Online conferences provide a possibility to embrace the new trend of online events and environment over physical events. The easier spread of information, greater reach, and a better connection between well-known professionals and students help everybody embrace new opportunities.
Still, many businesses have yet to adapt to these tools. People worldwide can interact via audio, text, and video. Engagement within the conference regardless of the current location of the members, Transfer of information and data, shared experience without being in the same place. In today’s world, there are several applications and online conference platforms.
Some Topmost Benefits of Online Conference
With this Pandemic and Covid outbreak, a farfetched idea of online conferences and meetings is now part of everyday life. Adaptation is a new lifestyle, and it will be like this. There are several online platforms where many online conferences and meetings can take place from anywhere in the world. A few years back, shifting to an online mode or online conference was a talk for the future, but now it has become a major part of everyday life.
So what are some of the gains and dark sides of the online conference? Read up the guide to become aware of the facts.
1. More Cost-Effective Than Physical Meetings
The online conference requires an online device and a stable internet connection for it to go through. Whereas for the physical conference, a successful event will require an addition of money, time, accommodation, travel facility, and travel cost.
2. No Geographical Limitations
With technological advancement, the connection and interaction have been increased to the extent that people worldwide can communicate via video and audio call anywhere in the world. The online conference can be accessed by individuals from different time zones and places.
3. It Saves Time
The major benefits of the online conference are that it saves time. With all the other commitments in our daily life, time is valuable, and to take out a major part of our day to attend the conference in the world, we miss out on so many other activities. Online conference saves us time and only utilize the required time for a conference.
How Online Conference can lead to a Successful Event
Online conferences and meetings will become more prevalent in the future as we have already gone through a pandemic and its effects. The best online conference is the one that mirrors the physical conference. Following the particular strategy and the set tools that give the best experience to attendees will make the event successful.
Interactive sessions with rich experiences that offer gamification and personalization will also make the attendee’s experience worthwhile.
The on-demand recordings for every part of the conference should be available. It will further improve the inflow of the attendees at the conference even after the event has gone live.
The Dark Side of Conducting Online Conferences
1. Inappropriate Utilization
Unfortunately, not all people agree with online conferences and how it impacts their lives. When inquired about the online conferences, many professionals believed that the online conference and meetings from the home environment sometimes took up the entire day and had to be rigorously gone through. The proper environment and buildup for the conference in a home environment are unsatisfactory. Similarly, they believe that online conferences are not the best use of their time, as the schedule takes up time for other activities.
As per the research, this statement seems to be true, as one survey showed that only 23% of managers gave their full attention during conference calls, while 25% dealt with their email, and 27% did other work.
2. Security Threats
Multiple risk surfaces and different security accesses give hackers a wide playing field. The successful run of the event is given top priority, and the security around the event is an afterthought. The main activity of these threat imposers is to remain undetected, which is easy as the conference environment presents a very comfortable and trust-filled environment. Depending on the access end-user have within the online conference and the device they have access to, the attackers can access and present inappropriate, illicit, or illegal content, hoping to respond. Posting chat or questions with malicious links or contents provides the first stage of an attack. Creating disruptions by heckling the speaker using communication tools built into the virtual event platform.
How to Avoid the Dark Side of Online Conference
1. Organize Hybrid Conferences
The hybrid conferences provide better utilization of resources and time, as many people prefer to join remotely for various reasons. Therefore, the flexibility of hybrid events provide greater control of cost, time, and other resources than physical events. So what is the most significant way to keep these virtual conferences safe to avoid any unfavorable outcome? Read the solution provided below:
2. Implement Good Cyber Security Practices
It is best to take the utmost security measures possible to secure the organizer entity and the participants, whenever possible. The best practices to minimize the risk of cyber threats include the provision of unique URLs and access codes to the attendees. Restrict the posting of any URL and links to the chat. Similarly, all questions should be private to the organizers and, once screened, can be transferred to view all participants.
Inform attendees about the recording of the session, and objections can be dealt with outside of the online conference. The correspondence must come directly from official and trusted email addresses to minimize the security risk.
Unfortunately, not all platforms or online conferences will provide security options and features. It is entirely based on the organizers and organization to screen the attendees before the event, and choosing a secure virtual event platform provides the best security options for their online conference.
