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How can brands market their product in Metaverse

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How can brands market their product in Metaverse

We’re living in a golden age of virtual reality, augmented reality, and artificial intelligence. This enables brands to market their products much better than before. Marketing by virtual event platform means can offer a more cost-effective method for brands looking to reach audiences outside their physical locale. With the emergence of platforms such as Fortnite and Roblox taking advantage of this, it’s becoming more feasible than ever for brands to be not just a part of the conversation but leading it with new forms of advertising through immersive activities.

What is Metaverse?

The Metaverse is a term that refers to the concept of connecting physical and digital objects in a virtual space. Essentially, it helps us live outside the bounds of our earthly existence. It’s a revolutionary concept because it helps bring people closer together more effectively than ever.

A metaverse has many uses in marketing and business, but the most prominent one is advertising. If you want to know how to use metaverse marketing to build your brand and make money behind it, continue reading the information below.

5 Ways to Market Products in the Metaverse

Metaverse marketing is a new-age concept that allows brands to sell more than physical products, creating an immersive and engaging experience for their target audience.

The following are some of the ways brands can promote or sell their products in the metaverse.

1. Create Gamification Experience

Games will be a prime aspect of the Metaverse. As a brand, you have an opportunity to increase your presence and engagement through games. There are several ways to use games to build your brand presence – giving away physical rewards for playing games, providing rewards when avatars wear certain brands of clothing, and even implementing digital goods sales by selling virtual apparel items on a virtual marketplace.

2. Product Development Demo

In the world of e-commerce, product demo brings the power of virtual reality to one’s doorstep. Product development showcases in the Metaverse offer a new experience for global consumers. The 360-degree experience allows shoppers to visualize the products in 3D before making a purchase, which means they can learn more about the product and better understand its features. This translates to higher conversion rates and an exciting experience for customers.

3. Create a Community of Consumers & Influencers

Brands should create influencer communities, where these influencers can engage with customers across the globe under one metaphorical roof within the Metaverse. Their recommendations act as social evidence for your brand’s potential customers. For example, Prada announced its own virtual influencer ambassador, Candy, to relaunch their Prada Candy fragrance in their ReThink Reality campaign 2021.

4. Build Loyalty in the Metaverse

Brands should create loyalty programs in the metaverse where you can offer discounts or some rewards to audiences that not only engage them with your brand but also increase sales of your product in the real world. Don’t just focus on how you will get customers to buy your products – focus on engaging customers with your brand in the first place. Ensures that you get your customers to the next level by offering them immersive digital experience, unique content and other rewards that draw them back again and again.

5. Leverage Virtual Properties

Leveraging the influence of big influencers will help you raise your digital presence in the metaverse. If influencers have bought virtual land, brands can buy digital hoardings within influencer’s metaverse and also some brand integration.

Takeaways

Metaverse is the new marketplace therefore brands should start using it to promote or sell their products. Brands can extend to any location, product or even to the metaverse itself. In other words, if you have a project that involves a set of virtual properties — a product or service — then essentially ‘your’ Metaverse becomes your new shop front. In this regard, businesses can raise brand awareness and sell products as well as provide users with massive experiences using their digital assets.

There are few of Metaverse enablement companies in India such as OneRare, Almond Virtex, and LOKA that are using Metaverse platform to market their products and to increase brand visibility.

Source by: Almond Virtex
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How do Hybrid Elements create Boundless Possibilities for In-Person Events

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How do Hybrid Elements create Boundless Possibilities for In-Person Events

The recent technological advances in the events industry have amplified the power to reach ideal event attendees and efficiently deliver personalized experiences. Whether through mobile collaboration platforms, social media, live-streaming video, or big data analytics, presenters have the power to get their message across to a more engaged audience than ever before.

Hybrid events are an excellent way to reach your audience, achieve the goals of your event and drive measurable results. And this can be done through hosting an event on a fully-fledged hybrid exhibition platform.

Let’s discover how hybrid elements can bring you and your audience together.

Why Hybrid Events?

A hybrid event benefits both live and virtual attendees, therefore, being used by both organizations and individuals to foster learning and engagement.

Hybrid Events occur on both sides of two worlds. There are no one-size-fits-all solutions in event marketing, but there are some proven ways to reach your audience so that your messaging engages them effectively.

