Friends are watching movies together from thousands of miles away. This has some fantastic implications for your event attendees and those who are following the excitement at home. They no longer have to be mere voyeurs but can join in. Link up people online for stronger connections: Use live degree video what many refer to as VR to connect remote audiences.
Give them the opportunity to attend an event together in order to bolster buying online-only tickets. Create content for sharing. YouTubers make a living out of commentary on videos.
Their commentary becomes additional content and a way to enjoy a video or event. You can use industry influencers for play-by-play commentary on your events, creating a secondary event and additional content in the process. Develop tracks for niche interests at your event.
They could attend meetups and the hallway track by being able to select from in-person led experiences not just watching sessions. Use voice to drive engagement: Look into ways for your voice tech to perform actions. Be proactive in your voice assistance.
Link the ability to read badges with your chatbot or voice assistant so it has all the information about the attendee it needs to be helpful.
Traverse the communication gap: Incorporate AI-powered live interpretation and closed captioning for live streamed sessions to enable international attendees to access the content. When possible — especially for on-demand content — review translations to check for accuracy and make any necessary changes. Interpretations powered by machine learning will be able to remember specific preferences and apply them to future translations.
More Investment in Eventtech Throughout , there have been various rounds of funding for virtual tech tools, and event professionals have become slightly more accustomed to investing in virtual event technology. There are many reasons this could be the case, but the most likely explanation is that, as more organizations reconcile themselves to virtual events and as planners face Zoom fatigue on the part of their attendees, they are having to step up their virtual offering to compete and generate a good ROI.
In any case, event tech providers will need to keep this in mind in order to target the right markets, and may need to work more to prove their value and justify their price tag as they cater to the higher cost tiers — particularly where revenue generation is concerned.
Audio to Combat Zoom Fatigue Zoom fatigue and platforms like Clubhouse are spurring a new way of hosting your events: audio-only. Plan content in a way that accommodates all audiences. Having substantial visual references may alienate the audience listening in.
Offering an audio-only stream is key to optimizing background playback. Offer event podcasts. Your event podcasts should be optimized for major consumption platforms. Virtual Tech Is Still Far Off From Delivering Live Event Experiences The biggest frustration of event professionals using virtual event tech is the inability of current platforms to match live engagement.
Choosing Operational Efficiency We have always strongly advocated against the use of tech to impress. What will these hybrid events look like? M ore TV show, less conference. We can expect events to morph into the TV show format: live speakers or performers, a limited live audience, and a strong tech infrastructure, and increasingly competitive production quality. AV support, technology, and incredibly fast internet speed will replace former priorities like square footage.
Nimble AV teams able to deliver both live and online events will re-shape the current AV market, whereas food at live events may be skipped altogether to avoid unnecessary risk. Two experiences. Event content reset. Shorter sessions will prevail.
Facial Recognition for Contactless Check-In Once Events Return Facial recognition is still a relatively new and evolving technology, and it has recently been spilling over into the event industry in the form of check-in tools. Engagement Remains Top Challenge for Virtual Events In our State of the Event Industry report, respondents had to choose the single biggest challenge of pivoting to virtual. It wasn't even close — engagement clearly remains the top challenge.
Gamification Drives Desired Action Gamification is still one of the favorite and most enjoyable ways to drive the desired action among attendees. Virtual Experience Scale Up Even those who have done virtual events before January have never experienced the demand and depth we witness these days. Zoom remains the primary layer to run virtual events. Internal events and those events in need of a quick transition to virtual continue to prefer this platform for its reliability and easy-to-use interface.
Virtual event technology. Production support. About a fifth of event professionals rely on their virtual tech provider for AV and production support, and these teams are taking on the role of AV companies and producing the full event. Self-serve production platforms. Tools that more or less one-dimensionally enhance the production value of live streams will soon be cannibalized by virtual event technology platforms.
