Lower cost is one of the most significant benefits of hosting a virtual event. You don’t have to worry about renting a venue, arranging space for parking, transportation and logistics. So, if you want to save some money while also hosting a stellar event, a virtual event might be the obvious choice. Lower cost doesn’t necessarily mean lower quality either. If virtual event organizers spend their money in the right places, they can get the most bang for their buck without drilling a hole in their pocket.
Sprucing up your event with add-ons like gamification and networking features might sound like unnecessary expenses. However, they may prove to be vital for event organizers to earn money from the event and balance out these expenses with revenue. Here are some of the most effective tips for event organizers to get the most out of their event with the least net spend.
1. Publish Reusable Content
The content at your virtual event such as posters, webinars, presentations, brochures, etc., can be one of the main attractions for attendees. So, developing and dispensing content to your attendees using virtual event features can make your event much more engaging and effective.
One of the best ways to get the most out of your event is to publish content that you can use later and in multiple ways. For example, you can record a live webinar and then keep it up for the rest of your event days as an on-demand video. You can also use digital event posters for social media and your website. This way, you don’t have to constantly refresh your content while also making sure your attendees get value out of it.
2. Customize Your Event
Event organizers often assume that more customizations mean more money. However, virtual event platforms like vFairs offer affordable options for customized event themes and visuals. You can make the most of the custom event platform by adding more areas for sponsorship visibility and add your brand colors to make the event truly yours.
You can put effort into the visuals of your event without having to spend a lot of money. There are multiple templates that you can use to make your virtual space look different. Exhibit halls, lobby, customized spatial networking rooms, networking lounges, and other areas of the vFairs platform are fully customizable. Make sure you discuss all your options with your Project Manager (PM) for the best possible way of customizing the event while staying on-budget.
3. Add Sponsored Event Features
Collecting sponsorships for your event can be one of the best ways to balance cost against revenue. Most exhibitors will be willing to pay a little extra for some added privileges. Other than providing branding opportunities to your sponsors, you can also pitch sponsored events such as webinars, quizzes, or a game.
Many event organizers arrange sponsored webinars for their gold or platinum sponsors. You can also get an exhibitor to sponsor the prizes for a game like trivia or leaderboard. Entire gamification areas, lounges, and networking features could also be sponsored for generating more revenue.
Virtual event platforms like vFairs make all this possible with various payment gateway integrations like Stripe, PayPal, etc. Parts of the payment can easily be routed through one of these gateways to pass them down to an exhibitor or sponsor.
4. Drive Traffic with Add-Ons
Gamification and networking features like scavenger hunt, spatial networking, or smart matchmaking can feel like unnecessary expenses. However, they can also become a way to increase traffic and generate more revenue.
Many organizers use such add-ons to send more traffic to a certain sponsored booth or other areas that managers want to highlight in their event. For example, you can add the leaderboard feature to incentivize attendees to visit a sponsor booth. In exchange, they can get more points or a prize. You can ask exhibitors to pay a little extra for increased traffic opportunities and the add-on won’t seem like a financial burden.
5. Add a Welcome Video
A fantastic way to instantly level up your event is by adding a welcome video at the very beginning. You can welcome attendees, talk about some event specifics, make announcements, or help them navigate easily through the video.
vFairs offers the welcome video as a free add-on to any virtual event. You can also add mini how-to videos in different areas of the platform to help attendees navigate. They can be a great addition to your virtual event and can make them much more engaging for the audience.
6. Send Out Email Reminders
Well-curated email marketing campaigns for your virtual event can boost attendance. You can send out registration reminders, sneak peeks for the event itself, or make other announcements. The vFairs platform offers free engaging email reminders that event organizers can make use of. They can help you get the word out and also gauge audience interest in your event to plan accordingly.
7. Enable In-Event Push Notifications
The vFairs platform also offers free in-event push notifications to make announcements or grab the audiences’ attention. The notifications pop up in the right bottom corner within the event platform and can be hard to miss. They are an effective way to spruce up your virtual event and also send out reminders.
For example, there is a sponsored webinar starting soon that you don’t want people to miss out on. As an event admin, you can send out a notification for logged in attendees to join it. It is easy to set up from the backend and offers an instant boost to attendee engagement.
8. Add Accessibility Features
When hosting a virtual event, you should also make sure that it is accessible for all your audience members. People with an accessibility disadvantage can really benefit from subtitles, translations, text size adjustments, color contrast, and other such features.
vFairs can add them to the platform for free and make your events more accessible and inclusive for everyone. Accessibility features can make sure that all your attendees are equally engaged and can get the most out of the event.
9. Buy Multiple Event Licenses
Planning ahead can also help you save a lot of money while hosting virtual events. If your organization is planning for a couple of events during the year, getting all the licenses together and ahead of time can reduce costs.
10. Check for Lite Pricing
Not all events are the same size and yours might be much smaller than another. So, it makes no sense to pay the same amount of money. Many event platforms including vFairs can have lite or discounted pricing for smaller event sizes. You can ask your PM if your event qualifies for this sort of discounted pricing.
Smaller events usually have lesser opportunities for sponsorships and a lower number of attendees as well. So, if you’re worried about not being able to generate enough revenue, even a small discount can go a long way. Don’t shy away from asking your PMs or sales agents for a discount.
Conclusion
Reducing costs for your virtual event can largely depend upon finding a virtual events platform that offers a ton of add-ons that can serve as sponsorship opportunities for your event. The vFairs platform allows sponsored booths, events, gamification features, webinars, animated logos in the lobby, and so much more. Moreover, there are so many free features in the standard package that can help you achieve your ideal virtual event.
Don’t let your budget hold you back because there are many opportunities to take advantage of. Book a demo with vFairs and find out more about manufacturing the best-looking virtual event, within your budget.