The hybrid events trend is gaining momentum at a rapid pace, and here are some of the benefits of that:

Increase Reach and Attendees

If you want to reach more attendees and are considering the hybrid approach, there’s a lot to consider, considering that you need to make different choices. One of the most significant decisions is to focus on driving online leads for your business or instead on in-person leads.

When we talk about building an event, someone would think of the big three-day conference and go there. But it is not that simple. Many companies and brands need to spread their event coverage over weeks or months to reach more engaged audiences.

Audience Engagement

Today the trend of the virtualization of events is on the rise. With modern technology and social media networks, it is possible to communicate and meet people by virtual means. Nowadays, we can use video conferencing, telecommuting or even virtual meetings through online video sites. This feature is related to the event itself and can be used to enhance your event experience.

Sponsorship Opportunities

With hybrid events, sponsors can simultaneously engage with their audience in a live and digital space. The opportunity to get in front of your in-person and virtual attendees provides you with a high percentage of new leads for future sponsorship opportunities.

Access to Data and Insights

A hybrid event platform is an effective way for event organizers to find out more about their attendees, provide them with product benefits, and gain valuable insights into what drives people to attend events.

There are many benefits of hosting hybrid events but we should not ignore the cost or expense associated with them. There are some ways to cut your Hybrid Event Capture Costs that you should use and reap profits from the events.

Hybrid events allow you to expand your event’s reach and provide more control over how you want to run your event. This hybrid approach helps you bring together new attendees and familiarize them with your brand while giving you the ability to create a unique, memorable experience based on their preferences and personal challenges.

Hybrid events offer so many options for safety, creativity and customization; if you’re considering one for your next meeting or event, discuss it with Almond Virtex today.

Source by: Almond Virtex
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Build a More Diverse and Inclusive Candidate Experience with Virtual Recruiting

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Build a More Diverse and Inclusive Candidate Experience with Virtual Recruiting

As competition for top talent becomes more intense, employers invest more time and money in the candidate’s experience. That’s because organizations that successfully create a great candidate experience will become standouts in today’s highly competitive market.

Virtual recruiting can play an increasingly important role in creating a great candidate experience as many participants are looking for more than just ‘just another job’; they want to learn more about the organization and be able to talk honestly with recruiters about the current state of their careers and the challenges they will face in each job.

Host virtual career fairs adding tools like Gamification in Virtual Event Platforms so that participants can connect with the content and become engaged. But before we understand how to improve the candidate’s experience, let’s clarify some basics.

What is Virtual Recruiting?

Virtual recruiting allows employers to reach far beyond their geographic footprint while providing a better and more engaging candidate experience. Also, it opens your recruiting strategy to a much larger, more diverse candidate pool, primarily if you recruit globally.

How does Virtual Recruiting Improve Candidate Experience?

Virtual Recruiting gives candidates more options, making the recruitment process more accessible. Imagine being able to schedule a virtual interview at any time and from anywhere using virtual recruiting platforms like Airmeet, Almond Virtex, Hopin, vFairs, that make your career fairs more engaging and informative and will attract more candidates.

Virtual recruiting events can allow candidates to vent their concerns and hear first-hand from employers why they should choose them to work. This can be especially useful for candidates who have a lot of competing offers and want to know more about an organization before making a decision.

How does Virtual Recruiting Support Diversity and Inclusion?

Recruiting through virtual event platforms can be a more personal and direct experience for a job seeker, meaning they can interact with an employer in several ways. Some of the reasons for which job seekers prefer virtual recruiting are mentioned below:

Geography

With virtual recruiting, you can reach diverse candidates even if you’re not in an area with a lot of diversity. This means that you may find more qualified candidates than job opportunities in your area and then reach those candidates with the ease of a video interview via multiple locations.

Flexibility

Virtual hiring events, recruiter sourcing, and online interview tools allow a broader range of people to attend your hiring events and help you avoid delivering a poor candidate experience due to logistical concerns alone.

Reach

A virtual hiring event allows you to reach a broader audience, extending more opportunities to a diverse group of people. Choosing the right virtual job fair to put on is a matter of deciding what kind of event will best reach your audience. Consider the size of your network and look at the general population and specific groups you would like to attract.

Accessibility

Candidates with physical disabilities or other constraints may not feel comfortable in roles that are within easy reach. Whether you operate a local or remote business, virtual recruiting events make it easy for all candidates to attend from a space where they feel comfortable and supported.

