Virtual Events Examples: E-Learning, Businesses, & Non-Profits | 6Connex

6Connex
6 min readJul 10, 2019

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The most common virtual events that companies create include virtual trade shows, virtual job fairs, virtual sales-meetings, company-wide gatherings, or virtual summits.

Virtual events are not limited to these areas, however — any type of program that requires the attention of a large audience in one place can go virtual using a virtual conference platform. This includes customized learning experiences for e-learning opportunities or virtual fundraising ideas for non-profits, for instance.

infographic: types of virtual events — marketing events sales events recruitment events training events communication events

Whether you host virtual events for education purposes or for the dissemination of company information, these environments can be extremely effective in reaching the objective you have for the people you want to reach.

Continue reading to get the full coverage on what a virtual is, the different types of events, as well as the different elements that will bring your virtual program to life.

What is a Virtual Event or Virtual Environment?

At a basic level, virtual events are very similar to physical events. They enable groups of people to come together to learn, discuss, and interact. Virtual attendees consume content, exchange contact information, and can even receive training or learn new material the same way you would in a classroom setting.

The only difference from the physical is that online events happen through a virtual conference platform where all resources can be conveniently downloaded and people’s interactions or progress can be tracked.

online environments or environments hosted on a virtual platform where resources can be conveniently download and people’s interactions can be tracked

So, what kind of virtual events can you host and what kind of virtual environments can you create?

Virtual Events Examples for E-learning

Educational organizations are adding virtual events to their curriculums to engage students with highly-interactive immersive learning experiences. These e-learning environments can be used for educational content such as:

  • Training programs
  • Course programs
  • Certifications
  • And more

Virtual Educational Environments

With supreme virtual conferencing tools, the learning opportunities and engagement possibilities are endless — students can take a tour of important landmarks, for instance, or actively participate in discussions about a topic in real-time or on-demand.

Students can delve deep into any subject matter with knowledgeable experts near and far, so location is not a deterrent. With video chat capabilities, students can instantly engage in cultural and social events and meet other students in a relaxed and fun way.

Take administrative control of a student or attendees progress with the following features a virtual event platform offers:

  • Entitlements and learning sets
  • Quizzes and polls
  • Tailored curriculums
  • Tests with auto-scores
  • Course completion tracking
  • Virtual mentoring
  • 1:1 chat rooms
  • Group chat rooms
  • Real-time reporting
  • Gamification
  • LMS integrations

If you are looking for a virtual platform that can host your educational content, learn how 6Connex can help.

Virtual Events Examples for Businesses

There are many types of virtual events. Some of the most popular virtual events for for-profit businesses include:

  • Virtual trade shows
  • Virtual marketing summits (B2C or B2C)
  • Virtual product launches
  • Industry conferences
  • Virtual ABMS
  • Virtual sales conferences
  • Sales resource enters
  • Virtual partner events
  • Partner training centers
  • Virtual employee benefits fairs
  • Internal training
  • Virtual job fairs
  • Certifications
  • Learning management
  • Company news
  • Executive updates
  • Town Hall meetings
  • Critical communications
  • Virtual expositions

Your imagination can run wild here. As mentioned before, any type of event that requires the attention and engagement of a large audience can be hosted online. For a business, most of the above events fall into the following areas of types of virtual events:

Virtual Fundraising Ideas for Non-Profits

Virtual events are not only reserved for educational purposes or for businesses. There are virtual event opportunities in the non-profit area as well. For instance, non-profits can use online events as a creative marketing strategy for virtual fundraising ideas they want to execute.

All types of organizations can make the most of a virtual event to share information, market to their audience, and accomplish their strategic organization’s goals.

But just how do you do it?

How a Virtual Events Software Brings Your Program to Life

Now that you know the basics of what a virtual event, it’s time to see what one actually looks like and get a feel for how virtual participants would interact one.

Visuals

In the visual layer, you can include background images and graphics to provide a sense of space and context for the content. Often, visuals are created to look like physical rooms and spaces, making navigation for attendees or students very intuitive.

Using signs for directions and promotion is another way to guide attendees to participate throughout the different parts of a virtual environment.

virtual environment signs for direction and promotion in the 6connex virtual environment platform

The way your virtual event will look is entirely up to you. For keynote presentations, for instance, you can create a space that resembles an auditorium for attendees to feel like they are watching a keynote speaker in a physical event.

Depending on the audience — and particularly for younger attendees — our virtual events team has noticed a surge in the use of hybrid events. This type of event would not necessarily have to resemble a physical location and simply uses a regular screen for attendees to watch while the virtual event takes place.

Something to consider for future events as you plan for a different kind of audience.

Interaction

The interactive layer is where actions occur over the visual background. This is where the flexibility and the power of the virtual events software come into play. Some interactive elements virtual attendees can engage in include:

  • Watch webinar presentations
  • Participate in live streaming videos
  • Talk with peers in group chats
  • Share content on social
  • Download content
  • Request meetings/demos with staff

These are just a few activities you can offer for virtual attendees. You can take it to the next level and gamify the experience as well. Games like treasure hunts or fun prize giveaways can be tied to these actions, creating more energy and interactivity for virtual participants.

infographic: engage virtual attendees with competition in a virtual event platform

Engagement that just doesn’t end

Even when an event is not live, a virtual environment can remain open for anytime access, 24/7, allowing for more opportunities for attendees to participate in an event after-the-fact or for students to continue learning and engaging in their learning environment.

Track Data of Your Virtual Summit

24/7 access gives you 24/7 data to every part of your virtual environment. The data and metrics layer is where every action is tracked for measurable results.

E-learning Tracking

In e-learning platforms, you can track how much a student is learning at any time through the use of real-time dashboards and scheduled progress reports. The reporting and metrics for e-learning opportunities include:

  • 24/7 access to a learner’s progress
  • Detailed course reports
  • Individual activity reports
  • Quiz, text, and poll results
  • Chat and engagement reports

Virtual Events Tracking

For virtual events, producers can access real-time reports of the interactions at an event or after an event, giving deeper insight into user behavior and content preferences, which translates to ROI calculations and a true understanding of program impact.

This is one area truly unique to online events. Hosting events virtually allows for the valuable data collection of virtual participants in real-time — a MAJOR benefit for any type of virtual event program.

Start Planning Today: Find the Right Virtual Events Platform

If you want to learn more about types of virtual events, check out our blog for more resources on hosting an online program.
If you are ready to start planning, make sure to choose one of the best virtual conference platforms available to host your trade show, e-learning coursework, or certification. Request a 6Connex demo to see how our team can help you execute any virtual event or program.

Originally published at https://www.6connex.com on July 10, 2019.

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