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  • How to Avoid Extra Work When Planning Your Strategic Meetings and Events

    How to Avoid Extra Work When Planning Your Strategic Meetings and Events

    Imagine having to purchase new CRM software each time you needed to launch a marketing campaign. Not only would you have to spend weeks getting the technology vetted, but you’d have to rebuild your customer database, set up new reports, and reconnect your tech stack. The whole idea is ludicrous! Yet, some marketing and events teams do this by investing in different technologies to support their meetings and events. As a result, they create a disconnected experience for attendees and more work for themselves. The best way to avoid extra work when planning your strategic meetings and events is to consolidate all of your events into one fully-featured platform.

    Merge your event data

    With the right platform, you can trade digging through multiple spreadsheets for a quick and easy-to-digest dashboard that combines your cross-event data for you. Having just one platform will help you eliminate silos by sharing data and attendee preferences across your entire event portfolio—and with the right stakeholders. With combined insights, you’ll be able to pivot and improve your strategic meetings and events in real-time.

    Integrate once

    The problem with having multiple technologies is that valuable behavioral data often gets lost in the transition from events to marketing. With just one integration, you’ll seamlessly blend event activity with your digital marketing tech stack to better understand customers, create meaningful communications, and tailor experiences to each individual’s unique needs and preferences. Having fewer integrations means you’ll also minimize potential threats.

    Duplicate and deliver

    Having one platform for all of your strategic meetings and events facilitates a quicker setup and approval. Don’t waste time vetting new technologies for each event. Save your time and effort by investing in an event management platform that has a guided event setup, reusable templates, automated processes, and a simple user interface that will allow your team to focus on strategy and growth.

    Retain your branding

    Control the look and feel of your attendee-facing digital interfaces, including mobile, by building out branding elements in a single place. With one platform to store all of your branding elements, you’ll be able to spin up beautifully-branded events quicker and provide your attendees with a consistent look and feel each time. Branded elements might include webpage templates, emails, form, and more.

    Align stakeholders

    Get all of your stakeholders on the same page with one place to manage meeting budgets, requests, and approvals. You’ll save hours of communicating via email by simply streamlining the process of requesting new meetings. Not every platform will have this functionality, so be sure to look out for those that do.

    Click here to learn more about RainFocus’ Strategic Events Program, which brings together all events—regardless of size for one consistent user and attendee experience.

  • A New Ecosystem: The Future of Physical and Hybrid Events

    A New Ecosystem: The Future of Physical and Hybrid Events

    Events have been evolving and improving over the last eight months in ways nobody could have imagined possible. In that time, virtual events have proven incredibly valuable. It’s time to stop imagining the return to physical events as a full-on pivot and embrace the possibilities of a new hybrid event ecosystem.

    What does a hybrid event ecosystem look like?

    When you think of hybrid events you likely imagine having some virtual sessions and some physical sessions, but these events can be so much more. In an ecosystem, everything grows and interacts together in an interconnected environment—the same can be said of the ideal hybrid event.

    Here’s the breakdown:

    1. Everything is interconnected. A hybrid event ecosystem is not limited to one event. The ecosystem we propose is one in which attendees’ experiences are built upon their history at other events for one cohesive journey.
    2. Everything interacts. In a hybrid event ecosystem, attendees and others can choose their preferred experience while maintaining the opportunity to network and meet with others. Whether they are in the comfort of their home or gathering in a conference hall, attendees enjoy all the experiences of 1:1 meetings, working groups, and more.
    3. Everything grows. One of the greatest advantages of cultivating a hybrid event ecosystem is that you are able to expand your event offering to a larger audience for a longer period of time. When you combine your virtual and physical event data you’ll also grow your understanding of what your attendees’ needs are and be able to make quick decisions in real-time.

