Over the past few months, face-to-face meetings and events have been put on pause, forcing event professionals to opt for a safer way of meeting - through virtual events. Hosting your event online eliminates many of the expenses required for holding in-person events such as travel, venue, and vendor costs. With virtual events, attendees around the globe can log on from anywhere, often attracting a larger audience. Virtual events also make it possible to track and collect valuable data that might not be easily accessible during live events. Although virtual events eliminate some of the drawbacks live events bring, hosting a fully digital event isn’t exactly a cakewalk and poses challenges even for the most experienced of meeting or event professionals.
According to EventMB, the biggest challenge planners face with virtual events is maintaining the same level of attendee engagement that you would have at an in-person event. Not only are attendees able to participate, pay attention, and retain information better when fully engaged, they’re also more likely to attend your future events and recommend them to others. So how can you make a virtual event as engaging as a live event? Your first instinct may be to replicate a typical in-person event to deliver the same experience -- but virtual events are a completely different ballgame and should be treated as such. While virtual events bring new challenges, hosting a virtual event also opens up opportunities for delivering new and unique experiences that may not be possible with live events. To help you discover new ways to engage your audience virtually, we’re sharing some great tips for hosting engaging virtual events.