Virtual Event Technology: Revolutionizing the Way We Connect and Collaborate

Are you or your business looking to jump into the emerging world of virtual events? Then you’ll need to know a bit about virtual event technology. We hope that this post will be interesting and informative both for those familiar with the virtual event field and those taking their first steps into virtual events and exploring the technology they entail.

What is virtual event technology?

At the most basic, virtual event technology is the tools, systems, and software you’ll use to make virtual events happen. Numerous aspects of technology can fall under this overall umbrella, but we hope to walk you through the proverbial nuts and bolts. Often what’s being referred to is a virtual event platform, however, we’ll explore various technology components and solutions further on.

Your “minimum technology stack” for a virtual event is an internet-connected device with a camera and microphone and a video conferencing tool software installed. But to provide a more engaging and immersive experience, most organizations who put on virtual events are upping their technology game.

Types of virtual event technologies

Live streaming tools: Video streaming is the backbone of virtual event technology (unless you want to count “the internet” as mandatory infrastructure). Without some type of video calling or conferencing app, virtual events would not be possible. However, that doesn’t mean any video tool will do.

Event planning tools: Planning a virtual event looks different than planning for in-person, however tools for work management and team communication still have their role. Project management software can keep track of activity that has been taken and is still pending to get your virtual event set up. Better still if this technology is bundled with your virtual event platform!

Event websites: A website is a necessary component for announcing your brand, business, or event’s presence. This is the simplest event management and promotion tool you can use to reach out to your audience. When connected with your event platform even a temporarily set event webpage also delivers information such as event date and time plus track and session details, how to register and (virtually) attend, related media, and more.

Real-time communication & social media integration: Social media is an essential part of marketing and communication, and in virtual events, it’s no exception. Technology tools can integrate real-time social feed into your event, as well as collect and curate content for a feed that’s shared around and/or during the event.

Online registration: If there’s no way to register to attend an event, then what you have is an open livestream with no integrated way to charge admission or analyze attendance and attendee data (other than the broadest web metrics). Enabling a simple and easy virtual event registration process is how you get maximum participation and the most useful event data.

Benefits of types of virtual event technologies

The specific virtual event technologies you choose to use in your event will very much affect the feel, tone, and branding of the event.

For example, as we outlined above using an integrated registration process you’re tying attendee data and payment together with your event platform. In some cases, virtual registration also grants the ability to streamline the registration process, provide virtual or hybrid badges and other registrant benefits, and connect data and marketing.

Likewise, real-time communication tools and the ability to include and navigate virtual spaces are the key factors that differentiate a true virtual event from just dropping in on a live stream. Just like an in-person event, maybe the keynote has sparked a conversation with one of your fellow attendees, or perhaps you’re not enthusiastic about the current content being delivered in the main conference room but you’d love to step over into the vendor hall.

Crucially, virtual event technology is also beneficial to the business or org putting the event on –easing your workload, enabling effective planning, plugging you into data and monetization possibilities, and providing insights to learn from.

Key features and functionalities for modern virtual events

Virtual events platforms: The foundation your event rests on. Platforms better suited to virtual events are designed for dynamically sharing screens, allowing attendees to interact with one another, and hold back-and-forth conversations with the speaker. They will likely incorporate some or all the features below.

• Customization: Customization features integrate your company branding and messaging through the event to make it truly “yours.” This can include customizable email tools, branding for event rooms, and tools for creating a branded event website.

• Video tools: Your virtual event can encompass more than just a live broadcast stream or a conference call. Platforms featuring advanced video tools can also offer recording features for archiving and reusing content, on-demand playback for use during the event or to revisit after the live portion ends and even editing tools.

• Networking & engagement: Features like real-time chatting/group chat, and messaging; Q&A; live polls; surveys for feedback. All of these get attendees communicating with one another and engaged with your event.

• Automation: Automation features save time for event planners. When a platform’s systems and processes are automated it can also speed up event creation. Note how the backend functions when choosing a virtual event platform and ask questions such as “Can uploads and event page creation be automated?”

• Software integrations: Easy integration with event management software will enable you to efficiently, plan, market, and manage your event. When used together your platform and event management software can save time and money by storing data centrally and managing many details for you.

