Have you ever attended a meeting and encountered some terms you’ve never heard about before?
Whether or not you’re new to the virtual event planning industry, it’s not too late to update yourself or learn about the terms used in events. Once you learn about the event industry lingo, you will be more confident in pitching your ideas and answering your clients’ questions.
In this blog post, we made an alphabetical list of the essential industry terminologies that every virtual event planner should be familiar with and understand.
Industry Terms Every Virtual Event Planner Should Know
- A/V - This is also known as audiovisual. It refers to the visual, sound, and lighting used in a virtual events.
- B2B - This stands for ‘Business to Business’ events which means corporate or events.
- B2C - This term is the opposite of B2B. It means “Business to Consumer” or “Business to Customer”events which are related to events involving consumers and the public.
- Breakout Rooms - This refers to other rooms apart from the main room used in a large conference or event. A breakout room is where a large group breaks into sub-groups for specific sessions. It’s usually the meeting host who divides the attendees into groups.
- Chat - It is a place for your audience to have conversations with each other or with the event speaker and organizer about what’s happening in the event. They can add their thoughts to something a speaker has just said, introduce a new topic, and ask a question.
- Concurrent Sessions - This term is used in larger events. Shorter educational sessions take place at the same time in different rooms of your virtual event platform. Each session focuses on a topic. The event attendees can choose to attend which session interests them the most.
- Expo/Virtual Trade Show - The virtual expo creates opportunities for your sponsors to promote their products and services. This will also give additional value to your event attendees. In an expo, you can make custom floor plans as well as 3D interfaces. Each booth can have media, online resources, and staff members available for a one-by-one chat or video call.
- Hybrid Event - A hybrid event involves a combination of physical events with some elements of a virtual event usually which runs simultaneously, has overlapping content and interactive elements.
- Keynote - A keynote is the opening address or important plenary session in a meeting or conference that sets the tone of the whole event.
- Keynote Speaker - A keynote speaker is often a public figure in the industry whose presentation motivates the audience and establishes the theme or tone of the event.
- Landing Page - Your landing page is how you promote your event to potential event attendees. It should show exciting information and visuals about your event. This gives you a chance to encourage and convince them to register. Ensure that you use the same provider, so that it will be easy for you to create landing and online registration websites.
- Livestream - This term means a live broadcast of your event on the internet on a social media platform such as Facebook and Instagram.
- Motivational Speaker - A motivational speaker is a professional speaker who gives speeches that inspire and motivate audiences to take action.
- Online Registration - This refers to the registration of event attendees on a website for the event. This will allow attendee information and processing for payments.
- Question & Answer Session - This refers to the time after a presentation or meeting that is allotted for speakers to answer the questions of the event attendees.
- Polling - Polling is usually a feature of a virtual event platform. Here a speaker asks the audience a question and allows them to respond anonymously. It helps speakers get to know their audience and helps the audience guide their speakers to talk about information that’s important to them. You can gather data from polls which may be helpful in your sales and marketing activities in the future.
- Registration Fee - This is the cost of attending an online conference. The fees can vary according to the date of registration and level of participation.
- ROI (Return on Investment) - This is a performance measure key for event planners and organizations. This defines the financial return from a business’ project, program, or even an entire business operation. The ROI is arrived at by adding up the costs, monetizing (i.e., converting into financial terms) the accumulated benefits, and subtracting the costs from the benefits to arrive at the ROI.
- Return on Equity - The Return on Equity is the measurable amount of income that a company generates with the money shareholders have invested.
- Return on Event - This refers to the brand awareness exercises, and not just the contribution to sales volume.
- Screen Sharing - This refers to the practice of sharing the content of your screen with another divide or multiple devices. This can include just one window or all of the elements on a screen.
- Speakers Bureau - This is a collection of speakers who talk about a particular subject. They match professional speakers to events that need speakers.
- Speaking Fee - Speaking fee refers to an agreed amount for an individual to speak at an online event.
- Virtual Event - A live event that occurs online where attendees gather together, not physically, on the same virtual platform.
- Virtual Event Platform - A website or software where virtual events can be held in order to connect with attendees from across the world. These platforms include features such as screen sharing, chat boxes, polling, Q&A, surveys, and more.
- Virtual Speaker - A person who addresses the audience about a specific topic through an online presentation.
- Webcast - A webcast is more like a tv show than a seminar. This can be livestreamed across the world in either live or pre-recorded form. Webcasts are designed to reach bigger audiences. They focus more on speakers and discussions over visual aids.
- Webinar - A webinar is an online presentation, session, or seminar given by a virtual speaker. This is usually livestreamed.
Wrapping It Up
Now you know the essential industry terms every virtual event planner should know.
We hope that this blog post will help you become familiar with virtual event planning terms and confidently present your ideas in your next pitch meeting. Good luck!