Best Virtual Event Platforms in 2023

Virtual events form the present and future of large events. They give organizers the opportunity to reach attendees from any part of the globe and make it possible to scale lead generation and customer acquisition to new heights.

It's important to note that, like physical events, virtual events require a good deal of planning. From streamlined event marketing to event registration and analytics, your virtual event platform should be able to support all processes seamlessly. The very best software tools in this category need to ensure that large events run smoothly in all phases.

However, with multiple solutions on the market, finding the best tool to meet your needs can take a lot of work. You'll need a combination of excellent broadcasting software and event management tools to hold a great virtual event. The requirements here are very different from conventional webinar software.

To help you find the best software, we have performed in-depth research to find the best virtual event platforms for your business needs.

Let's dive right in.

What Makes the Best Virtual Event Platform

To determine what makes the best virtual event platform, we conducted detailed market research and consulted with industry experts to tailor the ranking to the requirements of virtual events. The structure of your assessment is similar to the one we use to determine the best webinar software. The main difference is that we shifted the ranking weights of the criteria and put extra attention to additional points that are only relevant for virtual events. From our analysis, we've determined that the following attributes need special awareness to rank the best virtual event platforms:

Event promotion

No great event is complete without attendees; the first step in attracting attendees to a virtual event is informing them about it. That is where event marketing comes in. There are multiple places to market and create hype about your virtual event, ranging from organic social media traffic to paid ads and email marketing. A great feature of integrating your event marketing with your virtual event software is the ability to streamline data. For example, you can use your virtual event software to analyze where your attendees came from, allowing you to understand your attendees better and refine your targeting.

Event registration

The event registration process is a crucial part of planning a virtual event, as it provides you with a good idea of how your event will go, attendance-wise. Another aspect is how well this process can be optimized for conversions. This includes your registration landing page, confirmation emails, reminders, and collecting payments for your events. The best virtual event platforms need to offer the ability to make this experience as seamless and attractive as possible to the audience you are marketing to.

Software integrations

Every event is unique, and having extra tools to improve your event management and execution is a significant advantage. You can make your processes smoother and more efficient with the right integrations. Whether it's an integration with YouTube or Facebook Live to broadcast your webinar to a broader audience or a CRM integration that captures your leads, software integrations are an excellent addition to every virtual event. Its main power for large events is to take a big burden away by automating resourceful tasks and minimizing human error.

Engagement tools

Virtual events need engagement, or your audience will get bored. In fact, this is the biggest challenge for every virtual event; no further discussion needed. The first step to engaging your audience is always through offering a great event that is well organized in its procedure through interesting topics and speakers. However, sometimes you’ll still fall into a hole. A great way to get out of this hole is to use digital engagement features like polls, advanced chat options, leaderboards, and breakout sessions to wake up your audience behind the screen. The best virtual event platforms know that and offer a variety of tools to boost your engagement effectively.

Support

Findings by Markletic show that up to 38% of marketers have to deal with one or more technical problems when hosting virtual events. Technical hitches can ruin the quality of your virtual event. It's essential to have a foolproof mechanism for handling those unexpected issues. While having your technical team on the side is great, having a responsive software support team to help with problems is a must. For large virtual events, we highly recommend reaching out to the provider you use so they can have someone by your side while the event is taking place. This will ensure that in case anything happens, their team can take immediate action to fix any issues or prepare any backup action.

In evaluating the best virtual event platforms, we have explicitly noted which providers offer excellent service from planning to executing large events. A virtual event platform must dedicate a team or contact person to accompany you through the entire process. It ensures that your event becomes a smooth success without any hiccups.

Event branding

Event branding provides an excellent avenue to showcase your business and brand image at your event. You can build trust with your attendees and potential customers by associating your business with a high-value virtual event. Branding can start with custom layouts, replacing the logo of the event software with your own one, and can end with the smallest details like customizing the favicon, event URL, and email domains.

Each piece that contributes to your branding helps you build recognizability and authority in your field, allowing you to derive more value long after your event. For our ranking of the best virtual event platforms, we made sure that branding is not coming short.

Analytics

Virtual events provide excellent opportunities for data generation and analysis. With event data analytics, you can determine your event's success, what sessions interested your attendees the most, and other valuable information. Data analytics also helps you make intelligent marketing decisions. You can publicize repurposed event content based on what your live attendees enjoyed the most. If you happen to work with sponsors, it can also be an excellent opportunity to demonstrate your value since you can walk them through the data and show how well your event helped them gain access to their target audience.

10 Best Virtual Event Platforms

How to Choose a Virtual Event Platform for Your Needs

Choosing software for your virtual events can be pretty challenging, especially with multiple options available. However, there are a few key points to note while exploring the market. Firstly, it's crucial to determine which criteria are most important to you. If you plan to host small B2B events, you may only need a few marketing features and fewer engagement tools, while events with a large general audience and long hours of presentation tend to require a more board spectrum of features. Make sure to have your priorities sorted, and then check our best-ranked solutions at the top to filter for the best platform for your specific purpose.

If you are standing between providers, check our Comparison Tool to see how they differentiate. You can also use our Finder Tool to guide you through the steps of finding tailored software matching the needs of your business.