High production companies. Events are happening with increasingly sophisticated levels of production. As travel restrictions ease, TV studios and virtual venues are popping up. Tech Proficiency on the Rise For all of the challenges and hardships brought on by the pandemic, increase in tech knowledge seems to be a silver lining. A New Role is Emerging: AV Producer Virtual and hybrid events require a completely different skill set to what traditional event planners may possess.
Event experience is the focus for most event planners. But coming up with innovative ideas can be taxing, especially with all the organization and marketing required.
Here is what the new hierarchy of attendee needs looks like: Improve Your Event EQ: Mindfulness, Wellness and CSR Corporate Social Responsibility While these concepts have been around for quite some time, they are moving up into more prominent and consistent positions at events because they are on the mind of your attendees. Embrace Brain-Friendly Mindfulness: Add brain-friendly foods to your menu. Start each day of your event with a mindful minute. Incorporate mental health seminars and discussions at your conference.
Offer quick chair massages after a morning of sitting in sessions. Encourage movement through fun play or outdoor adventures. Play up Corporate Social Responsibility CSR Host a volunteer activity for a local organization that aligns with your values at your event.
Make sure you include your sponsors in the fun. Give them a chance to participate too and build some good PR for themselves. Report back on the impact in your closing event session. Did you feed 2, people? Did you clothe 10 families? Whichever way you impacted the community make sure your attendees know how they helped. Create an Effective Hybrid Experience When it comes to hybrid events, Corey McCarthy, CMO of Socio, shared that virtual and hybrid platforms really become the main venue, and event design needs to focus on bringing the live and remote experiences together in one space as much as possible.
Safety First for Live and Hybrid Events No question that in , the way we evaluate whether or not to attend events will be dictated by safety. Therefore, the reputation of event brands will be built on health and safety: Social distancing at all times, and especially indoors Mask wearing at all times Seated, socially distanced, and potentially staggered meal times Ventilation that is up to date Sanitation and separation by plexiglass and other types of dividing materials The use of counselors or stewards to direct attendees and force compliance with the rules at all times Onsite testing and event bubbles Events that have these in place will have an advantage compared to those that do not.
Testing is important not just onsite, but for multiple days before and after. Making Money with Virtual Events If you want to host a secure version of your event without having to consider social distancing, testing, tracing, sanitizing, crazy traveling, and the possibility of being sued, virtual events are the only option. Here are some of the key considerations for the future of virtual revenue generation: Use a subscription model for ticketed events. As Netflix does with shows, planners should deal with events.
Bundling creates more value than selling tickets for individual events. Build a community. Reward live attendance. The promise of the kind of engagement that only events can offer materializes only when attendees are participating live.
Catching up on demand cannot be the default option. Live attendance should be rewarded with a free ticket if you do free ; on-demand content should be paid for. Offer better content on demand. Those planning to upsell on-demand need to up their content game.
The content has to be packaged in a better way. It cannot be a four-hour video to watch without cues. Break down the video per session, add notes, offer different media formats, and include audio-only access.
Redefining Virtual Event Engagement Event professionals concur that engagement is the number one challenge they have with virtual events. Use Neuroscience Persuasion at Events Neuroscience has entered marketing and now events.
Become more persuasive for greater success: Build consensus. Instead of asking people to do something, tell them how many of their peers are already doing it. Use movement to improve event energy. Sitting is the new smoking.
Set a goal to get your participants to move around for 2 minutes every They will be more focused, more energized, more alive! An attendee who takes ownership of the materials will retain more and be able to retrieve it. Provide time for reflection, small group discussions and building a hive mind. Create a safe environment for everyone: Draft a code of conduct. Discourage unwanted behavior by creating policies outlining inappropriate behavior, channels to report issues, and protocol for staff on how to deal with allegations.
Be specific about how the code will be enforced. Attendees need to know that they are valued and can expect to stay safe. Your code of conduct should be communicated and visible and adapted specifically for each event.
Limit alcohol consumption. Excessive alcohol can play a factor in inappropriate behavior. Because of this, some event planners are deciding to remove free bar service from their events, while others are regulating and managing it differently. This can be a drastic change to the event experience, particularly if this is an established annual event. Loyal attendees may question the change in alcohol policy. If you want to continue offering drinks consider changing the open bar to something like servers distributing the drinks to control the flow.
