Virtual conference guide: Everything you need to know

From event content to virtual event technology and ROI goals, learn how to pull off your best virtual conference yet.

Conventional conferences simply won’t cut it in today’s bifurcated virtual vs. IRL landscape. It’s no secret more and more professionals are going hybrid mode — whether that’s their working style or the kinds of events they attend. According to research, the virtual events global market was worth $114.12 billion in 2021. Between now and 2030, it’s projected to grow at an annual clip of 21.4%.

Virtual events aren’t a flash in the pan, so how do you organize and execute a meaningful (and tech hiccup-free) online event? We’ll show you the ropes.

In this guide, we’ll walk you through planning your event content, choosing your technology, developing key performance indicators (KPIs), and more. Whether you’re looking to hold a virtual town hall, an online training session, or even a digital happy hour, bookmark this guide for all your virtual conference questions and curiosities.

What is a virtual conference?

A virtual conference is an immersive online gathering with multiple experiences that all focus on one main topic. From speakers to networking events, virtual conference sessions expand on the event theme and tell participants a story. Virtual conferences can also bring people together in a community setting and foster comradery among participants.

The goal of virtual conferences is to immerse audiences in the content while giving them the option to decide how they want to participate in the experience. For example, one way attendees can participate is through custom schedule tracks, which empower audience members to create their own single- or multi-day schedule of events. They can either select from several different line-up options or choose their own adventure with a DIY schedule.

During virtual conferences, event organizers also encourage engagement using a variety of tools and techniques, like polling, live Q&A, chat, using an event app, and 1:1 chat experiences.

Five types of virtual conferences

When most people think of virtual conferences, they imagine a string of webinars — but that’s barely scratching the surface. Let’s take a look at some of the most common types of virtual conferences existing today.

1. Virtual town halls and live streams

Virtual town halls, also known as “all-hands meetings,” are live streamed company-wide events where an organization’s leadership team(s) share high-level updates and other pertinent company information.

2. Webinars

Although you wouldn’t use the terms “virtual conference” and “webinar” interchangeably, a webinar is a type of virtual conference.

Webinars usually focus on one topic and are typically used for in-depth knowledge sharing and professional growth.

Webinars tend to have limited options for audience interaction, as presenters mainly use Q&As and polls to connect with attendees. And although the audience interaction may be limited, webinars do give attendees a chance to share common interests and career goals and exchange social networking information with each other.

3. Hybrid events

Hybrid events are single events that include both in-person and online experiences.

You may be a good candidate to have a hybrid virtual conference if your company holds simultaneous events at multiple locations, or has both in-person and remote staff members. If you have a live studio audience or are holding an on-demand event, you may also benefit from a hybrid format.

According to research, 47% of event professionals say that hybrid events can connect “internationally dispersed” attendees.

With both in-person and online experiences available, hybrid events allow for a broad spectrum of unique attendee experiences.

4. Virtual trainings and workshops

Virtual training sessions and workshops are events where employees learn about a new skill or product functionality to become more proficient in their roles.

And virtual and remote work is only becoming more ubiquitous. More than 40 million American workers are expected to be fully remote by 2025, so it’s important to get comfortable with presenting online training sooner than later.

5. Virtual networking and other virtual events

Virtual networking is any online activity or event that helps people make connections and engage with others, typically in a professional setting.

These events help colleagues learn about each other’s experiences and perspectives. Networking connections can also lead to potential business partnerships.

The benefits of holding a virtual conference

Before you can decide whether or not a virtual conference is the right type of event for your organization, you should know the benefits of holding one.

The best part about virtual events is that attendees from around the world can participate without leaving the comfort of their homes. Streaming sessions can also be recorded and repurposed into other marketing content or on demand content for years to come, increasing engagement long after your conference ends.

Other benefits of virtual conferences include:

Flexible hosting
Increased reach
Wide speaker pool
Evergreen content creation
Detailed audience data and metrics
Engagement integrations like questionnaires and polls
Fewer logistics than in-person conferences

Virtual conference platforms can also offer event management features that continuously collect engagement data, so you can form deeper insights about your audience and their experiences than you would at an in-person event. This audience data will ultimately help you host better virtual conferences in the future.

