Virtual Corporate Events - The Ultimate Guide

Virtual corporate events have become essential for many companies over the past few years.

Whether it's internal conferences for employees (training), trade shows, or product launches, virtual experiences offer a host of benefits.

Let's take a closer look at this phenomenon.

What is a virtual corporate event?

A virtual corporate event refers to any event organized online (webcast, webinar) by a company to interact with its key stakeholders, whether employees, customers, investors, or any other group affiliated with the organization.

Unlike a traditional in-person event that takes place at a specific physical location, a virtual event allows participants to join from their computer or mobile device, regardless of their geographic location.

This eliminates distance barriers and logistical costs associated with transporting and accommodating participants.

While the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the widespread adoption of virtual events, an increasing number of companies are considering maintaining this format even after the resumption of in-person activities.

According to forecasts by Forrester, 62% of event organizers plan to continue investing in hybrid or fully virtual experiences long-term.

 

Why organize virtual corporate events?

Multiple reasons motivate companies to opt for the virtual event strategy.

Here are some of them:

Significant Cost Reduction

This is the first incentive factor for many organizations. The savings from not having to pay for a reception hall, catering, travel and accommodation for participants are immense.

Unlimited Reach and Scalability

One of the great advantages of virtual event technology is that it allows hosting a virtually unlimited number of participants. 

Whether you want to reach 100 or 100,000 people, all you need is the technological capacity to support such a virtual audience.

This also means that geographic reach is no longer an issue: participants from all corners of the province, country or even the planet can easily join.

Fortunately, our StudioCast webcast platform is at the cutting edge of technology and can support such an audience.

Discover how by booking a video meeting with one of our experts.

Improved Collaboration and Productivity

The integrated chat, interactive whiteboards, polling, and many other features allow participants to collaborate and interact much more effectively than at a traditional in-person event.

Moreover, by eliminating travel time, virtual corporate events significantly increase employee productivity.

A three-hour online meeting will allow everyone to return to work immediately rather than losing an entire day.

Superior Analytics Data

Since all participant activity is digitally captured on the online event platform, it is much easier for organizers to compile and analyze accurate data afterward.

The attendance rate, number of questions asked, social media engagement, etc.

All metrics that are difficult to quantify for in-person events.

The StudioCast webcast platform integrates business intelligence and allows you to perform real-time data analysis.

The information obtained enables you to continuously improve the participant experience and the ROI (return on investment) of virtual event activities.

The strategic advantages of virtual corporate events

In addition to the obvious operational and logistical advantages, virtualizing corporate event experiences offers many strategic advantages for businesses:

Expanded Accessibility

Regardless of participants' geographic or even physical limitations, absolutely anyone with an electronic device and an internet connection can participate in a virtual event.

This opens the door to audiences that would have been excluded from traditional events.

For example, a multinational company organizing an internal conference can easily allow its thousands of employees around the world to virtually attend certain key presentations and training sessions.

Simplified Collaboration

Since there is no need for each participant to block off several days and travel to a central meeting location, it becomes much easier to schedule collaborative work sessions between distributed teams.

Webcasting tools combined with virtual whiteboards and online project management software allow for much more frequent remote collaborative sessions of this kind.

Enhanced Participant Experience

While one might fear that a virtual event would be less engaging for participants, the opposite is usually true.

The multiple interactive features, polls and quizzes, live chat, and videos generally create a high level of participation.

Reduced Carbon Footprint

Recent environmental concerns are also prompting companies to look for ways to reduce travel and, as a result, their carbon footprint.

The calculations are clear: an annual event gathering 5,000 people for 3 days would normally generate no less than 2,600 metric tons of CO2.

By virtualizing it, this number is reduced to less than 10 tons, which is 99% less!

Source : lemonde.fr

What are the challenges of virtual events?

However, virtual corporate events do present some unique challenges for businesses.

Frequent Technology Barriers

Whether related to compatibility issues, internet connectivity, or insufficient digital skills, many participants will initially face technological difficulties.

This means it is essential to plan for comprehensive technical support before, during, and even after the event to ensure everyone can participate fully.

Better yet, work with an event agency that will take care of all the technical issues for you and your virtual event.

Cybersecurity Concerns

Another obstacle frequently cited by companies is the fear of having their data and communications compromised by hackers during a virtual event.

Fortunately, many security protocols can be implemented to prevent cyberattacks and protect any confidential information that could be shared during a corporate videoconference, for example.

Data encryption, two-factor user authentication, access rights limitation, and content filtering are some of the essential security measures to implement.

Major Technology Investments

To fully leverage the sophisticated features of virtual event platforms, major investments are often required in software, computer and audio-visual hardware, and network infrastructure.

According to the firm MarketsandMarkets, the global event technology market is expected to represent expenditures of $772.2 billion by 2028, with a considerable portion dedicated to digital innovations from recent years.

Difficulty in Fostering Engagement

Undoubtedly, it is more challenging to create a sense of community engagement and belonging to a group when everyone is behind their screen rather than gathered in the same room.

The trick, therefore, is to do everything possible to maximize interactivity, facilitate informal exchanges before, during, and after the virtual event, and rely on dynamic programming.

How to Plan a Successful Virtual Corporate Event

Now that we've explored what virtual corporate events are and their main issues, let's look at best practices for organizing one effectively:

Choose a Reliable and Flexible Event Platform

There are online event platforms specifically designed for all types of virtual corporate events, with a full suite of integrated tools:

• High-quality video conferencing
• Live video streaming
• Immersive destination pages
• Virtual meeting rooms
• Interactive whiteboards
• Chat and instant messaging
• Polls and quizzes

In addition to offering all the necessary features on a single platform, these all-in-one solutions greatly simplify the logistics.

Our StudioCast platform does all that! Ask us for a demo.