• Monetization: If you’re hoping to make money from your event above and beyond an admission fee, monetization features are key. With the proper features available, planners can create ads and hotspots linking to spaces in the virtual event or to event sponsors or include sponsorship spaces.

• Analytics & Reporting: Data is the key to your event’s success. The best quality analytical features will give insights into all aspects of the event. Particularly, it should give you a full 360 view of your attendees, their interests, and their engagement with the event. Additional reporting features like metrics dashboards can track overall data like ROI.

Enhancing engagement through virtual event technology

A video conferencing tool is not equipped with all you need to keep event attendees engaged–it’s going to be the special features available on virtual event platforms that will make your event shine. Particularly engagement-boosting technologies will be highly beneficial.

The capacity for interactive sessions (through features like polling, quizzes, and Q&A) allows attendees to feel like part of the conversation. Similarly, more socially interactive spaces such as small-group breakout rooms and virtual networking rooms foster communication.

Virtual event booths can simulate an in-person event experience for attendees, allowing them to engage directly with brands.

Finally, creating a mobile event app when possible can further support engagement and communication, both between the event and attendees and attendee-to-attendee.

3 examples of using technology in virtual events

• Livestreaming and Simulive: Livestreaming is a staple of virtual event technology, and we’re all at least familiar with it. However, Simulive is another clever use of technology–it’s an alternative streaming solution for virtual and hybrid events where content is pre-recorded and scheduled to go live at specific times. This can eliminate some of the challenges posed by relying on a live stream.

• Gamification: Gamification is using your virtual event platform’s engagement tools to insert friendly competition into your event plan. For instance, attendees could get points towards a gift prize for visiting exhibitor booths or participate in a trivia competition to test the retention of information from lectures or webinars.

• Event apps: We’ve mentioned event apps above, and they can be a strong additional component to all types of events, but especially the virtual ones. They essentially perform as an extension of the event platform, giving attendees access. Apps are also excellent for collecting data, retrieving leads, and proving your event’s ROI. Finally, event apps are a foothold in adapting in-person events to be a more hybrid environment.

VR and virtual events

“Virtual events” don’t necessarily need to involve virtual reality–but they can! While the “metaverse” still seems to be a little way out from arriving, virtual reality can increasingly be incorporated at least in some aspects. For instance, some technology conferences have included spaces for socialization or their sponsor brands where attendees can hang out in VR if they have the technology at home. Further innovations could include product demonstrations in 360 video or VR-interactive trade show booths.

Meet Kaltura Virtual Events platform

As experts in the field, we’d also be remiss not to spread the word about our work. We strongly recommend Kaltura Virtual Events as your advanced virtual event platform and technology solution of choice. Kaltura Events ensures any event feels like a fully planned effort. Our mission is to make sure all your virtual events can be on-brand and simple to create and execute. We can provide high-quality video streaming, best-in-class engagement, and interaction features, and a reliable platform from which to launch content and live interactions.

Kaltura Virtual Events is a fully featured virtual event technology platform that helps and facilitates planning stages into execution and follow-ups. During the planning and setup stages of your virtual event, take advantage of our agenda-building capabilities as well as fully customizable landing pages and preset event templates. On a smaller scale, the Interactive Webinar format can be a great option for a standout team meeting. Our templates have robust features for individual modification and are intended to keep you 100% on-brand, as well as make it possible to scale up and add tracks and content.

Kaltura Virtual Events also features out-of-the-box integrations as a modular framework for SaaS tools including conferencing clients, marketing automation platforms, and data analytics. Automation features empower your event to create personalized, customized, and automated live marketing that’s on track for follow-up campaigns. For more intimate virtual events, we enable hyper-personalization for all attendees, including personalized agendas, selecting topics of interest during registration, content recommendations, customizable layouts, personal media collections, and other options to significantly individualize their virtual event experience.

In Summary

To conclude, you can probably see that there would be no virtual events without virtual event technology! That’s intended as a joke, but, it’s worth bearing in mind that there are multiple moving parts to virtual events, and many different functionalities of virtual event platforms to consider. We hope this article has been an effective primer in understanding what apps, software, platforms, and hardware will mean to your virtual event, and guides you on a journey to learn more about what technology tools you’ll need to get the most out of virtual events for your business or organization.