7 Costs to Consider When Planning a Virtual Event
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Event organizers and their stakeholders are very familiar with the typical cost considerations for an in-person event: the big 3 - venue, catering, and AV - plus all of the decor, signage, staffing and other details. There’s no denying that in-person events can carry a healthy price tag! What we’re still seeing 16 months into our shift to virtual, is that companies continue to expect the price tag to drop significantly, and are caught off-guard when they discover that producing a proper virtual event still requires many of the same considerations. We blame this misconception on the popularity of Zoom, MS Teams, Google Meet and the other free or next-to-free platforms. We also attribute this to the blurred line between a virtual meeting and a virtual event. They are not the same thing and shouldn’t be treated as such.
Here are some costs to consider when reimagining your in-person event for virtual.
Event Platforms
With virtual you no longer have the physical venue cost and all the little fees that come along with it; remember garbage disposal and parking management fees? Ah yes, those were simpler times.
Today you still need to allocate a portion of your budget for an event platform, a.k.a.: your virtual event venue.
Sure, Zoom is free, but it’s also likely where you’ve been holding staff and client meetings for the past 16 months. This is an EVENT! It’s got to feel special and elevated, to accomplish that you must deliver it in a more engaging and visually appealing environment. Afterall, you wouldn’t hold your awards gala in your boardroom, would you?
The price for a virtual event platform depends on whether you purchase your own subscription to a platform, or connect with an agency that is utilizing their subscription or custom platform and packaging it with their services. Whether to get your own subscription, or leverage someone else's there is a cost that needs to be considered. We’ll dive into how to select an event platform in an upcoming article.
Production Value
When planning in-person events, earmarking a significant portion of the budget to AV was a given. You’ve allocated a budget to venue and decor, a really amazing lineup of speakers and entertainment, but none of that can be appreciated without the AV team there to mic it up and light it up! So now we’re doing virtual events and the misconception is that we don’t need these services anymore. Psst! We do! So don’t leave them out of your budget.
Your basic in-laptop webcam and internal mic might cut it for team meetings and smaller events, but if you want consistently high quality video and sound for your milestone events, you should go to the pros. Many AV production companies have presentation stages setup for virtual events. These come complete with the proper lighting, sound, video and internet bandwidth requirements to make your CEO, keynote, award presenters, and others truly shine. These AV and production teams can also travel to the location of a speaker and create a professional in-home/office setup complete with pipe and drape backdrop, lighting, mic and high resolution camera.
They can also provide live video mixing, which is a fancy way of saying they will cue up and display the appropriate video feed and media at the exactly the right time. Kind of like a seamless television broadcast that cuts from segment to segment. No more waiting for a presenter to fumble with joining the stage and unmuting themselves, no more blank screens and dead air. What is the production value that you want or need to effectively represent your brand and communicate your message? Is zoom going to cut it?
We’re preparing an article specifically on different virtual production options and their pros/cons and applications.
Support Staff
In-person live events always have oodles of staff to help attendees with checking in, registration, finding their way around and getting more information. Virtual events need this too, so make sure they’re in your plan and in the budget.
Having dedicated staff focused on the attendee experience is important. Each platform is different, and you are at the mercy of your attendees’ different devices, browsers, internet connections and overall comfort with technology. Don’t rely solely on event platforms’ chatbots and generic chat support: they don’t know the details of your event’s program, they are typically responsible for several different events at once, therefore there can be a delay in responses. Having dedicated support staff both in-platform and at the end of an email or phone is crucial. They will help attendees get comfortable with navigating the platform, troubleshoot technical issues, and answer questions about the event.
We have found that attendees, speakers, sponsors and of course end clients, feel most confident and supported when there is a dedicated team working with them directly in the event and providing personalized support. Never go it alone! Having a team ensures that each stakeholder group is looked after and that you're not spread too thin and can deal with the actual production, or if you have an event producer running the show, it allows you to focus on attending the event and actually enjoying yourself!
