virtualeventconferenceplatform

[virtualeventconferenceplatform]

IntelliExpo offers the best online virtual event management software platform to engage your audience with virtual events - Virtual Expo, Trade Show, Virtual Venues, Exhibitor's Booths, Virtual Webinars, Virtual Meeting Rooms.

[virtualeventconferenceplatform]

7 great reasons to take your conference online

Businesses rely on events for successful marketing, networking, and sales. Conferences are not only about making the sale but also about gaining and providing knowledge and perspective. 

 Given the pandemic that has affected the entire world, it is no longer business as usual for almost any organization. The fundamental methods of how we live and work have changed. So it was inevitable that events and conferences too would have to evolve to address the concerns of the stakeholders. 

 But this is also good news, in a way. The whole idea of meeting virtually is not recent or new. Only that there was always this view that physical meetings would accomplish more. However, if almost a year and half of remote working has taught us anything, it is that we can adapt successfully to virtual working to achieve, if not better, at least similar results. 

 So this is a great time to understand how virtual conferences can benefit you and your organization. We list down the 7 most important advantages to embracing the move: 

1.   Global Attendance

The one major disadvantage with physical events is that it limits the number of people who can actually travel to the location to attend the event. But with virtual events, you can invite attendees from any part of the world, and there is no need to worry about how they will get there. You can also invite speakers to join in for the event right from where they are and the audience can gain insights and benefits from the comfort of their own homes. 

2. Time, Money, and Effort

In any event, the host, keynote speakers, and attendees all have to invest money and effort to be present at the venue. There are a number of things that it involves - booking a venue, staff management, logistics, food, etc., which can be very exhausting, not to mention expensive. This further increases the price for the attendees. Moreover, the keynote speakers have to be engaged and their stay and travel has to be arranged, and managed. 

Of course, it is true that time and money spent on arranging and conducting physical events is an investment with excellent returns. But the reason that virtual conferences are becoming more popular is that they deliver even stronger returns for your invested time, effort, and money. 

3.  Long-term benefits

One of the strongest advantages of virtual conferences is that it stays relevant and useful for a longer time. Most virtual conferences are going to be recorded, and this can be leveraged for a variety of purposes by the organizers, so the benefits are not limited to the day of the event, as is usually the case with physical events. You can reuse the documents, videos, and other such content collateral for allied purposes and for branding, educating, etc. 

 4.   Analytics

With physical events, you have to figure out a system to collect and collate attendee lists, ensure that their contact information is in place, etc. But even then, you cannot measure their engagement immediately, cannot capture their questions/ enquiries, and other metrics. Virtual conferences make it much easier to leverage analytics and understand what was good, and what could have been better. Your sales and marketing teams will find virtual conferences invaluable as a source for insights and customer outreach programmes. When creating business strategies and new events, analytics will help you make the right decisions for success. 

Virtual conferences are also especially useful in generating new leads for your business, mainly qualified leads who have already shown their interest and commitment to your topic of the conference. 

This is one of the strongest advantages of moving your conferences online, and conducting such events offers a strong impetus for your marketing and sales push.  

5.  Easy Networking

Events have been so popular because they help in building new relationships and in strengthening connections through professional networks. You have to agree that with physical events, though everyone is assembled in the same location, it is not always practical or easy to have communication channels open for all the speakers, hosts, and guests, without overwhelming all of them. 

But that's why virtual conferences can be so great. With live text, audio messages, video chats, and other avenues, you can offer a wide range of communication channels for a stronger networking. 

6.  Flexibility

Another thing is that physical events require a fixed number of sessions and speakers to ensure that the scheduled time is adequately utilized. Traditional conferences also make it difficult for attendees because they can only participate in one event at one time, and any other emergency that comes up will mean that they can lose out on whichever section they were interested in. But when done virtually, they can access their content at their convenience and at their own pace. 

7.  Quick feedback

Feedback about how the event is progressing can help you determine you can make it better. Since feedback is going to be real-time, you can deploy effective measures to improve the attendee experience immediately. Live webinars can be followed by Q&A sessions, either then or for later assessment without the constraint of time. 

CONCLUSION

The last year has changed where we work, and how we work. But it has also been an opportunity to adopt new methods of achieving better results than before. Virtual conferences have definitely been one of the new methods which could potentially accelerate the results we could achieve through physical events. 

But there is one suggestion before you rush into hosting virtual conferences. And that is, choose your online virtual event management software carefully. It is not only a question of ease of use and convenience, but also security. You can include panel discussions, keynote speakers, educational sessions, product demos, fireside chats, and more with the right online virtual management software. Make sure that you are focusing on lead and demand generation, adoption and retention, brand awareness, relationship building, etc. so as to leverage the maximum benefits. 

From reducing your effort to improving your audience engagement, virtual conferencing is the right way to go for a stronger impact.