Not all virtual event platforms are the same. While many provide good experiences to event attendees, the best virtual event platforms in the game are designed to engage, excite, and deliver memorable events.
If you want to host the best virtual events possible, keep in mind that besides your content and the things you’ll present on the webinar, the next most important thing to enjoy a successful event is selecting the right virtual platform for your needs.
This brief article dives deep into how you can select the right virtual event platform to reach your objectives and goes through the things you need to consider before making your final choice.
How To Choose The Right Virtual Event Platform?
While most virtual event platforms are built with many different features that help with everything from planning to execution, some of them are meant to engage attendees, while others let you design and track your virtual event’s success. Like every other digital product out there, virtual event platforms are different from one another.
Nevertheless, whichever you choose, you should always go with a platform that can curate valuable and differentiated experiences for your attendees and sponsors. Ultimately, the virtual event platform of your choice should help you leave your attendees feeling motivated, excited, and tied to your brand by breathing life into your events or workshops.
Unlike dry webinars that do little to spark attendee participation, the best event platforms in 2023 give online and hybrid events the magic they need. Here are the things you should closely consider before selecting the best virtual event platform for your needs:
Know What Makes The Best Platform For You And Your Attendees
While most platforms act as virtual boxes for attendees to communicate with each other and consume content, we all know how tiresome and frustrating such a meeting can be. Rather than using such a platform, imagine a virtual platform with some ambiance. A vivid, interactive, colorful world that promotes a feeling of collaboration and togetherness.
In that context, the virtual event platform of your choosing should be able to keep people’s attention. For that reason, your final choice should be something with the ability to drive interaction and engagement through:
Networking Options
Virtual events are all about attendees connecting with each other and building meaningful relationships without friction. Therefore, it’s not a mistake to say that networking is the heart of any virtual event.
Check if the platform you’re considering offers virtual spaces like breakout rooms, lounges, and other areas where attendees can move freely and network with other attendees.
Other Interactive Elements
When the audience in a virtual event can raise their hands and join the main stage, comment about what they’re seeing or thinking, or actively participate in a Q&A session, you’ve definitely provided an event that encourages interaction.
Check with the platform vendor about which interactive elements they have included in their product before making the final decision on the platform.
Platform Integrations
Platform integrations are your friend, as they can empower you to track event data, sync registrations, develop and launch more targeted advertising campaigns, hold fundraisers, host sudden pop quizzes, track conversions, add support and security, and help increase your employees’ productivity.
Selecting a virtual event platform that supports platform integrations should be your priority if you run a business that uses external applications and platforms.
Check The Platform’s Scalability
The virtual platform of your choosing should be scalable. Regardless of whether you have 50 or 5,000 attendees, the platform should be able to support your business’s needs. When thinking about scalability, consider scalability in a couple of different ways.
Is the software scalable to the number of viewers/attendees you anticipate having at one of your events in the near future? You definitely don’t want to go with a platform that cannot support the scalability of your business.
Next, can the virtual event platform support multi-speaker sessions, as performance shouldn’t be affected by having multiple users? Finally, check if the platform maintains a welcoming environment for smaller sessions and activities and allows attendees to network.
Privacy And Security
The final considerations when selecting a virtual event platform for your line of work are the matters of privacy and security. Both your employees and attendees trust you to meet and even exceed the organized event’s data and protect it according to all compliance standards.
The best virtual event solutions should adhere to the latest practice around data privacy and security, data protection, infrastructure, and systems availability.
Final Thoughts
Now that you know what makes a really good virtual event platform, the next step is to choose the one that fits your business needs. After all, the platform may be the key to your business’s success, so make sure to go with one that can put engagement, networking, satisfaction, and protection at the forefront of your next virtual event.
