therefore, the content you plan for your event is paramount. It is essential to move your content beyond just presentations and into a more interactive setting - the usage of a fantastic Welcome Experience for your event or interactive virtual booths equipped with live booth staff, for instance, are unique and novel ways to keep your audience intrigued.

‍Planning the ideal length of each piece of content is also essential. Too long and you may find people getting screen fatigue or losing interest in your online event. Too short and you run the risk of your audience undervaluing your event.

Find the right balance with a good amount of breaks in between to avoid virtual event fatigue. For instance, simple popups to remind your attendees to stretch their legs or grab a cup of coffee during your online event gives them time to clear their minds, refresh, re-energise, reset their focus and in this way, you can drive better attendee engagement once they return.  

Not preparing your event presenters for a virtual session format

For any live event to stay engaging, you need an experienced set of Speakers, as well as a facilitator or a moderator to keep your panel sessions and group discussions running smoothly. However, virtual events operate under different rules for speakers to keep their audience engaged. 

Now, you need to make sure your speakers, facilitators, and moderators are comfortable and adept in hosting virtual sessions. Plan ahead with them about the tools that are available that they could use to make their talks interactive - such as Chat, Polls, Q&A and more.‍

Give your speakers the opportunity to do a Dry Run before your event so they are more comfortable with your event setup. And before sessions start, let your speakers relax and rehearse ahead of time at a private greenroom. ‍

Not rehearsing your agenda ahead of time

No matter what size your virtual event is, rehearsals are key to a successful and seamless experience for your audience. Even if your event is small, it is never a bad idea to do a run-through so that you can ensure that all areas of your virtual event are easily accessible, or all touchpoints for branding are visible front-and-center, for example.

Some virtual event platforms offer team onboarding with CSM as well as dedicated account managers to help run the event. Take advantage of both.

Receiving assistance with setting up the event as well as having a professional on hand to respond directly to your every need, will make you feel better prepared for your event, and provide you with a previously unknown peace-of-mind.

Not accommodating Networking

One of the most overlooked aspects of virtual events is networking - but many organizers fail to ensure that attendees at their event are able to expand their social or professional networks of like-minded people. It’s simply not enough to assume that attendees at a virtual event will be able to connect with each other via a Chat.

Organizers should - and can - do a lot more.

After assessing the size of your audience, organisers can create virtual spaces in their event where attendees can interact with each other. This could be creating a virtual lobby before the event starts where attendees can socialize, or using breakout rooms for interest-specific discussions, or even creating activities or games in smaller spaces to help attendees break the ice. 

It’s even better if organizers choose virtual event platforms that accommodate AI-powered 1:1  smart networking. Not only does this take away the stress of attendees having to make the first move, but it also increases the chance that attendees will be matched with the right people. Win-win.

Not using the right technology

It goes without saying that technology plays a vital role in virtual events, but choosing the right virtual event platform really does make the difference between a good event and a great one. 

Some platforms simply may not offer the configurability you need to create an event that truly looks and feels true to your brand. We all know that the devil is in the details, so imagine wanting to play a product video in the lobby, or offering useful media downloads to attendees at a booth, or even setting up a helpdesk - and then learning that you are unable to do so because the virtual event platform does not have the features or tools to let you do so.

‍Choosing the right technology, or partner platform, for your event will make or break it.

To sum up...‍

Organizers must realise that a virtual event planning is a completely new ball game. While the fundamentals remain the same, you need to approach each virtual event with a new set of eyes; consumer behaviour, as has been evidenced by the pandemic, is constantly shifting and adapting - so picking a virtual event platform that meets and leverages new behaviours is critical.

Concurrently, planning a virtual event also requires a new awareness of the fresh opportunities a digital platform can provide. With Zuddl, we've built you an all-in-one virtual event platform that provides real-time engagement with a seamless experience. Built by event organisers for event organisers, we help you create, engage, and manage your event is the best possible way you can. Book a free Zuddl demo today, and walk through the creation of a virtual event, from start to finish. 

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Zuddl is a unified platform for events and webinars that helps event marketers plan and execute events that drive growth. The platform has clients across the globe, such as the United Nations, Kellogg’s, Microsoft, HSBC, VMware, Google, StackCommerce and Cipla amongst others. In January 2022, Zuddl announced that it closed $13.35 mn in Series A funding.

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The virtual world is our new normal. It’s now a pervasive and inextricable part of our daily lives, driving new ways of interacting, transcending the physical limitations set by space, time, and even a novel coronavirus. About 60% of the world’s population now uses the internet and in 2021, an estimated 3.71 trillion hours will be spent on social media alone. So, the question is not really one of in-person vs. virtual reality. Going forward it is not ‘one or’ but ‘both and’.

As a species we’ve “covered a decade in days,” says a McKinsey report in describing the “adoption of digital” during the pandemic. Case in point: Disney Plus being able to achieve in just 2 months what it took Netflix 7 years. From remote learning and telecommuting to online deliveries and telemedicine, the pandemic accelerated a whole spectrum of consumer behaviours.

‍Today, virtual tech is key to interacting with the modern-day consumer, and virtual events follow suit.

