Several businesses, the world over, are now shifting to hosting virtual events because of the access to the global audience it provides. It has become a popular choice to bring people together in a virtual setting and expand brand visibility.
In this backdrop, selecting the best virtual events platform has become super important, considering the multiple ways in which the platform can streamline your event marketing efforts.
In fact, according to this report, the global virtual event platform market size is projected to reach USD 30.6 billion by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 19.8% during the forecast period.
Virtual event organizers ranked increased event registration (36%), greater ROI (26%), and greater attendee engagement (25%) as top benefits of virtual events compared to in-person
What is a Virtual Event Platform?
A virtual event platform is a digital tool designed for hosting, planning, and managing a variety of events in a virtual environment. It is an online space where people gather for conferences, seminars, trade shows, and other types of events without being physically present. The important aspect is that a virtual event platform gives the same dynamic and engaging experience as an in-person event.
Leveraging an online event platform, you can conduct well-organized events and connect with your audiences, all around the world. Virtual conference platforms provide a variety of interactive features such as virtual exhibit halls for exploring booths and interacting with exhibitors, chat and networking options for connecting with other participants, and virtual lounges for casual conversations.
Whether you are an L&D professional or event organizer, a virtual event platform offers numerous opportunities for connection, collaboration, and engagement in the digital age.
However, oftentimes businesses tend to overlook some crucial factors when it comes to choosing the ideal platform for their needs. Investing in the right virtual events platform is crucial to sustained success and to make the most of your event initiatives.
In this blog, we bring you a comprehensive list of factors you need to consider before investing in an online events platform.
Consider Below 18 Factors While Picking the Virtual Event Platform
1. Budget-Friendly Pricing:
First, understand the pricing structure of the event platform. It is essential to know whether the pricing suits your budget or not. Are the pricing plans subscription-based, pay-per-event, or per-attendee? Many virtual event platforms offer various pricing plans, including monthly and annual subscriptions.
Contact vendors to learn more about the platform’s pricing options. After reviewing the pricing packages, compare the plans offered by each platform. Then, select the most cost-effective option for your organization. Additionally, understand if there is an extra cost for specific features, tools, or above a certain number of attendees.
2. Easy Event Setup:
Easy setup means faster event creation and implementation. Whatever the size or popularity of the event platform, the event setup process should be simple and easy to follow.
Look for a platform that handholds you through the setup process with relevant how-to guides, walkthroughs, or tutorials. Ensuring this will assist you in organizing your event quickly and efficiently as well as minimize the risk of errors during the preparations for the event.
3. User-Friendly Interface:
A well-designed UI and UX are important to improve the overall user experience of attendees. Look at the platform’s layout, structure, menus, and overall design to ensure it is user-friendly. Also, make sure that the event platform is intuitive for people from different backgrounds, as it will be used by a range of people during an event like the speakers, presenters, hosts, sponsors, and more.
Another factor to keep in mind is the responsiveness of the event platform. A responsive platform ensures a smooth user experience across all devices, whether it’s a desktop computer, tablet, or smartphone. It adjusts the layout and content to fit the screen size. This flexibility helps attendees have a user-friendly experience regardless of what device they use to connect to the virtual event.
4. Branding and Customization Options:
Without branding and customization options, the event may lack a cohesive identity, professional appearance, and personalized experience for attendees. Your event needs branding and customization features to add a personal touch and leave a lasting impression on attendees.
Branding elements allow you to build a unique brand voice by modifying logos, colors, taglines, visual styles, and themes to meet your needs. Customization features let you personalize the event interface, agenda, and content to match your specific objectives and target audience preferences.
Look for flexibility in branding and customization in your virtual events platform as it not only enhances your company image but also makes your event stand out.
5. Audience Engagement Tools:
To host a successful and interactive event, it is essential to check whether the webinar platform has robust engagement tools. These capabilities play a crucial role in enhancing the attendees’ participation during live events.
Engagement tools facilitate two-way communication between presenters and attendees. Participants are more likely to remember information presented in an interactive format compared to traditional lecture-style meetings.
Seek a platform with strong interactive elements such as live polls, Q&A sessions, live chat functions, social media integration, and more. All these features will engage your attendees and help create memorable experiences.
