Virtual events

A virtual event is any type of event conducted online rather than in a physical location. People can join from the comfort of their offices, homes, or any other location with Wi-Fi. All they need is a cell phone, tablet, or computer. Individuals, groups, or businesses can host any size event—small, intimate affairs to large, high-occupancy conferences.

Eight most common virtual events:

• Conferences

Just like an in-person conference, virtual conferences can include keynote speakers, training and certification opportunities, product demos, and live entertainment among their agendas.

• Webinars

• Educational courses and classes

• Trade shows

Just like traditional trade shows, virtual trade shows allow businesses and innovators to demonstrate their products and services, but with the potential to reach a broader audience, virtually.

• Job Fairs

• Real Estate Open Houses

• Social events

• Hybrid events

Which virtual event platform is right for you? It’s easy to feel overwhelmed with so many choices. To find the one that works best for you, think about the unique qualities of your event and what you hope to accomplish—a webinar has different priorities and requirements than, say, a virtual class reunion.

When shopping around for a virtual event platform for your next event, consider these features:

1. Attendee limit

Don’t abandon potential guests with a platform that can’t accommodate all your participants. For large-scale events such as virtual conferences and trade shows, you’ll need a platform that can handle a large audience. And take note that some platforms offer a higher limit for view-only attendees.

2. Engagement features

Even in person, engaging an audience can sometimes be a challenge. For your virtual event, you’ll want a platform that strengthens audience participation and engagement.

Live chat is an indispensable feature that allows participants to interact and share files without interrupting the speaker. Chat also helps if you run into technical issues during the event. Attendees can communicate with the group through chat when they lose audio.

Live captions are a favorite for added clarity or when attendees have a need to mute audio. Many live caption features can also be translated in several different languages. You can also get your audience more involved with live Q&As, which allow participants to write questions during the event or at the presenter’s discretion. Speakers can then answer when they want, privately or for all participants to see.

3. Advanced analytics

Event analytics and reporting can help you gain insights about your event. If you’re hosting a webinar, tradeshow, or conference, you may want to measure your event’s success, discover helpful marketing data, or glean other insightful information, such as demographics, interests, attendee engagement, etc.—reporting and event analytics can get you that information.

4. Event Recording

Your event’s value doesn’t have to end when the event is over. Recording your event gives you more opportunities to expand your reach. You can offer the recorded event to those who couldn’t attend live, use select segments for marketing or social media, offer to past attendees for them to revisit, or review it for yourself to learn what worked and what needs improvement.

5. Branding customization

If you’re using virtual events to help build your business, customization capabilities is something you’ll want in a virtual event platform. Customization features allow you to create your own registration pages and email templates where you can display your brand.

6. Event Management

Event management tools help you plan and organize your event and create a unique experience with ease and efficiency.

Look for features that automate tasks from the planning stage to post-event, such as registration, email confirmations and follow-ups, payment processing, uploading speaker data, creating event pages, tracking, metrics, reports, and surveys. The more you can automate the process, the more time you can focus on delivering a successful event.

Features such as greenroom enable presenters and hosts to organize, handle last-minute preparations behind-the-scenes, and communicate privately during the event. Other event management controls enable presenters to choose when and what content attendees can view and share.