    How to create a safe hybrid ecosystem

    In this new world of hybrid delivery, we still have safety concerns to address. Beyond offering virtual engagement as part of your event, you’ll need to strategically plan your onsite experience to ensure attendees are able to socially distance throughout the entire event. The following suggestions will enable you to provide attendees with the safest onsite experience:

    1. Use QR codes to scan attendee badges from further away. QR codes can be distributed virtually or printed on attendee badges which are sent out in advance.
    2. Refer to a scheduling grid to manage flow and ensure that attendees are moving in and out of sessions at different times.
    3. Ask your attendees where they are coming from during registration to determine whether or not they may be at risk.
    4. Schedule cleaning sessions between each session. Consider posting a sign to let attendees know when cleaning is in process.
    5. Use session scanning to track attendees so that you can inform them later if they may have been in contact with someone who was sick.
    6. Eliminate the need for your exhibitors to share devices by requiring them to bring their own devices for lead retrieval.
    7. Autopopulate sessions for attendees to guide them to rooms that have not reached their capacity.
    8. Replace long session lines with waitlisting capabilities and alert attendees when openings are available.

    Whether you have 50 or 150,000 attendees, cultivating a hybrid event ecosystem will ensure that attendees are both safe and able to have their ideal experience. For more information regarding hybrid events visit our hybrid delivery page here.

  • Seven Reasons for Unifying Your 2021 Events with One Platform

    Seven Reasons for Unifying Your 2021 Events with One Platform

    Traditionally conferences, strategic meetings, sales kickoffs, and other types of events have all been run by different departments on varying technologies. This fragmentation greatly limits the number of insights that marketing, events, and sales teams could be utilizing to build pipeline or retain clients. To make matters worse, these teams are now further separating their event data by adopting new technologies to deliver their virtual and hybrid events.

    As you plan your future virtual and hybrid events, consider these key benefits of using one platform for every event in your organization:

    Optimize cross-event insights to guide engagement

    The number one benefit of consolidating every event into one platform is the ability to cross-examine events easily. With all of your attendee info in one place, you will be able to dial in the right types of engagement for each event, whether virtual, physical, or hybrid.

    Demonstrate year-over-year growth and progress

    Downloading, uploading, and updating spreadsheets over and over again to share year-over-year insights with stakeholders takes time, organization, and leaves room for error. With all of your events in one platform, you can easily send one cross-event report without having to copy and paste any information.

    One connection for marketing and sales technology

    Having one platform means you’ll only need one integration with your sales and marketing technologies. By consolidating all of your technologies, you eliminate potential security breaches, simplify measurement, and enhance reporting.

    Upload once and update everywhere

    One of the greatest advantages of having just one platform is the ability to upload spreadsheets once and then use that data anywhere. For example, with RainFocus, data is updated across all of your events the moment you upload a file—ensuring that you have the most relevant information regarding every aspect of your event for each event setup.

    Processes that carry over from event to event

    Online event setup can be the most time-consuming task of planning an event—but with the right platform, you can cut the work in half. A truly unified event platform will enable you to reuse processes for registration, speaker management, exhibitor management, and much more.

    Consistent value despite the format

    Virtual events have opened new opportunities for event professionals to reach a bigger audience and experiment with new forms of engagement. While this experimentation is fun, it will all be for naught if you don’t take what you’ve learned this year and apply it to your future events (whether they are virtual, physical, or hybrid). Virtual engagement has proved too valuable to lay to waste. When it comes time to pivot back to physical events, having one platform that can deliver any type of experience will remain of utmost importance for attendees who prefer to engage online or who cannot attend in person.

    Familiar support and people

    Along with all of these benefits, having one platform means you’ll be working with one team who knows exactly what your requirements are, how your team is structured, and how you can improve upon previous events.

    RainFocus has all of these benefits and more allowing teams to plan long-term but act short-term. In addition to offering the next-generation platform for virtual, physical, and hybrid events, RainFocus is structured to deliver any of the following types of events:

    Annual Conference

    Virtual Events

    International Events

    Sales Kickoffs

    Strategic Meetings

    Roadshows

    Trade Shows

    Click any of the links above to learn how RainFocus optimizes each experience or request a demo to find out how you can combine your cross-departmental event efforts.

  • How to Recreate the Onsite Experience Online

    How to Recreate the Onsite Experience Online

    The question on every event leader’s mind right now seems to be, “How do I engage my virtual attendees?” While virtual events will never truly be a physical experience, there are some clever ways to make them feel as though they are. To recreate a physical experience, it should be tangible, interpersonal, fun, and memorable. We’ve put together ideas around each of these characteristics to help you create the most engaging virtual experience for your attendees.