Your virtual conference planning playbook

Every virtual conference is unique, but there are elements that every digital event should include. Read on to learn what you need to do before, during, and after your virtual event.

🏁 Before the event

Virtual conferences are less complicated to plan than in-person ones, but they still involve some preparation. Here are seven considerations to make prior to your virtual conference.

1. Know your event budget

The first consideration you should make when planning a virtual conference is your budget. Plan out how much you’re able to spend on your virtual conference activities, marketing, software, and hardware, and share the information with relevant company stakeholders.

There are a few things that can help you put on an amazing virtual conference, but that may drive up your event budget. Work with your team to determine if you need — and how you will implement — the following (optional) virtual conference components:

Content that requires a lot of editing (e.g., adding in graphics, sound design, etc.)
Speaker coaching — just because you’re a leader doesn’t mean you’re an extrovert!
Backdrops, green screens, etc.
Hosts for breakout sessions
Event security

Your virtual event budget will also help you set internal expectations, determine technological needs, and plan out whether or not you can (or want to) earn revenue from the conference.

2. Select the right tech

To launch a great virtual event, you’ll need to assess your technology to make sure you have everything required to go live. There are several tools that can help you live stream your virtual conference, but you’ll need to think strategically about how the experience will look and feel for your audience. To help you choose the right virtual platform, try putting yourself in the mindset of your participants.

Ask yourself the following questions:

How would you picture a best-in-class attendee journey?
What does your event content look like?
How will attendees interact with speakers and each other?
How should sponsors access the event?
How seamless is it for speakers to join their sessions?

Along with thinking from your audience’s perspective, you also need a tool that will make the process of planning and hosting a virtual conference easier for your team.

We recommend looking for features that include:

Attendee registration and tracking
Event registration and brand customization tools
Customizable email templates
A centralized and easy-to-access virtual platform hub
Audience engagement options (think polls, surveys, chat, Q&A, etc.)
Browser-based production tools with custom layouts
Media libraries or storage
On-demand viewing

Shopping for a virtual event platform? We analyzed six of today's top players for you in this guide.

3. Consider your virtual conference length

Do you have a lot of content? Have you held successful, multi-day events packed with virtual sessions and programs? That’s great — but if you want to create a virtual conference experience that holds your audience’s attention, we suggest trimming down your run time to focus on the “greatest hits” of your agenda instead.

According to a recent Vimeo study, 70% of respondents believe a webinar should be an hour or less. Webinars are just one type of conference, but this “hour” benchmark is a good standard rule for all event sessions.

If you still feel strongly about hosting a virtual conference with sessions longer than an hour (and you have data from your other events that prove it works for your audience), we hear you. Just keep in mind that audience expectations have changed in the past few years. It’s important to consider attendees’ digital fatigue when selecting your virtual conference format.

You may want to consider a pre-recorded conference video. Pre-recorded sessions may not have been considered a mainstay in the past, but they have now become a successful strategy for many event organizers. Attendees have more freedom to watch your conference at their convenience, leading to better quality experiences for both parties.

4. Create and choose your virtual conference content

We’ve recently seen an increase in pre-recorded videos made exclusively for virtual conferences. And with good reason — they add a nice touch to your scheduled programming, offer plenty of opportunities for rewatching after the conference is over, and may even offer more opportunities for creative expression than live videos do.

The catch is that pre-recorded video content for conferences takes time and a production budget to create. However, we unequivocally believe video is the way to go when it comes to choosing your conference content.

Although tools like traditional slides are great for informative sessions, people just prefer video. 83% of people prefer watching video to learn new informational or instructional content than accessing it via audio or text only.

Video conference content provides a showcase for your exciting speakers, business partners, and favorite clients in a way that a flat image file simply cannot. You can also add presentation elements to your pre-recorded or live streamed video — like graphics, slide shows, and interstitial content like sponsorship messaging.