6. Networking Features:
To provide an immense experience to attendees, the event platform must have strong networking capabilities. Virtual events usually lack opportunities for ‘direct communication’. But, networking features bridge this gap and add value to the virtual event.
Ensure that the chosen platform has networking features including video calls, group meetings, one-on-one conversations, virtual lounges, breakout rooms, and multimedia sharing. These robust features will create potential collaboration and meaningful connections among participants, contributing to a memorable attendee experience.
7. Attendance Capacity/ Scalability:
One of the most important aspects when choosing a virtual event platform is its ability to handle a large number of guests. Understanding a virtual event platform’s attendance capacity allows you to guarantee that it can meet the event’s goals.
Investing in a platform that supports scale, you can plan and manage your event more effectively, regardless of how big or small the event is. Choosing a platform with sufficient capacity ensures that all attendees have a seamless event experience, and also reduces the risk of encountering issues such as lagging, buffering, or disconnections.
8. Live Broadcasting Supports:
A virtual event needs to have live-streaming capabilities. Live events create excitement for any occasion. Presenters can adjust their content in response to audience reactions and needs during live virtual events. Therefore, select a platform that will allow your attendees, speakers, and exhibitors to interact in real-time.
Another thing to check is the availability of multiple streaming options. Multistreaming lets you reach your event to a larger audience by broadcasting content simultaneously on other platforms like Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitch, and more.
9. Gamification Features:
A virtual event platform with strong Gamification can significantly enhance attendee participation. Gaming brings fun and enjoyment to online events, keeping attendees active and interested during live events.
Consider a platform with a wide range of gamification features like quizzes, competitions, challenges, and leaderboards to increase the interaction and engagement of your virtual events.
Incorporating gamification into virtual events can also maximize learning and create memorable experiences, both of which are important to keep attendees actively engaged from start to end.
10. Marketing & Promotion Opportunities:
Some virtual event platforms have in-build marketing tools such as email marketing and social media integration. By assessing these options beforehand, you can plan your event promotional campaigns more effectively to reach your desired audience.
With the help of integrated tools, marketing campaigns can be created, launched, and managed more efficiently. Having in-build tools in virtual platforms will significantly save your time, effort, and extra costs related to third-party advertising firms or tools.
11. Sponsorship Opportunities:
Sponsorship can be a significant source of income for your event. It can increase your earnings by offering sponsorships for your events. Sponsors bring their own audience and brand recognition to the event through their marketing efforts and existing customer base.
Sponsors typically have extensive networks within their industry or community. Collaborating with sponsors can provide you with valuable networking opportunities, allowing you to form new partnerships, attract future sponsors, and strengthen relationships with existing stakeholders.
12. Automated Systems and Functions:
It is a good idea to invest in a platform that has automated systems and functions. Without automation, everything about the event has to be done manually, which is not only tedious and time-consuming but can also lead to manual errors.
Generally, automated systems are programmed to follow specific instructions precisely. They handle repetitive, mundane tasks much faster and more efficiently than humans, improving task consistency, and accuracy. Automated systems also give you the luxury of having certain operations run continuously, without interruptions or breaks.
12. Analytics & Reporting:
One of the noteworthy features of the virtual event platform is its comprehensive analytics and reporting functionalities. Having a detailed analytics and reporting dashboard for any event you host is essential. Because they allow you to measure the success of your event, and the impact of your efforts, and know strategic gaps to enhance through the subsequent events you have planned. Data is the primary draw as it empowers you with actionable insights. It lets you know whether the content you provide to attendees is valuable and engaging.
Ensure the event platform has analytical tools to track key metrics such as attendee demographics, session attendance, engagement levels, and more. Reporting is also equally important as it shows the return on investment (ROI) and lets you make informed decisions about future events. Prioritizing analytics and reporting ensures that virtual events are not only engaging but also effective in achieving your objectives.
14. Feedback Collecting Option:
Feedback is the core component of a successful virtual event. Without receiving input from attendees, you won’t be able to measure the effectiveness of an online event and the overall satisfaction level of your participants. Plus, it makes you aware of the challenges they faced like technical glitches, platform issues, and content delivery problems.
