Grow Your Business with Online Exhibitions

Today, many businesses are choosing online exhibitions to connect with customers and clients. Many companies are relying on virtual meetings and events to weather the pandemic as they offer several advantages to both the brand and the audience. If you’re trying to decide whether to engage your target audience with an in-person event or virtual event, here are some of the benefits of an online exhibition that are too good to be ignored.

Cost-Efficient

Virtual events are less expensive to host than in-person events. Of course, each event, whether in-person or online, is unique. However, the cost of a trade show can run thousands of dollars simply to rent the facility. Other costs may involve speakers, food, insurance, materials, staffing, etc. A virtual event can reduce your price tag by thousands. Keep in mind that attendees can also save money on travel costs, which may entice more people to signup for the online event.

Larger Audience

A virtual event can accommodate many more people than a physical event. As fewer cost is involved, the online exhibition allows you to target the global market and generally bring in a larger group of qualified leads who are genuinely interested in what is being offered.

Longer Lifespan

The main incredible thing about online events is that they can be enjoyed for a longer period of time than face-to-face events. The potential customer can access & go through the event content at their own pace and can even bring in some important leads even though the event has ended.

Better Analytics

When you host an in-person event, it can be challenging to monitor your attendee’s behaviour. Online event analytics gives companies a more accurate picture of event performance & attendee’s responses. These data will help you build better events in the future and find ways to stand out from the crowd.

Online Exhibitions Here to Stay?

Once this pandemic situation gets back to normal, online exhibitions will likely be still around. Many businesses have realized the importance of virtual technologies and their valuable benefits.

But right now we cannot predict what the future holds. Online exhibition events are likely to stay and companies will plan the perfect balance between physical events and online benefits.

If you’re thinking about hosting an event online but are unsure where to start or what technology to rely on, Big Bold Thinkers can help. We offer flexible and scalable marketing and event solutions for all types of businesses and organizations. We can help you design an online event that’s strategically aligned with your business and digital marketing goals. Contact us today to learn more.

How to Measure the Success of Your Online Event

Virtual events have become popular in the contemporary technological world. Different insights on event metrics such as attendance rate show that this popular phenomenon, online events, is here to stay. The question on everyone’s mind now is how they can determine the success rate of virtual events and better them in the future.

Although the impact of the pandemic necessitated the shift from in-person meetings to online events, companies now have more reasons to run virtual events. The benefits that companies accrue from virtual events are visible: they present a diverse option to reach a wider audience at a low budget.

KPIs for Measuring Virtual Event Success

Here are top event key performance indicators (KIPs) that use event data such as check-ins to help you evaluate if your online event attained its intended purpose.

1. Event Registration and Check-In Numbers

Begin analyzing your online event by comparing the numbers of registrations against check-ins. You can get a broad picture of the attendance numbers by focusing on metrics such as age groups, locations, income levels, demographics, and preferences. This information is a vital indicator in comparing event performance over time.

2. Level of Attendee Engagement

The main reason for low engagement levels in an event with high attendance is poor quality content or presentation. Built-in features such as chats and contests can improve user engagement. You can measure attention by monitoring the messages in the chats during an event.

Explore various virtual event engagement techniques to keep your audience excited in your upcoming online presentation.

3. Duration of Attendee Retention

Indicators that signal a failure in the audience’s retention include many participants leaving midway and insufficient engagement levels. You can find real-time information on the dashboard of your online event platform to help you track attendance at different intervals.

4. Quality of Social Media Mentions for Your Virtual Event

Social media has become among the fastest-growing platforms with a large population of clients. Every marketer hopes to see their attendees posting and sharing information about their event. Although social media metrics on mentions are essential, it is also important to evaluate the quality of different mentions.

5. Number of Post-Event Survey Responses

Prepare effective survey questions to collect the response metrics of your online event. Be sure to get feedback if your online event was either disappointing or impressive. Measure response rate and participation in this survey.

6. Active Participation and Response Rate in Your Virtual Event

The best way to measure retention is by analyzing the response rates. Incorporate a question and answer session in your virtual event. You can also measure the success of the event by tracking the rate at which participants ask questions.

