Busting 5 Virtual Event Myths and Misconceptions

Are you still dubious about virtual events? We bet you’re not the superstitious one believing virtual event myths, are you? 

Oh, wait! You are? 

Well, vFairs is on a mission to bust these virtual event myths. We understand virtual events can seem intimidating. You struggle with where to start and then question how successful it will be. You even think you can’t generate revenue out of your virtual events. Well, that is a complete lie! 

Here is the truth: virtual events will be big for the remainder of 2021. The sooner you let go of these misconceptions and lies, the sooner you can also reap the endless benefits of virtual events. We have our myth-buster cap on now. So let’s go! 

Myth 1: No One Wants to Attend Virtual Events

Fact: The number of organizations that host virtual events doubled in 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic didn’t stop people from hosting events altogether. Instead, it simply helped people realize the benefits of virtual events! If no one wanted to attend virtual events, why would organizations flock towards hosting them? Close to 50% event marketers reported hosting around 20-30 virtual events since May 2020, and around 20% reported hosting over 30 virtual events. That is phenomenal. Added to that, many events in the past years have reported higher attendance than any of their previous events. 

Exhibitors and attendees see the advantages they derive from their presence at a virtual event. This is why they are warming up to the idea now, if they hadn’t before. vFairs alone has hosted 58K exhibitors and 48 million attendees to date. We will wait for that to sink in! 

Your participants know they have access to a huge knowledge base from the comfort of their homes. They can attend events anywhere in the world without incurring any extra costs. Plus, it is not just about the cost and, oh, the fatal virus. It is also the fact that attendees have other commitments and conflicts that otherwise would mean that they had to let go of this opportunity had it just been an in-person event. 

They can network with anyone, anywhere, right from their couch or their car or even their kitchen as they cook a delicious meal. So who wouldn’t want to attend a virtual event? 

Myth 2: There is Limited Engagement in a Virtual Environment

Let us take a moment to laugh at this preposterous statement! 

Okay, okay we are done now.

Fact: There are so many creative and insightful ways to engage your audience at a virtual event. Listing down a few here for your benefit: 

• Live Q&A sessions with interactive webinars (answer questions in real-time and pivot conversations to what interests the audience)
• Gamification of your event (scavenger hunts and leaderboards to incentivize action)
• Breakout sessions in Zoom 
• Polls and surveys 
• Live chat tools (video, audio and text chat)
• 1:1 chats and group video chats 

While you have all these mind-blowing networking opportunities available, an added benefit of virtual events here is that you can track your attendees at each of these touchpoints. You have the power to see when the attendees joined, where they went, and even where they stayed the most. Being able to track your attendee journey gives you insights into their behavior. 

This incredibly valuable data that is available to you helps in creating future marketing strategies.  

Myth 3: You Cannot Monetise your Virtual Event

Fact: Sure when virtual events started, there was skepticism around investing in the medium. Sponsors were wary. They weren’t sure how much awareness and exposure they could get out of it. Organizations hosting virtual events had a hard time convincing their sponsors of the value virtual events had to offer. They themselves were thrown into this new space and had little idea on how to stay afloat. 

But let’s explore how sponsors and exhibitors can each benefit from their presence at an online event, all the while helping you generate revenue. 

Sponsors

There are a ton of opportunities virtual events offer to your sponsors. You start by asking one question: What do the sponsors and exhibitors want? How do they get value out of this? Understand what goals they want to achieve with this event you’re hosting. Among other avenues, here are a few ideas to get your sponsors excited about the virtual event: 

• Sponsorship website pages: add branding to the registration page of your event, and even your virtual event website. 
• Sponsored virtual booths: this gives sponsors a dedicated virtual space. 
• Sponsored webinars and breakout sessions: facilitate sponsors in hosting specific webinars and breakout sessions where they can talk about their products. 
• Entertainment breaks: sponsors can even arrange a mini-concert, or some other form of entertainment during the break hour or after the event to draw in attendees. 
• Branded waiting rooms: before presentations begin, attendees wait in a virtual waiting room. This is where sponsors can place their logo, or advertise their offering. 
• Sponsored games and prizes: this is a great way to increase brand visibility and games like virtual scavenger hunts or leaderboards can help increase traffic to virtual booths. 
• Mention in marketing collateral: your sponsors can be mentioned in the marketing collateral, right from marketing emails to social media content. 

Exhibitors

Furthermore, your exhibitors also have a huge opportunity to get extra eyeballs during your virtual event. Again, this depends on the gold or premium package they have opted for. They can: 

• Place logos on multiple locations around the event according to what their package allows
• Add the content of their choice in the virtual booths 
• Showcase an endless list of products, and in virtual trade shows products can be purchased in real-time
• Secure a presentation slot, where they can host a session and interact with the audience 

Now that we have busted that myth right out of the park, let’s see what’s next. 

Myth 4: Virtual Events Are Too Complicated

We cannot believe who is coming up with stuff like this. 

Fact: The effort, planning and hassle that is involved in delivering an in-person event is completely eliminated when putting together a virtual event platform. At an in-person event, you have to hire a venue, book vendors and labor, arrange accommodation and transport and manage food and catering. All this hassle is nowhere to be seen at a virtual event. 

Planning a virtual event is simpler, easier, and it takes all the administrative hassle out of the entire process. Start from the start i.e. choosing the right virtual event platform. With the best virtual event platform booked, let them take care of your event. Yes, there is some effort and work still required from your end, but it doesn’t involve running around all day, meeting various vendors and making sure everything is perfect to the dot in the in-person space. 

Myth 5: Virtual Events Won’t Last

Whoever said this, please let us know. We would like to invite them to our virtual event.  

Fact: When organizations had to pack up their in-person events back in March 2020, they had only one platform to keep themselves alive: virtual events. And now as the world moves towards normalcy, this question is bound to come up: Will virtual events stick around? 

Over 80% of vFairs’ surveyed customer base plans to stick with virtual events in the future. With all the benefits of virtual events laid out before them, event organizers are building teams and getting the necessary infrastructure to put together a virtual event. Just the increased reach, global audience, low costs are beneficial enough. Not to mention all the other ways virtual events open up opportunities after opportunities for you. 

Yes, as the world opens up, we have hybrid events moving to dominate the market in the foreseeable future, but again that means, some aspect is virtual and it will stay. 

There you go! We hope you’re not going to pay any heed to any more myths or lies that you hear from anyone and anywhere. 

Taking off our myth-buster cap and signing off for now.