In the business world, bigger doesn’t always mean better. Large scale virtual events, webinars, and hybrid events can connect hundreds or even thousands of people across the world, but small scale events can still pack a big punch.
That’s why organizations are eyeing new opportunities with smaller, more targeted micro events.
While micro events aren’t necessarily a new concept, they’ve gained more popularity as a meaningful way to connect with event attendees. This guide will get you up to speed on the new micro events trend and how they can benefit your business.
What are micro events?
Micro events are typically smaller scale virtual events (though they can be offline too, more on that later).
Traditionally, micro events referred to online events like webinars, networking events, live broadcasts, live gaming sessions, and more. They stand in contrast to large scale virtual summit or multi-day events that draw lots of attendees and include multiple sessions, speakers, or segments that all add up to hours of event content.
Micro events and larger events can coexist to help businesses target different needs. Hosting micro events can help you reach a more targeted audience in a shorter amount of time.
Think: VIP events, short networking events, lunch & learn sessions, and more. The smaller size helps organizations connect with each attendee more easily.
The key to an impactful micro event is the focus on quality over quantity. You can hand pick your attendee list, provide a more curated event experience, and plan to leverage tools to encourage more attendee engagement and participation.
Let’s dive into some of their main advantages.
1. Health and safety
One of the most important things event planners and organizers are concerned about is health and safety.
Organizers have had to make sure physical event venues have enough space to accommodate social distancing rules in many countries and provide extra hygiene equipment. That’s on top of the usual H&S requirements.
However, with virtual micro events, there’s less pressure for organizers to focus on the physical event requirements or limitations. In-person micro events also have more flexibility as organizers can limit the number of attendees based on the venue and health and safety standards.
For example, an organizer can plan to host a micro event like a workshop around a specific tool or problem in your industry — limit the number of attendees — while keeping the event short and simple.
2. Reduce cost
Another great reason to put on micro events is that they are naturally lower in cost. According to data from Statista the average budget for meetings and conventions in the U.S has historically been over $1.2 million with an exhibition on, or over $600K without an exhibition area.
These figures relate to large-scale event planning. With budgets exceeding half a million dollars for events with or without exhibits, it’s easy to see the appeal of hosting small-scale micro events, where the pricing significantly decreases.
Let’s look at some average industry expenses when it comes to traditional convention/conference-style events according to socialtables:
- Venue hire: $950–$1,250 per hour
- Food and beverage: $125–$200 per person
- Speakers and presenters: $4,500–$8,500 for a solid speaker
- Additional staff: $12–$40 per person
- A/V equipment and staff: $1,100–$1,400 for equipment and $350–$450 per day for A/V staff
These are just some of the basic costs, when you add up little things like travel expenses, advertising, gifts, and swag it can become a budgeter’s (or accountant’s) nightmare.
With a micro event on the other hand, you can leverage less staff, fewer speakers, a virtual event or webinar platform, or hire smaller venues that may not even need A/V equipment depending on the style of the event.
3. Quality over quantity
Big annual events like trade shows and conferences (if done right) have the wow factor to draw people back year over year. But what if you could scale those events down and have the wow factor on a more regular basis?
Here’s an idea: if you’re keen to put on a conference, try breaking content into micro-events that you hold on a bi-weekly or monthly basis for a limited time.
Using micro events this way helps in multiple ways:
- People are always busy, 70% of event viewers say they should be an hour or less. Shorter events cater to more people.
- Less pressure to organize between speakers and presentations if your micro-events only focus on one at a time.
- A more personal experience for attendees since they can choose to attend a smaller event without committing to a longer one.
4. They’re great online and offline
When it comes to hosting a micro event, you can do so online, offline, or a mix of both (more on the hybrid event experience later).
During the pandemic, you probably attended a few online events. Many of these events were likely micro events without you even being aware of it! As an example, I attended a micro event hosted by Clearscope.
The event was short but sweet, diving into how to build a website from 0 to 1 million page views. The event organizers leveraged targeted promotional channels, like a Slack channel, to find attendees as pictured below:
Notice how, even though it’s a short event, there’s a planned structure with a single speaker. The event targets a niche audience of marketers interested in SEO content strategy. I left this particular webinar with great insights and inspiration to build a site of my own.
With Covid-19 restrictions slowly easing (at the time of writing) we’re seeing more and more in-person micro events in addition to targeted virtual events.
Micro events can make a big impact with focused topics, solid speakers, a little event promotion, and active engagement.
5. Build meaningful connections
One of the biggest advantages of hosting a micro event is that the’re by nature more intimate than your average conference. This intimacy creates an environment where your attendees can meaningfully connect with both you and other attendees.
When you’re at an event with a large crowd, it’s easy to feel lost or lonely. This can be the result of having fewer opportunities to interact one-to-one with other people.
With virtual events in particular, small gatherings, networking events, and roundtable discussions are the “most popular” types — for good reasons.
- Smaller events offer a sense of connection. Since there are fewer people, you’re more likely to be able to personally address and interact with each of them as individuals instead of addressing a room full of nameless faces.
- People feel less pressure to speak up. From personal experience, I’ve found smaller events more conducive to interaction. Attendees are less prone to “stage fright” and feel free to speak and ask questions. These experiences feel more like conversations.
- You’re better able to offer an experience. Humans are social creatures, and we often feel a sense of fulfillment when we contribute to our community. With micro-events, you’re more able to create an environment or activity that involves everyone.
In all, micro events help you to connect and create a sense of community among your attendees, which is what makes for a memorable experience.
6. Improve the hybrid event experience
There are different ways to have a hybrid event. But more than 75% of attendees find live in-person and hybrid events valuable, compared to 64% finding pre-recorded events valuable.
When it comes to the hybrid event experience, it’s easy to get the balance wrong between in-person and online attendees — if there are too many in-person, the online attendee experience likely suffers.
Using the micro event model can help correct or maintain the balance for these hybrid events.
For example, a financial services company may want to host weekly all-hands meetings with senior management that have hybrid event elements. Some staff may be in the office in person while others can watch through live streaming.
The size of all hands meetings can vary in size, but the flexibility of attendee style means everyone has a chance to engage and interact with the senior management.
7. Move fast, stay agile
The final reason you should consider using micro events is their ability to help you move fast on industry trends and keep information flow agile.
With large-scale conferences, you have to plan months (maybe even years) in advance. And much like book-publishing, by the time you get around to the event, the information is old news. This can harm the perception of your business as being “behind”.
For example, the Covid-19 briefings broadcast over the course of 2020, which took the framework of a recurring micro event, help facilitate the fast-paced information flow of public health updates. Without these daily micro events, many people would have been in the dark on key information.
So when there’s a change or emerging trend in your industry, instead of planning a full conference around the topic, host a micro event that addresses them right away. Doing so can help you get ahead of your competitors and position your business as a thought leader.
Ready to host a micro event?
Hopefully you’re excited at the potential impact micro events can have on your business.
Micro events help organizers adhere to health and safety standards, minimize overhead costs without compromising on quality, facilitate more meaningful event connections, and help future-proof your event strategy.
If you’re curious about hosting your own virtual micro events, start planning your content, storyboard your session, and plot your attendee participation with the video tools and event platform that can help.
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