by Killeen Gonzalez

Created on: June 25, 2009   Last Updated: July 02, 2009

In today's economy as marketing event planners take a harder look at their company's bottom line, shrinking budgets and the trend to go green on-line events are increasing gaining favor. More and more virtual events are being added as a way to reduce the number of their more expensive counterparts - physical events. Some examples of virtual events include trade shows, open house tours, user conferences, round tables and seminars.

With that said there are five keys to planning and executing a virtual event that businesses should be mindful of.

First and foremost one should treat virtual events like all other events - which means proper planning is still paramount.

Secondly, be aware that interactivity and collaboration are different. On-line people tend to communicate in a more straightforward manner than they do in person. In other words keep the hearts and flowers speech to a minimum.

Thirdly, remember to plan a post-event strategy. Though approximately 70% of the marketing activity takes place leading up to and during the event itself, another 30% happens after the event ends. You should plan on your post-virtual event time window to range roughly between 30 to 90 days. It is in this period in which you should conduct traditional follow-up to see if your event attendees were happy with the event, if they would like additional information and if they would like to refer your firm to their friends.

Fourthly. pro-actively manager your guest speakers. Consider a dry run well ahead of time to address any potential speaker and or technological issues. There is nothing worse than successfully advertising a virtual event and on the day of discovering that the technology you were counting on to broadcast it isn't working properly.

Fifthly as in any event content is king. Event planners should bear in mind that virtual attendees are much more quick to abandon an on-line event if it doesn't meet with their needs than they are with a traditional physical event. With a virtual event if they are not happy all they have to do is take a a second to click of your site and all will be lost.

If you are interested in learning more about adding virtual events to your company's marketing strategy contact your local freelance marketer or find an expert on-line at guru.com or liveperson.com

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