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Virtual conferences and webinars

The pandemic and, therefore, the confinement has made companies have to reinvent themselves and adapt to the new reality. Now that we are starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel, we are finally hopeful that perhaps we can start serving customers in our business. Are we prepared?

Apart from masks, disinfectant alcohol, astronaut suits … there are other measures that can be taken to continue our business. In the case of the education sector, it is clear that face-to-face courses will be on hiatus until further notice, boosting distance courses. For many institutions this is not a problem, since this was part of their program portfolio, so they already had the platform and know-how for this type of program. However, for other sectors this transformation is not so obvious.

How to get the best out of the digital medium for virtual conferences and webinars?

Take the case of one of the most anticipated gastronomic events of the year worldwide, San Sebastian Gastronomika, which this year chose to prepare ahead of time and face the new reality by adapting its annual event to what they called #GastronomikaLive, a great digital gathering for gastronomy professionals with the same concept but in a virtual environment.

Benjamín Lana, president of the Gastronomy division of Vocento comments:

“We have planned a calendar of webinars with fifty of the best chefs in the world, professionals and experts in other subjects who are currently of great interest to the sector. We will promote a global conversation about the future of gastronomy after COVID, but not only that. You have to take advantage of this time to train better, to grow and create. ”

And this is just the beginning, thousands of virtual events will begin to take place that will change the way the sector interacts and consumes content. But all this was already coming. Pandemic or not, the education sector was already exploiting it. Taking advantage of the digital environment to offer training, conferences and other digital content to people from anywhere in the world without limitations.

Whatever your company, the digital environment offers the key tools to be able to sell your product, interact with your customers, offer relevant information and start conversations. 

Virtual conferences and Webinars

Webinars

During the confinement, someone told me that he had just heard about webinars and that it seemed an excellent way to consume information. But the reality is that confinement has made this type of seminars more fashionable in that small part of the population that is not used to consuming this type of content.

Webinars are basically workshops, courses, demonstrations, or online seminars that can be live or recorded (or both). Depending on your goals, it is more interesting that it is live, in order to start a conversation. In marketing terms, webinars are highly effective at any stage of the purchase. 

Webinars can help your comany in:

+ Branding

+ Attract your target audience with highly relevant and value-packed content

+ Generate specific and higher quality leads

+ Build more confidence with value insight

+ Increase your notoriety with differential skills.

Webinars also offer you an infinite number of benefits, so you should consider it as part of your digital marketing strategy.

Some statistics that may interest you about webinars:

+ Webinars retain 40% of viewers’ attention, according to MakeSocialMediaSell.

+ Between 20% and 40% of those who attend a webinar become qualified leads, according to ReadyTalk.

+ Between 2% and 5% of webinar attendees will eventually buy you something, says the Solopreneur.

Virtual Conferences

Will virtual events be able to replace events in person?

While virtual events offer an attractive digital solution without the logistical hassles, they lack the main aspect of networking.

With the new technologies available today, virtual events can be organized with millions of spectators, thus reaching wider audiences through multiple devices. Social networks facilitate the transmission of these events having an almost infinite scope. 

Social media has become an essential channel for events and has redefined the way organizers and attendees interact before, during and after an event. Today, attendees not only interact on the networks, the organizers also share their presentations on their channels. 

What do you need to carry it out?

  1. Event Program. Take advantage of the fact that it will be in an online environment to avoid printing unnecessary documents. 
  2. High quality software / systems. Select a software that meets your needs and has the scope for the number of participants you expect in your event.
  3. Landing pages. Create a striking and informative landing pages about your event so that those interested can register. 
  4. Promotion. Promote your events with time. 
  5. Test. Do the necessary tests to make sure the equipment and software is working smoothly and make sure your presenters do the same.
  6. Backup. Have a backup software or system in case you have technical problems.
  7. Community Manager. Be sure to promote the recommended hashtags and encourage presenters and attendees to share the event as much as possible. With hashtags you can also generate conversation with attendees from anywhere in the world. Have your community manager working with these mentions to be able to involve your followers in the event.
  8. Record y share. Record the broadcast events so that you can publish them on your social networks, web or YouTube.

Looking to the future, virtual conferences and webinars, online classes will continue to rise, both to help in times like those we are living with confinement and to make them more accessible and also more sustainable.

If you choose to include virtual conferences and webinars in your marketing strategy or want to launch a virtual event, you will always need support in preparing and promoting it. From Imagine Hub we are at your disposal to help you publicize your product or services through this interactive promotion tool.

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