Sensory

Candidates need to focus on the interview and not on the environment. Virtual career fairs through virtual conference platforms are an excellent way to connect with a large number of candidates in a confined space and still manage distraction.

Key Takeaways

Virtual recruiting offers several benefits over traditional in-person recruiting events, but virtual interviews are only one part of the equation. Because you’ll be using digital tools to conduct those interviews, there’s an endless opportunity to improve your candidate experience through feedback capture and analysis.

While there’s no doubt that face-to-face interactions can be effective, they are sometimes not as cost-effective or time-efficient as other recruitment channels.

Source by: Almond Virtex
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How can Brands Use Metaverse

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How can Brands Use Metaverse

In a world where almost, everything is disrupted for use by the masses, virtual worlds are emerging as a new way for brands to access high-potential consumers. The metaverse allows global brands to enter spaces once only available to tech companies and other prominent cultural entities.

Consumer goods companies, media, sports and entertainment organizations, social networking service providers, financial services and insurance firms, retail brands, and virtual event platform providers are among the early adopters interested in Metaverse as a challenger to existing platforms and as a potential partner.

Brands can interact with their customers or channel partners virtually through metaverse platforms such as Exvo, Party Spaces, Almond Virtex 3.0 for immersive experience and real-time communication.

What is Metaverse?

The metaverse is a digital world that exists as an alternate reality or otherworld, and it is made of virtual representations of the real world and its inhabitants. The metaverse could be the next important step in advancing technology: it plays a critical role in bringing the human imagination to life.

How can Brands Envision the Potential of the Metaverse?

Brands are trying to reach younger generations already used to interacting with brands online. Metaverse is one place where brands can start experimenting with new methods of engagement and interaction with consumers.

Many brands will have to leave their usual marketing strategies and patterns to succeed authentically in the metaverse. Brands must forget about intercepting.

Here are some of the activities that brands can do in the metaverse to interact with customers and channel partners in new and innovative ways:

Create retail and shopper experiences within the metaverse with NFTs

Brands can now create realistic visuals and be owned and traded by consumers as an item in a virtual world. With NFTs, users can buy products, decorate their homes or store rooms within the metaverse, or even trade them like stocks.

Creating a branded experience within the metaverse is not only possible, but it can change the way brands communicate with their customers. An NFT could potentially be sold to users from the Ethereum blockchain, and the creator would then get a percentage of the sale every time an NFT was used in that product. This can incentivize creators to create more and build user trust for their brand using branded virtual assets (NFTs).

Empower influencers and customers to co-build experiences for other customers

Influencers, who have always been an essential tool for brands to tell their stories, are also considered a crucial audience in the virtual world. Influencers and customers can create virtual space within the brands’ metaverse that other customers will be able to access either directly or by invitation. They could also make their communities and businesses within the same brand metaverse, including companies unrelated to the traditional definition of brands.

These micro-influencers may have an audience they can influence through their qualifications, experience, and expertise. Metaverse is an excellent solution for brands looking forward to encouraging their consumers to interact with them on different levels.

Provide in-roads into the brand through Metaverse

With the growing use of smart glasses, digital marketing strategies and other platforms like metaverse and virtual worlds – engagements with brands are getting more interesting than before. Consumers and channel partners are actively engaging with their brands on these platforms and want brands to provide them with new product testing or even invite them over to their manufacturing plants.

Many businesses hosted hybrid events or virtual conferences to interact with audiences but now they are shifting to metaverse events.

Product training, onboarding, and real-time customer service

The metaverse can be used for various purposes, from product training to real-time customer service.

It’s a chance for brands to train new employees or channel partners about their products or services. Driven by AI and avatars, brands can provide global real-time customer service from their systems anywhere in the world. By creating a realistic 3D representation of a brand, it’s possible to showcase product features and use cases – a step closer to better customer engagement.

Onboarding employees is time-consuming and expensive, and it is also tedious, boring, and not engaging. Metaverse allows brands to organize their onboarding process in a way that is more engaging, efficient, and effective such as training onboarding employees (trainee) and then taking them through a 3D tour of the product/service while also giving them hands-on experience through games or interactive quizzes, real-time interaction with senior management, etc.

