I was reading an article in BtoB Magazine written by Charlotte Woolard on the growth of virtual events compared to in-person events. In her article, Charlotte reported that many companies are cancelling in-person events or considering  hosting virtual events based on the feedback of their customers.

The article also reported that attendee interaction is lost through virtual events and that relationship building is best at face-to-face events.

I beg to differ.

There are many ways to encourage relationship building during virtual events. I suggest using social media to do so. Here are a few ideas:

• Use Twitter to encourage attendees to share their reaction to what they’re hearing during the virtual event. I employ this strategy often and one person reported that every time she attends one of my virtual events, her list of followers grow.
• Start a private group on Facebook and send invitations out to attendees. No need to re-invent the wheel by launching your own forums. Plus, attendees won’t have to recreate their profiles on yet another system that they need to login to. They get to meet each other, see each others photos and connect in a real way.
• Offer virtual cocktail hours. Schedule some time in the schedule for attendees to network with each other. This can be done over the phone or online. In one virtual event I hosted, I used Second Life to enable people to meet each other.