Creating a Dynamic Virtual Event

You hold the annual kickoff event for your sales force in Orlando. They listen to the keynote address, attend breakout sessions, visit various product booths, network with their fellow reps, and pick up copies of brochures, demos, and product information. But your business is changing rapidly and you can’t wait another year to update the team on new programs, products, services, and the changing direction of the business. Is there a way to get them together without incurring the time- and dollar-costs associated with another in-person meeting?

There is. Creative event management agencies have developed the virtual event into an attractive cost-saving tool that can enhance the reach and effectiveness of on-site meetings, conventions, and education programs. They enable corporations to expand the value and effectiveness of any ongoing marketing communications strategy with a significantly reduced investment.   

One should not confuse the enhanced virtual event with traditional webcasts, which are limited in interactivity and effectiveness. The virtual event provides an engaging experience for the attendee and can be integrated with in-person meetings, allowing the sponsoring institution to extend the reach and impact of the event. This is particularly important when the need for a corporate meeting arises unexpectedly. And for both those attending and working the event, there is a major time savings. 

Virtual invitees attend from their desks, logging in with secure passwords. A typical virtual meeting might include a keynote address, workshops, and an exhibition hall where attendees can navigate multiple booths and open a dialog with company representatives. A “chat cafe” enables participants to find and contact other attendees after creating personal profiles. Throughout the event, participants can ask questions via instant message and exchange ideas and network with other attendees. 

When visiting booths in a virtual exhibit hall—which can easily be “manned” by product managers and other specialists—attendees converse with booth reps as well as view and download videos, brochures, and fact sheets to a virtual briefcase. These materials can be archived online for weeks or months after the event takes place, vastly extending the reach of the program to those who were unable to originally attend.  

These events can be vibrant and dynamic, with custom-built content that reflects corporate branding. Product launches, sales meetings, and leadership and education programs can easily be adapted to the format. In addition, interactive games and contests can be woven into the fabric of virtual events, resulting in increased engagement. 

Geography, of course, presents no limitation. One recent virtual event   followed the sun for 24 hours and was attended by customers from 97 countries. The ability to be exposed to that many customers is unprecedented and, in such a case, an in-person event would not be justifiable cost-wise.

Post-event reports can include details on who attended, what specific programs they chose, what topics they expressed interest in, what questions they asked, and what materials they downloaded. For external events, this information provides powerful lead-generation opportunities and makes it easy to track event ROI. 

Corporations including IBM, Red Hat, RIM, and Intel have successfully used a mix of in-person and virtual events to enhance education and motivation for thousands of prospects, customers, and employees. Meeting planners at these companies have found that the virtual concept does not replace in-person events, but provides a new dimension that can enhance the effectiveness of any integrated marketing communications campaign. In a recent survey, over 80 percent of some 400 marketing professionals reported they could increase revenues by better using the virtual event concept. In-person meetings are not going away, but, through the advent of the virtual concept, event planners have added a new technology to service their clients.