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Virtual events have earned their permanent place in the events calendar.
What started as a necessity has become a genuine strategic advantage. One that lets you reach global audiences, generate richer data, and deliver experiences that scale without the overhead of a physical venue.
The question is no longer “Should we run virtual events?”
It’s “How can we run them well?”
This guide breaks down the best practices event teams are using right now to plan, execute, and follow up on virtual events that actually deliver.
Running a great virtual event takes more than picking a platform and going live. Here’s what separates the ones that drive real results from the ones attendees forget by Friday.
Build an immersive virtual environment and keep your attendees entertained, engaged, and excited with vFairs all-in-one virtual event platform and event management solutions.
Before you begin, get crystal clear on what you want this event to accomplish. Your event goals will shape every decision that follows, from platform choice to session format to how you measure success.
If you’re stuck, you can start with these broader goals and narrow them down based on the specifics of your event:
All these different event goals mean you need an altogether different set of features to achieve them. Virtual event hosting companies like vFairs have a varying set of features and modular solutions that match all these goals.
Your attendees, exhibitors, and sponsors all show up with different goals. Understanding each of their journeys helps you build an event that works for everyone.
Take a virtual job fair, for example. Attendees seek opportunities and recruiter connections, exhibitors want to meet qualified candidates, and sponsors want visibility in front of a targeted audience. Designing for all three is how you create an event that truly delivers.
For virtual events, the platform you pick isn’t just a delivery tool. It is the experience. The wrong choice can create friction, costing you sponsors, attendees, and your credibility.
Before committing, cover these standard details with potential virtual events providers:
If you’ve narrowed down your search to a few virtual event platforms, dig deeper into third-party review sites like G2 and Capterra to find out what customers are saying.
You’ve created an event tailored to your attendees’ needs and goals, but you aren’t getting any registrations. The solution: Event marketing.
The more effort you put into marketing your event, the more registrations, sponsors, and exhibitors you get, and the more revenue you can generate.
AI tools ChatGPT, Claude, and Grok have become genuinely useful for event marketers, not just for content generation but across the full promotional workflow.
On the content side, you can use them to draft landing page copy, email sequences, social posts, press releases, and speaker spotlight posts. All in a fraction of the time it would take to write from scratch.
Beyond content creation, here’s a broader look at what AI can do for your event promotion:
vFairs also offers a variety of AI-powered tools useful for creating pre-event content in a few clicks:
For more ideas on how planners are using AI to simplify events, read our blog: 20+ Ways Event Planners & Marketers Are Using ChatGPT & AI Tools.
You’ve been building that social media audience for a reason, right? Now it’s time to use those platforms to market your event and increase registrations. But not all the platforms. Only the ones where your audience actually spends time.
Typically, you’ll use LinkedIn for B2B audiences, Instagram for consumer events, and YouTube for pre-event content.
And an important tip for using social media: Consistent posting leading up to the event keeps it top of mind and builds momentum.
Listing your event on discovery platforms expands your reach beyond your existing audience. Many event-goers actively search these platforms for events in their area of interest, making them a reliable way to attract new registrants.
Virtual attendees are making judgment calls constantly. Whether the session is worth staying for, whether the platform is easy enough to bother with, and whether the event respects their time. Getting the experience right is what keeps them engaged till the end.
Accessibility is how you make sure your event is genuinely open to everyone. Must-haves for hosting accessible virtual events include:
Display session times in multiple time zones everywhere your event is promoted, including your event page, confirmation emails, and reminders. Schedule your highest-priority sessions at times that work for your largest audience segments. And record everything so attendees in other time zones can catch up on demand.
Another thoughtful touch for a more inclusive event: Countdown timers that auto-adjust to each attendee’s local time.
Keep individual sessions to 30-45 minutes where possible, and build short breaks into the agenda between them.
Varying your formats helps, too. A mix of keynotes, panels, fireside chats, and interactive workshops is far easier to stay engaged with than back-to-back presentations.
Also, use polls, Q&As, and live chat to keep your audience engaged.
Don’t assume everyone knows how to join and navigate a virtual event. Instead:
Attendees and exhibitors won’t attend a virtual event if it means they lose out on engagement and networking opportunities. Luckily, modern virtual event platforms offer several chat and networking features to make your event an immersive and engaging experience.
