How to pivot to Virtual Event?

The event industry has shown remarkable flexibility in the time of the COVID crisis and many event planners are quick to pivot to virtual event . As more and more of them are looking for virtual event alternatives, the aim is to match various physical event experiences as you pivot to virtual event. Here’s an analysis of how the features of the virtual event solution may act as alternatives to various elements of your physical event environment. It will give help you abridge the gap between the two options so that you may easily pivot to virtual events–

Registration Desk- 

• The registration desk is the first stage of onsite event experience during any physical event.
• The ever-increasing influence of technology on events has made the registration process easier.
• While earlier, long queues were the signature of registration desks, it isn’t so anymore. Thanks to online registration, barcode scanning, e-ticketing, and RFID wristbands that have streamlined event registration.

Alternative-

• Virtual events also allow you to manage registrations using virtual registration desks.
• It’s much easier to restrict access to unpaid users as the process is fully automated.

Show Floor–

• Physical events have various spaces catering to the needs of networking. Whether it’s an informal session as an ice-breaker or a formal forum based on some specific agenda, physical events are home to different types of in-person interactions.

Alternative-

• You can have designated spaces for sponsors and exhibitors to showcase and network.
• Also, there is an option of creating virtual rooms for specific networking agendas. This kind of flexibility is available only with virtual events.

Exposure for sponsors-

• Traditional spaces for networking such as physical events have been gaining the confidence of sponsors for long.
• Sponsors have figured out many ways to blend their branding into the event experience to get maximum exposure.
• Digital Kiosks and charging stations have brought new ways for the sponsors to measure the return they get on the investment.

Alternatives-

• The virtual event ecosystem allows the sponsors to track metrics of the exposure that they get.
• You can showcase sponsor ticker at user-friendly locations on the screen to create visibility.

Social lounge- 

• Events are about networking. Even the spaces that appear to be casual like charging centers and chit-chat zones are actually goldmines for those looking for connections.
• The social lounge of events is a social and simple space for healthy networking.

Alternatives-

• In a virtual atmosphere also, you can create the social lounge.
• The social lounge is less about the coffee and more about connections. You can make such rooms within your virtual event interface where attendees can interact with each other during coffee breaks or similar sessions.

Front and Backstage- 

• The front stage of a physical event is where attendees interact with the event.
• Backstage is an area of planning, preparation, and coordination.
• The extent of backstage may vary depending on the type of the event.
• One example is that of the conference- where you can interact with the speakers and speakers can interact among themselves before finally getting on the front stage.

Alternatives-

• Virtual event tools also provide you with an option of frontstage and backstage mode.
• At any time during the event, if you wish to interact with the speakers personally without getting noticed by the attendees, you can switch to backstage mode.
• In fact, the transition between the backstage and live mode is much feasible in a virtual event when compared to a physical conference.

Support Staff- 

• Physical events have a number of support staff for both you and your attendees.
• You can contact the venue owner, logistics manager, and vendors in case of an emergency or if something is out of place.
• Similarly, attendees can get access to the reception area or other information centers within the event premise. These centers are there to ensure smooth navigation and unhindered event experience for the attendees.

Alternatives- 

• In a virtual event ecosystem, your core event staff is sufficient to handle the operations. This is because virtual events don’t need holistic human resources like in-person events.
• For your attendees, you can have a virtual reception. This section of your virtual events provides live support to your audience and answers all their queries. It helps in addressing the technical issues that any attendee faces and it makes the navigation smooth for them.

From the above discussion, it is clear that virtual meeting solutions are getting customized according to the event industry needs. Various components of physical event experience have already found a place in the virtual ecosystem and there are more to come. Given the innovation that virtual event solutions are going through, they are on their way to becoming the future of business networking. You can have a walkthorough on our virtual event solution FLOOR to discover the new opportunities that virtual has to offer-