    Make Your Event Tangible

    A good place to start is by sending your attendees something physical for each day of the event. Whether you package the items up as one big gift box with smaller boxes inside, or you deliver the boxes one by one, giving attendees something tangible is one of the first steps towards recreating an onsite experience. Gift boxes may include badges, treats, workbooks, gift cards (so that your attendees can still ‘dine’ with you), personalized letters, company SWAG, or even cocktail kits.

    Make Your Event Interpersonal

    Above all, to recreate the onsite experience you need to provide your attendees with ways to connect with others. 1:1 meetings, virtual booths, and networking meetings are all great mediums for interpersonal engagement. Attendees are eager to network––all that you have to do is let them know how, when, and where.

    Consider the following ideas for sparking interpersonal engagement:

    • Start conversations well before your event begins by asking questions and highlighting activities on social media.
    • Place CTA buttons such as “schedule meeting,” “visit booth,” and “contact me” on every page of your event website.
    • Send recommendations via email, or better yet, place personalized recommendations on each attendees’ homepage.
    • Organize and market smaller meetings to segmented groups of attendees so that all they have to do is click to join the meeting.
    • Charge money for smaller group sessions. As crazy as it sounds, we’ve found that when organizations charge for their sessions, their attendees are much more likely to actually attend the sessions.

    Make Your Event Fun

    Include gamification in your strategy to increase engagement. The average session attendance for a virtual event is 3.8 sessions. However, over the last few months, we’ve seen companies increase that number by implementing gamification. To entice people to play, offer rewards such as a donation to a charity of the attendee’s choice, gift cards, free services, or keep the game going with virtual raffle tickets/prizes.

    Let’s be realistic though, virtual attendees don’t want to feel confined to their desk. Work breaks into your event as well that will get attendees out of their seats and doing something in their own home for a change.

    Fun breaks to add to your agenda:

    • Offer at-home workout videos
    • Teach a hair-cutting/coloring/styling class
    • Provide cooking classes
    • Send your attendees Bingo cards and then host a live game
    • Arrange a storybook reading for parents and children
    • Host a virtual pet show

    Make Your Event Memorable

    Right now the business world is being oversaturated with virtual experiences. In order to stand out, your event needs to create a lasting impression. Don’t become so overwhelmed by the event setup that you forget to include a little bit of ingenuity. Consider your target audience and what they might enjoy.

    Ways to make your event memorable:

    • A strong slogan – Always seek to have a short powerful theme or statement that can be repeated throughout your event and tied into session content.
    • Surprises – Surprise your attendees with gifts, celebrity speakers/performances, donations, or large announcements.
    • Awards – People long to be recognized for their achievements. Plus, awards can be a physical reminder of your event. Give awards to those who are excellent users of your product, gamification winners, or to respected partners.
    • Take screenshots – Capture photos of your attendees and share them on social media to remind attendees of their experience.
    • Engage the senses – Oftentimes we associate certain songs or scents with memories. Help your attendees remember your event by incorporating music into your videos. Consider the option of hosting a concert. If you offer products that have a scent, send out a uniquely scented product that attendees can always attribute to your event.

    To learn what other companies are doing to create engaging and memorable experiences for their virtual attendees click here

  • The Secret to Our Success

    The Secret to Our Success

    Earlier this month, RainFocus placed 1549 on the Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing companies in America. RainFocus was the only event software company to make the list. When asked what has driven the company’s growth, President and Founder, Doug Baird explained, “The reason we’ve been able to grow at such an amazing rate is the fact that there simply was not a viable solution for optimizing events before RainFocus.”

    We later questioned Doug to find out exactly what he meant by that. Read on for his answers:

    Q. What was event software like when you first began conceptualizing RainFocus?

    A. In a way, the events industry was much like it is today amidst the uncertainty of COVID-19. Companies were using multiple siloed technologies to plan and execute one event and there was no way to accurately measure events because all of the data was separated. We wanted to provide event professionals with just one solution that would house all of their data while enabling them to confidently build, manage, and deliver all of their events.

