During the pandemic, using a virtual event platform quickly became an “escape hatch,” – providing ways for industries, organizations, and teams to quickly come together for everything from weddings and social happy hours to education, team building, and more.
And while the return to in-person events has shifted virtual event platform usage, as the future of work and life takes shape, online events will still be vital for people to gather and connect.
Robin Raskin, the founder of the Virtual Events Group (VEG), says now is the time to re-think how and where you’re using virtual events and event tech platforms. “Besides mainstream events, there are many other uses, from training, onboarding, and internal communications, to education, product showcases, job fairs, and more.”
We chatted with Robin to dig deeper into four additional use cases for virtual event platforms. Let’s take a look.
Internal Communications and Training
“We talk a lot about the pandemic as a prime change driver in the rise of virtual events and platforms, but let’s not overlook younger workforces coming in,” stated Robin. “We’ve seen many cases where these new workforces aren’t attending events but still need training.”
Because employee engagement and effectiveness are critical factors in an organization’s success, using online events for internal communications and training makes sense.
Some of the most common uses of virtual events to support internal communications include:
- Brainstorming sessions
- New employee onboarding
- Training
- Workshops and continuing education
- All-hands meetings or annual summits
- Sales kick-offs
- Social gatherings, like happy hours or team recognition ceremonies
Robin shared, “Because virtual events and platforms are great at elongating the event – what happens before and what happens after – I’ve seen organizations use the opportunity to create transcripts and audio clips from their virtual events to supplement communication and training content.”
Entertainment and Extended Engagement
“At this time, everybody’s so happy to have some semblance of normality. But I think the future of normal will be using virtual events to create experiences and elongated engagements,” said Robin. “One example is Roblox – they’re rocking virtual events in totally new ways, mostly around entertainment.”
For example, last year, Roblox, in partnership with the GRAMMY award-winning duo The Chainsmokers, unveiled an immersive music experience called Festival Tycoon – the first-ever artist-themed experience in the metaverse. The Chainsmokers Concert Experience allowed gamers and fans of electronic and pop music to build their own version of music festivals, including lighting design, pyrotechnics, merch booths, campgrounds, backstage VIP areas, amusement park rides, helipads, and more. Fans were also invited to virtually share the stage with The Chainsmokers and other musical acts and perform in rhythm games to some of the duo’s most popular hits.
It amassed over 20 million visits since the launch and became the all-time, highest-rated concert performance in the history of the Roblox platform.
While most organizations don’t have the resources to put this level of creativity into their virtual events, the Roblox event approach showcases the value of incorporating unique entertainment or engagement opportunities – especially in an ongoing way – to reach and keep larger audiences.
Multi-Purpose Community Groups
“One area that I think virtual events are so good at are intimate experiences,” explained Robin. “You can have your in-person event with tens or even hundreds of thousands of attendees, but the virtual event is where you can have your working groups or reunions.”
Community groups are essential building blocks from both the organizer’s and attendees’ perspectives – and a virtual event can help facilitate those kinds of intimate enrichment experiences in a much more accessible way.
Robin also explained that virtual event platforms give organizers and companies a “multipurpose room” – a way to adapt based on their community’s needs and interests. “One minute, it’s a product showroom; the next, it’s an educational webinar, and then it’s a place for C-suite executives to hang out.”
This kind of event design flexibility only exists in the virtual event space, so use it to your advantage.
“People meet for all sorts of reasons, not just events,” Robin said. “So, how do you broaden your thinking? How do you showcase a new product? How do I train my salespeople?” She continued, “during the pandemic, we were being very narrow, focused on virtual as a substitute for necessary events. Now, we can figure out other ways to use them and bring our communities together.”
Collaborative Spaces
Keeping employees thoroughly and consistently engaged is challenging when everyone is in the same place. The surge in remote work adds further complication.
Hybrid work is ripe for disconnects – especially when employees don’t have regular collaboration opportunities. For example, how do you ensure an equal voice for employees when three people are together in an office and a fourth calls in from home?
Virtual events and platforms featuring live collaboration tools can bring your company together without geographic barriers, travel expenses, or even language differences.
These virtual event tools can help organizations get creative to foster the formal and informal ways team members work together, solve problems, and spur positive change. Using virtual events to encourage more community-based learning and collaboration also helps employees develop new skills by learning from each other – whether during meetings, learning groups, or lunch-and-learns.
These are just a few ways virtual event and event tech platforms have been and will continue to evolve. However, with all the time and resources invested in virtual events, this is just the beginning, according to Robin. “This is such a good time to think big.”
Interested in learning more about Evenium’s virtual event platform? Sign up for a demo.