There is no doubt that in-person meetings and events provide great opportunities for sharing industry knowledge, meeting personally with audiences, and generating leads. But due to covid19 world has changed the way of its works. New technologies and innovations have compelled industries and marketers to shift their businesses and events to digital spaces. Now, more and more marketers or companies, including the event industry, have started to embrace digital tools to stay connected with their audiences. Digital conferences and webinars have emerged as a perfect solution for businesses, marketers, and event organizers to reach their audiences, share information, and increase brand awareness. And, gradually, over time, these have become an integral part of the new normal.
Let us move ahead in the blog and take a closer look at online conferences and webinars.
As discussed above, due to the effect of the pandemic, businesses, irrespective of their industry of origin, have transformed their in-person meetings or events into online conferences or online events. Because of these digital communication tools, connecting audiences all around the globe and bringing them on one platform at a time has become very convenient as well as affordable. It is why traditional events are losing their charm and digital events are gaining momentum.
What are digital conferences?
Digital conferences are online meetings of several attendees. Attendees gather digitally over a digital platform and discuss a specific topic.
In simple words, these are digital versions of in-person conferences.
Digital or virtual or online conferences allow attendees from all over the world to join the live onsite meetings from their devices while sitting at their places. Through specially designed online conference tools or webinar platforms, attendees can quickly and conveniently join the online conference. Just like in in-person conferences, attendees of virtual conferences can also chat, interact, and make connections with others.
Digital conferences are often multi days meetings and may include keynotes and panels. According to us, digital conferences are not only a great alternative to in-person events but are a need or demand of time. Virtual conferences are generally of the following types.
- Video Conferences
- Teleconference
- Web conference
What is a webinar?
Webinars are interactive video sessions that are held digitally usually over a webinar hosting platform. Using a webinar you can transform your business. It provides you the opportunity to share your thoughts, ideas, and knowledge about your brand with the world. Generally, webinars are educational, but nowadays webinars have become a powerful marketing tool. If you want to build brand authority and position yourself as a thought leader, then webinars are your best friend.
There are endless ways of availing benefits of the webinar. Even for internal training of employees, you can use online webinar services.
How do digital conferences and webinars work?
To host a digital conference and a webinar your minimum requirement is an internet-connected device and a webinar hosting platform. Online event platform enables hosts to connect with their audience in real time. Moreover, these platforms also offer several interactive and engaging features like chat, polls, Q&A, networking tables, etc. In addition to this to make discussions or presentations, these platforms let you share your screen, videos, and apps. You can also record the webinar and use it in the future according to your requirement.
Most importantly a webinar platform enables organizers to analyze the performance and track the detailed insight into the event.
Hosting a virtual conference and a webinar requires lots of effort and planning.
Using the right strategies, preparation, and the best webinar platform, you can host a fruitful online event in no time. To attend the digital conference, attendees need to sign up. Upon registration, attendees receive a link and using the link, attendees can join the meeting or event.
Why have these digital events become so necessary to us?
Webinar software helps businesses to broadcast their event over digital space and reach out to thousands of attendees without compromising the quality. That too in a very affordable budget, which is much lower than the budget required for hosting in-person events. These online lets you break the geographical barrier and enable you to connect with the world. Moreover, online events provide ample networking opportunities to attendees as well as to the hosts.
In addition to this webinars are extremely beneficial for businesses of all scales. As it is the most effective way to boost your brand’s identity, generate new leads, and nurture the quality of leads. Without leads, the growth of the business may stunt. So to thrive, it becomes very crucial to invest in a tool that aids you in generating and nurturing leads. From the registration page, you can easily obtain the contact information of attendees and can use it for sales and marketing purposes. While collecting attendees’ information in in-person events is a daunting task.
Furthermore, you can repurpose your webinar content in several ways. You can share the recorded webinar on different online platforms and attract new audiences. You can also display the PPT content as an infographic or convert it into marketing content for social media.
Most importantly, webinars and digital conferences significantly reduce expenses. These eliminate venue costs, travel, meal, accommodation, and set-up costs. Organizers can spend this saving money in increasing their budget for buying the best webinar tool. Webinars need lesser investment in comparison to in-person events and deliver a higher ROI.
Due to these above-stated and other countless benefits of webinars and digital conferences, businesses are constantly shifting to virtual platforms. Not only business, but we are also moving towards digital communication tools. From a simple video conference with our friends and family to functions, which we can attend in-personally, we have adopted these tools. So it would not be wrong to say that digital conferences and webinars have become an integral part of our personal and professional lives. Moreover, these online events are here to stay forever and have become the new normal for all of us.