Key Takeaways

Metaverse is a new decentralized digital society built on the Ethereum blockchain that aims to enable all participants to own, control and exchange their assets individually. Those who can identify how Metaverse can be used in specific fields will likely have the edge over competitors who start with more general capabilities such as blockchain or e-commerce.

Also, the metaverse can be used to create brand experiences for customers, users and partners. In addition, it is also a good way to engage people with the brand’s values and actions.

In the last year or so, since it first burst onto the scene, NFTs have been gaining traction in the blockchain community. As NFTs get more exposure and influence, people tend to have lots of questions like how can NFTs change the landscape of the event industry when it comes to what this new technology can do for them.

Source by: Almond Virtex
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Hybrid Events Bring Savings, Sustainability, and Greater ROI

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Hybrid Events Bring Savings, Sustainability, and Greater ROI

By now we all know how amazing hybrid events can be in offering the best of both worlds. And they are increasingly becoming a part of every event marketer’s repertoire for the simple fact that they can cut costs and increase savings, are sustainable, and can be used effectively for greater RoI.

It all begins with choosing the right hybrid event platform. Pick one that allows for interaction between both groups of audiences and can be customized according to your needs.

Here is how hybrid events can bring savings, sustainability, and greater RoI.

Lower cost and higher reach

We already are aware that virtual events have a much wider reach than their in-person counterparts. And this applies to hybrid events as well. A wider reach ensures a higher attendance and participation rate. And it’s the 21st century where every business needs a global presence and can benefit from it.

In addition to the massive reach, hybrid events can also prove to be less expensive. This is because they can either eliminate or size down several overhead costs associated with in-person events like venue, equipment, logistics, catering, and so on. With a hybrid event, you can choose a smaller venue and restrict the number of in-person attendees. So, you will end up paying less without compromising the quality of your event.

Lower costs and higher reach means more saving and higher RoI. Moreover, the hybrid model is also quite sustainable because the Internet is only expanding. In fact, it won’t be long before hybrid events move into the metaverse. Some hybrid event platforms like Almond Virtex, Hopin, Airmeet, Hubilo, Eventcube are already experimenting with it.

Flexibility and innovation

Corporate event planners can have more flexibility with different event technology. It is growing at a rapid pace. The introduction of immersive experiences through hybrid event platforms has made it easier to replicate the experience of walking into a real venue, talking to other attendees, listening to speakers, asking questions, and so on. And event marketers don’t have to pay through their noses for that to happen. That’s how innovation brings savings!

If you want an event that boosts brand awareness, you can have it. If you want to improve lead generation and enhance sales revenue, your event can be customized accordingly. So, you then can target your audiences, curate content, and provide bespoke experiences. Happier audiences means higher chances of them wanting to associate with your company. So, flexibility brings you both sustainability and RoI.

Now that you understand how hybrid events can be advantageous, let’s look at a few ways that you can maximize their benefits.

Work with a budget. You might save up by cutting down on the in-person attendance and venue, but you will still need to spend on a good virtual event platform. Be smart about it and choose a platform that is within your budget. Also, have a checklist for choosing a hybrid event venue. It will help shortlist venues.

Finish off your bookings in advance- venue, catering, photography, etc. You might even receive an early bird discount.

Get your sponsorship packages ready and make the benefits very clear. Show your sponsors the amount of visibility and possible revenue that they can earn through your event. This will eventually improve your own RoI.

Source by: Almond Virtex
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How To Identify Your Events Target Audience

How To Identify Your Events Target Audience

How To Identify Your Events Target Audience

With all of our planning, efforts, and hard work towards hosting an event, it’s easy to focus on the event and forget about the attendees. But many times, the event that isn’t successful in attracting large crowds is one where the target audience wasn’t as clearly identified beforehand.

The target audience for an event can be defined as the group of people being addressed by the speaker or presenter. This includes those who are in attendance at the event and those attending virtual/ hybrid events online.

How to identify your target audience for an event?

The way to identify your target audience for an event is by analyzing its purpose. The purpose of the event gives attendees a reason to attend, and sometimes it can be one of the most defining aspects of your target audience.

There are many ways to identify the target audience for any event. In this article, we’ll discuss different ways that can help you identify your target audience.

