During the coronavirus pandemic, everything went virtual. People worked from home and had virtual team meetings, socialized with their friends online, and even checked up on elderly relatives without leaving the house. You would have thought that everyone had got sick of virtual events, especially now that it is easier to meet up in person. However, there are still times when it is better to hold an event such as a baby shower, engagement gathering, or team meeting virtually. Check out this virtual event planning checklist.
Here are 6 reasons why to Hold a Virtual Rather Than an In-Person Event
When Your Guests Don’t Live Locally
It can be difficult to get a lot of people in the same room as each other for an event if they don’t all live locally. They will have to travel and find somewhere to stay if they want to join you. This might not be practical, and you could be left with a lot of people having to turn down your invitation. Holding the event online means that your guests can join you wherever they live.
To Keep the Cost Down
Events can be expensive to host. You need to consider the cost of hiring a venue, decorating it, laying on food and drink, and providing music or entertainment. A virtual event can be hosted for next to no money. Many chat platforms are free to use, and you don’t need to provide food and drink for everyone. If you want to be sociable you can ask everyone to bring their own food and drink without fear of looking rude. You only need to decorate your immediate area, and this can be done online so you don’t need to pay for real decorations. You can even save yourself the cost of posting invitations by using virtual invitations instead. Greenvelope’s virtual invitation selection is vast, and they have lots of experience providing the design and wording that your guests will love.
To Protect Vulnerable Guests
Although the worst of the coronavirus epidemic appears to be over, for now, some people are still vulnerable and do not like to attend large events. This includes the elderly and medically vulnerable such as cancer patients. If you are holding a gathering and you want to invite people who would rather avoid crowds, then a virtual event is the perfect solution. That way nobody has to feel like they are missing out on your event, and you will have the pleasure of their company.
To Save Time
You may not want to host an all-day event and going virtual can save you time. This works well for corporations that are having to make cutbacks and don’t want to send all their staff off on a conference or training day thus losing income. Holding a conference virtually means that people can log on to it from the office. Listen to the speakers and then go back to work. They get all the information they need without having to be out of the office for the entire day.
Another reason you might want to save time is if your guests have other plans. They might want to come to your event but could only stay for a short while because they are expected elsewhere. They might turn down your invitation for fear of appearing rude. However, they will probably feel more comfortable being at your event for a brief time if you host a virtual event, as they will be able to log off without drawing attention to themselves.
To Be Environmentally Friendly
If you have invited lots of guests to come a long way to your event, then they will need to use fuel. Cars, trains, and airplanes use up a lot of fuel and this is bad for the environment. Many companies are working hard to reduce their carbon footprint and do their best for the environment and hosting a company event in person goes against that. Depending on who you work for, it could invoke a negative reaction from the press and get your company some bad publicity.
If you are hosting a social event, you are still asking people to increase their carbon footprint by hosting an in-person event. They also have the cost of travel to contend with. It is far greener to host your event virtually if you can.
Reliability
If your guests have a good internet connection, a virtual event can be incredibly reliable. You aren’t at the mercy of the weather or the outbreak of another virus and you know that your event can go ahead without having to worry about issues that are out of your control.
You shouldn’t think that you have to hold an in-person event rather than a virtual one if you don’t want to. Virtual events can still be fun, and they are often a lot more practical.
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