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Preparing for a world of virtual events

With the continuing and rapidly evolving Covid19 situation many businesses and organizations from around the globe are rethinking the way the way they do business.  The conference and events sector has been thrown in to turmoil and we’ve since started to reimagine the way we operate to ensure we can lead our clients through the next chapter. As professional conference organisers we want to open up the conversation about virtual conferencing and what this could mean for you as an attendee or sponsor.

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What is a virtual conference?

A virtual conference is an interactive online event that brings likeminded individuals together to learn, explore and network.  Similarly to an in-person conference, virtual conferences offer engaging keynote speakers, interactive workshops and importantly crucial networking opportunities with attendees and sponsors all within an online platform.

Does sponsorship still have a place within virtual conferencing?

Organising a virtual conference has many benefits including financial, outreach, scope and quality. Virtual conferences have the capacity to be more cost effective as certain overheads such as catering are no longer included. Effectively this will enable you to reduce the registration fee for attendees, meaning smaller businesses who may have not had the budget before are now a viable demographic for your conference.

Moving your conference online means no more substantial airfares or accommodation fees for attendees. You can expect to have a larger international scope of attendees from around the globe.  This would have a profound impact on your outreach and give attendees an opportunity to network with a diverse range of individuals, where previously this may not have been possible.

Lastly the opportunity to secure high-profile speakers can be a tremendous benefit to virtual conferencing.  Have you ever wanted to secure a speaker, but between the speaking fee, travel & accommodation costs it just wasn’t feasible? With the virtual conference movement we are seeing high-profile speakers adjust fees for virtual conferencing and we would expect this to continue into the future.

Does sponsorship still have a place within virtual conferencing?

The simple answer, more than ever! Although the traditional trade exhibition build is no longer a viable option we are seeing across the board innovative way sponsors are engaging within virtual conferences. Through virtual conferences sponsor benefits such as brand awareness, digital marketing, video advertisement and lead and meeting engagement are just some areas PCOs are focusing on to drive sponsor engagement. We can’t wait to explore and share with you the endless possibilities and create valuable sponsor delegate engagement.

Virtual conferencing may be a foreign concept to many but if done correctly, it can be just as beneficial as an in-person conference.  We look forward to navigating the next chapter of this online world and can’t wait to share the following installment with you.