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The shift to virtual events
To respond to the restrictions that come with COVID-19, organisers 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 too, such as staff parties, seminars, team-building activities, "the day of", sales meetings, product launches... are being forced to go digital.
The opportunities
Online events bring plenty of advantages:
Scalable: an online event isn't tied to a location or a set time. There's no limit on the number of participants. Missed a session? Every session is recorded, and participants choose when, where and which part they want to watch back.
Personalisation: a virtual event lets you tailor the content to your audience's needs. You can design the virtual environment exactly how you want.
Interaction: digital tools make it easy to boost interaction. Make use of live Q&A sessions, surveys, polls and break-out rooms.
Reporting: get detailed insights and optimise your next event.
Cost-saving: you spend less on things like venue, set-up, technology, catering, transport and hotels.
Sustainable: the environmental footprint shrinks, thanks to less travel, less food waste and less printed paper.
The challenges
The benefits are clear. But matching the charm of a physical event digitally remains a challenge.
Overall experience: emotions that a room full of people creates, like happiness, surprise, pride, being moved, a sense of togetherness... These are hard to recreate digitally.
Catering: a must-have, because it satisfies one of our basic needs. Hungry and thirsty people aren't attentive. Delivering fresh meals to every participant's home on time is a real challenge.
Social contact: the break also serves another basic need: social contact. It's the perfect moment to network with existing and new contacts.
Chance encounters: meeting new people and exchanging ideas works perfectly well online and efficiently, thanks to an app like 'Conversation Starter'. But sadly, no algorithm can create a chance encounter.
Focus: full-day events last 8 hours on average. Keeping someone engaged that long offline is easy thanks to movement, breaks and interaction along the way. Achieving that online is a lot trickier.
A few tips & tricks
Catering: be careful with fresh food and timely delivery. A breakfast box with an omelette that only arrives in the afternoon and no longer looks fresh won't make anyone happy.
Technology: try to avoid technical hiccups. Choose a reliable partner to support you and invest in the right (software) tools.
Length: attention spans are much shorter online. So opt for short formats and sessions, and build in enough breaks. Boost your participants' focus and energy with a few mini work-outs along the way.
Extend the experience offline: surprise your participants and make them smile. Send them a relevant gift at home. Especially for a paid event: give them value for money alongside interesting content.
Why not try our gift box with more nutritious, tasty snacks and a drink?
- Serve more nutritious snacks to enjoy during the break: hunger sorted, everyone happy and focused
- Surprise them with original content (nutritious, lesser-known snacks)
- Avoid mistakes from timing fresh deliveries. Our snacks keep well
- Strengthen your brand experience (even after the event) with a gift box in your house style
- Show that you care about them and add a personal message
Discover our gift boxes for your online event