1. Identify Your Event Goal

Events are a great way to generate prospects, drive leads and close sales. Once you have established your goals, you can develop tactics to achieve them and reach out to key audiences in regards to your event strategy and determine who should be attending.

2. Create an Attendee Persona Profile

An attendee’s persona profile is information about your ideal attendee along with their characteristics and interests.

Getting to know the people who attend your event will give you a better understanding of who they are and their expectations. By building a persona profile, you can tailor your event to support the needs of the potential delegates whilst still achieving your strategic objectives.

3. Find out what motivates your audiences

Your communication strategy would be designed on the benefits that motivate the target audiences to attend your event. This can be done by identifying the characteristics of your attendees, such as their motivations, reason to attend, reasons not to attend, etc.

4. Analyse Competitors

If you are someone who has not organized any event before or has not any prior event attendee’s data, you can look at your competitors’ events. Whom they are targeting, how they are doing it, what is their communication tone, how they are promoting their events and so on.

Some of the virtual event platforms such as Hopin, Almond Virtex, Airmeet, Hubilo, and Cvent can also do all these analysis on your behalf, that an save your time and efforts as well.

5. Promote on social media

Using social media to promote your event can be very useful. Social platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn have built-in advertising tools that allow you to target a specific attendee persona. This way, you can focus on the people who are most likely going to show interest in your conference.

6. Reach out to your network

One of the advantages of sending out emails is that you can design an offer of value for your event and send the message on your list of mailing addresses by using the attendance form.

So, anyone with an interest in your event’s objective, agenda and pricing can swiftly make an appointment and let you know they are interested in attending your event online.

Getting to know your target audience is crucial in short-term and long-term branding and marketing efforts. The reason? Branding will help define your virtual event, which will help guide your marketing efforts, which could lead to greater exposure and more attendees.

You should always examine and analyze data from your events to get some insights that can be implemented in future. Benefit of Using Event Analytics is not limited to this only.

Source by: Almond Virtex
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6 Types of Events to Focus Your Attention on Right Now

6 Types of Events to Focus Your Attention on Right Now

Companies require a range of events in order to grow their business. From conferences to sporting events, trade shows and more, they must decide what type of event their business needs. Event planners need to connect the dots between the business objectives and the type of events that will help achieve these goals.

Before planning any events, certain things need to be considered such as budget, virtual exhibition platform, sponsorship, and accessibility. But what event to host is the first thing that every event planner must decide.

Top 6 events to host for achieving business goals

There are a lot of different types of events to choose from when planning an event for your business. The choice may seem overwhelming to the event planner looking to plan engaging and impactful events.

Therefore, here is the list of the top 6 corporate events you can choose from:

Conferences

Conference events are among the most productive kinds of networking events for business with multiple speakers and sessions are usually held for multiple days. These events encourage conversation among people with related interests to share their knowledge & experiences.

Conferences typically begin with a keynote presentation before proceeding into roundtables, interviews as well as panel discussion.

Trade Show

Trade shows are basically used to showcase new products and services to other businesses or audiences. Businesses who want to generate sales leads or create brand awareness generally opt for a trade fair.

These events typically take place in-person but amid the pandemic, people opt for virtual trade shows or in a hybrid format also.

Seminars

Seminars are more like conferences but the key difference is that seminars are organized to educate or provide training to a specific target audience. These events can be live or pre-recorded with one speaker or can be more.

Businesses host seminars to provide training about specific products or techniques, employee training, or develop customer loyalty.

Product Launch

Companies host launch events to bring new products or services to market. These events are a great way to create hype for the upcoming product and acquire some leads during the event only.

Inviting investors, bloggers, loyal customers, media as well as social media influencers helps companies to spread word prior to, during, and following the launch of your product.

Award Ceremonies

The virtual award ceremony is just one of the many changes 2020 has given us. Companies organized award shows to create a culture of participation and thought leadership.

Award ceremonies mostly happen to recognized employees, but sometimes, organizations also host these ceremonies in honour of their partners, stakeholders, distributors, and retailers.

Summits

Summits are pretty similar to an in-person conference, except they are organized virtually. There are different activities for attendees, such as talks, interviews, and presentations under similar themes.

Even some event platforms such as Almond Virtex provide the facility of “breakout rooms” to have a mastermind session and networking aspects.

No matter what type of event you are planning, choosing the right platform is very important. There are some features of a virtual trade show that you consider while finalizing a platform.

