HOW TO ASSESS VENDORS

Buy Experience.
Select a service provider with a track record, whose experienced team (many from the physical event world) can provide a playbook of best practices.

Seek Out Innovation. Platform features, usability, and performance matter, especially if your community has savvy viewing habits. But don't put all the emphasis on innovative technology. The keys to success will be your strategy, content, programming, and engagement — that's the value proposition.

Look For Scalability, Reliability and Simplicity.
First-time buyers who think their event is small may go for the low end. But your event will be in jeopardy if participants find log-in slow and the platform less than robust.

Integrate Technology. Networking was the "Achilles heel" of online events until social media came along. Its integration into the virtual event platform incentivizes participants to be more active and stay longer. How are vendors enhancing that engagement? Also ask about application programming interfaces (API); these can connect virtual platforms to exhibitors' CRM systems, which could be a real sales tool.

Make It Media-rich.
Find service providers that enable more exciting and interactive presentations. Even an audio webcast can stream video or open a website in a window.

Compare Pricing Models.
You'll find cost-value trade-offs as you play with the variables, such as "live" time, archived time, sessions streamed. If your organization has limited staff, you'll initially buy more services from your platform provider. But as your team learns, it can take on more responsibilities through the platform's back-end, lowering your costs.

Call References.
Talk to existing clients about their work with the platform provider, as well as their own experiences doing a virtual or hybrid event for the first time.

Keep Your Options Open. Avoid locking in an extended contract. With so much innovation in cleaner interface and rich media, technology is changing quickly.

Re-assess Post-event. Especially after a first event, what's your comfort level with the platform's back end? Was it simple to use? Can you allocate a portion of staff resources to build the event? The more your team does, the more you will control the schedule and the costs, two key "wins."

10 STEPS TO SAVE TIME AND MONEY
ON VIRTUAL AND HYBRID EVENTS

If you build it, will they come?
Whether you've already launched a virtual event or hybrid of your face-to-face meeting — or just getting started — it helps to arm yourself with "best practices" as this emerging technology takes center stage. ConferenceDirect asked some leading vendors in this space for a two-minute primer on ways you can save time and money.

1. Attend virtual events. See what your competitors and others outside your market space are doing. Learn about issues like pop-up blockers and downloads. "Put your feet into the shoes of folks who may attend your event," said Dennis Shiao, director of product marketing, INXPO. "Did you like the content, presentations, speakers, interactions with exhibitors?"

2. Be realistic. What are the market conditions? Where is the need? What makes good business sense? Should the engagement always be "on" or shut down after a week? Write a mission statement outlining what you want to achieve with the event and the measures that will define success. Then, "frame your platform needs with the mission statement in mind," said Shiao.

3. Play up the virtues. Virtual events are not much different to produce than physical events. But online audiences are more easily distracted than face-to-face, where there is a "much higher threshold to get up and leave a boring session," said Joerg Rathenberg, vice president, marketing, Unisfair. To capture and maintain attention, you must play up the virtues of virtual engagement — great content in shorter chunks of 15 to 20 minutes, vivid and interactive visuals, direct connection with speakers, immediate social networking.

4. Crawl before you walk. "You can be very niche in this medium, where in the physical world what you want to do may be cost-prohibitive," said Michael Kushner, vice president, digital media strategy, UBM Studios. So start small. And by targeting a segment of a broader face-to-face event, you'll find costs will be lower and content more focused as you firmly establish attendee and sponsor bases.

5. Stake your ground. Don't "test" the waters. Establish a model and reach out to partner with associations, user groups, and non-competing organizations for audience segments, content, and speakers. That's the way to build credibility and an ongoing community. "If you don't engage your audience 365, someone else will," Kushner cautioned.

6. Educate staff, then constituents. Make sure your sales team and content creators fully understand the medium and its opportunities. Then, they'll be able to educate exhibitors and sponsors on how to virtually engage with their prospects to best effect. This is a "huge need," said Shiao.

7. Dedicate staff. Too many organizations think their physical event team can handle the virtual component as well. They under-staff when they should be dedicating staff. Set them up in a "war room" on the "live" days. "It sounds like a waste of resources," said Rathenberg, but it won't be when attendee participation becomes intense. Plus, lots of ideas will percolate in the charged atmosphere.

8. Amortize existing relationships. Don't expect platform providers to be in the business of content capture (i.e. streaming capabilities). If you already have a corporate license for technology like WebEx, check to see if the virtual platform can integrate that technology and save you money.

9. Repurpose content post-event. A hybrid event makes so much sense because it allows you to select content to share live, refresh with user-generated content (without straining your resources), and record content for release over time (enhanced with scheduled live chats) to maintain the engagement.

10. Control investment. Because the scope of this work has fixed costs, it's easy to get a handle on your spend. Service providers typically present a package based on the event's "live" duration, length of time for archiving, number of attendees, number of content sessions, if there is an exhibit floor, and platform licensing fee. "You'll know everything ahead of time when you're putting together a P&L and setting exhibitor and sponsor prices," said Kushner.