7. Level of Speaker Ratings

As virtual events become mainstreams, it is important to ensure that speakers deliver creatively and interestingly to enhance retention rates. Check the Q&A answers for the speaker’s ratings. This analysis will help you retain influential speakers to increase attendance in subsequent events.

Measuring the Success of Your Online Event? Get Started Today!

Every virtual event company wants to leverage the 85% of Americans that access online platforms daily to optimize their business. Although all the above KIPs metrics are essential, they apply to individual event’s budgets and goals.

Whatever KIPs you choose to improve on your strategy, contact us today, and we can help you enhance the success of your online events.

6 Reasons Why Face-to-Face Events Still Matter

You probably don’t need us to tell you that COVID-19 did a number of face-to-face events.

In the wake of the pandemic, businesses have leapt with both feet into the world of virtual events. Yet as things begin to trend back to normal, do face-to-face events still hold an appeal? We think so.

Here are six reasons why face-to-face events still matter.

1. The Intangibility of Sociability

Many intangibles govern our social interactions—more than we often realize. Everything from micro-expressions to the way we stand can influence the opinions of the people we speak with.

Digital events can make all interactions that much harder as a result. Conversations can come off stilted and awkward, and not everyone feels comfortable negotiating that digital interaction space.

Put simply, face-to-face events are more natural to us, which completely changes the way we interact. We’re all still apes, in the end.

2. We Like Stuff

That ape thing? It applies in other ways, too. For instance: we love to touch things.

The digital world is dissatisfying to us on an instinctual level because it doesn’t accommodate that instinct. At events, there are tangible things to look at, interact with, and take home. All of these things stick better in the memory—and are more fulfilling—than virtual interactions.

3. The Happenstance Factor

Some of life’s best opportunities come from happenstance.

There’s very little room for happenstance in digital events, though. You’re unlikely to bump into your next major client or have a mutual acquaintance hook you up with a new business partner. Digital events are typically too structured for this and lack the human element of chaotic interaction.

For these unplanned but incredible occurrences, face-to-face events remain the king.

4. Building Communities

As digital living has taken over our lives, community spirit has waned. That’s as true in the business world as it is in our daily lives.

Face-to-face events are an excellent way to reverse that trend. By meeting in person, we can network, interact, and built strong business communities that benefit everyone. In a way, this is the long-term, big picture outcome of the points above.

5. Projecting Your Identity

One big problem facing businesses suddenly forced into a mostly digital space is the loss of identity. The talking heads of a Zoom meeting can feel neutral, void of business personality, no matter how exciting your employees are.

When attending face-to-face events, you get a real chance to put your brand’s personality out there and make a statement.

6. They’re Fun!

No matter how much we love our jobs, we all enjoy some time out of the office now and then. Face-to-face events aren’t just a chance to do business, they’re also fun and a chance to get away from everyday operations.

By contrast, digital events can feel like just another virtual meeting. They don’t offer that variety and, in a world where we’re increasingly glued to screens, they don’t offer a chance to get away from things.

Why Face-to-Face Events Still Matter

If you’ve wondered why face-to-face events still matter in an increasingly digital world, then wonder no longer. If digital had all the answers, we’d have all made the switch a decade ago—so it’s clear that face-to-face events still have their place.

Looking for an event marketing upgrade? Check out our events & activations services today.

How To Keep Attendees Engaged During a Virtual Event

With the current pandemic, most marketers have resulted in virtual events. These events offer various benefits, such as greater audience reach and increased revenue. But, there’s one major drawback: virtual fatigue.

Most people are constantly on their screen with back-to-back video calls, which can be very tiring and boring. To keep your attendees engaged and invested in the event, you’ll need to find ways that can combat the videoconferencing fatigue.

Here are some essential tips to improve digital engagement.

Spark Anticipation

To get your audience excited about a specific virtual event, consider delivering something beforehand, which makes them look forward to the event. For example, you can let the attendees know that the speaker will be a prominent or famous person. You could also include a printed schedule that lets the attendees know what they’ll gain and learn from the event.

Keep Your Audience Engaged

Most people tend to have short listening spans. It’s essential that you keep the audience engaged by asking questions and giving them time to share their ideas. Call them out by name as you ask questions to keep them focused and attentive.

Another great way to keep your audience engaged is using polls. Polls allow the audience to share their opinions and compare their thoughts with those of other attendees. This can be very insightful, especially in generating ideas.