If you’re still not sure what kind of virtual conference content to use, look at your audience’s behavior and use that information to choose the conference content that is best suited for them. For example, if your presentation is text-heavy and you notice low click-through rates or low survey participation after the event, you can infer that your conference material likely needs content tweaks. In this case, you could add more visual elements to tailor your content to meet audience preferences.

5. Determine your registration process for attendees

The main detail to keep in mind as you plan your virtual conference is to not forget who you’re planning the event for — your audience! Your attendees need to know 3 big pieces of information:

What your virtual conference is about
When it takes place
How and where to register for it

Along with identifying your target audience, determine where you’re going to host your online registration — will it be on your own website or a third-party website? Are you going to use a form or landing page? Whatever registration location you pick, include all virtual conference information on that page so your audience can easily tune in on the day of your event.

6. Decide how to market your virtual conference

Once you create a registration page, create a marketing plan to promote your virtual conference to your audience.

First, determine the answers to the following questions to help you nail down the target audience you will promote event registration to:

Where do your audience members work (industry/types of companies, size of businesses, etc.)?
What topics are your audience members passionate about?
What is the age range of your audience?
From where will your audience members watch your virtual conference?
Is there a particular speaker your audience wants to hear from?

Most (if not all) of the promotion for your online conference is going to be digital — like email campaigns, social media posts, and blog articles on your website.

Create a marketing campaign and send messages to remind participants one week before the event, one day before the event, the morning of the event, and at the start of the event.

You should also send “I’m sorry we missed you” emails to no-show participants or attendee follow-up emails with the live streamed video link once the evergreen version of the content is ready.

Use your organization’s social profiles and blog to publish pre- and/or post-event content. Just make sure each marketing component has a call to action that leads to the virtual conference sign-up.

7. Establish event KPIs

Virtual conference platforms automatically capture event metrics — including registrations, attendance, audience engagement, average time viewing content, and more.

But what data do you need, really?

We have a few key performance indicators you should consider tracking at your next event:

Attendee registration vs. attendance: Many attendees sign up for a virtual event to watch it later. In fact, 68% of attendees say they would rewatch content from events they’d attended. So, before you even set the date, determine if the total number of registrations (both live and rewatch) or just live attendance is an indicator of event success.
Attendee satisfaction: Send a pre-conference survey to learn what your audience wants so you can deliver exactly that. The same goes for post-conference satisfaction. While your virtual conference is fresh in their minds, send a pre-scheduled, post-conference survey within three business days or so.
Content engagement: Along with typical real-time virtual conference engagement features — like chats, polling, and Q&As — make sure you offer networking opportunities, too. After all, conferences are where business connections and exciting new opportunities take place — create virtual spaces to support these conversations.

If you’ve done a virtual conference before, great! The KPIs for previous events can serve as a benchmark. However, if you are starting from scratch and need help figuring out how to host a virtual conference, don’t worry. Take some time to determine the type of KPIs that will best help you analyze your event — think about both video metrics and in-person metrics (like attendance).

Now that you’re familiar with pre-event practices, let’s move on to what you should do on the day of the event.

⏳ During the event

Your virtual conference agenda and content are ready, and your audience is prepared — now what? Here are the five considerations we think you should make during your virtual conference.

Provide upgraded interaction opportunities

So you have a chat box? Wonderful! Attendees can provide Q&A submissions? Excellent! But can your attendees connect with each other? Can they interact with sponsors? Are attendees at home able to be part of the virtual conference?

To really immerse your audience and increase engagement, make it a point to bring willing participants on screen. These face-to-face interactions go beyond the basic chat experience and promote networking.

An easy way to improve engagement, especially for sponsors, is to create a few digital breakout sessions during the event for attendees to access at their leisure. Not only do breakout rooms help individuals connect one on one, but they can also be sponsored, run by, or attended by your partners. Sponsored sessions can help your business partners increase their visibility, as well.

Bottom line, do your best to create open spaces and let attendees choose how to take part.

Engage the audience with quality speakers

Did you know that 64% of participants agree that seeing high-quality featured conference speakers encourages them to sign up for events? But what is a quality speaker, really?

You can have a speaker from a great company with a great title — but if they can’t deliver an electrifying session, there’s a chance you’ll lose your audience. Charisma and confidence are key to keeping up that good ol’ attendee engagement.

