At first glance, planning a virtual event can seem pretty easy. All you need to do is curate an amazing line-up of speakers, rope in a fantastic virtual event platform partner, and you’re good to go, right?

Well, not quite.

Just like catching a roadrunner, organizing a virtual event can seem deceptively simple. Think through all the activities associated with the event lifecycle: from making an event landing page to setting up ticketing, and creating your virtual event venue to sending out post-event emails, there's quite a lot to do (not that we’re trying to scare you).

But the fact of the matter is that every part of your event lifecycle is a separate activity in itself. And if one fails, it’ll have direct consequences on every other activity - in the end, impacting the overall success of your event. 

The best way to cut through the planning and logistical stress: virtual event tools that make your work more efficient and streamlined. Here are the essentials that you should already know about:

The virtual event tools you need to use

Ticketing

As you know, the event experience starts as soon as your prospective attendee shops for tickets to your event, which means that you can’t afford for the ticketing experience to be anything other than smooth and clear. That’s where an event ticketing tool can be invaluable. 

Tools like Aventri, or Eventbrite will streamline the entire ticketing process for you. You will be able to 

• Create a dedicated landing page for your event with ticketing incorporated (the amount of customization offered depends on the tool you choose)
• Put different ticket tiers, and corresponding prices in place
• Set up payment options
• See real-time ticketing performance data so you can improve and optimize sales.

The tool you choose will determine how creative you can get with ticketing; some organizers for instance are offering  NFTs as a virtual/hybrid event ticket which is a unique and exclusive way to drive sales and nurture brand loyalty. (Click here for more on the inventive ways NFTs are being used in virtual events).

Payments

In the world of ever-increasing impatience and frustration, speed and effortlessness are the name of the game. If your attendees face any issues at the point of purchase, they’re likely to back out and have a negative view of your brand. That’s why domestic and international payment tools like  Stripe, Razorpay, Paypal or PayU are so important. A fast, easy and reliable checkout shortens the time from interest to purchase and helps to create a good brand impression. 

CRM

Today’s attendees are more demanding than ever before.

Salesforce’s “State of the Connected Customer” report spells this out, stating that attendees expect “proactive service, personalized interactions, and connected experiences across digital channels.” And 71% of those polled said that they would make a purchase decision based on experience quality.

What this boils down to is once an attendee purchases a ticket, you’ll need to make sure that they feel like a VIP. To this end, CRM tools such as Hubspot, Marketo and Salesforce are an organizer’s best friend, enabling you to manage your attendees through the entire event lifecycle and streamline communication with them. This means you’ll be able to:

• Send out automated ticket registration emails, event notifications and reminders, and session recordings post-event to create a personalized experience - there’ll be no chance of attendees receiving an email addressed to the wrong person.
• Keep tabs on attendee activities throughout the event and provide more opportunity for fostering leads 
• Automate tasks and optimize your time and effort

Leverage a CRM tool to its utmost and you’ll be able to give your attendees an event experience that’ll earn you rave reviews on social media, make them more open towards a future purchase, and foster brand loyalty.

Streaming

An overload of virtual sessions with talking-head programming just won’t cut it anymore. For your virtual events to be more engaging and impressive than a PowerPoint presentation, you’ll need to be able to play video during your sessions. Here’s why its indispensable:

• With the help of a production studio, you can leverage technologies like Augmented Reality (AR), Extended Reality (XR), and other virtual sets to create a unique and immersive experience
• Live-streaming also helps to build community. Speakers can interact with attendees, and answering questions, and taking Polls which bring an immediacy to the proceedings
• Playing pre-produced video content ensures that there are no hitches during the event

Thanks to streaming tools such as Youtube, Vimeo, GoToWebinar, Zoom, and Teams, you’ll be able to stream videos in and out in real-time with ease.

Translators

One of the biggest advantages of virtual events is the ability they give you to reach a larger audience than was previously possible; one that is spread throughout your country or even around the world. 

However, with this ability also comes a responsibility that all your attendees regardless of location or the language they speak, are equally able to access and consume your content. 

This is where translation tools like Interprefy, SyncWords, and Google Translate can make a big difference:

• Multilingual audio support enables attendees who speak different languages to still be able to read and digest the content presented at your event
• Live captioning allows you to make every spoken word in the videos you share at the event consumable for attendees who are hard of hearing

What’s the secret to getting all the tools you need for your virtual event?

From making your life easier to creating a better experience for your attendees, it’s easy to see the benefits of virtual event tools. So why aren’t all event organizers using them? Sadly, not all virtual event platforms offer integrations with these tools forcing organizers to depend on paid tools to manage such integrations, which is neither a flexible or scalable solution.

To resolve this integration headache for organizers, Zuddl offers out-of-the-box integrations to the most popular CRMs, ticketing systems, payment gateways, and translation tools which means that you’ll have every tool you need in one place at your fingertips. And furthermore, our team will also work hand-in-glove with yours to build custom integrations for homegrown systems.

To sum up

While creating  a virtual event experience that your attendees will remember for all the right reasons can be challenging, virtual event tools can play a vital role in getting it right. But this can be made more complicated by clunky integrations or the lack thereof for your favourite tools. 

Which is why Zuddl will work with you to develop the integrations your organization needs specifically. Working together, we can ensure that your next event is dynamic and impactful. 

Want to learn more about Zuddl?

If you’d like to discuss how Zuddl can help you produce a flawless event experience, book a demo with our team today. 

‍

Zuddl is a unified platform for events and webinars that helps event marketers plan and execute events that drive growth. The platform has clients across the globe, such as the United Nations, Kellogg’s, Microsoft, HSBC, VMware, Google, StackCommerce and Cipla amongst others. In January 2022, Zuddl announced that it closed $13.35 mn in Series A funding.