Source by: Almond Virtex
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The Evolution of Events and Experiential Industry: 2D, 3D and Metaverse Events

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The Evolution of Events and Experiential Industry: 2D, 3D and Metaverse Events

With the evolution of technology, every aspect of our lives has been impacted, including how we receive and share information and how we see the world. Due to the abundance of gadgets and applications, the event industry has taken advantage of technology to communicate with visitors and promote events.

While virtual reality technology has brought many changes to the ways we live our daily lives, there is still a large space to be filled in creating a convincing and immersive metaverse. This is because combining all of the existing XR programs and tools into one place will likely experience it as one big open world instead of thousands of individual online games. With this understanding in mind, it allows you to decipher how people use these different types of technologies.

In this article, we will look at how technology has changed the event industry over the last few years and how the metaverse events are different from 2D and 3D events.

What is the difference between 2D, 3D, and Metaverse Platforms?

Understanding the difference between 2D, 3D, and Metaverse platforms is important. Let’s explore this concept and see how they differ to determine which one is better for you.

2D Event Platform

A 2D virtual event platform comprises a flat grid layout, which combines graphics and labels. The flat design leads the user through the space in an intuitive, step-by-step process. These event platforms offer users an online dashboard to organize their events, collaborate with other team members, send out invitations and RSVPs, track and manage the attendance, and more.

Some 2D hybrid event platforms such as Hubilo, Almond Virtex 1.0, Hopin, and Airmeet are web-accessible, making it simpler for participants to participate in the event from a desktop or smartphone.

3D Event Platform

3D virtual event platforms create a dynamic and engaging experience. With 3D virtual event platforms like Samaaro, Almond Virtex 2.0, and vFairs, you can retain your audience’s attention by creating life-like spaces in a virtual environment. These virtual or hybrid event platforms are meant to provide a full-immersion digital experience for an audience.

Metaverse Events

As the popularity and frequency of events continue to grow, many event organizers are looking for more ways to provide an immersive experience. The Metaverse provides a major opportunity for such events by incorporating blockchain, AI, NFTs, 3D designs, and other digital technologies to power the event platform.

Using metaverse event platforms like Almond Virtex 3.0, Exvo can be extremely beneficial in terms of security, transparency, and trust to the event organizers and attendees.

Why is there so much hype around Metaverse?

Metaverse seems to be the hottest thing in tech these days. Google, Sony, and other giants are jumping into this space with all kinds of ideas. And many people are now talking about a metaverse as if it would be another internet that works inside a virtual environment.

The metaverse — a simulated 3D environment that allows users to interact with one another and their surroundings — promises to be a game-changer for the events industry. As a utility, metaverse can be used as an effective way to communicate information and ideas and for education.

What’s next?

Can you imagine walking up to a keynote speaker or an industry giant on the other side of the planet and asking for advice or just chatting with them? The metaverse can enhance the digital experience of going to an event and lead to more spontaneity for the event-goers. Physical construction costs or building codes don’t limit the metaverse. You can create events with an unlimited number of rooms and meeting places so people can attend events or interact with other attendees seamlessly.

Organizations will use Metaverse gatherings to enhance their brand equity, drive social media engagement, develop new customers, expand distribution channels and generate new revenue streams.

Source by: Almond Virtex
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Tips For Improving Attendee Networking At Virtual/Hybrid Events

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Tips For Improving Attendee Networking at Virtual/Hybrid Events

As more event marketers choose the hybrid way, there is an urgent need to understand the power of networking and how it can be leveraged at hybrid and virtual events.

Engagement and networking go hand-in-hand

It cannot be denied that, when it comes to networking, most virtual/hybrid events are unable to do as well as in-person events. However, it is essential if event organizers are to create engagement at their events. Networking is what encourages dialogue and conversation and delivers value to attendees.

One of the reasons for the lower success rate of networking in virtual/hybrid events is that as long as the event is going, there are different mediums of communication. However, once the event finishes, there is nothing to connect on. In an in-person event, however, attendees have the advantage of water and bathroom breaks, breakout sessions, or just chatting post-event.

In one of our earlier blogs, we looked at the different ways to blend in-person and virtual events. In addition to blending, there are a few other tips that you can try to improve networking at your virtual event.