Activations, Engagement and Entertainment
So, we’re assuming there’s a reason you wanted to host a virtual event with attendees logging in at the same time in the same place. Otherwise you could pre-record your presentations and send them a link to watch it at their leisure. No...you have a message to communicate and you want them to share this experience together.
Ask yourself...what is this “experience” you want them to share? Surely it’s not just a webinar with talking heads. Plan to budget for some fun virtual activations like: themed photo booths, group trivia or virtual escape room activities. How about, a magician or illusionist that uses volunteers from the audience, interactive bands or DJs that take live requests, or even programs that enable real-time quizzes, polling and games to layer in during the presentations.
We would argue that although it’s easier and more convenient for more attendees to register for or join an event online, it’s more difficult to keep them there and engaged. Attrition is a real issue when people are attending from their home or office. Often virtual events are being squeezed in between zoom meetings, home schooling and urgent emails - so there has to be something that makes the attendee want to plan their day around attending, rather than squeezing it into their day. We’ve all been guilty of turning on a virtual event, full of talking heads and opting to multi-task. Sure the session is still on in the background while we just get a little work done, but are we really present? Do we actually know what was discussed in the last 30 minutes and has it had any impact on us? The answer is no. Why? Because we weren’t pulled in and engaged in the delivery. We felt like a spectator rather than part of the experience.
It is crucial to draw people in and give them opportunities to participate. Also, don’t forget to schedule some time for your attendees to mingle and share their reactions with one another in the moment. It may cost a bit more to add the time but it will be well worth it. That networking time at in-person events is invaluable, and a huge draw for many attending the event in the first place. Virtual is no different! People are hungry for connection and authentic interactions.
Professional Host/Emcee
We have produced and managed events that have used anyone from student volunteers, to the company CEO, to professional hosts/emcees, to no host/emcee at all. And we have to tell you, a pro emcee is worth their weight in digital currency! They know how to get the attendees engaged, when to jump on stage and fill in any dead air, and they can tactfully join the virtual stage and thank a long-winded presenter giving them a firm, but polite, nudge. They also help prepare and guide the attendees through the various elements of the event in a cohesive way. So if you can, we strongly encourage you to keep that in mind when drafting your budget.
Experience and Swag Boxes
If you want to elevate your event even further, you may consider an experience box. Perhaps you have a chef or mixologist doing a demo and you want to send the attendees a little something to snack on or sip - or better yet, the ingredients to follow along together. Perhaps the box contains clues to an activity later on, or some awesome themed gifts. These tangible elements add so much to a virtual event experience that they are well worth the investment. Whatever you do, just be mindful of the logistics required and costs involved in sourcing, branding, coordinating, packing, shipping and ensuring delivery of these elements.
Accessibility
One great thing about events going virtual is the opportunity to open them up to people who may not have otherwise been able to participate. We’ve heard feedback from folks that are house-bound, or not very mobile, or who are immunocompromised, who are enjoying the abundance of opportunities to connect virtually. That’s fantastic!
The virtual medium lends itself well to accessibility, so let’s look at accessibility further. Services such as accurate real-time captioning and Sign Language interpretation are essential to many deaf and hard of hearing people, or folks with auditory processing difficulties. These services are not free or cheap, and very often they are an afterthought in the planning process. To create a truly inclusive and accessible event, accessibility services need to be considered and budget allocated at the start. Requirements for these services can be identified by attendees at the time of registration, and if the service is needed there are funds allocated without scrambling. If the services are not required, you can be the hero of the day and come in under budget. Go you! Better yet, plan for, and have the services available anyway, so you’re prepared for any last minute registrations that need them.
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We firmly believe that you can deliver a fantastic event with high production value that will wow your guests, even online. It just takes some investment. We hope this offered you some good insight into the costs to consider while planning virtual events. Follow our page to stay updated as we continue to share articles that dig into these areas further.
