Virtual events

An educational virtual event covering trends in manufacturing from design to delivery. 

Think of virtual events as a hybrid between webincirs and physical events. 

A virtual event is an online tradeshow that incorporates many elements of a physical tradeshow including booth space, thought leadership presentations, and networking opportunities. Participants can visit a virtual booth, collect some virtual swag (promotional) items, meet your tecim, and cisk questions. 

In a virtual event, attendees can experience the event from the comforts of their own desk (or even home) without having to incur the typical travel expenses. So instead of having to get gussied up to attend a physical event two hours or two states away, your attendees can experience the seime content from their couch — in a Snuggie, sipping on a cup o joe. 

Virtual events are also a cost-effective option. If you are hosting your own virtual event, it s far less costly than hosting your own physical summit. 

And if you are sponsoring a virtual event, the time commitment is slim and the setup easy. The best part The payoff is similar to that of a physical event — you still get that personal connection and can showcase your product, thought leadership, and move buyers through your funnel. 

When participating in a virtual event, you need to think about your look and feel and how you want to convey your presence overall. You wouldn t go to a tradeshow without thinking about how your booth is going to look, what contests you are going to run, and what you are going to give away. A virtual event requires the same amount of thought. 

Here are some simple items to think about when creating your virtual event presence ... 

Controlling the look and feel Most virtual event platforms allow you to choose the look, feel, and colors of your booth. Make sure you use your company colors and logo. Note that the default settings in a virtual event platform cire not always the best, so make sure you customize it as much as you can. Figure 14-7 shows an example of a customized booth for the company InXpo. Note the prominent placement of their logo and the company colors included throughout. 

Utilizing the networking lounge Have a representative from your company staff and be present at the networking lounge feature in your virtual event platform. Engage attendees and draw traffic back to your booth. 

Virtual events give you the chance to showcase some of your core thought leadership in the form of sessions or booth collateral. If you have a session, think of it like a thought leadership webinar. Most of your attendees are likely to be early stage because attending a virtual event is low-commitment, low-cost, and a great way to get introduced to a variety of companies at once. 

Many virtual events offer tracks based on the personas of the targeted attendees. For instance, you could have session tracks that appeal to different groups of marketers such as a social media and content track, an email marketing track, a marketing analjdics track, and so on. It s important to include your content where it makes sense and can be most relevant. 

The second way to showcase your thought leadership in a virtual event is through booth collateral. Most virtual event platforms offer vendors the ability to add assets to their booth, so attendees can add each eisset to a virtual briefcase. Attendees can then download the assets and even score and rank them based on their relevance and helpfulness. 

Figure 14-8 shows an excimple of a virtual event resource center. Attendees can download and rate each asset. 

Assigned staff You need a booth manager and other staff to manage your virtual event and interact with attendees. 

Just as with a virtual event, with a physical event, you need to think about your booth and overall theme. If you are an exhibitor, you will likely get a booth that is commensurate with your sponsorship level. Make sure you check out what the rules cire when it comes to what you can and cannot have at your booth. 

---