Virtual Events VS Physical Events: What You Should Host & Why

While a number of debates constantly revolve around whether a virtual event can mimic a physical event and all that it entails, we’ve decided to wrap this discussion, once and for all. Here’s a quick and clear comparison between virtual events and physical events, helping you decide victory for yourself.

1) Reach a Larger Audience

Some might be sold upon the fact that the in-person contact at a physical event is absolutely irreplaceable. On the other hand, we ask, what good is any physical contact if it isn’t bringing enough value to you? Hence, the success of your event does not depend on physical interactions but on relevant, diverse interactions.

On the other hand, virtual events can be accessed through any smart device, from any corner of the world. Organizers can therefore reach a wider audience and welcome the entire world on a single online platform.

2) More Value at a lesser cost

Between renting venues, booking accommodation for guests, paying for travel and supplying food and other necessities, a lot of money is spent and ultimately wasted when putting a physical event together.

By hosting a virtual event, you can cut back significantly on these costs. Given that no traveling is involved, you can engage keynote speakers as well as other industry specialists for a fraction of the cost. In other words, the convenience you get along with the cost-savings is unmatched with an online event!

3) Scalable

Physical events most often are restricted to the number of attendees due to the capacity of their venues. Needless to say, as you increase the capacity, you also end up utilizing an expanded budget.

In case of virtual events, you can increase the audience tenfold and still not spend as much as you would have had to at a physical event. These events therefore cater to expanding your reach and eventually benefiting you in terms of improving your brand awareness.

4) Engaging & Interactive

Visitors are, without any hesitation, more likely to communicate with a virtual representative than walk up to a physical one. Virtual booths provide easily accessible content for the audience to engage with and to consume. Furthermore, the option to chat with booth representatives in real-time, polls, and other interactive features can easily multiply engagement at  a virtual event.

5) Evergreen Content

You’ve spent endless number of resources and exhausting hours to generate content for your event. Whether it is the content present at the booths, made for branding purposes, or for marketing – at the end you’re going to watch it being taken away with the trash.

Good news is, at a virtual event, all your content is under your ownership and can be used for future communications. In short, all your hard work is not just restricted to the duration of your event, but can be categorized as a life long asset.

6) Reporting & Data Collection

After a physical event comes to an end, it becomes a hassle to gather data, analyze it to improve the experience and see if the event was an overall success. The data to measure success can revolve around the number of attendees, the number of times attendees visited a booth, and/or attended a webinar. While these statistics can be taken from physical events, it can be an ordeal as it takes a long time to correctly record this physical information.

Switching to a virtual event can lead to this data being more accurate and helpful as it would be readily available. What worked and what needs to be eliminated can be decided based on this data. It can be used to plan and organize groundbreaking events in the future. Not just this, but you can produce insights based on the sort of content that was consumed most, in order to further study your customer profiles and their entire buyer’s journey.

7) Long-Term Revenue

Before setting up any physical events, you most certainly create all that hype weeks (or even months) before the event may take place. All that work for a 1-2 days event. Seems odd, right?

So here’s the thing, virtual events ensure you create a strong brand association while executing any kind of an event. These events can last for as long as you decide, reach as many people in that duration, and naturally gather maximum leads in the process. Leads that will therefore result in an increase in the sales revenue.

8) Flexible & Reliable

With in-person events comes a list of limitations. Not everything you think of is possible to bring ‘on ground’ and make ready for execution. However, that’s where the ‘online ground’ nails victory. Virtual events provide you with the flexibility to customize and configure your event as per that picture in your head. You can, in addition, host any kind of an event that you can think of, on a virtual platform.

Moreover, due to unforeseen weather conditions, unrest in the overall community, or pandemics such as the COVID, a number of physical events have had to be cancelled in the past as well as till date. Virtual events guarantee you the reliability of smooth and seamless operations amid any such kinds of contingencies.

9) Environmentally Friendly

Aviation contributes about 2% of the world’s global carbon emissions. Traveling for an event thus contributes to this damage to the environment. Not just that, the waste produced from printed materials such as brochures and marketing collateral increases the carbon footprint, furthering the detrimental impact on the environment.

Virtual events eliminate the need for all kinds of travel, therefore saving the planet from carbon emissions. Moreover, due to the lack of printed/plastic usage at a virtual event, going online helps you organize a green, healthy event.

10) Accessible & Inclusive

Most often, a number of individuals with disabilities are struck off the list of attendees at a physical event, even before it has taken place. Not only stripping these individuals of global opportunities (such as top job openings being exhibited at a job fair), but also eliminating a portion of leads for exhibiting organisations at any event.

Virtual events typically are more accessible in this regard. They’re inclusive, and ensure that people can benefit from your event based on what they bring to the table, instead of their shortcomings. Learn more about various accessibility options that vFairs offers to its customers or check out how Cornell University catered to visitors with various cognitive disabilities on a friendly virtual platform.

Are You Ready?

It’s honestly a no-brainer when it comes to choosing between the two kinds of events. So, open up the world of opportunities for yourself and setup your own virtual event this year. To learn more, speak to a representative right away. We’re always ready to get you going!

Want to learn more? Read The Ultimate Guide to a Virtual Event.

ABOUT VFAIRS:

At vFairs.com, we strive to build a top-class online event platform that will help event organizers make memorable connections with their target audience. We’re obsessed with taking out the hassle normally associated with physical events and leaving organizers and exhibitors to focus on what’s most important: engagement with the audience.