Or stipulate a drink limit per guest or voucher system. Provide a safe environment by banning offenders. Be aware of who is attending your event. If someone has a history of sexual harassment complaints against them or has been known to display inappropriate behavior, track this and ensure they are not allowed to attend in the future. Share intelligence with the event industry or specific sectors on serious allegations. If a guest is acting inappropriately at your event and you shut them down, they may move onto the next.
Be part of the solution, not just the conversation: Build support for a movement by empowering attendees to spread the mission of the organization.
Use the event to advertise, support, and promote an external message and movement. Give attendees an easy task to help with a larger movement. Whatever you decide, be specific about the impact it is making. Break a record. Maybe your undertaking is something you want to accomplish on a large scale. In that case, consider involving the Guinness World Records folks to raise awareness by breaking a record, creating a spectacle, and having fun. Create an experience worth attending in-person: This could be as simple as attempting to break a Guinness World Record even a very silly one.
Make sure to leverage the magic of the destination to create an immersive experience so the audience will want to be here rather than at home. Make the audience part of the show. The live audience is a secret weapon when creating engaging content. If your budget allows, have a camera dedicated to capturing the reactions from the crowd in the room.
The opportunity to be part of the show is also a great differential between in-person and virtual attendees. The 3 most important ways to measure the success of a live event experience. Empower Attendees to Be Heroes with a Conference that Cares Event planners are responsible for finding the specific, unique qualities that unify delegates into tribes.
Create an ethos of caring: Maintain and provide updates on the work you did in the community at your event. People cared enough on the day of the event, they will continue to keep caring with periodic updates. It also provides you with a reason to stay in touch. Add conference programming that addresses the challenges and opportunities from the local perspective. Sessions about solutions to such challenges e. Organize a relevant trip into the local area to allow attendees to witness firsthand the local culture, the difficulties and the work being done to address it.
Create a Sense of Place The best event designs play into our sense of belonging. Make them want to be a part of your group: Encourage diversity by awarding discounts based on how far an attendee travels to attend your event. This helps them offset the cost and it helps you bring in attendees with different life experiences allowing them to network with one another and expand their tribe.
The first are this price, the next slightly higher, and so forth. This will cause everyone on staff to provide a top-notch experience at all times. If you do this, make sure you draft participation stipulations ahead of time. Show them the comforts of home: Select music that makes them feel at home. Music anchors emotion and can be nostalgic so use it to set the scene and control energy levels.
Use voice assistants. This tech is everywhere and most of us are used to it. If your attendees have to go without voice assistance, they will notice and likely complain. A lot of attendees are doing Whole30 and Paleo diets. Some people are vegan. Others have a gluten intolerance. Providing a variety of food choices will make them feel more at home and as if you have their best interest in mind. Inclusion 2. Use our Black Event Business Directory.
EventMB has always been committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Use our growing directory to source Black event partners in your region or city. Reach out to Black professional communities. Name the challenges. Find solutions: Use past experiences to understand future scenarios and challenges for the industry.
Get in front of the challenges in order to create viable solutions. Responding to something in a reactive climate does not generate the most successful outcomes. Keep a good sense of humor in dealing with the challenges.
Use it as inventive to master them. These are not problems. They are challenges and can be overcome, making your group the better for addressing them. Measurable Value is ROI King With more marketing budgets being allocated to events and a corresponding access to better automation and marketing tools, the accountability standards for planning teams are going up.
The lack of delivery on your promise may make your event memorable in the wrong way. Do your research on what other event planners are doing in your area, industry, and type of event. Then expand on that. Take their idea and make it scary.
Call upon your audience to do something. Ask them to add their intentions for what they want to get out of the event. Do so in a visual way, like asking them to write it down and post it to a wall or tuck it into a Chinese lantern and set the night sky aglow with them.
Do something big. Have a design component, display, food, or some other part of your event larger than life. These types of things make great photo ops and people will wonder what will be in store for everyone next year.
