How to Find the Best Virtual Event Production Companies

If you’re delving into the world of corporate virtual events, did you know experts are standing by to help you on your way? If you’re struggling to complete a virtual event or are worried that yours won’t be successful, it may be time to reach out to a company that can plan and organize these events to help you meet your goals.

Virtual event production companies help create fun, interactive, and effective online meetings, conferences, and presentations. Here’s what they do and what you should look for when partnering with a virtual event production company.

What is a Virtual Event Production Company?

A virtual event production company conceptualizes, roadmaps, and implements an online event. These companies have elevated in importance since the pandemic started, as big and small companies moved their activities online. These indispensable partners help companies succeed in the virtual space, whether you’re dreaming up a corporate meeting or a public event.

The goal of a virtual event production company is to handle the orchestration of the entire event to make it a uniquely positive experience for your attendees. This is particularly helpful for companies that lack the staff or the experience to pull this off on their own.

How Do These Companies Help with Corporate Virtual Events?

Events, whether they are online or in-person, require a great deal of skill to pull off. Tight budgets and increasing “Zoom fatigue” have made online events particularly challenging. However, good corporate events today often rely on third-party virtual production firms to help with:

• Academic conferences
• Award ceremonies
• Educational webinars
• Exhibitions
• Meetings
• Press conferences
• Product launches
• Sales presentations
• Town hall meetings
• Trade shows
• Virtual commencements
• And more.

Some of the services virtual event production companies offer include:

• Audience engagement
• Content production
• Event execution
• Event marketing
• Full event management
• Project management
• Social media
• Speaker management and engagement
• Post-event production and analysis
• Technology selection and management
• Video conferencing

What Are the Benefits of Outsourcing Your Corporate Virtual Events?

Why would you hire a virtual event production company? Many times, companies do not have the internal resources or experience that a specialist on online corporate events has. Online events are quite different from in-person meetings, and that has created more demand for these experts over the past two years. A virtual event has very little margin for error, particularly in the area of engagement, which is so very tricky. The benefits of outsourcing a corporate virtual event include:

• Access to best practices for an online event. You know there are many ways to conduct a virtual event. But which are the “right” ways? What methods will guarantee: a) that you have plenty of attendees; and b) that they remain engaged in the event? If you aren’t experienced in conducting a virtual event and are considering winging it—don’t. A virtual event production company can help ensure the online meetup you’re planning reflects positively on you and your brand.
• Technical support. Just because you have an IT team, it does not mean that they know anything about the technology associated with a virtual event. What happens if 10 minutes before your event, you lose your internet? “What can go wrong, will go wrong” is the general framework to consider for any virtual event (or in-person event, frankly). Are you prepared with backup processes to shore up the technology so the show will go on?
• Management of event details. From registration to post-attendee engagement, are you sure that all of the pieces are in place? You will be if you hire a virtual event production company. These pros give you the best ROI by developing a detailed timeline and then implementing all the myriad details. Your event planner will handle everything from pre-marketing and event registration to the event itself, and any post-event details.

Virtual events have their own software as well as their own set of rules for engaging participants. You’ve invested too much time and money to leave these areas to chance. A bad event could lose you customers and damage your reputation. Why would you leave this to anything less than professional virtual event production companies? Given that online events are much less expensive to produce than on-site events, the money you save will pay for the help on your next virtual event. But how will you find the best virtual event production company to ensure your success?

How to Find the Best Virtual Event Production Company

The best virtual event production companies can:

• Improve event ROI
• Give you a wider audience
• Increase engagement at every level of the event
• Offer on-demand content and follow-up content
• Offer real-time analytics

Look for an online event management company that uses a video conferencing solution that can handle:

• Multi-lingual audiences
• Large crowds
• Engagement tools like breakout rooms and instant messaging, polling, and whiteboarding

These vendors should have extensive experience in planning corporate virtual events. Some good questions to ask include:

• Describe the most successful event you’ve been a part of?
• What are your plans for technology failure?
• How do you measure event success?
• What steps have you taken to combat “Zoom fatigue” in your audiences?
• How do you incorporate client goals into the event planning process?
• What kind of follow up do you recommend for online event attendees?
• What were the smallest and largest events you’ve ever planned?

Remember that the virtual event production company you choose will have to complete their tasks on time and on budget. Another good question to ask is how do they handle events that seem to be heading south—whether from a budget overage or problems with attendee engagement. Ask them to describe a time when they started marketing an event but the attendance wasn’t hitting their numbers. How did they handle that?

Also, ask for client references and make sure you call them. Ask for references to how the virtual event production company handled any unexpected setbacks during the process. Did the company handle vendors during the event, and how did that go? What were the big disappointments that the client reference had with the event, and what did they learn? All of these questions are good ones, but ultimately, you’re trying to get an answer to the question: Would you hire them again?

Onstream Media is a virtual event production company with the experience you need for your next corporate virtual event. Find out how our team can help your business.