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How to Convince Your Company That a Virtual Event Is the Right Move: Benefits of Virtual & Hybrid Events

Virtual and hybrid events have taken off in recent years. Many big events have gone virtual, making it clear just how well the concept can work. Could it be effective for your company? It’s a tough sell if management isn’t yet convinced that it’s the right move. Being clear about the potential benefits of virtual events and hybrid events can help you state your case.

1. Expand Your Audience Base

No matter how effective your company’s current marketing plan is, it’s still highly likely that you could be reaching a wider audience. This can be the case even with multiple live events on your annual schedule. There’s one very simple reason for this, and it’s not necessarily because your marketing campaigns aren’t effective. It’s more about how live events can be self-limiting because there are always people who would attend the event if they could. But they’re unable to due to practical concerns like time constraints or travel costs.

Opting for a virtual or hybrid event instead makes this a non-issue. If people can attend the event online, they can do so from virtually anywhere in the world. And even if they don’t have time for traveling or attending a multi-day live event, they probably do have time to login to an online event and watch a few sessions on-demand or see some virtual exhibits.

In short: Your audience potential is considerably expanded because it’s easier and less costly for people to attend the event. That means you’ll not only have more attendees, but you’ll also have more individual companies attending and exhibiting. Smaller companies that can’t afford to send people to in-person events may have the budget to buy virtual tickets. That’s a win for everyone—hosts, sponsors, exhibitors, and attendees.

2. Create a Year-Round Revenue Stream, or Gain New Customers

If your company isn’t already doing so, it’s beneficial to start treating events as year-round revenue streams. The potential value of an event doesn’t start just before the event and stop just after. If your event content has value, people will want to access it after the event is over. They may be willing to pay for it, which allows you to create a new revenue stream and add to the ROI of your company’s virtual events.

Another option is to offer free content in exchange for contact information. You can then shift new subscribers into your sales funnel, and, in the future, those people may become customers.

3. Enhance Your Industry Reputation and Brand Awareness

Live events generate lots of short-term buzz, but all that hype dissipates quickly once the event is over. Hybrid and virtual events give you a much better shot at turning that short-term hype into long-term brand awareness. With that comes the opportunity to enhance your company’s reputation as an expert in the industry.

Virtual conferences and events have the potential to generate long-term interest because online content is easy to reuse. For instance, if your virtual event includes a keynote speaker, roundtable, panel discussion, or education sessions, recordings of that content can be repurposed in multiple ways. It continues to provide valuable information for clients and customers long after the event is over. As you continue holding events and building up your content library, your company website benefits from increased traffic. At the same time, your company develops a reputation as a source of quality education and information. It doesn’t necessarily happen overnight, but as you continue producing quality content, you’ll secure your position as an industry thought-leader.

4. Use Enhanced Analytics to Get to Know Your Customers Better

One of the most significant advantages of virtual and hybrid events is the sheer wealth of data they generate. When virtual attendees visit an event website, every action they take generates data that you can record and analyze. It’s vastly easier to track an attendee’s movements online than it is to track how people move around a live event venue. At live events, it typically requires the people attending to opt-in in some way, and that’s not always easy to accomplish.

Online, the ability to track what attendees do is baked right into the events platform. You can understand:

  • What sessions they watch and for how long
  • What event features they interact with
  • And more

Each attendee’s behavior is tied to their individual registration identity. This means you can sort individuals into all kinds of demographic groups. Want to know which demographics were most interested in your keynote speaker? No problem. Which attendee groups spent the most time interacting with your company’s product demos? No problem. For online events, data analytics are a piece of cake.

Can’t Give Up the Benefits of a Live Event? Go Hybrid.

Clearly, virtual events have many benefits, but in-person events do too! Most people still prefer to network face-to-face rather than virtually network. It’s generally considered easier to keep attendees engaged at a live event, as compared to a virtual one. And big industry trade shows and expos will always be massively popular physical events because people love to see the amazing booths that the biggest brands have devised for that year.

