Event professionals worldwide have been learning quickly and transforming in-person to virtual events, over the last year and the industry is evolving fast. One of the key challenges event professionals face now though is releasing profits from virtual events - overcoming the challenge requires a new playbook.

A recent report by EventMB suggests that 40% of event professionals have not been able to generate a profit from virtual events. If you are among the 40% or if maximizing virtual event ROI has been a long-standing goal, here are 3 key pillars to take care of at your next event:

1. Attendee Engagement

Engagement for events is like water for the human body. Everybody is aware of its importance, but few are actually consuming enough of it (read executing on it).

Here are some actionable tips towards nurturing audience engagement

1. Set up channels to discover audience information. 
2. Understand audience preference towards information consumption.
3. Identify what motivates them to take action. Is it knowledge of what’s new in the market? Or is it the awareness of what other brands are doing?

Comprehending these areas will help you turn your audience into an engaged audience first, and then into a revenue-generating one. All you need to get this party started is a virtual events platform equipped with tools such as surveys, polls, meetings, virtual booths, networking lounges, and social feed.

2. Branded Experience

Branded experiences are important - for brand awareness, top-of-mind recall, and consumer confidence. These branding pillars can be leveraged in 2 ways during virtual events.

1. Customize the event experience with your brand colors and personality. Do not settle for anything that can be just replicated by other brands easily. Your event is yours, and you should do what it takes to make it your own.
2. Branded experiences can be extended to sponsors and virtual booths as well. Giving your sponsors their money's worth by enabling them to showcase their brand is likely to result in sustained partnerships and revenue in the long run.

3. Data & Insights

Plans without insights are like writing emails without knowing the alphabet - complete gibberish. With deep insights, you can understand your audience better and create experiences personalized to their needs. So next time, be sure to plan your event on a virtual event platform that will provide insights.

Apart from the classics like the number of attendees, some of the many other data points you should track are.

• Number of messages exchanged
• Number of lounge meetings done
• Session with most chats or QnAs
• Number of business cards dropped
• CTA clicks / booth

Audience engagement, branded experiences, and analytics are the dark horses that you need to maximize virtual event ROI. Ready to harness the power of these key pillars with a powerful virtual event platform? Learn how Hubilo is reimagining events.