The supporting data
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The Numbers
While admittedly this is an emerging marketing vehicle, we have interesting data on the over 200 events we have powered for our clients.
We have begun a study on the statistics for virtual events. I will share the preliminary numbers. For each category, we are noticing an upward trend. This trend upwards is because everyone, including Unisfair, is getting better at organizing and promoting virtual events, and attendees are becoming more accustomed to them. I rounded the below numbers to the nearest hundred:
- Average event duration: two live days and then 90 days on demand
- Average registration: 3,300
- Average attendance: 1,600
- Average Attendance time: 2 hours 45 minutes
- Referrals: nearly 10 percent of attendees encourage a colleague to attend the live event
As you can see, virtual event organizers are generating some pretty impressive results. A couple of quick reasons why:
- Rich immersive information available in multiple sessions and multiple tracks draw larger numbers with the "something for everyone" concept.
- Exhibitor booths staffed with live representatives and a variety of information to download make much more information available to attendees.
- Attendance is high because of ease of accessibility.
- The amount of time attendees stay in the live environment is again a function of "so much to see and do."
The Benefits
For the organizer, virtual events are a more economical way to bring thousands of attendees to an event. Fast time to market is also extremely attractive; average time to market with a virtual event for our clients is six weeks. They have launched some as quickly as three weeks.
For the sponsors and exhibitors it delivers all the benefits of a physical event, but is much more economical and easy to attend, and it provides much richer marketing data that leads to better-qualified leads.
Attendees get all the benefits of their top two reasons for attending an event -- gaining information and networking -- without having to spend hours or days traveling.
These live virtual events can remain on demand for an extended period. The live event generates all the buzz, but after it is over all of the content can remain available for ongoing lead generation. This extends the value for the organizer and sponsors.
We are already seeing many companies moving to the concept of a year-round virtual events center. The easiest way to understand this is instead of renting a convention center for a one- or two-day event, you rent the facility for the whole year. You can conduct as many live events as you like and have people come and go the rest of the time. Companies are using this virtual environment to build a community for their prospects, customers, and partners. I will save that discussion for a future article.
Guy Piekarz is president, co-founder and CEO of Unisfair. Read full bio.