From Concept to Success: The Ultimate Guide to Digital Event Creation and Management
Last update: 13 April 2023 at 01:28 pm
2.33/5Today, even though Europe is progressively lifting containment measures, it is probable that events will never look the same, and digital event creation may even become the norm.
The current COVID pandemic has significantly compromised the setting up of any event. As a third of the world population was confined between February and May 2020, event organizers found themselves unable to do their job, and event marketing plummeted.
Health measures, social distancing, and teleworking are here now, and they will probably stay with us for a long time. Considering this new reality, it is time to embrace digital events fully. The question is, how do you create a digital event? How do you set it up? Promote it? Create a networking experience?
To answer those questions most efficiently, Sortlist partnered with OFCORES, a Belgian agency specializing in Event Creation and Event Marketing. Caroline Hundhausen, a Communication Specialist at OFCORES, wrote three articles regarding digitalizing events for you to have all the basics necessary for your project.
While this article focused on the different digital events your company can set up, this is only one part of digital event creation. In our next article, you will learn how to market your event to reach your attendance goal.
Introduction
Due to travel restrictions, health measures, and widespread home officing, it’s time to embrace digital event creation. OFCORES can provide you with easy-to-use virtual engagement platforms to continue to deliver quality event experiences to participants online.
You must know that every event has different goals and that we work with each client to devise solutions tailored to their needs.
According to us, here are the benefits of organizing Digital Events:
- More accessible
- Increased attendance
- Better retention rates
- Open doors to endless virtual experiences
- Deliver economic and environmental benefits over more traditional event forms
And here are some examples of how to re-envision your event in a digital format:
- Breakouts to virtual roundtables
- Live networking to 1:1 virtual meet-ups
- Keynotes to live streams
- Coffee breaks to game opportunities
- Exhibitions to 3D virtual reality tours
- Sessions and panels conducted in a professional TV-like studio presentation format
We leverage various technology and social platforms to bring your brand to life and strengthen audience engagement and inclusiveness.
Below, discover more about the different types of digital event formats.
Digital Event/Virtual Event
A virtual event is one where attendees experience the content wholly online rather than by gathering in person.
For example, virtual conferences live around detailed agendas, including keynote presentations and breakout sessions.
From an attendee perspective, an online event platform offers maximum flexibility and many advantages. Registrants access all event information on the virtual event page, including the program, session details, directories, 1:1 meeting scheduling, and more. They can customize their event itinerary and the information they review.
Virtual event platforms use community engagement tools like digital libraries, supplemental audio/video content, live Q&A, live polling, chat, interactive video networking meetings, mobile apps, and more. Content for these events is flexible. They can be produced live, on-demand, or as a mix.
Online event platforms seamlessly integrate with registration systems, automatically capturing significant event data. This data can be used to measure and improve event performance in real time through quantifying unique site visitors, views, questions, content downloads, attendance, posts and shares, and more.
Hybrid Events
A hybrid event combines live, in-person attendance with digital, online attendance components.
For example, a business conference that hosts an in-person gathering of 20-100 people in Brussels and livestreams its keynotes and sessions to a worldwide virtual audience is a hybrid event.
Hybrid events still introduce the energy of a live audience and maintain a more effortless flow in conducting in-person panel discussions for speakers while reaching a much wider audience than in-person-only events.
Like all virtual events, hybrid events also capture valuable event data, allow a flexible event experience for online attendees, and reduce travel, cost, and accessibility barriers to attendance.
The return on investment for the hybrid event is increased even more when virtual access tickets are sold at a lower rate to those who cannot attend in person and when session recordings are repurposed for future marketing activities.
Virtual Reality or 3D Events
Virtual reality (VR) is a wholly computer-generated environment. Organisers must create a computerized event space to host a VR event. Attendees wear VR headsets that pair with event planning software when interacting in this event world. This allows them to experience the event space as if they were there. Each attendee is usually represented by an avatar, which allows them to interact with other participants and move through the 360° and 3D immersive event realistically.
While less immersive, a 3D event does not require a VR headset. Such events are also created by developing a computerized event space and generating avatars for participants, but a 3D event takes place on the computer screen. 3D events are therefore more engaging than a video livestream. However, they do not go so far as to make viewers feel like they are physically in the room, as with a VR headset.
VR and 3D events elevate the remote event participant experience by allowing attendees to navigate a real event space as avatars and interact more realistically with others. In such an environment, participants are less tempted by external distractions and engage better with the event.
Conclusion
While this article focused on the different kinds of digital events your company can set up, this is only one part of digital event creation. In our next article, you will learn how to market your event in order to reach your attendance goal.
In the meantime, don’t hesitate to contact OFCORES about hosting virtual, hybrid, VR, or other online events. We’ll help you reach your audience with experiences that are impactful – wherever your attendees are. You can also look at an event marketing firm with Sortlist to help you get started!