Implement Breaks During Virtual Events

While breaks may give room for the audience to leave and not come back, having breaks is crucial in reducing the need to multitask. If you state in advance that there will be breaks at a certain point, your attendees can avoid multitasking since they’ll have time to handle other tasks.

Before the break, you can tease your audience with an exciting story or announce to cover a great topic after the break. That way, every attendee will be looking forward to the next session. During breaks, you can also treat your audience to a virtual lunch by sending gift cards before the event.

Ensure the Presenter Is Engaging

Live events can be boring if the presenter is not engaging or interesting. Virtual events can be even worse since there are so many distractions and no one else near you to keep you engaged. Be sure to find a presenter who can engage the audience and incorporate storytelling into their presentation.

Entertain Your Attendees

One effective way to combat virtue fatigue is to keep your audience entertained. You can invite a well-known singer or a magician to entertain the audience during the event. If it’s too technical, you can have the entertainment part prerecorded for the event.

You can also use games to engage your audiences in winning prizes. For example, you can have the attendees interact with each other and reach out to sponsors. In return, award them for taking part in the games.

Make Contingency Plans

Virtual events can get distracted by technical glitches. Be sure to have a contingent plan to ensure the event still runs as planned, even in a hitch or technical problem. That way, the audience can remain engaged without any disruptions.

Regardless of how the pandemic plays out, virtual events will still carry on. It’s best that you ask for feedback from your attendees on ways to optimize or improve their experience. You can also leverage the right tech to ensure you get the best virtual experience for your audience in the future.

If you’re planning to hold a virtual event, consider contacting the Big Bold Thinkers to get several creative and marketing services to make your event impactful.

The Change and Adaptation of Corporate Meetings

Do the words “virtual meeting” bring a chill down your spine? Or do you enjoy the option to wear comfy pants during corporate meetings?

Whatever your stance is on the matter, we can all agree the virtual meetings were the savior of 2020. When COVID-19 stopped in-person meetings, the corporate world had a choice: shut down the business, or move the office online.

As we continue to open up the world post-vaccine, virtual corporate meetings don’t seem to be going anywhere. However, in-person events are coming back (with some slight changes.) Keep reading to learn about the future of corporate events.

Virtual Corporate Meetings

There is a strong chance that everyone reading this article has attended at least one virtual meeting. According to this study, the number of meetings per person increased by 12.9%! Whether that meeting was for work, pleasure, or even a wedding, you’ve experienced what it feels like to go virtual.

While virtual meetings bring their own set of challenges (cue the millions of “your mic is off” moments we’ve all witnessed), they have proven to be helpful. Virtual meetings can help to bring more people together whilst also cutting costs on travel, lodging, and event management.

As we progress through the reopening phase, don’t expect to be rid of all virtual meetings. Especially with the number of workers who want to continue working from home. In fact, 70% of managers in this survey are more open to flexible remote working models than ever before.

All this to say: if you haven’t gotten comfortable with using a virtual meeting platform yet, you should! For more tips on how to create a powerful online event, check out our blog post here!

In-Person Corporate Events

Don’t let the statistics above fool you: lots of people are more than excited to get back to in-person events, (especially those living alone or living with children.)

While large in-person events may take some time to appear on your calendar, you can expect to see some events with a few changes. Let’s discuss what those changes may look like:

Smaller Events

We’ve spent more than a year either alone or with fewer people, so the thought of walking into a giant corporate meeting may scare away your staff.

Why not start planning smaller events?

Smaller corporate meetings offer more space for personalization and teamwork: more people can participate in exercises, there’s more space for movement, and costs can even be cut dramatically.

The adaptation of corporate meetings to be in smaller groups can offer a lot of benefits to your employees and the company as a whole.

Outdoor Events

If you are still looking to host many employees at one event, you may want to look into outdoor events.

Studies have shown that the concentration of viral particles of COVID-19 is higher indoors than outside, which means that outdoor events are proven to be safer.

To ease your employees back into in-person corporate events, you may want to opt for an outdoor space. Transitioning back to “normal” is hard enough, why not make it easier on your team if you can?

Corporate Meetings Will Continue to Change Form

Technology has drastically shifted the way that corporate meetings function. If all of these changes can happen in just one year, think of what will come in the future!

