How virtual event technology will bring us together Business News

Hubilo is a Business Reporter customer

Cathy Song Novelli, SVP, Marketing and Communications, Hubilo

If you’re waiting for things to get back to normal before the pandemic, I have bad news: it’s not going to happen anytime soon. With new variants emerging just as vaccines became available for Covid-19, and people becoming increasingly accustomed to working from anywhere, virtual solutions are trends every organization must have. in its long-term strategy.

Two-thirds of U.S. business leaders surveyed in late August delayed their return to office. America’s airline “shoulder season” – the period between Labor Day and Thanksgiving – is usually a boom in business travel. This year, airlines canceled flights that were never filled. Groups large and small have already started canceling in-person events at Delta Variant hotspots.

Virtual event technology is no longer the short-term solution companies thought they needed for just a few weeks in March 2020. It is catalyzing a new way of working, learning, entertaining, communicating and marketing that will continue long after us. we have overcome the Covid crisis. The global virtual events market size was valued at $114 billion in 2021 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 23.2% from 2020 to 2027, according to Grand View Research last year.

We live in the era of virtual connection. Every day, we seamlessly transition from texting to group chat before posting on social media and then meeting friends in person. Many event planners and marketers stumble when trying to crush real life into a digital box. At Hubilo, we don’t believe in replacing traditional events. Rather, we believe people need more than one way to engage and connect in the same way you can watch your favorite sport live, on TV, in a pub or on your phone.

When you start to think of virtual events as a new channel, rather than just a replacement for the traditional in-person event, it’s easy to see the huge potential. In the same way that we couldn’t imagine how a business selling books online would redefine the way we shop more than 20 years ago, we’re only just beginning to see how virtual event technologies can and will impact on how we live and work.

Imagine if sales launches didn’t have to be compressed into a week, once a year at huge expense, but instead could be a hub of ongoing virtual sales training and engagement that happens as often as your business does. wishes.

Imagine how many more employees could be engaged and inspired in a town hall meeting, and how meetings could be more inclusive because everyone could attend and engage.

Imagine the carbon emissions that could be reduced if fewer people had to travel to destinations and could engage as efficiently from home.

Imagine meeting your favorite musician backstage in a virtual room after hosting a watch party from your home.

And imagine the treasure trove of data and insights for event organizers that now comes from the ability to track audience engagement levels, what they watched, who they talked to, and what they most often answered during presentations. This data can be used to further personalize event experiences at scale, making every event more relevant and engaging than ever.

We are only just beginning to scratch the surface of what virtual event technology can do for all of us. But what matters most is that connection doesn’t necessarily depend on physical proximity. People find love online. They order shoes and perfumes online. They watch TV and movies online, exercise online, and more. Medical conferences hosted by Hubilo shared live surgeries to showcase the latest medical innovations to other doctors, and product launches with drag queen hosts who got people out of their seats and dancing. And it all happened virtually. It’s not necessarily being there that makes an experience memorable, but the engagement with others – that’s what wows audiences.

This is what makes Hubilo so special. Our team helps event planners drive engagement by gamifying the experience and adding personal notifications with the largest suite of industry-wide engagement features. While other platforms still don’t allow photos or emojis in the chat window, Hubilo has dozens. Many tools are still text-only in an age where Gen Z kids send memes to grandparents with a heart emoji — and grandma sends back a Bitmoji. A seemingly fundamental feature of digital life has not attached itself to a now everyday digital connection tool.

For marketers accustomed to measuring event success through half-filled attendee experience surveys, a virtual event presents a wealth of data and insights that can accelerate pipelines and drive revenue. Plus, virtual events produce a ton of multi-purpose content. With the transcription of any event, you can generate multiple blogs,…