Heidi Williams , part of the We are Event Masters Facebook Group for eventprofs , asks : ‘ What kind of virtual event platform are you using ?’
“ It can help to understand the provenance of your provider because ‘ where ’ they ’ ve come from will influence their feature set , capabilities and specialities .”
Below : Heidi Williams
here has been an explosion in virtual event platforms , with hundreds of vendors to choose from , so narrowing it down to a shortlist is no easy task . It can help to understand the provenance of your provider because ‘ where ’ they ’ ve come from will influence their feature set , capabilities and specialities . In our experience , there are three types of virtual event providers – the ‘ purists ’ ( who were always a virtual event platform ), the ‘ pivoters ’ ( who were originally something different – mostly mobile event app companies – that added streaming to their feature-set to pivot to virtual events ), and the production peeps – who were ( are ) AV production companies at heart , and have the skills and expertise to create a platform for virtual events .
The purists
The purists were built , designed and created solely and specifically to act as a virtual event platform . The advantage of this is they haven ’ t had to fudge their functionality to suit a different purpose – it was created specifically for what it is now doing .
That generally means it ’ s slick and user friendly and has features and functionality which allow for customisation . They ’ ve lived and breathed virtual events for longer than the other platforms , so they understand the challenges and opportunities and they ’ ve developed solutions to solve common virtual-world issues .
For some , a disadvantage can be that they ’ re built on legacy tech which , in today ’ s fast-moving world , is already somewhat outdated and adding new features and functionality makes it clunky .
The pivoters
The pivoters were born from other event tech – mostly mobile apps . Event mobile apps were ubiquitous and included a ton of features useful for a virtual event – from online agendas and networking capabilities to Twitter integration and exhibitor listings .
When Covid hit , it catalysed the transformation of mobile event apps into virtual event platforms where they had most of the functionality already , they just needed to add streaming capabilities .
A benefit of virtual event platforms that were born out of mobile app providers is that they ’ ve understood and capitalised on the user experience and generally have an excellent interface , good integrations , and lots of features .
Another benefit is they ’ re often set up to be self-service , modelling themselves on self-serve solutions like Eventbrite . So , for example , speakers can upload their own presentations . A disadvantage is that their self-service-ness can mean they ’ re following a template / lego-style model , which means they can lack customisation of branding areas and so on .
The production people
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When Covid hit , AV production companies who were suddenly unable to fulfil their onsite work , pivoted to create a platform that would enable their clients to host events online . These guys have got the streaming / video / production values spot on , but often lack the additional functionality of networking or exhibitor capabilities – or at least , the self-serve approach to these functions .
They have enviable production expertise , but not always user experience expertise . The advantage of a production company is they can provide a superior solution for conference-based content , where it ’ s all about the speakers , the presentations and the panel debates . They excel at TV-style editing and create a really professional looking livestream .
The disadvantage is that additional functionality like exhibitor and sponsor capabilities can be limited . www . conference-news . co . uk