    Q. What makes RainFocus the only viable solution for optimizing events?

    A. A fantastic team, industry-changing technology, and collaborative investment partners. The people we work with are outstanding. Having a whole team that is able to think with the future in mind has allowed us to create the ideal event ecosystem where attendees, exhibitors, and industry leaders can all interact and grow together. With RainFocus, everything is connected. Our innovative software has empowered marketing and event teams to work together in a way that nobody could have dreamed about ten years ago.

    Q. How does RainFocus drive alignment between marketing and events teams?

    A. Marketing teams generally have a strong focus on proving ROI but struggle to find the most qualified prospects. Meanwhile, events teams work with the company’s most qualified prospects but lack the tools to really measure ROI. The RainFocus Platform solves both of these problems by offering both teams a shared view of behavioral data. Once companies realize that they can achieve and measure their business goals with RainFocus, whether it’s increasing the pipeline or something as simple as generating brand awareness, they are eager to sign on.

    Q. How has RainFocus adapted to COVID-19? What are the major product enhancements?

    A. We did have to make some changes to our product and tweak our sales messaging, but we didn’t have to change our culture and underlying business operations. We’re at the epicenter of industries affected, and yet we’re still making enormous progress because of the foundation that was laid before COVID hit. From the very beginning we’ve benefited from revolutionary thinkers.

    Much of what we had built out previous to COVID-19 has easily translated to virtual. The ability to personalize an event, manage registration and speakers, and our powerful data foundation all remained the same—regardless of delivery format. The biggest changes have been implementing new ways for exhibitors to engage with attendees online and upgrading our attendee-facing Event Portal to provide the best virtual experience possible.

    As we continue to grow, we look forward to continuing to work with the best and brightest minds in the industry. We’d like to extend a large thank you to all of our customers, partners, and employees for helping us achieve such exceptional growth. To read the full Inc. 5000 press release click here.

  • How to Get The Most Out of Your Virtual Sales Kickoff

    How to Get The Most Out of Your Virtual Sales Kickoff

    As you ramp up for 2021, it’s time to consider what your virtual sales kickoff is going to look like. Unlike some events which have been postponed or canceled, sales kickoffs are essential to driving success. While current conditions necessitate kickoffs to be delivered virtually, they can be just as effective as in-person experiences when planned, executed, and analyzed strategically. In this post, we’ll walk you through the basics of delivering a successful virtual sales kickoff.

    Planning

    Aligning sales strategy around your company goals should be your number one priority. Before you begin working out the details of your event, define the outcomes you’d like to achieve. Determine what your reps need to know to drive company progression and the tools they’ll need walking away from the kickoff.

    Stakeholder Alignment

    Build a cross-functional committee of sales, marketing, events, product, and finance to ensure that you get the input you need from each team. Be sure to set up a streamlined channel of communication for your committee so that you can easily send and receive approvals.

    Execution

    Without a physical venue, virtual kickoffs require strategic web layouts, new integrations, and a solid plan for generating engagement. Keep in mind the principle of form follows function as you set up your kickoff. Above all, you’ll want to ensure that your reps can navigate through the entire event without getting lost.

    Event Website

    Consider what your reps need easy access to as you build out your website. Layout is everything. Ensure that your agenda is easily accessible and that important sessions show up front and center so that your reps won’t miss them. Neatly organize sessions so that your reps never have to guess which session is next.

    Video Streaming

    With millions of new streaming provider options, it can be difficult to decide which one to integrate with your event management platform. While it may be tempting to forget the event management platform altogether, remember that virtual events are temporary, and you don’t want to separate your virtual kickoff data from your future physical data. Instead, opt to use an all-encompassing event platform that can also stream sessions.

    On-Demand Content

    The great thing about virtual events is that they are not necessarily time-bound. With on-demand content, you can extend training for weeks beyond your actual start date for continuous learning and development. Organize your on-demand content in a way that will help you achieve your event goals. Many organizations have chosen to serve up their content in familiar, Netflix-style channels.

