The ultimate guide to find the best video tool for your online event

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Business, educational, and event workers are only a few examples of the people feeling the detrimental impacts of COVID-19 on their daily work lives and jobs. As we begin to see more businesses and institutions acknowledging that a digital or hybrid business model is viable, some changes that you are seeing now are definitely here to stay in the long term. We may even see a shift in the way we engage and interact with our colleagues, students, clients, and others.

Workshops, events, and lectures are being held online through video-conferencing solutions. While Zoom always seems to be the talk of the town, it is critical to look at your individual needs and to choose a platform that best suits your case.

I crafted a simple 3-step guide as a decision tree that will help you to find the best platform solution for you in the ever-growing jungle of online video tools.

1. One-way communication vs. interactive meeting

Define whether your goal is to convey a message to your audience (one-way communication) or whether you want to interact with other attendees. In the case a one-way interaction does the trick for you, a webinar or webcast is the most effective solution for you. Webinars can be pre-recorded or broadcasted live and can either be shared with the public (e.g. via Youtube, LinkedIn, Twitch) or sent to a private RTMP server for more confidential content.

Webinar tools: GoToWebinar, Demio, WebinarNinja, Webex

Livestream tools: StreamYard, LiveReacting, Restream

If you value interactivity and are interested in what your audience has to say, you should ask yourself the following question.

2. Single conversation vs. break-out rooms

For smaller online workshops and meetings a standard video call might be just fine. Alternatively, a collaboration software with video functionalities works as well.

Video-call tools: Skype, Jitsi, GoToMeeting, GoogleMeet, BlueJeans

Collaboration tools: Slack, MS Teams, Miro, Mural

Thinking about interactive workshops with multiple small groups or about online conferences with many attendees, you should choose a solution that enables break-out sessions in separate rooms. By doing so, you prevent disengagement from those who do not have a chance to speak in larger groups. If you’d like the break-out session feature, there is one more question you should ask…

3. Group discussions vs. individual networking

Break-out rooms are a great way to discuss a specific topic in groups and to work together collaboratively with others.

Break-out room tools: Zoom, BigBlueButton

Do you want to go one step further and allow your attendees also to directly connect and network with each other? With the following online conference platforms, attendees can have meaningful 1-on-1 conversations and have self-determined side chats just like in a physical event.

Virtual networking tools: Veertly, Hopin, Remo, Airmeet

 

Remember, the platform and the features you have access to will affect the event experiences of your attendees; thus, ask yourself these three questions to determine the best virtual event app for your needs!

 

 

Feel free to get in touch with us and check out Veertly 😊

 

What you might be interested in:

• Comparison of Microsoft Teams vs. Veertly
• Ideas for successful online events