8 Benefits of Transitioning from In-Person To Virtual Events

Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, the events industry has been seriously disrupted. When it became unsafe for people to gather and host events whether formal or informal. Many organizations had to put their events on hold or cancel outrightly. It wasn’t too long, however, that businesses started looking for viable alternatives, and virtual events became a haven for all.

Besides being a coping strategy during a pandemic, transitioning from in-person to virtual events can deliver greater benefits for your business. You can save costs, reduce logistics, and increase participation in your events.

In this article I will consider 8 benefits of virtual events transation. Lets dive in to learn more!

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1. You won’t have to disrupt company/event calendar

One of the major benefits of shifting from live events to virtual is that you can keep your company calendar running as planned, without having to postpone or cancel any event. Transitioning to virtual will prevent the loss of event budget due to uncertainties that can be caused by the pandemic. This will enable you to intensify your event marketing efforts, and allocate your resources appropriately since you have confidence your event will hold.

2. You will save costs

Virtual events reduce certain burdens on event budgets such as accommodation, staffing, venue, travel, rentals, signages, decoration, F&B, etc. This can reduce your event budget down to a quarter of its original value, and depending on the size of your event, it can amount to lots of money saved. A portion of the saved money can then be re-invested in expanding your event marketing and in a virtual event platform that will provide a remarkable event experience.

3. You can expand your audience base

Pivoting to virtual events means that prospective event attendees are no longer restricted to people that can attend your event physically. Therefore, you can expand your audience base and reach out to the new audiences. Since there are no travel barriers, you can reach out to prospects from different parts of the world. You can also attract busy professionals that often find it difficult to leave their duty posts.

4. Turn event to a multi-level interactive platform

No major event is complete without a networking experience. Virtual events offer more opportunities for networking, not less. On virtual event platforms, participants have the opportunity to view the profiles of others and can send a prompt (invitation) to one another for online meet-ups. This can be in the form of live chats, video calls, or “birds of a feather” group chats.

5. Opportunity to create an active community

You can use your transition to virtual to create an active community around your event. For example, you can create open forums where participants can raise topics for contributions from other participants. This can be a way to increase learning, foster attendee engagement, and also increase the impact of your event.

6. Make Your Event Content Evergreen

You can also expand the topics presented during your virtual event and create additional content that can be downloaded at any time, before, during, or after your event. Such content can be paid content you can use to drive more ROI.

7. Opportunity to turn your event to a hub of commerce

You won’t lose sponsors and exhibitors when you change your plans from in-person to virtual. Virtual events offer different layers of support for brand awareness, sales, and lead generation. It is also an opportunity to form new business relationship within a virtual environment. Sponsors and exhibitors can have video showcase, virtual booths, video ads, push notification, logo display on event home screen, gamification, etc to attract particpants to their brands before, during, and after the event. Using features available on virtual platforms, sponsors and exhibitors can also prospect their targets directly on the platform.

8. Opportunity for Data Acquisition

The opportunity to acquire and unlock data insights is one of the most significant benefits of transitioning from a live event to a virtual one. Data is gold and no event can be successful without the acquisition of important data. Virtual event software and mobile event apps provide unlimited access to demographic information of event attendees, user activity, interests, and preferences. This can be tracked through in-app actions, platform activity, live polling, Q&A, networking on the platform, and more.

Conclusion

Transitioning from in-person to virtual event is a blessing in disguise. You will reduce your overhead and eliminate travel stress and costs for many people. This means you can have more people attend your event. You will also keep your event 100% safe, and without the fear of postponement or cancellation. In addition, by making a good choice of a virtual event platform, you can deliver an immersive event experience that is as close to (or better than) what can be experienced at live events.