    Email Reminders

    If you are planning on a longer sales kickoff, be sure to set up email reminders to prompt your reps to come back each day. Highlight keynotes, group meetings, training courses, and other daily activities in each email. Reminder emails are also a great way to recap what was taught the day before and supply your reps with the associated resources.

    Engagement

    The best way to guide engagement is to build out targeted agendas for your reps. Tailor your agendas to fit the needs of each of your reps. For example, you may suggest product training and 101s for new reps, whereas you might organize more technical deep-dive sessions for tenured reps. Position your targeted agendas on your event website somewhere where your reps can easily access them, such as the sidebar.

    Other ways to drive engagement include chat functions, surveys, demos, and 1:1 meetings. As virtual attendees tend to have more distractions than regular attendees, plan shorter sessions for your reps and plan in larger breaks so that your reps can check their email, take a quick call, or respond to a demanding child.

    Analysis

    The number one struggle for sales teams when hosting a kickoff is proving the business value of the event. Without the proper tools for analyzing their kickoff, sales teams have been forced to approximate their event’s success. Now that events are virtual, teams can track duration and clicks, which yield thousands of valuable insights. Select an event management platform that will allow you to measure the real-time performance of your reps. With a real-time view of event performance, sales managers can gauge reps’ session enrollment, attendance, and partner engagement.

    Making the Most of Event Metrics

    For reps who are underperforming, managers can assign certain sessions geared towards improving performance or ensuring they meet with a high performer to share knowledge. In addition to allowing you to act in the moment, the right event management platform will enable you to think towards the future.

    Year-Over-Year Measurement

    As mentioned above, physical events will return, and when they do, the insights that you gathered from your virtual event will be invaluable. Being able to visualize your reps’ performance year-over-year will empower you to further recognize high-performers, assist those who are underperforming, and strategize for your team as a whole.

    Not every platform has all the tools needed to deliver a winning sales kickoff. To discover how RainFocus optimizes sales kickoffs for success, click here.

  • Four Things That Virtual Events Teach You About Your Target Audience

    Four Things That Virtual Events Teach You About Your Target Audience

    2020 has ushered in the convergence of digital marketing and events in a way that the world has never experienced before. Adding virtual events to the realm of digital marketing tactics offers marketers the opportunity to gain insights about their prospects they never thought possible. Unlike other marketing tactics that disrupt a person’s daily routine, virtual events create a captive environment and, in turn, a captive audience. Virtual events allow you to go beyond learning a prospect’s name, job title, and email to understanding what inspires them to act.

    With the help of an all-in-one event management platform, the following are just a few questions that virtual events can help you answer

    How does my target audience prefer to receive information?

    Recently, our team posted a poll on social media asking readers how they prefer to engage at virtual events (live streaming, exhibitor demos, 1:1 meetings, polling, etc.). The results were all across the board. The point is, every attendee is different. While some attendees prefer to learn from 1:1 meetings, others seek to be inspired by watching live sessions. Understanding how prospects engage at your event will teach you how they will engage with you through email and other channels. For example, someone who participates in a lot of session polls might be more likely to complete a survey than read a guide. In the future, when hybrid events become more common, using this year-over-year data will help you determine how many attendees will likely attend in-person versus online.

     

    What is my target audience most interested in?

    Often, determining a prospect’s interests feels like taking a shot in the dark. Events prove that you don’t have to conduct extensive research to learn everything you’ve ever wanted to know about your prospects. With the right event software, you can track which products or topics your attendees are most interested in and compare that data across multiple events. RainFocus’ Recommendations Bot allows events and marketing teams to go even further as to automate recommendations based on behaviors, preferences, and historical data.

    Where is my most interested audience coming from?

    Simple demographics captured through the registration process such as location help you determine the best way to tailor your content for your target audience. Unlike an email survey that you often have to incentivize, registration surveys perform exceptionally well. Virtual events are especially useful for gathering the demographic information of your audiences as they typically attract larger audiences from various positions all around the world.

     

    Who does my target audience want to network with?

