When traveling to a conference is not an option,
participating online — in a virtual conference — is the best solution.
Confex Can Help
We have had a long history of supporting associations that were forced to postpone, relocate, and restructure a traditional conference — by salvaging value from the content that speakers and presenters had already assembled.
Take advantage of our experience supporting presentations at the meeting by people who cannot attend physically, even during normal times.
We offer the software and experienced staff needed to conduct a conference entirely online. This includes supporting the right blend of live (synchronous) and recorded (asynchronous) elements.
Depend on Confex:
- to collect oral and poster and video presentations
- to enable live and on-demand viewing and Q&A
- to engage the audience through polling and games and surveys
- to facilitate private networking between the conference participants
- to showcase sponsors and exhibitors and help them find new customers
- to issue continuing education credit, and more
Examples
Every Day Solutions
As the stories above illustrate, we are well prepared to help our clients in a crisis. But even under ordinary circumstances, we have been collecting and sharing tens of thousands of presentations online every year.
We have enabled our clients to reach and engage audiences and to include presenters who cannot be at a conference physically or who cannot participate in a live event because of scheduling or network challenges.
We believe the need for partial and fully virtual meetings will persist even after COVID-19, and we are helping our clients adapt to that current and future reality.
Essential Elements of Virtual Conferences
Program
Presentations
- Collect posters, slides, videos, photos, scientific papers, even film festival content — online, in advance
- Enable and encourage presentations to be delivered in more engaging ways, even when the presenter cannot be present
- Evolve from static posters to dynamic ePosters
- Encourage annotated slides for accessibility and for the sake of speakers less confident of their own speaking ability
- Collect high-quality prerecorded slide presentations with animation and videos
- Choose the right balance of live (synchronous) and on-demand (asynchronous) access to the conference content and interaction between the participants
- Live-stream plenary sessions, panel discussions, Q&A sessions, and other events using Zoom, YouTube, and similar webinar / web conferencing / streaming platforms. Then make recordings of those live-streamed events available on-demand to those who missed them.
- Collect recorded presentations in advance to reduce the technical risk and expense of live sessions
Other Events
- Enable committee meetings, courses, meet-the-author events, competitions, mentoring, and other activities.
Engagement
Use the mobile-friendly Confex MeetingApp
Our Confex MeetingApp is the perfect way to find, view, share, and remember presentations. Whether using a desktop, laptop, tablet, or phone — the key is easy navigation, powerful search capabilities, easy viewing/listening, and controlled access.
- Include links to live-streamed events, recorded presentations, posters, slides, and other resources
- Make it easy for speakers to poll the audience during their talks — whether onsite for a traditional event or streaming live online
- Efficiently collect questions from the audience and share the answers — synchronously and asynchronously
- Encourage and facilitate private interactions between participants
- Encourage and facilitate group discussions
- Use games to promote interaction and discovery
Continuing Education
If awarding continuing education credit, take advantage of Confex features for:
- session evaluation
- pre/post tests
- credit claiming features
Exhibitors and Sponsors
Make it easy
Make it easy for conference participants to learn about the products and services of the sponsors and exhibitors by including more images and permitting more links to downloadable brochures and external websites.
Make it easy for the sponsors and exhibitors to acquire new customers and engage with existing customers by acquiring leads and contacts online.
Access and Location
Ensure there are multiple ways of enabling access
- Import of people registered prior to cancellation of the traditional conference or otherwise offered privileged access
- Convenient online purchase
- Individual and site licenses
Look for hybrid event opportunities.
Just because everybody can't meet in one place it does not necessarily follow that the only place to meet is online. Smaller, geographically dispersed events where people gather to view and discuss the online content — and even add to it — are worth considering.
Resourcefulness
Take advantage of modern tools to support the other activities that usually occurred at the traditional conference: the committee meetings, the alumni gatherings, the meet-the-author events, the competitions and performances.
Creativity
Be creative. We are all discovering new ways of doing things and if it worked in the traditional conference there is probably a way to make it work in the virtual conference too. Let us help you discover how.