Are you in the education field and want to host virtual events? Whether it’s creating an accessible virtual fair or a big university expo, we’re now seeing a shift toward virtual solutions. More institutions worldwide are becoming virtual. Therefore, more institutions should get with the times and host virtual events!
The education industry has grown quickly, from the rise of creative, technologically-driven teaching methods to high-quality, end-to-end virtual classrooms. This has made attending virtual classes a piece of cake for students worldwide.
This blog covers different types of virtual educational events and their benefits. So, without any further ado, let’s begin!
Importance of Virtual Educational Events
A virtual educational event takes place online and brings together students and schools. In addition, they give students the chance to learn more about colleges and universities and their programs. Online educational event is also suitable for schools and universities. It helps them market themselves and reach out to students worldwide.
vFairs surveyed individuals from the education industry. We asked them about the educational events they would like to host.
According to those individuals. These were the main reasons for hosting a virtual educational event:
- They reduce event costs
- They are accessible for months
- They boost student engagement
- They help new students onboard faster
- They are flexible
- They help students get hired faster
- They promote student learning
- They get more sponsorship opportunities
Types of Virtual Educational Events
Virtual educational event helps colleges and universities connect with students fun and engagingly. Through one-on-one meetings, webinars, and conferences, potential universities and candidates worldwide can communicate with each other. Here are different virtual educational event types connecting students and academic professionals.
Educational Conferences
Industry-wide, online conferences are growing. For example, edTech conferences are popular in the education business. These conferences give professionals, researchers, and scholars exciting new chances to share their ideas and research projects with young people to help them learn and grow. As a result, they can design and build learning infrastructures and resources to improve learning and teaching.
In addition to providing information, educational conferences include ample networking opportunities. You can engage the audience by facilitating discussions. If needed, you can organize multiple stages for keynote speakers so the audience can choose their sessions.
Job Fairs
Campus job fairs are part of a university program that helps students meet essential leaders in their fields. Campus job fairs that take place online work just like those that occur on campus. It lets students connect with the top experts in their fields through interactive chat tools from anywhere in the world. Virtual campus fairs are an excellent way to speed up the process of getting into college and help students find the right career choices from the comfort of their own homes.
Open Days
During the pandemic, several universities struggled to recruit students. As a result, online campus tours and open days became more popular than on-campus tours. Such activities show prospective students numerous facets of student life, from walking around campus to video conferencing with current students and professors.
Open days are a great way to get the word out about your school, show potential students around your campus, and let them experience it for themselves. Students can see what it’s like to be a student on campus, and universities can get to know their students better. In any case, your target audience is likely to get more out of an open day than out of a static prospectus.
Graduation Ceremonies
A student’s most important event in their educational journey is probably their graduation ceremony. A virtual graduation fair has a virtual setting that looks like a real-life graduation ceremony. Students can get their diplomas or degrees from anywhere in the world.
This could also just be a way for family and friends worldwide to join in on the events or for students to revisit after the ceremony to relive the milestone. With the right virtual events platform, an online graduation ceremony isn’t just a bunch of virtual awards and webinars. It’s a world where students can talk to each other, their teachers, and anyone else at the ceremony. They can participate in different activities, buy merchandise, and do much more.
Benefits of a Virtual Educational Event
For Hosts
Higher Attendance
Event hosts judge success by the number of attendees. Virtual educational events allow people to register for online events, reducing schedule and geographical restrictions and increasing attendance.
With no travel involved, more people can attend your virtual educational event, increasing inclusivity, diversity, and new ideas. In addition, on-demand virtual event sessions and materials will boost attendance.
Reduced Expenses
Organizers can save a lot of money by hosting virtual educational events. There are venue fees, on-site personnel payments, travel/accommodation/meal costs, stall setup fees, and other expenses generally associated with a physical event. Event planners can use these savings to enhance their budget for obtaining a dependable, high-performance virtual educational event platform. In addition, virtual events require lower per-event expenditures and a considerably higher ROI.
Measurable Data
Running a virtual event delivers more comprehensive analytics and quantifiable data, such as real-time user activity logs and the number of participants who joined virtual sessions. You can also track who downloaded apps, and engaged or completed surveys and polls. Heat maps are also available to analyze the most popular regions of your platform or content.
For Exhibitors
Attract a Larger Audience
Virtual educational event has a better chance of attracting more people. Organizers can get customized exhibitor booths with brand colors, high-quality images, and content that can lead to high impact. Booths will attract a larger audience, enhancing networking at your event.
Branding Opportunities
A large number of students attend a virtual educational event. As a result, the university and its partners will have many chances to brand themselves and get sponsors. Because of this, institutions can get more people to know about them, bringing in more money and making sponsors happy.
Automated Processes
You can automate many things at a virtual educational event. For example, you can add program schedules to a virtual calendar through virtual events tools. You can also set up alerts and reminders when an event is getting close. Usually, event organizers send reminders about what people should bring and what details and information they should have.
These automation features make things run more smoothly and help people stay organized. The great thing about digitization is that innovators can personalize attendees’ experiences based on location, age, gender, interests, etc.
For Attendees
Enhanced Attendee Experience
Overall, virtual educational event is a way to improve the attendee experience for those who go. Virtual educational event now offers one-of-a-kind experiences like 360-degree video tours of campuses, live face-to-face video conferences with co-students and attendees, and other unique virtual encounters that can spice up an event.
Learning Experience
Jobs and careers are rapidly moving to the digital sphere. As a result, you’ll need to know more about technology and computers in future jobs. Since this change is already starting to happen, it’s best for students and young people to start learning how to use virtual experiences, online tools, and digital platforms as soon as possible.
Current trends and metrics for online events show that more and more people are going to them. As more students dive into immersive virtual experiences, technical and digital skills become the norm instead of the exception. By giving their students virtual experiences, schools immerse them in the digital world and teach them essential skills they will need in the future.
Networking Opportunities
At a live event, people will not likely stay in touch with each other afterward. In addition, since most of the paperwork for a physical event is on paper, it is hard to keep the database up to date after the event.
At virtual events, attendees can talk to each other through audio, video, and text. Virtual educational event brings schools and potential students together. However, they offer much more than that for networking. For example, when you go to a study fair, you can talk to people like recruiters, career counselors, faculty, alumni, and other students. These talks are a great way to get career advice from experts and meet other like-minded people in academia.
Key Takeaway
Using technology, virtual educational event is changing the education industry. Virtual educational event is essential to this technological wave. They provide easy accessibility to students worldwide.
vFairs is a leading virtual event management platform that can help you host your next virtual educational event. We also offer a dedicated project management team to help you with every step. Contact us to schedule a demo!
