The virtual event landscape has multiplied manyfolds over the past few months due to a global pandemic restricting social interaction. An increasing number of businesses are hosting virtual events. They want to find a way to connect and engage with their audience via this virtual platform.
When it comes to virtual events, B2B event marketers say audience engagement is the largest challenge. The next biggest challenge is interaction. Engagement also happens to be the biggest contributing factor to a successful event as reported by 49% of marketers.
So every small detail of your virtual event platform matters, and will contribute in its own way to the success of your event. There has also been a transition from flat 2D event webpages to immersive, interactive 3D virtual environments. Here, the importance of virtual avatars comes in.
2D visuals did not allow us the freedom to experiment with avatars. This left the audience deprived of connectivity and interaction.
Virtual avatars contribute to the success of the event by increasing engagement and interactivity within the platform. But there are other major benefits of adding in virtual avatars to your event. Let’s see what those are:
Diversity and Inclusion
Perhaps the most important benefit of including virtual avatars is the message your organization can send out in the simplest manner: a message of diversity and inclusion. Including ethnically diverse avatars in your virtual environment will help people feel comfortable and represented. Additionally, representing gender diversity too sends an important message for your organization. A small step, with a big outcome. Win-win!
Connection
One challenge that people working from home face is the absence of connection with colleagues and fellow employees. Virtual avatars, however, overcome that challenge and help increase feelings of connection and community among us. Additionally, it helps promote a feeling of co-presence. Co-presence is the feeling that you are in the same space as another person. Avatars include lifelike gestures and facial expressions that increase a user’s feeling of co-presence.
vFairs understands you want to provide the best experience to your attendees and thus has a range of avatars to choose from. With our self-select virtual avatars feature, you get the ultimate customization for your exhibit booths. Whether you are looking for gender diversity or ethnic diversity, vFairs covers all.
A range of templates for booth placements and a wider range of avatars to choose from, vFairs gives you complete power over the message you want to convey.
Lets see all the various avatars vFairs’ customers have previously employed to bring personalization to their customers virtual events.
Nestle Purina
Nestle Purina wanted to connect with top young talent across universities with the Virtual Career Fair. Students, parents and university staff were coming in from an extensive range of campuses. Upon entering the virtual lobby, they placed a picture of their actual front desk at the university with the same staff. Thus delivering an authentic setting while also reflecting their own distinct personality and culture.
Starbucks
Starbucks is known for its casual dressing, however when facilitating young professionals at their virtual CV clinic, they opted for a business-casual look to help attendees stay in the right mindset. Moreover, Starbucks is also known for its ‘inclusivity and diversity’. Therefore, a female avatar was carefully chosen to represent them at the desk.
Diversity in Ed
Standing true to their mission of providing equal opportunities in the workplace, Diversity in Ed constructed a framework that allows them to facilitate diversity in recruitment. With this mission guiding them forward, they showcased avatars of different genders, ages, and ethnicities. They even showed them dressed in various attires from business to casual.
King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals (KFUPM)
KFUPM set out to source high quality candidates from across the world in order to establish a top-notch global faculty at the institution with a Virtual Job Fair. They used culturally representative avatars. They even included avatars with various attires and ethnicities around the world.
Hosting a women’s event, Women in Cybersecurity made sure avatars in the lobby right upfront were all women. Showing solidarity they depicted women of various ages, dressed in various different attires. Some exhibitors chose to use male avatars in their booths, with many using a male & female pair to represent them.
vFairs has a demonstrated history of providing you with a virtual experience where you can create maximum engagement and enable interactivity with your attendees. With the customized avatars, in addition to the option to select your virtual avatar for exhibit booths, this is just what vFairs aims to do.
