Digital Events in 2021 and Beyond: Plan for the future

With a clear shift in how events will work moving forward, this is the optimum time to get ahead of the curve when planning for future events. Rather than hoping for a “return to normal” scenario, use this opportune moment to consider how you want to structure and plan for successful events, building out a well-planned strategy to deliver measurable ROI. Here are our top tips to plan for the future and set the standard for events to come.

Engage audiences and be inclusive, while getting a better ROI

Engage with new audiences in a way that is larger than ever before — plan for the future by thinking about how your digital or hybrid events can travel even further than previous in-person events. Attending in-person events wasn’t always an option for people, even before this huge shift — from finances and disabilities, to commuting and lack of time, there are a huge number of reasons why attending an event IRL hasn’t been the most convenient option for many. A study by McKinsey found that over half of US consumers “do not expect their routines to return until the latter half of 2021.” But with shrinking budgets and brands looking for less expensive options, you can save a lot on logistics compared to a live experience, without compromising on quality or content. This means a better ROI — you’ll reach more people and have more impressions for a small, incremental amount.

EventXr can facilitate video conferences, Q&As, polls, event forums and chats, and much more to ensure your delegates extract as much value, if not more, as they would have at a physical event. We’ll also make sure that things run smoothly — our feature-rich, fully customisable virtual events platform is capable of handling large numbers and global audiences reliably and securely.

Embrace technology by blending the best of physical with digital

Technology plays a key part in planning successful events. We now have the tools and tech to deliver experiences all over the world, facilitating connections and interactions. Whether it’s getting a great speaker who previously wouldn’t have been able to get to your event due to logistics, or creating personalised schedules for your attendees, consider ways you can reinvent. You can achieve higher degrees of interactivity between presenters and the audience, whether in the room or across the globe. The gamification of any experience is something that has been proven to boost engagement and improve outcomes, so think about the technology you can use to elevate your event and connect remote audiences. Apps and interactive websites can encourage attendees to get involved, and this is something to consider for all future events as engagement and connection are really key.

With a sophisticated gamification engine, EventXr has the tools to help tie delegate engagement to a users dashboard and incentivise users through the platform. There are multiple ways for users to view content listings and speaker/session notes, so it’ll always be a smooth process for them to find and engage with content.

Reevaluate and think outside the box

This is a time to revisit what you were doing before and look at areas that had room for improvement. In short, this is a time for innovation. Experimenting and adapting has happened at great speed, with stats by McKinsey showing that we have “vaulted five years forwards in consumer and business digital adoption in a matter of around eight weeks.” There’s so much scope to be creative, especially with digital or hybrid events, where event platforms can catapult your event into something incredible, interactive and unique — think about how you want your content to be consumed and get creative for optimum success. Explore new, exciting ways to make a splash as you plan for the future.

With our technology at EventXr, creativity and innovation is at the core of what we do. We can completely customise your design and create something fully bespoke, so that everything we do reflects your brand.

Listen to what your attendees want

In a study by Markletic, they found that 71% of event organisers use polling to make sure their audience don’t lose interest, and 59% have gamification strategies to improve audience engagement. Focus on collecting data and looking at this valuable insight when planning your next event — measuring feedback and engagement is crucial for all events, but with in-person events the challenge is measuring active attendee participation. This is where virtual events have a significant advantage. As soon as your delegates use your online platform and its engagement tools to get involved, you can then get real-time feedback to help you understand how things are going and areas for improvement. Use this to measure the overall success of a virtual event and to take key learnings from this. At their core, events are a way to connect with others and learn something new — community, innovation and education are key words to keep in mind.

Once sessions conclude, EventXr has automated post-session evaluations or Q&A’s readily available so you can continue the dialogue more informally and gather feedback to fully assess the performance of each session. We also have a full analytics package available to understand event performance and help optimise future iterations.

Plan for the unexpected

One thing that last year showed us was that we don’t know what’s round the corner, and as much as we might try to plan for things, there are some things that we just can’t plan for. With that in mind, stay agile. Keep learning, exploring and utilising new tools and platforms, so that your next event is current and you’ve planned for a range of possibilities. When we can do in-person events again, does your event have a virtual plan alongside it as a back-up? If you’re planning a virtual event, can you shift this to have some in-person elements if things change closer to the time? Being flexible might mean adding a virtual element to traditional live events or arranging hybrid events where a small number of people can get involved with face-to-face sessions, while the majority of the audience watch and interact via digital platforms.

At EventXr, we’re always looking for ways to elevate and build on the experience, guaranteeing that your virtual event will be on another level. We’re not a one-size fits all solution, and we’re open to feature development and non-standard configurations.

Keep people excited about your event at all stages

By keeping digital front of mind until it’s time to arrive onsite, you can create a long-lasting buzz that ensures people don’t forget about your event or lose interest. Pre-event is where you have the opportunity to encourage social media interactions, create hashtags, give attendees valuable content ahead of the event, and use things like pre-registration and scheduling to get things off the ground. During the event, make sure your platform of choice can track interest, promote sessions, polling, facilitate debates and help to support and enhance social coverage. After the event, the platform should remain a permanent information resource, allowing discussions to continue and distributing key summaries and takeaways. Promoting further conversation and networking after the event is over is a concrete way to keep the event alive.

With our technology at EventXr, we know how to create a buzz pre, during and post the event with a dynamic event homepage that serves as a springboard to the wider content event. We’re also forward compatible — we natively support 3D files to create immersive 3D environments that can be explored and interacted with in AR, VR and on-screen.

We have a solid understanding of how to plan for the future and the most effective way to ensure your events are the best they can be — the points we’ve listed are just some suggestions to consider when sitting down to think about future events. Questions? Suggestions? Want to schedule a demo of the EventXr platform? We’re always happy to continue the conversation or share our learnings if you’d like to reach out. Feel free to get in touch!

Intergalactic is an award-winning Creative Technology Agency, providing services to major brands and projects around the globe. We specialize in creating value for our clients by developing deep solutions that involve multiple mediums to create powerful experiences. Our work includes mobile apps, interactive screens, web development, application design and visualization.

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