Common types of virtual event
Most online events fall into a handful of familiar shapes:
- Presentations: webinars, masterclasses and product demos, where one or two speakers lead and the audience asks questions.
- Company gatherings: all-hands meetings, town halls, sales kickoffs and onboarding sessions for employees.
- Interactive sessions: workshops, training and group coaching, where people talk, practise and work together.
- Community moments: member calls, user groups, networking events and annual meetings.
- Celebrations: launches, award ceremonies, anniversaries, retirements and holiday parties.
- Multi-session events: summits and conferences with several speakers or tracks across a day or more.
Virtual, hybrid and in-person
A virtual event happens entirely online. A hybrid event has a live audience in a room and a remote audience at the same time, which means producing for both. In-person events need a venue, travel and catering. Virtual events trade those costs for different work: getting attention in a crowded inbox, keeping people engaged at their desks, and making a screen feel like an occasion rather than another meeting.
Why organisations run them
The appeal is reach and frequency. A virtual event lets a company gather staff across offices and time zones without travel, lets a coach teach a room of people who would never fly in, and lets a community meet every month instead of once a year. It also leaves a trail: who registered, who came, who asked questions and who took the next step, which is far harder to capture at a physical door.
The challenge is attention. Online guests are one tab away from their inbox, so the best virtual events are shorter than their in-person equivalents, start on time, and give people a reason to stay to the end.
The parts every virtual event needs
Regardless of size, a virtual event runs better when each of these is decided ahead of time:
- A purpose and an audience: who is it for and what should they know, feel or do afterwards.
- An invitation and reminders that state the time in the guest's time zone and one clear link.
- A place to gather: a meeting link, a livestream, an event platform or a branded room page.
- A run of show with timings, speakers, cues and a backup plan.
- A way to know who attended, so follow-up reaches the right people.
- A follow-up: the replay, the resources, the offer or the next date.
Choosing the right setup
Match the tool to the event. A small team meeting needs nothing more than a link. A one-way broadcast to a very large audience suits a livestream. A multi-track conference suits an all-in-one event platform. Between those sit most real events: one live session, an audience that should be able to talk back, and a host who wants it to look like them rather than like the software.
Ask four questions before choosing. Does the audience need to speak, or only watch? How many people will realistically attend at once? Does the event need to look like your brand, or is a neutral window fine? And what should happen to guests afterwards: a replay, a form, an offer, a next date? The answers usually point clearly to one option.
That middle ground is where a branded meeting room is useful. BrandedRooms puts your meeting inside your own page with a branded waiting room, guest capture at the door and one button that starts the session on every guest's screen at once. Your meeting licence sets the capacity, so check it against your expected audience before the day.