    Knowing who your prospects want to communicate with is just as important as knowing how they communicate and what they are interested in. Whether they prefer to network with product owners, industry thought-leaders, CEOs, or others in their same position, virtual event analytics will help you determine who from your organization your prospects would most likely form a relationship with. Virtual events are unique because they allow attendees to connect through various mediums (chat, 1:1 meetings, social, etc.). Take advantage of your virtual events to ascertain how your target prospects prefer to communicate.

    The virtual attendee data you gather now will become even more valuable as you compare it to physical data in the future. As you execute your events now don’t forget to think about the long-term experiences you want to provide your attendees. To learn how to improve the attendee experience with virtual data, click here.

  • How to Secure Sponsorship Funding in a Virtual Environment

    How to Secure Sponsorship Funding in a Virtual Environment

    The uncertainty around the value of virtual events has made it tricky for event professionals to secure sponsorships this year. While many event professionals have reported a drop in sponsorship renewals, those who have been able to secure virtual sponsorships have found that their sponsors gained more leads than ever before. Virtual events present a number of new ways to entice reluctant sponsors, but the key is marketing them effectively.

    Innovative Ways to Sell Virtual Event Sponsorships:

    • Offer sponsorship based on lead count. Define price ranges for guaranteed minimums of leads and allow sponsors to pick how many leads they want to pay for.
    • Sell ad space. Because virtual events take place online, ad space has never been more valuable. Give sponsors multiple ad size options to choose from at different prices. Remind prospective sponsors that there are only a few ad spaces available to drive sales.
    • Promote commercial space. Accompany each commercial with a sponsor page where attendees can easily access the sponsors’ information and submit their own contact info to learn more.
    • Offer sponsorship based on a certain number of 1:1 meetings. Allow sponsors to select how many meetings they would like to have and how many decision-makers they would like to attend. Using recommendations, you can direct attendees to those sessions that your sponsors have paid for.
    • Enable sponsors to host their own sponsored sessions. Sponsored sessions produce hundreds or sometimes even thousands of leads for sponsors to follow through with.
    • Charge for on-demand demos. Allow your sponsors to pre-record their demo content and then submit it for attendees to view. On-demand demos are great for sponsors who can’t attend your event as it’s happening. On-demand demos should live on a sponsor page along with the sponsor’s contact information.

    Other Ways to Boost Event Revenue Beyond Sponsorship Funding:

    • Sell session access after your event has ended. Oftentimes attendees miss out on live sessions that they would’ve liked to attend. Instead of offering session recordings for free, charge attendees a small fee to view your event content.
    • Charge attendees extra to attend VIP sessions. Attendees are often anxious to be a part of smaller VIP groups as they enable attendees to form closer relationships and meet other decision-makers.
    • Pre-sell next year’s tickets. Offering attendees a two-for-one deal this year will ensure that you earn the money you need this year and will give you a clearer idea of your event budget for next year.
    • Host smaller events. Offer continued learning to entice attendees to join in smaller, more exclusive events.

    However you decide to cater to hesitant sponsors, be sure to emphasize the tremendous value of visibility.  Events still present exhibitors the greatest opportunity to reach and interact with target audiences—even more so now that virtual audiences are so widespread. RainFocus’ Virtual Booth gives exhibitors a space to display all of their content and communicate with attendees via 1:1 meetings and chat. To learn more about RainFocus Virtual for exhibitors click here.

  • Build vs. Buy: Eight Reasons Why You Should Buy Virtual Event Software

    Build vs. Buy: Eight Reasons Why You Should Buy Virtual Event Software

    Lately, it seems like everyone is building their own virtual event solution. From the outside looking in, it would appear that having your own solution would give you more control over your event and enable you to save money in the long run. However, the opposite is true when it comes to virtual event software. 

    Before you go about building your own virtual event solution consider the following reasons for buying an established virtual event platform: 

    1. Very Little Build Time

    The number one thing to consider when deciding between building and buying is time. Most of the great events that you are familiar with today were planned out a year (or more) in advance. The software used for those events was likely built five to ten years ago. Beginning to build now will only postpone your event or force your team to work with a half-baked solution. While you can identify requirements for the software you can’t always anticipate all of the scenarios that may arise. By choosing to buy, you are choosing to work with experienced professionals who have more than likely found solutions for any problem you might encounter.