Let’s go over each of them in detail below.
When an attendee or exhibitor finds someone interesting at an event, they prefer sending them a message to connect. If things go well, they might book a meeting with them or hop on a video call. You can use live chat tools for 1:1 as well as group discussions to ensure that visitors can smoothly interact with exhibitors in real time.
Chat widgets, like the vFairs one, can also allow users to quickly find each other by searching through names or email IDs. They can also book meetings with each other with a few clicks. You can also boost communication in chat by creating chat rooms based on popular topics of discussion at the virtual event.
When hosting a virtual event, attendees expect you to create opportunities and chances for them to spark a natural conversation. Innovative features like vFairs Spatial Connect can help you with that. It boosts natural and easy-flowing connections by making attendees feel like they’re communicating in a natural and in-person setting.
You can offer attendees a space to interact freely in a flexible and interactive virtual environment, such as a park, coffee shop, or custom design. They can enter rooms, approach others, and start conversations. To join an ongoing conversation, they must move closer, mimicking a physical networking lounge.
Roundtable networking is another interactive way to allow like-minded attendees to connect in smaller groups of two to twenty. Whether you’re hosting a virtual hiring event or a conference, roundtables can facilitate attendee networking based on similar areas of interest. Each roundtable can be set around a specific topic, and attendees can join in if they’re interested.
Use smart matchmaking to connect audiences to their perfect match at the virtual event. Attendees will answer similar questions and then automatically get matched to individuals who share common interests. It’s an easy way to connect with like-minded individuals and reduce the initial awkwardness of small talk.
Matchmaking modules can also include ice-breaking questions to help kickstart the conversation. Moreover, it has a timed environment, so attendees don’t feel obligated to continue the conversation if it isn’t working out for them. They can also choose to increase the time if the conversation is going well.
Sponsors fund a major chunk of your event and amplify your reach. But they need to see clear value in return, beyond just a logo placement on a banner. Here are some tips on how to do that.
Sponsors coming to your event want to be in front of the right people, in the right moments, in ways that actually register. In a virtual environment, that kind of visibility has to be designed more intentionally.
Sponsors are making a business case internally every time they commit budget to your event. The easier you make it for them to prove that the decision was right, the more likely they are to renew.
Once the event is over, send them a post-event report that goes beyond vanity metrics by including these numbers:
The vFairs post-event reporting dashboard captures all of this automatically. So you can package it into a clean, stakeholder-ready report without spending hours pulling numbers manually.
Getting exhibitors through the door is one thing. Making sure they walk away with real leads and a reason to come back is another. The difference usually comes down to how well you’ve set them up, before and during the event.
At a minimum, exhibitors should be able to fully brand their virtual booth and host documents by uploading a mix of content so visitors have something to engage with.
Consider live chat and video call capabilities, too. These let exhibitors have real conversations with prospects rather than just collecting passive clicks.
The features that tend to drive the most value for exhibitors are the ones built around lead capture. A meeting scheduler lets qualified leads book time directly from the booth. Real-time lead data export means exhibitors aren’t waiting until after the event to start follow-up.
And booth analytics, including visitor counts, dwell time, and content engagement, give exhibitors a clear picture of what resonated and what didn’t.
First-time virtual exhibitors especially need more than a login link and a “good luck.” Instead, send a clear booth setup guide, set up a dedicated onboarding call, and include a pre-event briefing on who’s attending and what they care about. This makes all the difference in how prepared exhibitors feel going in.
Next, share an attendee profile overview beforehand so exhibitors can tailor their messaging rather than showing up cold.
During the event, make sure every exhibitor has a named point of contact they can reach if something goes wrong. Technical issues happen. The exhibitors who have a fast line to support are the ones who recover quickly and still have a good event.
Live webinars are one of the most effective (and popular) tools used in virtual events.
You can invite keynote speakers from absolutely any part of the world, which you normally wouldn’t be able to do for in-person events. You can book their slots according to their respective availability. End your session with a brief Q&A session to allow for two-way communication as well as to gather feedback from the audience.
A quick tip: To maximize attendance at your webinar, provide the audience with a schedule way before the event, and send email reminders a few hours before the webinar.
One of the biggest advantages of virtual events is that your content doesn’t have to disappear when the event ends. Making sessions and resources available on demand extends the lifespan of your event and gives attendees who couldn’t join live a reason to engage.
