Complete Guide to Creating Memorable Online Networking Events

Ever since we started relying more and more on virtual networking platforms, online networking events have become a new must-do of every well-established business. While it is in many ways different from in-person events, virtual event networking gives you new powerful tools for organizing a matchmaking event that will help your participants connect with other attendees more easily.

What is virtual networking?

Even though online networking has been present in the business world for quite some time, it hasn’t been until the pandemic that we started to use its full potential. Nowadays, online networking events are in the crucial foreground in almost every corporate industry, helping millions of people from all around the world meet effortlessly.

While it is getting easier to plan and organize virtual matchmaking events, creating one that is truly memorable can be a challenge. Here at b2match, we believe that creating unforgettable online networking events shouldn’t be an issue, so we conducted this complete guide to creating memorable online networking events.

Define your business goals and objectives

The most important part of any business plan is to pre-determine any goal and objectives. Whether you are planning to help your attendees connect with people from your industry, aid your clients to learn more about your business's expertise, or just assist in your business partners’ strengthening their relationships, doing so online is a way to go!

By choosing to go ‘online’ when planning a networking event, not only you are enabling your participant to connect from every part of the world, but also helping your business reduce the price of the venue, transportation, ticketing charges, and many other hidden expenses that often creep up to you when organizing an in-person networking event.

If you choose to create an online matchmaking event, b2match is the place to go, given its numerous virtual networking tools. Use the b2match event networking solution to set and achieve your business goals not having to contemplate how to allocate your resources.

Decide on your target audience

After you have set up your business goals, choosing the right audience should be easy. Think about who will benefit the most with your networking event. Do you see missed or unattended networking opportunities when you think about your industry? Knowing your target audience helps you prepare unforgettable online networking event experiences by tailoring b2b events to their specific need and interests. It will also ease your way to promoting your virtual networking event because of your understatement of their platforms of liking and behavior.

Deciding on your target audience is key when you are planning to collect valuable “after-event data” which is easily collected with the b2match AI-powered event matchmaking software.

Select the right-fitting online networking event platform

Now, after you have successfully defined your business goals and objectives, and decided on your target audience, it is time you choose the perfect online networking event platform for your event. This is probably one of the most crucial parts of a well-thought virtual event organization, keeping in mind that it is the only platform that you will be using to conduct pre, during and even post-event activities. Therefore, it is important to choose a platform that gives you an abundance of personalized settings for you and your participants.

b2match is the perfect easy-to-use virtual matchmaking platform for events that helps you organize memorable online networking events that fit your and your participants’ needs perfectly. With its hundreds of features, b2match allows you to customize your networking event with access to:

• Event registrations and invitations
• Ticketing and payment processing
• Website and agenda building
• Networking profiles
• Matchmaking and networking
• Video conferencing
• Livestreaming
• Data and analytics
• And many more

Invite high-quality speakers

While your possible online networking event participants are still deciding on whether to attend or not, first thing they will look for is the list of event speakers. That’s why you have to choose wisely and according to your target audience and industry trends pick perfect, high-quality speakers that will make attending your event worthwhile.

Whether you are organizing a virtual matchmaking meeting, conference, or even an investor-startup summit, choosing a well-known speaker and expert in the fields can attract more participants to your event.

More so, the well-picked speaker can also give your online networking event credibility, especially knowing that by listening to them, your participant will gain useful knowledge that will help them achieve their professional goals.

Provide instructions and customer support

Now that you have decided on your online networking goals and audience, chosen the right virtual event networking platform, and invited high-quality speakers, it is time to think about event customer support. The b2match event management software provides you and your participants with trustworthy and reliable customer support. With our great customer success team helping you every step of the way, we assure you that there is no online event obstacle we can’t overcome together.

With our well-established live-event support team, you can have one less worry and rest assured everything will go as planned. You could use help with discussing your events’ pain points and highlighting what to focus on and what to avoid before, during, and after the online event? Worry-not! The b2match event support team has all the answers.

Follow-up and feedback time

The follow-up that attendees like to make with each other is an often-overlooked aspect of a well-organized virtual networking event. Why not assist your participants in creating long-lasting professional connections and relationships? You can easily decide on an extended period for post-event meetings, giving your participants opportunities to meet up with other attendees that they weren’t able to meet during the online networking event.

While doing so, don’t forget to also ask your participants for feedback showing them you care and also bettering your overall event goals.

b2match allows you to enable event surveys and find out what are the impressions of your online networking event. With a predefined set of questions that are customizable to fit your needs, you can also create your own questions. The question types differ from single and multiple choice questions, single and multi-lined text questions to easily-answered group questions.

Analyze collected data

The next logical step is to collect given data and analyze it to help you write business reports and see if your premade goals and objectives have been achieved. This step is easily made with our smart algorithms that collect all of your participants' data and allows you to download various spreadsheets containing large amounts of data. Collected data can give you valuable business insights and help you understand the online networking event impact.

Learn from your experience and share it forward

If you followed this easy and complete guide to creating memorable online networking events, there is no doubt in our mind that you were successful! But, organizing a great virtual matchmaking event is not always your last step. Just like in any other activity, there is always room for improvement. Take a step back and use all your gathered information to try and see which parts of the event could be bettered next time you embark on this journey.

A good thing to do after the event is to share your experience with your colleagues, partners, and anyone interested in your business endeavors via your social media channels or on your website. Post interesting and engaging photos and clips from your virtual event, and share insightful moments that should be remembered.

If you are still unsure of reasons to start organizing online networking events, we encourage you to visit the b2match event matchmaking platform and try out our free demo!