Open Labs for Extraordinary Labs create extraordinary experiences and fuel innovation. Transform the lives of your attendees: Set the stage from the moment your attendees arrive. This is often a missed opportunity as most event planners wait for everyone to gather at the first session or opening keynote. Instead, make an impression the moment they arrive at the venue or if many are coming in from out-of-town, the first impression begins at the airport.
Make it visual. Never miss an opportunity for incorporating visuals because they evoke emotion and are easily shared without context. Use photo ops. Pass out sketchbooks. Hold contests for best visuals. Anything to get people sharing images. Images will help others get a view into your event and bring it to life for them regardless of where they are.
Map out the attendee experience by creating a mind map. Using this tool for brainstorming can help you plan your event from an attendee perspective. As you sketch it out, ask yourself where the attendee would go next. What will be the next experience? What do you want it to be and what would you like it to be? Asking these two questions can help you see where it is versus where you would like it to be.
Then you can begin planning how you will close that gap. Creating Illusion Curiosity is a natural action driver whether in life or at events. Harness the power of the unknown: Host a secret speakeasy as part of an evening activity at your event.
Tell a few people and watch it spread like wildfire. Create a world for attendees to enter for an evening. Escape rooms and murder mystery dinners use this type of pretending to draw a crowd. Leave an element of your event as a mystery until the last minute. Some secret dining events keep the venue as a last-minute reveal for extra excitement. Attendees purchase tickets without knowing where it will be. But believe us, it draws a lot of conversation before and after the reveal.
Market Small Events as Microexperiences As we redefine the event industry for , the concept of planning large events in exotic locations will change dramatically in the scale of how these experiences will be planned.
So what are some of the trends in event venues you need to be aware of? Sustainability Is Not Optional The events industry cannot ignore the growing movement for greater environmental accountability, and many venues have become Smart in how they support sustainable design. Come up with a catchy, snappy tagline. Keep it short and sweet; the average product needs no more than six or seven words. If you say it out loud and it sounds like a mouthful, edit it down. Clean it with Orbit chewing gum!
Make it memorable. Your message needs to be top of mind at the consumer's point of purchase. If they feel good about your brand, you've done your job. Startling the reader into paying attention is especially useful if you have a lot to say.
Know how to walk the line between controversial and entertaining. Pushing the limits of good taste to help your ad grab attention is common practice, but don't go too far — you want your product to be recognized on its own merits, not because it was tied to a tasteless advertisement.
Use a persuasive technique. Note that persuasion doesn't really mean "convincing. For most people, how they feel determines what they buy. Here are some tried and true methods that advertisers rely on to make their ads stick. People often have to hear your name many times before they even know that they heard it Jingles are one way to do this, but can also be annoying. Common sense : Challenging the consumer to think of a good reason why not to purchase a product or service.
Humor : Making the consumer laugh, thereby making yourself more likeable and memorable. This pairs especially well with refreshing honesty. Not the most successful business in your class? Advertise that your lines are shorter. Exigency : Convincing the customer that time is of the essence.
Appeal to the target audience. Take note of your target audience's age group, income level, and special interests.
Check in with your audience often to see how they are responding. Even if you have created the best ad ever, it won't be effective if it won't appeal to the people buying your product.
For example: Kids tend to be over-stimulated, so you will need to grab their attention on multiple levels, with color, sound, and imagery. Young adults appreciate humor and tend to respond to trendiness and peer influence.
Adults will be more discerning and respond to quality, sophisticated humor, and value. Find a way to connect the desires of consumers to what you're advertising. Check back in with your strategy here. Make sure you are focusing on the most appealing aspect of your product. Why should it entice people? What sets it apart from other similar products? What do you like best about it? These can all be good starting points for an advertisement. Are you selling something that people would buy in order to feel better about their social or economic status?
For instance, you might be selling tickets to a benefit gala that is designed to feel elegant and luxurious, even if the ticket price is well below what most wealthy people would be able to pay. If you are selling an inspirational product, try to make your advertisement exude an air of indulgence.
