Top 6 Benefits of Hosting a Virtual Summit

While virtual events have been around since a while now, the pandemic truly emphasized the importance of virtual summits. 

There are undeniable benefits of hosting a virtual summit. They not only help your organization reach its objectives by embracing the latest technology, they offer a number of other advantages too. But before we get into how a virtual summit can benefit you, let’s see what it actually is.  

What is a Virtual Summit?

A virtual summit is an event where you gather attendees from all over the world for various discussions. This can work for any industry and is an excellent way to share knowledge. All you have to do is decide on an agenda relevant to your organization and then gather industry experts.

However, anyone who is interested in the event can attend the virtual summit. It is not restricted to a few people. This way, you’ll get high footfall and will generate more conversations. A virtual summit gives you more freedom and reach than its physical counterpart, so why not take full advantage of it? . 

What are the Benefits of Hosting a Virtual Summit?

There are numerous benefits of hosting a virtual summit. These will not only help you at the virtual event itself, but also help your organization in the long run. Why should you look into this option? Let’s explore below. 

1. Increased Outreach

First of all, you can really increase your reach when you go virtual with your events. If you host primarily in-person events, your guest list is limited. Not everyone can travel to the venue due to various limitations. Plus, you certainly can’t fit in a huge number of attendees in one confined space. 

A virtual summit lets you gather a global audience, with speakers and attendees from all over the world. When you can easily scale your event to invite people from all corners of the world, you not only make the event more engaging, but you also make room for countless business opportunities. In addition, it promotes diversity and inclusion, so the discussions will be quite rich. 

2. Lower Costs

It is much cheaper to host events online than in person. This is because you don’t have to account for the travel and logistics.. In addition, venue rental and setup is quite expensive.Additionally, you also have to arrange marketing and branding collateral. Let’s not forget the hassle involved in taking the heavy printed collateral to the venue itself.

On the other hand, virtual events don’t have travel costs, venue charges or any of those additional costs. You simply have to contact the relevant providers, and rest easy. Apart from that, you’ll just have to market the event. So, you can make do with a much lower budget than you’d need for a physical event. Then, you can  allocate those resources to your sales and marketing activities. 

3. Extensive Data Insights

It isn’t easy to track attendance and engagement metrics at physical events. So, you can’t really get an idea of how productive the summit was. But if you want detailed metrics on how well each of your webinar sessions went, what the exact footfall was and even how many people engaged in chat, you ought to consider a virtual summit. Here you can  get deep insights into your event metrics. 

Furthermore, you can even track individual user journeys. So, you can take a look at these insights and use them to reorient future event and company strategies. You can even monetize these insights for your clients, partners, or sponsors. 

4. Ample Networking Opportunities

A virtual event lets you offer networking opportunities. In addition, with the diverse audience you attract, you can take these opportunities yourself as well. This networking not only improves event engagement, but also boosts attendance itself. There are a number of networking features which will help you. Networking lounges let you create exclusive areas for people to get together and have informal discussions. 

Furthermore, group and private chat allow visitors and exhibitors to engage in a more personalized conversation. . They can also use profile search and matchmaking features to narrow down people with similar interests. If exhibitors and visitors want to take the conversation further, they can set times using the meeting scheduler feature. 

This is because virtual events connect people from all over the world. Furthermore, they let people with common or related interests talk to each other and explore various possibilities. This also increases the appeal for sponsors and exhibitors, so going virtual is quite useful if you want to promote networking. 

5. Less Time & Effort

It takes much less time and effort to organize a virtual summit as compared to a physical one. When you plan a physical event, you have to figure things out months and months in advance. In addition, you have to assign a lot of resources to the task. Therefore, time, effort and resources are routed away from other aspects of your company. 

However, a virtual event is much easier to prepare. If you sign up for an online hosting platform, you simply get to sit back and enjoy the benefits of hosting a virtual summit. This way, you also save a considerable amount of time. Furthermore, your employees can focus on their work instead of being boggled down with event logistics. 

6. Brand Visibility

With a virtual event, you have space to showcase your brand. Whether it’s the virtual lobby, exhibit booths or other areas, you can place your logo anywhere you want. In addition, you can upload resources for visitors to save and download. 

Furthermore, your exhibitors and sponsors will also like the option to market their brands at your event. They can do this by hosting their own webinars or sponsoring some activities and games. So, this brand visibility is a major advantage you’ll enjoy with a virtual summit. 

What Features Should You Include in Your Virtual Summit?

If you really want to get the best out of your virtual event, you need the right mix of features. The right virtual events platform will allow you extensive flexibility with their huge  inventory of features. When it comes to hosting a virtual summit, there are a few key features you must  consider. 

Immersive Environments

This is a feature all of your attendees will enjoy. You just need to choose the level of interactivity and immersion you want at your virtual summit. Your event vendor will work to create a realistic 3D environment in the lobby, lounges, auditorium, and exhibit halls, complete with diverse custom avatars. 

Chat & Networking 

You can definitely include as many chat and networking features as possible. These will let your attendees interact via text, audio, and video. While there are chat rooms in the lobby and networking lounges, every booth has its own chat function as well. So, visitors will be able to get all the information they need from your virtual summit.

Make sure you also include networking lounges for people to get together and unwind. Furthermore, let exhibitors and visitors keep the conversation going even after the event by letting them set up meetings with the meeting scheduler. 

Gamification

All work and no play won’t really help your event succeed. So, gamification features are an important aspect. Use interactive features such as  scavenger hunts, trivia, polls, and virtual photo booths to liven things up. In addition, you can  boost engagement with a leaderboard displayed in a prominent area of the summit. Offer rewards for the leaderboard winners, so that people have more incentive to explore the entire virtual event space.. 

Mobile Event App

You should make your virtual summit as easy as possible for your participants. So, you need a mobile event app. This app will give you flexibility, networking opportunities, and easy exchange of contact details. Furthermore, you and exhibitors can access booths on the go and make any changes needed. The same goes for setting up webinars in the auditorium. 

The mobile app makes all this possible on the go. Furthermore, this app will let users log in from anywhere and let you gather a much wider audience. 

Webinars

Make use of the event’s auditorium with as many webinars as you want. Either host them live or pre-record them for viewing at the actual virtual summit. These webinars and discussions will form the major part of your virtual summit. 

To keep the audience hooked in, add in Q&A sessions and polls. . This will boost audience participation and engagement. hese are an essential part of your event and are treated as such by most providers. 

Accessibility Features

You should make sure everyone can access your event, regardless of any special needs. Going virtual itself really helps accommodate physically challenged participants. However, you also need to cater to people with any visual or hearing impairments. Choose a platform that offers extensive accessibility features that welcome all participants. 

Use color contrast, captions, audio narration, and text enlargement. In addition, make sure there is an info desk at hand so people can clear any confusions. 

Conclusion

In conclusion, there are numerous benefits of hosting a virtual summit. These include more reach, lower costs, data insights, more networking opportunities and higher brand visibility. So, you should look into the option and plan your future events accordingly.