Virtual events—such as conferences, webinars, or workshops—have become increasingly popular since the late 2000s, and with the COVID-19 pandemic, they’re quickly becoming the norm.
Hosting an online event is a great way to move forward with your organization's plans when restrictions keep people from traveling, your budget won’t allow for your annual conference, or it’s not safe to convene large groups of people. Instead of canceling or postponing your event, you can host your annual fundraiser, training, or product demos virtually.
Video conferencing tools like Zoom do the job for day-to-day conversations, but your high-profile events deserve to be treated with more polish and reverence.
We know you have plans you’d like to keep for 2020 and beyond. We can help.
Our online video event pages create a custom, branded virtual space for your event that will give your attendees a one-of-a-kind, engaging experience. These are some of the features we offer:
Video variety
Our event pages can host live video feeds, pre-recorded video files, or a mix of both. Recorded versions of your live broadcast can be uploaded after their debut for repeat viewing or for those who could not attend.
Information gathering
You can gather attendee information right off the bat by customizing a registration form where attendees will enter their name, email, and any other information you’d like them to include. These forms can be distributed in advance of the event, capturing information and prompting guests to add the event to their calendars.
Once your event starts, you can gather data from your audience in real time via surveys, polls, and quizzes.
Interaction
Interaction is a key feature of in-person events and, thankfully, we can integrate that into your virtual event as well! Attendees can interact with on-screen presenters in real time by using the comment feature so their questions are answered quickly and organically.
The commenting functionality also can be used to interact with other viewers during an event by replying in the comment thread.
We also can customize the interaction section to make it work for a variety of needs—such as including paddle raises to simulate a traditional auction to help raise money in a way that feels familiar to your audience.
Call-to-action buttons
If raising money is your goal, a “donate now” button prominently displayed underneath your video stream is a simple way to make an ask and an even easier way for stakeholders to support you. Don’t need to raise money? Customize a button with text such as “learn more” or “join now” to extend your audience’s engagement.
Detailed analytics
We can provide detailed analytics on registration, attendance, participation, pageviews, comment activity, quiz results, and more so you can know exactly how your event went.
These analytics tell you what happened in general during the event, but they also dig deeper into each attendee’s activity. This allows you to further segment your audience and interact with them knowing how they participated. There’s nothing worse than getting a “sorry we missed you” follow-up message when you watched a webinar from beginning to end. You won’t have to worry about making that mistake with your viewers!
Additional features
There are many other features you can use to give your team and your attendees a better experience. Depending on what’s important to your event, you could host downloadable documents in various file formats, display slides in a carousel of images for viewers to reference, display speaker headshots and bios, promote sponsors, add real-time social feeds based on accounts or hashtags, and link to relevant websites or contact information.
Virtual events are truly transforming the event industry. Don’t get left behind waiting for the right time to host an in-person event. Instead, get started on planning your virtual event today.