When you go virtual, the hope is that your conference will create a uniform experience no matter how diverse your speakers’ subject matter is. Much like watching back-to-back news segments or a movie with scene after scene, virtual conferences must bring each speaker’s content together into one cohesive storyline. And instead of being a lecture hall’s length away from the speaker on stage, the story is now front and center on a computer screen. Your team is responsible for shaping each moment so that the whole event comes together beautifully.

Have an event support team in place

This may come as a shock to some, but virtual conferences are not just a plug-and-play situation. In many cases, they require a production team to support remote speakers and attendee bandwidth and run as a television show would.

How do you know if you’ll need an event production team? Ask yourself:

Do I plan to include video as part of, or in between, sessions?
Do I have remote keynote speakers that are sharing a presentation?
Do I plan to mix live and pre-recorded content?
Do I plan to play music and/or include graphics of any kind on screen?
Do I need microphones? More than one camera? A teleprompter?
Do I need someone on standby to troubleshoot live streaming?

If you answered yes to these basic virtual questions, then we strongly suggest you invest in a live production team. An event production team can help you set up, troubleshoot, rehearse, and back up your event technology.

Offer VIP experiences for early registrants

Offering VIP experiences for virtual conference guests is much different than it would be for in-person events. You can’t offer reserved parking, front-row seating, or an open bar — but you can offer virtual perks, like opportunities to connect with speakers.

Another “VIP experience” you can offer for those who register early is a discounted ticket price — use this discounted price point within your marketing messaging.

You can also offer early registrants access to a “VIP area” breakout room where they can network with other attendees in a small group.

Host virtual networking opportunities

Both VIP and general attendees alike can benefit from networking opportunities at your virtual conference.

In these networking sessions, hosts should stay present and move conversations along by providing questions and prompts for your guests. It’s also helpful to manage networking expectations by providing a full event schedule with each session’s start and stop times.

Now that you know how to successfully execute your virtual event, discover how to finish strong with post-event practices.

✅ After the event

Congratulations, you produced a successful live stream event! But the work isn’t finished quite yet — here are our three post-event considerations for your next virtual conference.

See how your event measured up to KPIs

The event ended, and the audience seemed to enjoy it. Now what?

If you want to make an even better virtual conference next time (and if you’re reading this, we know you do!), it’s time to see how your event stacked up against the KPIs you established prior to the event.

Note how many virtual conference registrations you had, along with how many people actually attended. You should also determine the percentage of attendees who pre-registered. Track your data for each KPI you set for the event.

Follow up for feedback

Proactively solicit feedback from all participants with a post-event survey. We suggest moving away from feelings-based questions (e.g., “Did you enjoy the event?”) and leaning into practical, nitty-gritty details about how the process was for them.

For example, if your goal is to get more sign-ups or event registrations, consider asking questions related to their registration experience. Was the overall email communication to access the virtual platform easy to follow? These questions may seem technical, but they’re key for measuring the success of your virtual tools.

You can also ask event participants what generally needs improvement. As seasoned event professionals, we may naturally resist changing aspects of programs for our own reasons. But with virtual conferences and today’s unique attendee profiles, acting on feedback is essential. Be open to change, and follow the advice offered by event participants to make your future conferences even better.

Repurpose content with on-demand viewing

One of the best parts of virtual conferences is that they live on! Unlike in-person events — where the experience is one and done — content from your virtual conference can be rewatched and repurposed for years to come.

Along with giving participants links to rewatch the event, repurpose your conference material in future event marketing and other types of content — like ebooks, white papers, case studies, and more.

Not sure what’s worth resharing? Take a look at the data and feedback from attendees. When assessed side by side, these two invaluable sources of information will paint a clear picture of what worked, what didn’t, and what your audiences truly loved.

**Choose the best virtual event platform for your conference**

No matter what type of online conference you’re hosting, you’ll likely benefit from a user-friendly live streaming tool. Vimeo’s virtual conference platform not only helps you seamlessly pre-build your event but also helps you turn your sessions into evergreen content.