It’s tempting to think that, for many organizations, virtual meetings are simply a “make-do” situation driven by pandemic-related restrictions. However, more than a year of regular online meetings has opened many people’s eyes to their benefits – potentially leading virtual conferences to become a permanent feature.
In a poll of over 900 Nature readers, 74% insisted that scientific meetings should stay virtual – whether fully or in part – once the pandemic has run its course. While some people have voiced concerns about virtual conferences, there is also evidence that up-to-date technology could help to rectify these issues.
The pros and cons of virtual conferences
Virtual events have improved the conference landscape
Again, we should look to findings of the scientific community, many members of which have reported being able to attend more meetings recently than in pre-pandemic times. In the above-mentioned poll, 75% of respondents said they had attended multiple virtual meetings since March 2020. It’s unsurprising, then, that 49% of respondents cited increased accessibility as their number-one reason to take advantage of virtual – rather than in-person – conferences.
There’s also anecdotal evidence of how readily this accessibility is appreciated outside of the scientific community. Anne Mitchell Whisnant, director of the North Carolina-based Duke University’s Graduate Liberal Studies Program, had previously been unable to attend the American Association of State and Local History’s annual conference because it was usually held in September, clashing with the start of the academic year.
However, when the conference was moved online in 2020, Whisnant was finally able to take part. “It provided a way to participate and do a variety of things other than listening to one presentation after another and another,” Whisnant enthuses in an article on the Duke University website.
What is the biggest drawback of virtual conferences?
It looks like virtual conferences can more than slightly hamper attendees’ attempts to forge new contacts at the event. In the Nature poll, 69% of respondents said “poor networking opportunities” were the largest disadvantage of virtual conferences, well ahead of “time-zone differences” on 12%.
One persistent problem is the lack of impromptu interactions at online or virtual events, but conference organizers have sought to implement workarounds to overcome difficulties with online networking. These measures have included formal mentorship schemes and virtual ‘lobbies’ where people can meet between sessions. In an article for Silicon Valley Business Journal, marketing expert Jim Kruger acknowledges: “It’s human nature to want to build relationships and meet in person.” For this reason, he does not necessarily think in-person events will disappear entirely – but he does have a few pieces of advice for how a lot of the potential arising from virtual conferences can be fulfilled.
How can you make the most of virtual conferences?
Kruger advises that you keep your own virtual conferences’ sessions no longer than 30 minutes each, with just two or three speakers per session to make it feel more like a conversation than a presentation. You could also add some gamification challenges; ON24’s Virtual Conference platform would make this easy for you while remaining intuitive for your conference’s attendees to use, too.
Create haptics!
The virtual world cannot do one thing: create real closeness to the speaker and the event. In order to still give the virtual format a real touch and feel, we recommend that you hand out conference material via email after the webinar. The participant has the opportunity to take the insights home with them in the truest sense of the word and is also confronted with the company after the web conference.
Boost lead generation with video recording
Even after the web conference, the potential is not yet fully exhausted. Since the web conference is usually recorded, you can use the recording wonderfully for lead generation. For example, make it available behind a lead hurdle so that contact details must be exchanged for access. A snippet provides the necessary teaser.
Both in and before the conference, you should focus on engagement.
The main thing here is: More storytelling! Storytelling charges the content emotionally and creates expectations. So you can already play with the surprise effect and longings during your doctorate. If you cleverly link your webinar and the brand behind it with an inspiring story with expectations and challenges, you will build a promise behind the webinar.
Before the web conference: For real user engagement, the participant has to be actively involved. This also applies to the doctoral phase. Here you can already publish questions or obtain opinions in order to give the user the opportunity to help shape the web conference in advance. For example, ask the community who they would like to see as experts in the web conference. If you tag the person available for selection, the range is multiplied here.
During the web conference: There are also various options for increasing user engagement in the virtual conference or in the meeting itself. Most platforms and tools usually offer surveys that are taken during the web conference and the results of which can be taken up . The presentation part can even be interrupted for questions in order to keep the participant on the ball and not make him wait until the end and in the worst case lose it. In addition, you can define a specific channel in advance that enables the exchange in real time.
For example, communicate using a hashtag that you and viewers can use on Twitter. Certain requests give the participants the feeling of communicating on an equal footing and being taken seriously. By including their opinion, the participants can distinguish themselves and position themselves as experts in their network. Such requests can be:
“Post three trends that you think are important” or
“Post advantages and disadvantages …”