    2. No Unforeseen Costs

    Building virtual event software is not a one-time investment. Software builds can be extremely complex and require significant investment and a large development team/opportunity cost to consider. It can also be very difficult to estimate accurately as projects tend to take longer to finish, all while you don’t have usable software. Unfortunately, companies who build often forget to plan for ongoing development costs and the maintenance efforts needed to keep up with the competition.  Without necessary enhancements, companies who build are behind from the very start. Those who buy software have the advantage of having their software updated for them by the experts in event technology. 

    3. All-in-One Functionality 

    Because time is tight, most homemade virtual event software is being built of many small solutions all pieced together in one frankenstack of technology. These solutions are much like a house of delicately placed cards, if one solution fails, the others risk collapsing altogether. One of the largest risks of building your own virtual event solution is not being able to fix bugs easily. On the flip side, virtual event platforms such as RainFocus have been built from the ground up to include everything that event professionals need to deliver events from start to finish. 

     4. Complete Flexibility  

    The time is not far off when event professionals will want to return to hosting events in-person. When that time comes, you’ll need the flexibility of an established virtual event platform to deliver your event both virtually and physically. If you begin building a virtual event solution now, it is likely that by the time you finish, you’ll be wishing you had built solutions for hybrid and physical delivery as well. Not only that, but an established virtual event platform will enable you to optimize your event data from your virtual events for your future physical events.

    5. Scalability

    Building virtual evetn software for 50 attendees is one thing, but building a virtual solution to support tens of thousands of attendees all registering at the same time is another. On average, up to 50% of registrations happen in the 24 hours before an event, which means your virtual event solution has to be able to scale. If your team hasn’t held a virtual event before, you should also consider the fact that virtual events bring in up to six times the number of registrations that you would have at an in-person event. Beyond registration, you’ll also need to facilitate session logins. Consider that most of your pre-registered attendees will try to log in to your live sessions at the exact same time. 

     6. Personalization 

    50% of event professionals claim that facilitating attendee engagement is a top priority when hosting an event. As you are deciding whether to build or buy a virtual event solution, consider how you are going to provide attendee engagement and value. How will you personalize the attendee experience? What are the tools needed to provide engagement opportunities? When you buy virtual software you are guaranteed tried and tested engagement tools. For example, RainFocus clients have been utilizing machine learning to send personalized recommendations to attendees for years now.

    7. Professional Input

    One of the greatest benefits of buying an established virtual event platform is gaining access to a larger network of event professionals. Oftentimes event software providers will host client advisory boards, user conferences, or small working groups for their customers. With years of experience working with event professionals, event software providers have a solid understanding of what makes a successful event and what drives ROI. 

    8. Security

    Last but not least, consider the security of your event. Since April, the FBI has reported a significant increase in cybercrime. Virtual events provide a substantial amount of personal information (PII) and hackers are very aware. In order to protect your attendees’ PII, your organization needs to be sure that your virtual event solution meets the highest levels of event security. Right now the industry standard for security is achieving ISO 27001:2013 certification. To ensure maximum security, RainFocus sets up automated penetration testing for each client and undergoes manual testing yearly. 

    Save yourself time and stress by choosing to forgo the DIY virtual solution this summer. Buying a virtual event platform will enable you to gain more valuable data, focus your strategy on your attendees, and streamline mundane event processes. 

    To learn more about RainFocus’ flexible all-in-one virtual event platform click here.

  • Key Takeaways from RainFocus’ Virtual Engagement Webinar

    Key Takeaways from RainFocus’ Virtual Engagement Webinar

    This week, our team presented multiple solutions for driving engagement in a virtual environment in a webinar titled: Dialing Up Engagement for Your Fall Events. Throughout the webinar, our presenters addressed the blockers for virtual engagement, discussed the benchmarks behind virtual success, and opened up the floor to participants to weigh in their experience with virtual events so far. Here are 9 key takeaways:

    Virtual Event Present Teams with the Opportunity to Drive Peak Engagement

    Now is the time to measure what is driving the most engagement at virtual events. Virtual events are rich in data as they frequently enable event teams to reach up to six times their average audience size. If you put in the work to measure your virtual event engagement now you’ll be able to dial up the right combination of both virtual and physical engagement as physical events re-emerge.

