Many healthcare, life sciences and healthcare IT marketers may not realize it, but virtual events (such as online-only conferences) are not new. They’ve actually been around for roughly a decade – starting right about the time broadband connections became ubiquitous.
But you never heard about them? That’s not surprising, because they were pretty much treated as “less than” events. They were the sort of thing organizers would do when they didn’t have the resources to pull off a live event such as HIMSS, and organizations would participate in when they didn’t have the budget or personnel to attend live events.
Then came the COVID-19 pandemic and suddenly virtual conferences and other digital-only events started looking a whole lot more attractive, even to the big players.
That’s the world we live in for now. With many states restricting attendance at indoor events to a maximum of 50 people, it’s unlikely that we will be gathering together face-to-face anytime soon.
As someone who has walked countless concrete floors in countless poorly ventilated halls in countless cities across this great nation, I can tell you that’s not all bad news. My feet have never felt better as an adult, and my shoes have lasted far longer than they usually do.
Of course, even if the ability to hold in-person conferences and other events has been curtailed that doesn’t mean the need has gone away. And suddenly, almost overnight, virtual conferences (and other virtual events) have gone from fighting for scraps in marketing budgets to being front-and-center in many organizations’ plans.
Since it appears we’re going to be stuck in COVID-19 limbo for the foreseeable future, savvy marketers will want to learn the best ways to take advantage of these virtual events opportunities. Fortunately, I addressed this very topic in a recent post for the Forbes Agency Council blog, which you can read here:
In it I cover not only ways to maximize the benefits of virtual conferences but also other types of virtual events such as webinars, various forms of content and even video conferences.
Instead of pining for the days of stale, overpriced sandwiches, never-ending, never-moving taxi lines and nondescript hotel rooms where previous guests clearly violated the “no smoking” rules, give the post a look. And afterwards, if you find you need some help in executing some of these ideas for virtual events, give me a call or shoot me a note. My Zoom is always open.