The look of corporate meetings might change, but the purpose is the same: strengthen your team and grow your business. If you’re looking for more tips on how to do that, check out our blog!

If you are looking to grow your business through marketing, contact us! We’ve got your back.

Why Gamification is the Latest and Greatest Way to Engage

Did you know that 95% of employees like using elements of gaming in their work?

If you want to find more ways to engage your employees, clients, and potential clients, gamification might be the answer you’re looking for.

Here is a breakdown of gamification and how it works.

What Is Gamification?

Gamification is the process of adding a game or play-like element to your work or website. It’s a way to have your employees or clients engage with your content on a new and enticing level.

Highly engaged employees less likely to leave your workplace and do better work in general. However, considering only 29% of millennials feel engaged at their jobs, companies need to figure out how to re-engage their millennial workforce.

If you are looking to market yourself uniquely, gamification works the same way on potential clients. Potential clients remember gamified content and are more likely to come back because humans are inherently competitive.

The Evolution of Gamification

Gamification has been around for years now, but it didn’t start gaining traction until the 2000s. Video games are built on the principle of behavior reinforcement through reward.

At their core, rewards programs can be considered gamification. Still, it wasn’t until later that companies started playing with the idea of adding actual games or game-like elements to their websites.

With the invention of apps, gamification came to the forefront. Companies like FourSquare and Pokemon Go brought gamification into the mainstream. Uber also uses gamification through its stars program.

Gamification Drives Engagement

Here is why and how gamification works.

Humans are wired for play and reward systems. So when we achieve points or level up, it releases dopamine in our brains, making us feel good.

If you use gamification, it ensures your client or employee associates your brand or website with a positive experience. This builds positive neural pathways in their brains to your brand.

Gamification also draws employees and clients in because it makes them feel like they are in control. In addition, they get to choose how to interact with your brand, which makes their experience more enjoyable.

How You Can Use Gamification

If you want to try to implement gamification at your company, there are a few things you should keep in mind.

Adding a game for the sake of adding a game likely won’t get you anywhere. Instead, it would be best to consider a clever way to integrate your product or service with the game element to leave a lasting impression.

These days virtual event gamification can also help keep your remote workers engaged. Offering a virtual trivia night where employees can keep a running tally of who is winning

Gamification Is a Powerful Tool

Gamification could be the answer you’re looking for to drive engagement on every level.

If you can think of a great way to integrate your brand with a gaming element, you will see an uptick in engagement.

Want to know how to add gamification to your marketing strategy? Get in touch!

How Event Apps Can Help Keep Your Events Safe

Event apps allow companies to create an event-specific app for their event attendees.

Everything for the event is in one place and can be accessed on the attendee’s smartphone or mobile device.

Millions of events were cancelled all over the world due to the pandemic. This year, as the vaccine is rolled out and Covid cases drop, we will see a return to in-person events.

What are the key benefits of using event mobile apps? Let’s take a look.

All Organizational Material in One Place

If you have all the logistical information on your event app, people won’t need to collect multiple pieces of paper throughout your event.

The schedule, details of keynote speakers, break-out groups, all of it will be kept safe and secure, on the app.

When organizing your event, you can compile all the logistical information straight into the app. Then all your stakeholders will have all the information they need in advance.

Event Apps Are a Way For Guests to Interact

There may be hundreds or thousands of people at your event. If it is an event with the primary goal of networking, this can make it hard for the right people to meet each other.

If your event app has a feature that lets guests create a profile and bio about themselves, they can find each other through the app. Gone are the days of wasting time having small talk with someone who isn’t relevant to your business.

With an event app, you can see who is attending the event and actively seek them out when you are there.

Detailed records of everyone in attendance are also helpful in keeping your event safe. An event app is an excellent part of an event safety strategy. You can get in touch with attendees after the event should you need to.

Safe, Contact Free Check In

When attendees arrive at the event, they can use the app to check themselves in. They won’t need to interact with a receptionist. The app will then have an automated, up-to-date list of who is in attendance.

Collatee Event Materials

Event app features also can collate the materials from your event in one place. This is incredibly useful for attendees who missed an important keynote or who want the slides from a talk.

Create a section in your app with the research presented at your event, details of the companies in attendance, and videos of important presentations.

