Constellation ShortList™ Virtual Events: Conferences & Experiential Events

About This Constellation ShortList™

Virtual events have entered another stage of evolution as large festivals and conferences re-emerge in live formats with rich, virtual events along for the ride in a new age of hybrid events. The new challenge for digital event platforms will be to continue to host dynamic speakers sharing informative content…while simultaneously bringing virtual viewers into the live engagement without sacrificing experience. Virtual platforms must fully integrate into overarching visions and strategies for events still navigating a path to what modern event engagement will be.

Platforms and providers of virtual trade shows, conferences and events offer the same dynamic, visually engaging, compelling interface with real-time connectivity, sharing and points of interaction to mimic live relationship-building experiences. Organizations are seeking connected and comprehensive conference platforms that are capable of delivering on both experiences and opportunities for monetization, while also delivering the foundation to manage the entire event process from ticketing and registration, sponsorships and paid content syndication.

Constellation analysts are on the lookout for rapid innovation and improvements in this category due in large part to evolving work, travel and event opportunities as post-pandemic operations continue to take shape. Integrations across the larger experience stack have become a necessity as teams expect fast and flexible connections to everything from customer relationship management (CRM), customer data platform (CDP) and even customer service and contact center solutions.

Threshold Criteria

Constellation considers the following criteria for these solutions:

• Capacity to seamlessly host large scale, multispeaker, multimedia events
• Support for many formats and modalities from video and audio to virtual reality
• Multiple room style and formats for keynotes, breakout sessions, roundtables and one-on-one meetings
• Robust streaming for both live and on-demand across multiple simultaneous streams
• Registration with flexible form fields for lead capture
• Easy-to-customize agenda and interfaces from virtual lobbies to rooms, booths and stalls
• Commerce and monetization of ticketing, sponsored content and engagement zones and interactive trade show booth formats 
• Customized branding and console configuration
• Quick, stable, reliable connectivity with toll-free, international calling and access
• Multihost, scalable speaker and producer interface 
• Pre- and post-event communications, alerts, calendar invitations and reminders
• Multibrowser responsive user experience, installed app for Mac and Windows, native mobile apps
• Live audience engagement tools, polls, voting, chat, screen markup, comments, Q&A
• Attendee profiles, avatars, preference center, attendee directory and interest matching
• Self-service experience building for attendees including schedule and community engagement
• Interface that’s easy to use, update and customize for sponsor “booth” experience
• Integration into key systems, social, marketing automation, CRM, CDP and outbound communications platforms
• Session recording and streaming playback
• Security, role-based access and authorization, customer viewer controls
• Analytics and robust reporting, viewers (live vs. on-demand), attention, downloads
• Support, training and community for users
• Accessibility features including real-time voice transcription and translation