Understanding audience preferences is essential for refining upcoming events to better align with attendee needs and expectations. By going deeper into your audience preferences, you can gain valuable insights that can help you make changes to content, format, and other aspects of your event.
15. 24/7 Customer Support:
Having a skilled and talented customer support team is essential for any virtual event. It ensures that you have assistance readily available if and when you encounter any challenge.
Running an online event is not easy, and certain challenges can impact it like technical glitches, connectivity issues, and more. To run a virtual event smoothly, you need 24-hour customer support that will assist in quickly addressing these issues.
Having round-the-clock access to customer support teams allows you to go ahead with your event stress-free. Ensure there is an expert technician to manage technical aspects of virtual events, such as audio, video, streaming, password, and event access problems.
16. Event Recording:
When selecting a virtual event software, checking the event recording option is crucial to fully leverage the benefits of the platform. The recording feature lets you capture sessions, presentations, and discussions for future reference or on-demand viewing. It can also be used for further training, marketing, or generating additional content.
Along with event organizers, the event recording option is also beneficial to the participants. Not all of your target audience may be available during the live event. By providing recordings, you can allow your attendees to visit certain sessions and brush up on key points at their convenience.
A reliable event platform also implements access controls, such as multi-factor authentication and strong password requirements, to ensure that only authorized persons can access the event. Leveraging secure virtual event management software, you can create a safe and trustworthy virtual event place for your attendees.
17. Free Trials & Demos:
Try before you buy. It makes sure you are making the right choice. Before finalizing the platform, check if trial sessions are offered.
Demos and free trials allow you to experience online event platforms firsthand. During the trial session, you familiarize yourself with the platform’s features, interface, functionality, and ease of use.
Similarly, trials allow you to interact with the platform and understand the nuances of its capabilities and how they work. Overall, taking a trial session will help you feel more confident in your decision when choosing the right virtual event platform.
18. Security and Privacy:
When planning an online event, data security and privacy must be at the top of your mind. Opt for a virtual management platform with robust security and privacy features. This prevents unauthorized access and ensures your data will remain safe.
At virtual events, you frequently handle sensitive data such as attendee registration details, payment information, and even private company data. A secure platform always protects these data from potential breaches and unwanted use.
Conclusion
A reliable and solid virtual event platform will not only streamline operations for organizers, it also help increase attendee engagement and expand the reach of your event to a global audience. From user-friendly interface and customization options, and attendee engagement features to security, every aspect plays an important role in delivering a seamless and memorable virtual event experience.
By prioritizing attendee needs, event objectives, and budget limits, you can make informed decisions and select a platform that aligns with your goals and requirements. Keep in mind that the ideal event solution platform should be feature-rich, user-friendly, secure, and offer excellent support to guarantee a successful virtual gathering.
FAQ
Utilizing a virtual event platform provides numerous benefits such as worldwide accessibility, saving on travel costs, and the ability to host events of various sizes and formats. In addition, it allows for easy scalability, real-time analytics, and enhanced attendee engagement through interactive features.
Video conferencing platforms are versatile and can host a wide range of events, including virtual conferences, trade shows, product launches, training sessions, job fairs, virtual summits, networking events, corporate meetings, hybrid events, and more.
To plan and manage a virtual event effectively, start by defining clear objectives and audience demographics. Choose a reliable virtual event platform with the best set of features to suit your needs. Then, promote the event through multiple channels, provide clear instructions for access, and engage event attendees with interactive video content. Once you are done with the event, don’t forget to follow up with post-event surveys for feedback and improvement.
Yes, it is essential to follow virtual meeting etiquette during online events to maintain professionalism, communication, and respect among participants. Adhering to guidelines such as muting when not speaking, minimizing distractions, and active participation improves the overall experience for everyone.
User reviews and ratings provide valuable insights into platform performance, key features, functions, and user satisfaction, aiding in informed decision-making. They offer firsthand experiences from individuals who have used the platform, helping potential users gauge its suitability for their specific event needs.
To promote your virtual event effectively, utilize social media platforms to create buzz and engage with your audience. Leverage email marketing campaigns and run ads to reach out to potential audiences. Additionally, collaborate with industry influencers or partners to expand your reach and credibility.
