Virtual, Face-to-Face or Hybrid Events.
Which Is Best?
When planning or attending a professional event, the goal is always the same – to engage your audience through educating & informing them in the hopes of gaining a new partnership that both parties can benefit from. Traditionally, in-person events have been the best way to accomplish these goals, but in today’s world there are several different types of events you can host, sponsor or attend:
- Virtual – Guests take part in the event by “checking-in” online.
- Live – Attendees travel to the event & attend in-person & on-location.
- Hybrid – Attendance is split between online & in-person.
With each event approach providing its own unique benefits, how do you know which approach is the best for your organization?
Here’s a quick guide to help you determine which type of event is right for you. If you have any questions after reading this, please feel free to contact one of our Event Experts here at Captello.
Virtual Events
As businesses and governments look to tackle the unique challenges that have presented themselves in the past few months, there has been a renewed focus in digital alternatives to events, namely virtual events. While we believe there is no replacement for the benefits of face-to-face events, virtual events do provide several perks. These include the following:
- Faster turnaround – Your potential leads can connect with sales reps immediately via chat or video conferencing during the event. Reps can enter their lead’s information, notes & more directly into the CRM during their conversation with the lead.
- Lower cost – Save money on travel, booth set-up fees, merchandise & more.
- Broader reach – Due to budgetary reductions & a longer run-time, virtual events are easier to attend. This could potentially mean more exposure to additional contacts who would not previously be able to attend traditional in person events.
Live Events
As mentioned above, we believe F2F Trade Shows are going to bring the highest quality leads for your organization. The following are several reasons:
Have you ever heard the saying, “Products don’t sell; people sell”?
No matter what industry you are working in, this rule remains the same. Humans crave relationships and making new connections.
It is impossible to find a replacement for the opportunity to build & nourish relationships with face-to-face interaction. Body language is a huge factor in communication with no other medium to replace it in the same effective way.
Hybrid Events
This is a newer trade show opportunity that is gaining in popularity as the world is slowly opening back up. The ultimate goal of a hybrid event is to tie in the biggest benefits of both virtual & in in person events.
Hybrid events allow attendees to participate from wherever they happen to be – either in-person or online – offering everyone flexibility & convenience regardless of geography.
Which event type is right for you?
As seen above, there are pros & cons to each type of event. The facts laid out are designed to help you decide which event type is advantageous & which you should perhaps take a step back from. If you would like to get free, expert advice on which format might work best for your organization, you’re invited to reach out to the Captello Events Team for a free, no obligation consultation on best practices for both in-person and virtual events. Our goal is to help our partners increase ROI through enhanced Lead Management at thousands of live, virtual and hybrid events every year. Reach out & we will be more than happy to share our experience with you.
Captello provides cloud-based marketing and sales automation solutions that help businesses worldwide attract, convert and close leads.
Lead capture enthusiasts, such as trade show coordinators, retail marketers, and event marketers directly benefit from improved lead retrieval workflow, in particular, being able to send marketing qualified leads to an endless array of CRM and marketing automation platforms. The solution empowers enthusiasts to do their job better by effectively measuring results, capturing crucial sales insights, and supercharging their organization with a seamless lead flow process from capture to close.