Grand View Research, a market research and consulting company, recently forecasted that the virtual events market size would expand to be worth $404.45 billion by 2027. Moreover, marketers and event planners cite that virtual events can be easier to scale, house a global audience, generate insightful data, take less time to plan, and are easier on attendee schedules. Given these real benefits, here are important factors driving events onto the virtual stage

The most important factors for the future of virtual events are as follows:

Catering to an increasingly digital audience

Modern user habits have changed drastically. A study by DataReportal cites that about 40% of the typical global user’s waking life is spent with connected tech. That’s an incredible average of 6.5 hours online each day spent checking email, frequenting social media, taking pictures, reading the news, shopping, and banking. 

The reality that the virtual world can be an extension of one’s life, coupled with the fact that virtual events are meaningful social experiences, opens up new possibilities for the events industry. (When Microsoft E+D India held their first virtual offsite for instance, the company found that by virtue of the event being virtual, all previous success metrics were thrown out the window).

Piggybacking on habits formed during lockdown, Microsoft employees spent more time attending panel sessions and visiting their colleagues’ Expo booths than before. And attendees near-doubled the number of connections they made via AI-powered smart networking! By going online, we find ourselves connected to an intricately-knit global digital village.

‍Virtual events can leverage the fact that digital brings people together at the same time, to foster connections and build relationships in a manner that feel intuitive for digital natives. 

Casting the marketing net far and wide

In-person events have physical confines, virtual events don’t. Geography isn’t a barrier, travel restrictions aren’t a worry, and space isn’t a limiting factor. You can have attendees join in from around the globe. EventMB indicates that 34% of planners consider an uptick in attendance to be the most positive benefit of shifting to virtual.

Let’s distill the benefits of virtual events:

- Travel restrictions and lockdowns aren’t a hindrance to the event 

- Busy attendees can fit the event into their schedules easily 

- Renowned speakers from around the world can address your attendees 

- More people can attend on account of no physical limitations 

- The overheads of the event can be significantly reduced 

- Users can show up from home, office, a train, a car—anywhere! 

- The event can be up and running in no time at all

Engaging users with the best of modern technology

A lot of people have a soft corner for online communication, as opposed to in-person meetings.  And some of this boils down to the fact that much of online communication is non- verbal and hence, demands less cognitive and emotional effort.

‍For users who are prone to introversion, for instance, the ease of typing into a chat box, with emojis, as opposed to talking face to face, worrying about one’s demeanour and how to articulate one’s thoughts, can be relieving.
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And virtual event platforms like Zuddl help you go further, with options for live sessions, 1:1 networking, break- out rooms, polls, and gamification. You can then have different degrees of verbal interaction and varied modes of engaging your audience. With technology giving you the nuts and bolts for your event, you can build it up to be a workshop, conference, career fair, trade show, expo - or even a hybrid event. 

In fact, there’s no doubt that the use of tech to finesse hybrid event strategies is going to be a game-changer for organisers. Using insights captured from audiences at virtual events, organizers can use that information to build excitement, refine their content, and drive better ROI for their live events.

Evolving with your customers through better analytics

The decisions your users make follow the changes in their habits, and with digital adoption consumer habits are continuously being reshaped. Consider for instance, how throughout the day, most people today use two or more devices at the same time to consume content, actively and passively taking in information based on the context in which it is used. Identifying such factors is easier than ever in a virtual event. For instance, you can keep tabs on webinars attended, best times for engagement, PDFs downloaded, booths visited, chat box interaction, quizzes taken, and so much more.

In a  physical event it can be tough to even get your audience to fill out an  opinion form. Zuddl allows organizers to observe the micro moments of a  customer’s journey, throughout the event, whether it be watching product  demos, interactions with virtual booth owners, or time spent in the lobby.  Better data & insights analytics  makes for improved customization and more efficient use of your resources and  budget.

Keeping the spotlight on your brand and sponsors

In-person events demand an insane level of logistical work: sourcing venues, planning floor layouts, hiring equipment, putting up an event flyer, the final set-up, and the like. All of this can sap your team’s energy and detract attention from the brand itself.

‍Virtual events, conversely, are no-frills versions that are easy to plan and execute. That way you have more time and energy to strategically position your brand.

Out of sight, out of mind

There’s another advantage to virtual events and it’s characterized by the proverbial saying, “out of sight, out of mind.” This proverb implies that your audience is likely to forget things that are no longer visible.

With virtual events you can have your branding throughout the user journey – from login, to the welcome lobby, to virtual rooms, and networking areas. The same holds for sponsored banners that your partners can have in such a way that they are just a click away from your audience.

To sum up...

The pandemic has made clear that virtual events are clearly very effective, if not more effective, than their physical counterparts, given they help you reach a wider audience, engage audiences intuitively, collect insightful data, and market your brand more strategically. But it takes the correct virtual events platform partner to make the difference between an average event and a fantastic one. If this intrigues you, take a Zuddl demo today to explore how you too can host a virtual event that is immersive, visceral and impactful.

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Zuddl is a unified platform for events and webinars that helps event marketers plan and execute events that drive growth. The platform has clients across the globe, such as the United Nations, Kellogg’s, Microsoft, HSBC, VMware, Google, StackCommerce and Cipla amongst others. In January 2022, Zuddl announced that it closed $13.35 mn in Series A funding

Cover image credit: Challenge