The sudden pivot to virtual events that occurred for many organizations and industries over the past year or two seemed pretty sudden, but has actually opened up a number of opportunities for businesses, organizations, and groups of all sizes.
Virtual events allow your organization to stay in touch with their customers through product reveals, virtual meet-and-greets, and more. However, even as virtual events become more popular and commonplace, a number of businesses and groups still don’t know what sort of virtual events it would be viable for them to hold, or even if virtual events apply to their activities and products in the first place.
Us? Well, we think there’s a virtual event for everyone out there. Not every virtual event needs to be some lengthy product reveal or unboxing video – all you need is a little imagination to find the type of virtual event that can help you better connect with your audience, no matter who it is or where they might be located.
Virtual events can take many different forms and styles, from the grand to the intimate. Here’s five of the most commonly held virtual events, and what they could potentially do for you!
Common Types of Virtual Events
Each of these is considered a ‘virtual event’, and all of them can be easily modified to meet the needs of your event or business.
Webinars
The most common type of virtual event, and one that has existed long before the current virtual event craze, is the webinar. As you can tell by the name (which originated back when everything on the internet had to be some kind of pun or portmanteau), a webinar is when a speaker presents their content or presentation virtually, allowing attendees from around the world to join in. In many cases, these webinars are live and fully virtual, allowing for the presenter to take questions from the audience and respond to things real time, although a number of webinars intended for a more international audience are frequently pre-recorded to allow for broadcasting in different timezones (or even languages, in some cases).
Webinars are perfect for any group or industry that has information to present, and are frequently used for professional development in certain industries, or for presenting the results of a study done on an area of business.
Virtual Trade Shows
Particularly in these days of global audiences for businesses, a virtual trade show can be a great way to maximize leads and expose your products to the widest possible audience, all from the comfort of their computer or smart device.
Virtual trade shows are a perfect opportunity to unveil new products, meet potential customers interested in your goods and services, or connect with similar companies in the same space. Perhaps best of all, holding your trade show virtually saves you the hassle and expense of trying to get space on a crowded convention floor, travel accommodations, and the like.
Livestream Concerts
Few industries were hit harder during the pandemic than the live event business. Concerts, plays, really any kind of performance art was shut down seemingly indefinitely, and even as things slowly begin to open back up as is deemed safe, many performers are still turning to livestreamed concerts and events to help get back out in front of their fans and generate a little extra income while the touring industry slowly returns.
Livestreamed concerts and performances work similarly to a ‘normal’ concert, with one crucial difference – the audience is all online! By performing in a virtual event space, you can broadcast your performance on the platform of your choice to a potentially global audience, and potentially earn a little extra money by selling online ‘tickets’ to the event.
Hybrid Events
Of course, just because you’re holding a virtual event doesn’t mean the entire thing has to be digital. “Hybrid events” have grown in popularity over the last year, thanks to their ability to combine elements of both virtual and traditional events in one convenient form.
Hybrid events combine both a live presentation (with a live audience) with online broadcasting. These events often involve multiple locations or studios, allowing for teams to switch effortlessly between different presentation groups without all needing to be present in the same building. The online component still allows for interactivity with a virtual audience across the world, but the blended nature of the event can allow it to feel bigger and more important, especially when your teams are still spread out.
So How Can I Host A Virtual Event?
Hosting a virtual event is easier than you might expect! All you need is the assistance of an experienced team, and the use of a virtual event studio. Bldg22, our full-featured virtual event space, can serve as the perfect backdrop for your next virtual event of any size, no matter what you need to broadcast – or who you’re broadcasting to.
Our audiovisual production team can help handle all the technical aspects of your event – all you need to do is come up with the right event idea.
