Virtual events-all efficient and affordable. In-Person events-perfect for networking. The two formats like two WWE wrestlers taking their stand in the fight for the famous belt.
Which one will come out superior as the best format for corporate events in 2024?
It all depends on your event.
Both in-person and virtual events have their benefits and constraints but when at the crossroads of picking a format, you have to put your event in the best position for success by choosing the most supportive format for your event objective.
Today, I’ll be taking you through all the different aspects of both Virtual and In-Person corporate events as we look to decide which is suitable for different situations of event objectives.
This ones going to be interesting.
Come along! The match starts now.
Understanding Your Event
Like I mentioned earlier, every corporate event is different.
To come to a conclusion on which format is ideal for your product launch, seminar, baraza, conference, or whatever event you’re planning, you must first understand the purpose of your event.
Once you’ve got the purpose, it becomes so much easier to decide on which format to choose.
Got it?
Great! Now here is the long awaited analysis on Virtual vs In-Person events with a few popular event objectives tied to each comparison.
Educate
Kicking things off, we start with corporate events centered around education with a few examples being seminars, conferences, and training programs.
Going in-person for educational events can better the attendee experience as they can network with others sharing valuable information and learning more than the event initially offers.
However, hosting a virtual event here can save on costs and logistical fees as well as increasing the convenience of attendance due to easy connection from any location worldwide allowing you to educate more people at a far cheaper cost.
If you want to educate your audience, I’d recommend you go in-person if you can afford it. But if you’re on a tighter budget, a virtual event is the way to go.
Network
Moving on to corporate events planned to create networking opportunities. Almost every kind of corporate event can be used as a networking opportunity so this one could be applied to most events.
Hosting an in-person event for networking can be very successful.
It allows people to meet and converse in real time forming bonds and connections between attendees.
If you try to do this online, it is significantly more difficult.
Sure modern technology such as the Metaverse could be used to host virtual networking events, but when looking to create bonds between people, having them in person where communication is clearer and faster is more effective.
I’d go for an in-person event here.
Showcase
So you’re planning on putting yourself out there-showing what you’ve produced or performed to the world. Let’s see if there’s a specific event format for you.
Hosting a virtual event would be considerably cheap in comparison to an in-person event. It would also perhaps create an opportunity for more people to see the showcase.
However, this could reduce the splendor of what you are showcasing (e.g. art work) as seeing things online is just not the same as in-person.
So in-person wholly delivers the beauty of the showcase. But what else?
In-person events also allow you to collect real time feedback about the showcase as you assess people’s reactions, emotions, facial expressions, and comments.
So if you want to deliver a perfectly detailed and elaborate showcase of products, media, artwork, music, etc., I would recommend that you invest in an in-person event.
Discuss
There’s many corporate events that are aimed towards creating a chance for open discussion between employees, businesses, executives, and even customers.
Technology can prove useful for discussion based events.
This is because discussions are mainly about communication-something easily executed on the numerous meeting technologies out there.
Cheap, efficient, and accessible-virtual events make things easy when hosting events like webinars and panels.
Hosting a discussion event in real life can also go quite well if done right. The participants feel more engaged in real life and the audience enjoys the discussion more in-person.
However, the logistics around planning for sounds, mics, seating, and decor are a bit of a costly hassle especially when technology stands as the tempting cheaper second option.
So once again, if it is in your budget, you could do just as well with an in real life discussion event as a virtual one.
But if you ask me, virtual wins this one.
Product Launch
Launching a new product can be really exciting. When choosing a format it’s best not to drown in excitement and pick whatever comes to mind.
Start by considering the product.
If it is tangible and its best features are linked to our touch, smell, hear, and taste senses, it would probably do better being launched in-person where the product can evoke a higher emotional connection with the audience.
That is unless you can figure out a way to get your audience to smell or touch your product from their computer screen on the other side of the city.
Now, this is very different for products that are more sight based such as books or software.
Your audience can receive almost the same experience getting introduced to the product online as they would in-person.
Therefore, a simpler, cheaper, and more efficient virtual product launch would do just fine.
For this category of events, I’ll call it a draw as it is highly dependent on what the product is.
Take It Slow
Never rush when picking an event format.
Now that you have the outline, all you have to do is first clearly understand your event objective and then fit it among one or multiple of the categories that we’ve just gone through together.
You can then wrestle between virtual and in-person, considering each of their unique conveniences and inconveniences until one comes out on top for you.
If your event doesn’t fit into any of them, leave a comment below describing it and we’ll send you a personalized email with split analysis taking into consideration both virtual and in-person event hosting.
Have you chosen a format but are now stuck on what to do next? Tellit Events is here to help you out!
We’ll walk you along the path of planning and executing on the perfect corporate event in Uganda.
All you have to do is hit the find out more button below and reach out to us to book a free consultation call.
I’ll see you on the other side!