1. The Platform

The platform you choose determines your event’s success to a large extent. A good hybrid event platform, that has several ways and means to introduce networking between in-person and virtual attendees is what you need.

Tools like one-on-one chats with speakers, Q&As, surveys, polls, and a virtual lobby where attendees can chat up with anyone are at the top of the list.

2. The Design of Your Event

If you’re hosting an event that is designed in a manner where speakers come, deliver their content, and leave, you’re not going to succeed in your mission.

So, spend some time in designing your event in a manner that strategically includes opportunities for networking. Draw up an agenda for each speaker and make sure there is enough time for chats and dialogues in between.

On platforms like Almond Virtex, vFairs, Airmeet, Hubilo, you can make use of ‘breakout rooms’ to send your attendees into a single ‘room’ that facilitates group discussions.

3. The Accessibility of Your Platform

This ties back to the earlier tip we discussed. Not only should your platform have tools for networking, but it also should be easily accessible to your offline and online attendees. Certain virtual event companies have platforms that allow for wonderful networking between their in-person and virtual attendees.

4. Gamification

Gamification is by far the most effective way to improve audience engagement and generate conversations. Create teams that consist of virtual and in-person attendees and have a competition going. It’s going to be a lot of noise, fun, chatter, and networking!

5. Post-Event Networking

Once the event is done, don’t close communication. Enable your attendees to network even after the event is done. Make use of features such as breakout rooms and chat to continue dialogue.

It may seem daunting at first, but with the right planning, networking doesn’t have to be a challenge even in virtual environments.

Source by: Almond Virtex
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How Can Venues Plan For Hybrid Events In The Future?

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How can venues plan for hybrid events in the future?

The developments in event technology have forced venues for corporate events to rethink their strategy. These venues now are looking to become hybrid-event friendly and embrace smaller in-person events.

It always pays to be well-prepared for the future and we are going to look at what these venues can do to minimize losses and gain business.

The story of the hybrid event

From hosting virtual events, businesses have now switched to conducting hybrid events where a section of the audience is in-person and the rest of it is virtual. Hybrid events have helped businesses retain the intimacy of in-person while giving them scalability and reach of virtual. Naturally, 7 out of 10 businesses want to continue to host such events in the future.

Hybrid events and venues

While a large percentage of the audience is virtual, hybrid events still require good venues that can support their virtual audience as well. As the event goes on in the venue, video cameras do their good work of capturing the event and either streaming it to the virtual viewers or upload it to cloud.

Either way, your venue will be visible to hundreds of thousands of people. So, you need it look good, professionally done up, and polished. Moreover, you need to be able to support the business that is hosting the event through a stage or a podium, an audio-visual setup, broadband or wired connection to the Internet, while ensuring that it is able to accommodate the in-person attendees.

So, ensure you have the following available at your venue

Ability to support technology

The best hybrid event platforms can make a lot happen through a virtual event. However, they need the support of good broadband, like we discussed earlier. So, if you’re opening up your venue for hybrid events, check your broadband speed and confirm that it can support high quality streaming and augmented and virtual reality.

If there is 5G in your location, talk to your superiors to see if you can upgrade to it. Often venues that are unable to keep up with growth in technology lose out.

Good cameras and microphones

Some businesses insist on using their own cameras because they have partnerships and trusted vendors. However, it doesn’t hurt to know your own range of suppliers and keep them handy. Before you commit to the event organizers, make sure you have dry runs with these cameras yourself. They must be able to capture in ultra high-definition (UHD) and be of top quality.

The same applies to microphones as well. Since there is a virtual audience, high quality audio is a must. Deploy an audio technician who is constantly checking for noise and other disturbance.

Technical staff

This is almost a no-brainer. You need to be able to support the event in case of tiny issues or equipment failure. So, have a team of highly trained technicians ready at the venue on the day of the event. With virtual event platforms like Virtex, you can also seek support of their internal staff.

Rehearse

Push your event organizer into having at least two dry runs before the actual event so you too can identify gaps and fix them if needed. Make a checklist for each area of the event- audio, video, Internet, and so on.

You can also promote the event on your social media channels. A great way to promote and market your next hybrid event is through social media. So, try different platforms like vFairs, Airmeet, Almond Virtex, Hubilo, Eventcube and prepare the world for what’s coming.

Source by: Almond Virtex
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