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Tag: virtual events

Grow Your Business with Online Exhibitions

Posted on by Alice Momo

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

Posted on by Alice Momo

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

Posted on by Alice Momo

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

Posted on by Alice Momo

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.

Winning at Hybrid Events: 3 Tips to Flex Your Creativity for Success

Posted on by Alice Momo

The COVID-19 pandemic forced millions of people worldwide to embrace remote working. Across all industries, companies experienced huge changes that led to complicated challenges.

Almost overnight, governments banned face-to-face interactions. Executives had to quickly provide another way to deliver meetings and training. Employees had to gear up for a digital way of working.

This lead to the use of virtual conferencing platforms skyrocketing. And although there seems to be hope for the crisis to ease pretty soon, most companies will continue to offer hybrid events.

Do you want to find out how your company can organize successful virtual marketing events in the post-pandemic era? Then read on: we are about to dish out the three best ways to do so.

1. Get All the Right Gear and Tech

First of all, you want to make sure that you have all the necessary equipment in place. Unlike purely virtual events, hybrid ones still include some in-presence features. For example, you’re going to have to book the right venue, for the right length of time.

Allow for some wiggle room here and there time-wise, in view of potential new regulations around security and sanitization.

Once you’ve got the venue sorted out, you’ll need to either hire or buy some tech equipment. This usually includes mics, speakers, and cameras. Bear in mind that, just because the gear is not a lot, you’ll still need high-quality tools to ensure the smooth running of your event.

2. Cater to the Needs of Both Live and Remote Participants

Now, because a hybrid event features both live and remote speakers and delegates, you’ll have to cater to the needs of both.

Rules around social distancing, mask-wearing, and handwashing are still likely to apply. So, you should ensure that the venue satisfies all of these requirements for your live speakers.

For those joining the event from their homes, you’ll want to minimize any technical disruptions, and offer an easy way to connect and communicate.

3. Keep Your Remote Audience Engaged

If you’ve hosted even one virtual meeting, then you’ll probably know that one of the biggest challenges is keeping your audience focused and interested.

Hybrid events will face just the same hurdle. To overcome it, you could try a few approaches.

First of all, send your home-based delegates some material on the event ahead of the day. This will help them to understand in detail what the event is going to be about, and might even motivate them to prepare some questions or observations.

Secondly, you’ll probably want the event to last no longer than a few hours, and have plenty of breaks. These could be virtual “coffee breaks” that include ambient music and a live chat to allow participants to relax with a hot drink.

Last but not least, how about sending your home delegates a quick survey after the event? This will enable them to provide any suggestions that you might incorporate in your next hybrid meeting.

Hybrid Events: The Future of Conferencing in the Post-Pandemic World

In the post-pandemic work landscape, hybrid events will feature heavily. For this reason, it’s essential that your company prepares to organize and host meetings that engage both a live and a remote audience.

With our tips, you’ll be ready to achieve this in no time. Just follow your guide on how to host a great hybrid event, and your employees will look forward to them.

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