Make It Easier for People to Share Your Event

When you are thinking about how to plan events, the shareability of your event will always be a consideration, particularly in the age of social media. Many types of apps for events allow you to integrate social sharing.

It’s never been easier for you to encourage your customers to Tweet or share an Instagram story about your event!

Get Planning Your Event

Slowly, we will get back to in-person events. It will take some time, but we will get there. Event apps will be a big part of making real-life events safe and secure in a post-Covid world.

Want to speak to the experts about planning an event to market your company? Get in touch with us.

How to Create A Powerful Communication Strategy for Your Next Online Event

Did you know the average business can spend up to 24% of a yearly budget on digital marketing? Those funds are often used to develop an effective communication strategy. That strategy can include increasing online presence, creating new social channels, and more.

But what about your business’s online event strategy or event promotion? In today’s climate, there are many. You may struggle to keep your business, team, and clients engaged.

Do you want to connect international teams? Or, do you want to impress an important client? Then, you must design a successful online event to achieve these goals.

So, how can you improve your business communication to elevate your next event? Read on to discover our best strategies to foster collaboration and growth.

Know Your Purpose

Your online event should be planned to meet a particular goal or serve a business purpose. When you are clear on the purpose of the event, you can launch your communication strategy and drive the event.

Want to gain clarity around your event purpose? Here are some questions to ask:

  • Why am I hosting this event?
  • Does my business need this event?
  • Will this help grow revenue or attract clients?

Know Who You Serve

How can you create an effective communication strategy for your online event if you don’t know who you serve? Creating a buyer persona can identify this information. You can collect data and use it to streamline your communication strategy.

Activation Phase

Client awareness is nothing without activation. For example, Big Bold Thinkers can help convert awareness into bottom-line results. The team helps influence behaviour where consumers and brands meet.

Be Prepared

You will need to plan out each step of your online event. The organization helps to prevent technical issues or delays.

Choose Your Channels

Your channel choice should align with your event goals and client persona. Is your client base traditional? An email blast with a formal RSVP should work.

digital marketing team can help choose the most effective channels. They can create the ideal event marketing strategy for your business.

Confirm Attendees (and Remind Them)

Confirm attendees and organize the data. But, don’t forget to communicate reminders through your chosen channels.

Go Time!

The online event is finally here! But don’t relax just yet. Have a communication plan in case of technical delays or other unforeseen circumstances.

Follow Through

Once your online event is over, don’t miss the opportunity to follow up with your clients and team. Communicate and ask for feedback. This follow-up and attention to detail will go a long way to build your company’s reputation and brand awareness.

A Powerful Communication Strategy Can Improve Online Events and Grow Your Business

An effective communication strategy is more than a way to keep your team organized or serve your clients. By developing this strategy and applying it to your next online event, you can grow your business. Online events are a way to attract or deter clientele.

By running a smooth and memorable online event, you can set the tone for your brand and company. This can result in increased sales, loyalty, and brand awareness.

Do you need help developing this strategy for your next event? Contact Big Bold Thinkers to subscribe to the blog to learn more and inquire about services.

The Importance of Nurturing a New Relationship in Business in 2021

Networking and nurturing a new relationship in business can be time-consuming, but it can also be extremely rewarding.

Now more than ever, businesses must rely on each other to succeed and grow. Building trustworthy, dependable, and supportive relationships are beneficial to you and your company.

From event planning to provide services, you can do so many things to help build those B2B relationships. If you want to see your business bloom in 2021, this is why you should be taking your business relationships to the next level.

Building Trust

You’re the one who protects your company, brand, and customers from people and partners who don’t have your best interests at heart. You can do this by building trustworthy and reliable relationships.

The best part is, with a trustworthy business relationship, you’re not just adding that one person to your network. You also add all of those people that they can count on too.

Cultivating Support

Once you’ve developed and nurtured business relationships you trust, you get to support one another. Whether this is through business or advice, having a trustworthy support system helps any business, especially in trying times like these.

Demonstrates Diligence

Who is the business relationship manager in your company? To keep up with your essential business relationships, you have to nurture them. However, this can be tough if you don’t take the time or effort. That’s where the business relationship manager comes in.

Employing someone focused on building relationships with other businesses can help your company succeed. They may even help grow sustainable relationships that open new doors.