Determine whether or not your product is for practical means. If you're selling something like a vacuum cleaner, designed to perform common tasks or make life easier for the consumer, spin it in a different direction. Instead of emphasizing luxury, focus on how the product or event will provide relaxation and peace of mind to your consumer. Is there an unmet desire or need, any frustration in the mind of your consumer, that will create a market for your particular product?
Assess the need gap that exists for the product or service. Make sure all the relevant information is included. If your consumer needs to know your location, phone number, or website or all three in order to have access to your product, provide this information somewhere in the ad.
If you're advertising an event, include the location, date, time and ticket price. What should the consumer do immediately after viewing the ad? Be sure to let them know! Decide where and when to advertise. If you're advertising for an event, start promoting it at least 6 to 8 weeks beforehand if it's going to accommodate more than people; if it's less than that, start advertising 3 to 4 weeks ahead.
If you're advertising a product, think about the time of year when people are more apt to buy what you're selling. Part 3. Choose a memorable image. Simple but unexpected is often the best route to take. Distinguish yourself from your top competitor s. For example, this Burger King ad mocks the size of the Big Mac while speaking the literal truth: that is a Big Mac box, after all, leaving McDonald's no legal ground from which to retaliate.
Design a business logo optional. A picture says a thousand words, and if a logo is effective enough, it can render text unnecessary the backwards Nike checkmark, the Apple bitten apple, the McDonald's arches, the Chevron shell. But be sure to use these sparingly or they'll lose their value. When transitioning between slides, speakers, or even sessions, don't waste the opportunity to include sponsored branding.
During presentations, you could add branded slides with logos, and if the sponsor is also a speaker, be sure to also include a headshot and sales contact. Put up full screen ads thanking your sponsors during breaks, and for intermissions, consider rotating between several ads.
In general, keep text to a minimum and emphasize value — product images are always a good bet. In addition to the content of the slide that you'll be including, be sure to also negotiate the amount of time that it will be up for.
Tying your sponsorship to engagement is a great way to make sure people are paying attention to the brand and getting maximum exposure. Event apps can greatly help with this as many include gamification features that can be used in a virtual environment.
These can include icebreaker challenges in which points are allotted for connections made or scavenger hunts and quizzes in which points are allotted for finding information among others. Whether you have a long history of fostering CSR initiatives or have shied away from them in the past, there is no better time to use cause marketing to partner with a sponsor and create a message that resonates with your audience. Use the event to promote positive social change with sponsorship dollars.
For example, instead of sponsoring the planting of trees, you could suggest that your sponsor donate a certain number of masks to a local hospital or support food banks or accommodations for the most vulnerable groups.
Look for relevant organizations that you can donate to and encourage attendees to get involved as well. There exists such a thing as virtual swag bags, and now is a great time to explore the offerings. One idea is to give your sponsors the opportunity to curate what goes into attendees' swag bags, be it coupons or vouchers, a free trial for a software, or an online course.
The bag would then be shared directly with your attendees for them to access via email, social media, or the event app, either before, during, or following the event.
Giveaways are always a good way to increase engagement with attendees and can be a fun addition to a virtual event. Although it's not quite as simple as handing an attendee their prize, there are virtual goodies you can offer, and there's still the option of mailing physical incentives to attendees following the event. For example, have participants share something about the event on social media using the dedicated event hashtag, or complete certain actions during the event.
Using criteria like these helps increase brand awareness and also works to engage attendees, so it's a win for everyone. Even for an in-person event, we send pre-event emails, but we have onsite reminders for guests to get the most out of their journey. You can send event information and swag, but also items such as. Delivering these directly is key and elevates the overall experience, heightening engagement with your event and the alignment with the brand.
Offering swag to people who register for your event can help boost early registrations for and interest in your event. Everyone loves free stuff, and the promise of a gift can help prompt people to register for your event as well as share the opportunity with their network. Advertise your swag and specify that only a certain number of people will receive it to encourage early registrations.