    Virtual Events Require an All-in-One Platform, Not Just Session Tools

    Very suddenly, event teams are being pressured into accomplishing big events with small solutions. Many will recall that prior to the outbreak of COVID-19 webinar solutions only ever managed one session at a time. Now companies are relying on those same solutions to host multiple sessions and are missing out on opportunities to personalize their events. To drive true engagement at an event, teams need access to tools that can not only deliver live videos but also drive recommendations to personalized content.

    Virtual Providers Are Legacy Solutions that Perpetuate the Problems of the Past

    Before all-in-one platforms such as RainFocus existed, event solutions were often large one-off investments that delivered cookie-cutter experiences and isolated event results. All of these problems and more have returned with the forced pivot to virtual. By separating their physical event software and their virtual event software, teams are forfeiting their ability to compare and optimize data

    Events are an Ecosystem

    Events are an ecosystem where attendees, executives, partners, SMEs, sales teams, and exhibitors all interact and grow together. Unlike digital marketing campaigns, which interrupt a person’s day with an email or pop-up ad that they may or may not click on, events create a captive environment and, in turn, a captive audience. To create an engaging ecosystem event teams need to enable networking and communication between attendees and exhibitors.

    Virtual Is Bringing About Unprecedented Load Spikes

    From what we’ve experienced, up to 20% of registrations happen in the last 24 hours leading up to an event. Having the ability to scale is of utmost importance. Unfortunately, we’ve watched from the outside as many companies have failed to scale their events with webinar technology. RainFocus provides event teams with the ability to check load spikes at any point in the event. As loading increases our systems scale. We’ve tested half a million users while using multiple systems simultaneously. Using SSO to track attendee movements we ensure everything goes off without a hitch. In addition to the ability to scale, RainFocus securely houses all event data so event teams don’t have to pass around attendees’ personal information to gain insights from their events

    Consistent Experiences Magnify the Success of Your Events.

    Providing attendees and exhibitors with a consistent and delightful experience now and in the future will increase the value of your event. In our Q&A CEO, JR Sherman explained that when physical events return sponsors will still benefit tremendously from forming virtual connections with attendees prior to an event. RainFocus uses a consistent virtual Event Portal to provide attendees with a single home to access event content, schedule sessions, plan 1:1 meetings, and engage with other event activities. Incorporating consistent virtual elements into your physical event will allow you to gather more insights, facilitate stronger relationship building, and determine year over year success.

    Your Virtual Event Does Not Have to Be Free

    The vast majority of spring events went from a paid model to free online delivery. In fact, 75% of our webinar participants indicated that they too switched to a free event. Despite this trend, paid sessions or tracks look to be the most promising in terms of driving engagement and revenue. Our data indicates that if people have invested in an event they are more likely to attend sessions and engage with sponsors.

    The Digitization of Events Has Accelerated the Merger of Events and Marketing

    Since the pivot to virtual, digital marketing teams have taken a larger interest in events. The majority of the webinar participants stated that their digital marketing team greatly influenced their virtual events and over half stated that building pipeline and client engagement/retention are their primary objectives for hosting a virtual event. This forced cooperation between marketing and events will drive greater outcomes for marketing and sales. Events enable teams to qualify leads by moving them through the different marketing channels and using session content to determine interest. However, unifying marketing has to be preceded by unifying your events. This is how you make your event success tangible, by narrowing in on a platform that can aggregate all of your data in real-time and then feed it into a marketing channel.

    Provide Live or Simulive Content Every Day

    Attendees want to interact with sessions as they happen. By comparing several events, our team has found that those who promote live sessions (or simulive* sessions) every day are able to maintain virtual engagement throughout their entire event, whether it is one week or six weeks long.

    *simulive sessions are sessions that are made to look and feel as though they are happening in real-time.

    To learn more about our virtual delivery options click here. Stay tuned for future insights about virtual and hybrid events, the return to physical events, and more.