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The shift to virtual events
To respond to the limitations associated with COVID-19, organizers of (paid) events are opting for a 100% online format. Examples include “ The HR virtual summit “, " thenextweb ", and the BAM marketing congress (to name just a few).
Internal corporate events such as staff parties, seminars, team-building activities, “the day of”, sales meetings, product launches... are also forced to organize a digital congress or event.
The opportunities
Online events offer many advantages:
Scalable: an online event is not location- and/or time-bound. There is no limit to the number of participants. Missed a session? All sessions are recorded, and participants can choose when, where, and which part they want to rewatch.
Personalization: a virtual event allows you to tailor the content to your audience’s needs. You can fully customize the virtual environment to your preferences.
Interaction: digital tools enable increased interaction. Use live Q&A sessions, surveys, polls, and breakout rooms.
Reporting: gain detailed insights and optimize your next event.
Cost-saving: fewer expenses for location, setup, technology, catering, transportation, and hotels.
Sustainable: the ecological footprint is reduced because there is less travel, less food waste, and less paper usage.
The challenges
The benefits are clear. But it remains a challenge to digitally replicate the charm of a physical event.
Overall experience: emotions that a room evokes such as happiness, surprise, pride, emotion, group feeling… are difficult to facilitate digitally.
Catering: a must-have because it satisfies our basic needs. Hungry and thirsty people are not attentive. Timely and fresh delivery of meals to each participant’s home is a challenge.
Social contact: the break moment also fulfills another basic need: social contact. An ideal time to network with existing and new contacts.
Chance encounters: meeting new people and exchanging ideas works perfectly online and efficiently thanks to an app like ‘Conversation Starter’. But an algorithm unfortunately cannot create chance encounters.
Focus: day events last on average 8 hours. Keeping someone engaged offline for that long is easy with movement, breaks, and interaction in between. Achieving this online is much more difficult.
Some tips & tricks
Catering: be careful with fresh food and timely delivery. A breakfast box with an omelet that arrives in the afternoon and no longer looks fresh will please no one.
Technology: try to prevent technical problems. Choose a reliable partner to support you and invest in the right (software) tools.
Length: the attention span online is much shorter. Therefore, choose short formats and sessions. Also provide enough breaks. Increase participants’ attention and energy levels with small workouts in between.
Extend the experience offline: surprise your participants and make them happy. Send them a relevant gift at home. Especially for a paid event: give them not only interesting content but also ‘value for money’.
Why not our gift box with healthy tasty snacks and a drink?
- Provide healthy snacks to enjoy during the break: hunger satisfied, everyone happy and attentive
- Surprise them with original content (healthy, unfamiliar snacks)
- Avoid mistakes with timely delivery of fresh preparations. Our snacks have a long shelf life
- Strengthen your brand experience (also after the event) with a gift box in your corporate style
- Show that you care about them and add a personal message
Discover our gift boxes for your online event