If your company is reluctant to give up the benefits of a live event, holding a hybrid event instead could be the perfect alternative. A hybrid event gives you all the advantages of a live show, and since event content is also available online, people who can’t get to the physical venue can still take part.

Learn more about whether a hybrid event is right for you here.

Attendees view educational videos and gain points as a reward to be used later at the Swag Store.

The Benefits of Virtual and Hybrid Events Are Clear

If your company currently holds one or more physical events every year, there are some clear benefits to adding virtual or hybrid events to the schedule. Whether that’s instead of or in addition to live events, there’s plenty of potential there. Virtual conferences and events can boost your event attendance rates and give you not only a bigger audience, but a more globally diverse one too. Plus, enhanced data analytics also offer the chance to understand your audience better than ever before.

Need more ammo to convince the higher-ups that going virtual or hybrid is the right choice? Reach out to our XtendLive team today!

Dick Wheeler

Ready to add a new dimension to your next event?

Mark Yujuico

Senior Product Marketing Manager

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Jody Tatro

Chairwoman of the Board

With over 30 years of industry experience, Jody is the Chairwoman of the Board of XtendLive, driving vision and strategy. Every strategic approach that goes out the door is influenced by Jody’s experience and philosophies on her high standards for client service. Jody is a recipient of the YWCA’s Tribute to Women Award, the Junior League Community Volunteer Award, and is listed in Who’s Who of Women in Business.

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Howard Citron

CTO

A product designer at heart, Howard has developed consumer and business products, large scale distributed systems, and software applications. With over 25 years of industry experience, he offers senior executives with innovative solutions to their most vexing software and systems challenges. He assists clients by exploring new market opportunities and acting as an internal venture manager within their organizations.

Robert Cummings

Director Of Technology

Robert is an acute and credible tech professional who helps create an invaluable virtual experience. With over 30 years of high-level tech experience, he has a proficient background in sales, market research, and finance. Robert strives to help clients understand the technology at its fullest aptitude and how it can best create a positive and valuable virtual event experience.

Jack Connolly

Jack Connolly

Chief Executive Officer

As an experiential creative director, Jack prefers to draw outside the lines. He tells stories with original content and impactful design to ignite meaningful conversation.

 

Jack brings 20 years of event industry knowledge to ProGlobalEvents. He specializes in building live & virtual platforms for audiences to connect, engage and immerse themselves in the power of a shared experience. His skills range from ideation and concept development to defining an attendee journey through storytelling and design.

Jack understands the creative process is not linear, but a collaborative process between agency and client. He manages teams of designers and technology developers to pioneer impactful brand experiences. His diverse skillset and leadership ensure for award-winning results and memorable impressions.

 

In 2019, BizBash named Jack one of the top event designers in North America. SXSW awarded his work the “People’s Choice in Innovation” in 2021.

Paul Miller

Chief Marketing Officer

Having served in many executive roles for over 25 years, Paul has a client-side perspective of the corporate events industry. He reaches clients through traditional and digital marketing programs and has a high involvement with technology strategies. In his spare time, he is a principal member of the non-profit Gratitude Network that mentors award-winning social entrepreneurs.

Matt Rulis

VP Of Business Development

Spending the last 15 years in sales, Matt has experience managing marketing strategies, campaigns, and environments for a diverse client base. His relentless tenacity and keen eye for detail shapes the renowned vision he has for client service. He focuses on fostering relationships to uphold XtendLive’s customer satisfaction ratings year-over-year.

Dick Wheeler

Chief Executive Officer

Dick is the CEO of XtendLive. He is an entrepreneur, innovator, and compelling force in the fast-growing virtual event industry. With over 30 years of industry experience, Dick possesses the astute leadership that is a sought-after gold standard in the industry. Under his leadership, the team has generated highly successful events for numerous companies while continuing to drive an imaginative vision for client’s virtual event needs.

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