Makes Event Planning Easier

Company event planning and networking get-togethers are the perfect places to meet new people and expand upon your already successful network of reliable relationships.

You can meet new people, conduct business with potential clients, and open your business to new opportunities. There are endless types of business relationships to develop.

Your Business Thrives

Building relationships in business isn’t only beneficial on the back end but also in terms of meeting goals and sales. When you build great relationships with clients, they want to keep using your service or buying your product. The same goes for business relationships.

When you nurture a healthy business relationship, your business grows too. They may find you as a necessary supplier to help with a project, or you may develop a collaboration or even partner on certain projects!

The opportunities are endless when you’re open to creating lasting relationships between businesses.

Put Time Into Nurturing a New Relationship for Your Business

Put time and effort into nurturing a new relationship, and you’ll see how your business thrives! With support and trust, you and your new network can open opportunities for one another you may have never received otherwise.

Start 2021 off right and work on preserving old business relationships and growing new ones. You never know when you might rely on their support for your own success.

For more Big Bold Thinking, subscribe to our blog or contact us so we can help you with your event planning or activations! We want to see your business and relationships succeed!

5 Event Trends All Businesses Should Prepare For in 2021

We think it’s fair to say that 2020 put many forecasting analysts out of a job.

To be fair, however, most of us with a 2020 planner were significantly off-track by the end of this appalling year. We are now eyeing 2021 with no small amount of skepticism and view anyone with predictions further than the next 10 minutes with a raised eyebrow.

When it comes to event trends, though, we have applied logic and hands-on experience to explore what 2021 will bring.

Do you agree with these 2021 event trends?

5 Event Trends to Look Out For

We know that humans are social animals. We yearn to be together in groups again, feeding off each other’s energy, networking, and enjoying face-to-face interactions. Based on this, company and social events are not going anywhere.

They must simply morph into what we need in today’s world.

We’ve always been advised to hope for the best and plan for the worst. Here’s what that looks like.

1. Smaller Events

While the jury is out on exactly how long COVID is going to plague us, there is no doubt that we won’t be diving head-first into Woodstock style festivals for a little while yet.

Smaller events that allow for social distancing and that offer a lower risk to attendees are certain to thrive. Smaller events are by nature, more personal, and this intimacy is just what we need to reconnect with important clients, our scattered team, or potential new customers.

2. Outdoor Events

As much as we want to be together with our tribe, we also don’t want to get sick.

Medical professionals assure us that the risk of infection in an outdoor space is significantly lower due to the constant movement of air and the rate at which the droplets are diluted from a constant stream of fresh air. (As an aside, an outdoor event also reduces stress and tension in attendees. Who doesn’t need that?)

3. Technology

It may have taken a little while to get into the rhythm of virtual meetings. Nevertheless, the supporting technology has exploded into some of the most exciting innovations we’ve ever seen.

Smaller live events can tack on a host of virtual attendees who can interact and participate as if they were there in person. Multimedia is prolific and often far more engaging than a traditional keynote speaker.

AI allows for matchmaking apps to link up attendees with potential synergy to make events even more useful for all.

4. Creativity

Along with the flood of event, tech comes the opportunity to create an exciting and memorable event.

Event entertainment trends include hybrid events, personalized experiences, dedicated breakout rooms, and appealing performances. Enticing backdrops to a virtual event with artistic or interactive entertainment or immersive experiences are available with the right event company.

Basically, if you can imagine it, we can do it.

5. Personalization

The WIIFM mindset is here to stay. Putting yourself in the position of an attendee who wants to know, What’s In It For Me, will highlight another key event trend.

Almost 70% of companies surveyed in a recent report indicated that personalization for their customers is a top priority for them. Again, thanks to galloping technology you can include bespoke offers, polls and surveys, personal schedules, gamification, tutorials, and other materials based on their unique interests and goals to drive engagement.

Event Planning Made Simple

We won’t argue that the future remains a complete mystery to us all. However, we do know that applying a practical and measured approach to your event planning schedule will reap dividends.

Our team at Big Bold Thinkers are carefully exploring current event trends to ensure that we stay at the cutting edge, organizing the most creative, engaging, and memorable events for your business. Please take a moment to subscribe to our blog for entertaining, practical, and relevant information.