This approach will also help create buzz for the event as you begin to market it. This is a nice way to acknowledge attendees and ensure that your brand stays top-of-mind a little while longer. A post-event swag bag can include a thank you note, a link to download on-demand content, branded materials, and any information on upcoming events, including a discount if applicable.
One of the best virtual event examples is Adobe's Summit, which was one of the first major virtual events at the beginning of the pandemic. Adobe decided to forego live streams for their recent Summit and went the prerecorded route instead. SEO firm Moz recently opted to do the same, although their on-demand content was monetized. What prerecorded sessions may lack in real-time engagement they make up for in production value, as they benefit from the ability to be edited or enhanced.
This can greatly improve certain speakers' performances. They also eliminate many common challenges of virtual events, such as connectivity issues during the event or people getting bored and tuning out of the live stream.
Exclusive, FOMO-inducing experiences are generally associated with physical events, but Rihanna's new Fenty Skin brand achieved a similar result with its launch over the summer. The launch consisted of a virtual house party in a high-end, immersive environment that attendees could explore and interact in.
This innovative approach made attendees feel like they were at an exclusive, high-end launch party while also learning more about the brand and its products. There was even a virtual dance floor, live chat, and bouncer to add to the experience. Even if you don't have access to a dedicated virtual event platform, you can still create a memorable event environment using a virtual event studio to help with the production side of things.
Fixed — some js and css tweaks. Fixed — Organizer and venue sumbmission page message. Fixed — Some css and js tweaks. Added — URL field type. Fixed — Elementor elements improvements. Fixed — Custom fields improvements at single event page. Fixed — Jquery conflict with listing. Fixed — Some js and css tweaks. Fixed — Category walker with event type dropdown compatiblity. Fixed — Elementor widgets improved.
Fixed — Additional fields with file type improved at single event page. Fixed — Multiple event category and type must be enable only from field editor. Fixed — Timezone field conflict with timezone settings. Fixed — Do not show venue if event is online. Fixed — Organizer pagination. Fixed — WP Editor admin side added in event data. Added — Event dashboard design improved. Fixed — Admin side events table improved.
Fixed — Hardcoded strings improved. Removed — Multiple event category and type settings. Fixed — Date and event type search filter improved. Fixed — Repeated field updated. Fixed — Venue and orgaizer single template improved.
Fixed — Elementor shortcode improved. Translate into your language. View support forum. Donate to this plugin. Have you taken the WordPress Survey yet? Search WordPress. Description WP Event Manager is a lightweight, scalable and full-featured event management plugin for adding event listing functionality to your WordPress site. Multilingual Translation — Internationalized Supported Completely ajaxified for super smooth browsing Add, manage, and categorise event listings using the familiar WordPress UI.
Allow event listers to preview their listing before it goes live. The preview matches the appearance of a live event listing.
Each listing can be tied to an email or website address so that attendees can register to the events. Searches also display RSS links to allow attendees to be alerted to new events matching their search. Allow logged in organizers to view, edit, mark cancelled, or delete their active event listings. Debug Mode for Developers Actively maintained and supported Lots of documentation and tutorials The plugin comes with several shortcodes to output events in various formats, and since its built with Custom Post Types you are free to extend it further through themes.
Documentation Documentation for the core plugin and add-ons can be found on the docs site here. Our popular add-ons include: Pro Add-ons Plugin Features Calendar It will let you display an event calendar that lists the upcoming events on your website. This is the most convenient way to display all your events based on the dates.
Google Maps It will integrate the feature of the search through maps and locations. It also enables proximity search on your website. WooCommerce Sell Tickets Sell tickets for your events and keep track of them. Create multiple event tickets which can be purchased or redeemed during event submission. Requires the WooCommerce plugin. Event Alerts Allow registered users to save their event searches and create alerts which send new events via email daily, weekly or fortnightly.
Only logged in users can bookmarks. User can give an note while bookmark and this note is optional. This embed code can display organizer's event listings wherever they use this code.
Sliders Use owl carousel and other type of sliders for your listings. The sliders are totally responsive.
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