Consider enabling a virtual briefcase so attendees can save documents, presentations, and booth materials for later. Also, add functions like bookmarks so attendees can save any booths, products, or jobs that catch their eye.
Finally, with annual domain hosting through online event platforms like vFairs, your virtual event can stay live as a content hub long after the live date has passed.
Gamification features keep audiences engaged beyond passive watching. Leaderboards, scavenger hunts, trivia games, and virtual photobooths all add an element of fun and create incentives to explore more of the event.
Tie points to specific behaviors you want to drive. Such as awarding leaderboard credits for attending a session, visiting an exhibitor booth, or completing a survey. The result is better engagement, stronger lead quality, and a more memorable experience.
The event going live isn’t the finish line. What you do in the days and weeks after your virtual event defines the major impact on ROI, and on whether sponsors, exhibitors, and attendees come back.
The window for post-event follow-up is short. Aim to get personalized outreach out within 24–48 hours while the event is still fresh.
Segment your emails based on what attendees actually did: Booth visits, sessions attended, and content downloaded. Someone who spent 20 minutes at an exhibitor booth and requested a meeting is a very different conversation than someone who attended one session and logged off.
Include relevant resources or recordings in your outreach, and make sure high-intent leads are hitting your CRM the same day. The longer that handoff takes, the colder the trail gets.
Send attendees a post-event survey covering session quality, platform experience, and overall satisfaction. Follow up with exhibitors separately, asking how booth traffic compared to what they expected, what leads they’re most excited about, and what they’d want done differently.
Debrief with sponsors to walk through their visibility metrics and have an honest conversation about what worked.
Pull all of it into a post-event learning document that your team can actually reference when planning the next one.
A thorough post-event report keeps your internal team aligned and gives sponsors and exhibitors the data they need to justify their involvement. It should cover:
One of the biggest advantages virtual events have over in-person ones is the depth of data they generate. Use it.
Your event platform should provide a live stats dashboard during the event so you can make real-time decisions. Stuff like promoting an underattended session, flagging a high-traffic booth, or adjusting your schedule on the fly.
After the event, full-funnel analytics help you measure ROI, identify what drove engagement, and build a stronger strategy next time.
Handling attendees, sponsors, and exhibitors, with the added confusion of it being online? No wonder the idea of hosting a virtual event is overwhelming to most organizers at first.
But once the goals are clear, the experience is thoughtfully designed, and the follow-through actually happens, virtual events can outperform their in-person equivalents on reach, data, and cost-efficiency.
vFairs is built for teams who want to run events like that. From registration and live sessions to exhibitor booths, networking tools, and post-event analytics, everything is in one place. Book a demo with our team to see what’s possible for your next event.
Hosting a virtual event gives you access to a greater global audience and more diverse perspectives. It also allows for a more accessible and inclusive event, since attendees can join from anywhere without travel costs or scheduling conflicts getting in the way. And when budgets are tight, virtual gives you a reliable and scalable alternative.
A virtual event is any organized gathering where attendees experience the content online rather than in person. That covers everything from a 45-minute webinar to a multi-day conference with live sessions, networking rooms, and exhibitor booths.
The main types of virtual events are webinars, virtual conferences, virtual trade shows, virtual exhibitions, virtual career fairs, and virtual seminars. There are also internal events that can be held virtually, such as town halls, sales kickoffs, and company-wide trainings.
To host a virtual event, you’ll need a registration tool, event website, email marketing, a streaming/session delivery platform, and a way to collect post-event feedback. For larger events, add a mobile app, live engagement tools like polling and Q&A, and CRM integrations. Event management platforms like vFairs bring all of this together in one place, for virtual, hybrid, and in-person events.
You can keep attendees engaged during a virtual event via live polls, Q&As, and chat features. Use networking tools, too, like breakout rooms, matchmaking, or messaging, to create quicker connections between attendees. Gamification features like virtual scavenger hunts and leaderboards also help.
You can collect more data from virtual events than you’d expect. Registration numbers, session attendance, dwell time, content downloads, poll responses, chat activity, booth visits, email open and click-through rates, and post-event survey results. Combined, this data tells you who attended, what they engaged with, and where their interests lie.
Syeda Hamna Hassan
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