
The health crisis we are going through is hindering the exchanges that congresses made possible.
However, the major challenges to be met require cohesion and communication: ensuring the continuity of care, rethinking the economy, maintaining links between community members, ensuring the sustainability of research projects, etc. The pandemic is changing the links that unite your community and adapting to this situation is a major challenge!
EO Africa (EOA) is here to guide you in choosing and implementing the best digital solution, the one perfectly adapted to your needs. Webinars,Virtual Conferences and Hybrid Events our digital offerings are vast.
Webinars virtually allows attendees from around the world to join in and listen as one or more speakers present the programme. Webinars typically use video conferencing tools that allow Q&A, the ability to present live or a pre-recorded video, and be offered as on-demand after the fact. Due to their once-off educational nature, webinars have thrived with 100% virtual attendance.
Virtual Conferences (Live Streams) much like in-person conferences, virtual conferences are built around a live, complex agenda that includes keynotes, sessions, breakouts, and more. Virtual conferences include multi-session content and can involve community engagement tools. While not as effective in terms of lead capture and networking as an in-person event, virtual conferences allow attendees to view keynotes in real-time and build their own agenda.
Hybrid Events require higher levels of video production so that virtual attendees are provided a similar quality to in-person attendees. These events allow attendees who are unable to travel to the event to participate and learn. It is challenging to provide the same value at external hybrid events, as in-person attendees are able to network more freely and engage easily with content than those attending virtually.
Advantages
Health & Safety - An alternative during COVID-19 pandemic
This is the first and foremost reason why virtual events matter more than ever. Owing to the COVID-19 outbreak and the lockdowns imposed - social distancing is the need of the hour. Going virtual will not be a compromise on any health and safety issues, by not having any physical attendees means you don't have to worry about a venue, catering or attendee health and safety.
Larger audience and enhanced visibility
The biggest advantage of virtual events is that location is not a restriction anymore, attendees will have zero travel or accommodation costs, which allows you to reach out to a new set of delegates which is practically not feasible in case of face-to-face events. With the right strategy, you can retain these attendees later when you are back to face-to-face events.
Lesser risks involved
Contingency planning is a crucial element of physical events. The risk is quite high and it involves hefty financial risk if the event gets postponed because of any reason. On the other hand, there are lesser risks involved when you are going virtual. Even if you need to postpone it (because of any reason), it’s feasible to do so. Thanks to the ease of finances, many sponsors are looking forward to investing in virtual events.
Changing priorities of partnerships
Cancellation of events brings a loss from the sponsors and the exhibitors however virtual events can be very valuable to event sponsors. By hosting a virtual event, you will still be providing the marketing and networking opportunities to these partnerships. Inform sponsors of your audience segments and design specific sponsorship tiers that are unique to the virtual experience.
It’s easy to collect feedback
Like in-person events, feedback is crucial for virtual events. But unlike in-person events, attendees are constantly online at virtual events, which means they can easily answer real-time polls or surveys in sessions. Not only will this real-time feedback help presenters gauge how their session is going but it will also be useful to measure the overall success of your virtual event.
Go green!
By adopting virtual events over traditional a face to face events, your congress can demonstrate a commitment to environmental sustainability. Virtual events are the perfect fit for those that want to operate in a more environmentally-friendly fashion.
Intra-operative Ultrasound (IOUS) Webinar 2020
"I would like to extend our congratulations from the team in Norway, for a truly magnificent webinar. The chairing, lectures and discussion were welcoming; highly educational and motivating, and the webinar was hosted and run perfectly (sound and audio was perfect). Congratulations again, and all the best!"
Halvor Celius
CEO - SonoClear AS
MSD Company Meeting 2021
"Dear EOA Family Thank you for bringing our vision to life in such a spectacular fashion. We achieved our objectives of ensuring employees were engaged throughout the meeting, keeping people connected, increasing the level of motivation, seeding aspirations on a page, celebrating our successes, saying our goodbyes and ensuring a positive virtual and digital experience. We have achieved that and so much more. Thank you Lauren, Yoshni, Zinnia, Natasha and your whole team for going on this experimentation journey with us and delivering all of this within a tight deadline. We appreciate our partnership in this regard. So far the feedback has been positive and we look forward to reviewing results of the forma evaluation from delegates. Thank you very much."
Lischen Mashishi
Director: Hospital Acute Care - MSD