The right platform will depend on your objectives. Your objectives will define whether you should choose video-conferencing technology or event technology.
The right event technology will help you save time and money. Quick stats:
- 89% of businesses using event technology save roughly 200 hours per year.
- 84% of organisations that ran a virtual event in 2020 reported spending less money on virtual events than in-person events.
For those still using video conferencing tools and looking to improve your student recruitment strategy, let's look at the differences between hosting your online open day with webinar technology versus event tech designed to replicate in-person events.
Video-Conferencing Technology Vs Virtual Fair Technology
Video-Conferencing Technology
Tools like Zoom, Google Meet, MS Teams and the like are best suited for one-to-many interactions. They're suitable if your objective for the event is to raise awareness and answer general questions.
With such applications, there's not much flexibility for students regarding webinar timing and duration. Most webinars shouldn't go beyond an hour to avoid losing the attention of the audience.
Examples of event formats best suited for video-conferencing tools:
- Introducing your university or programme
- Masterclasses
- Workshops
- Showcasing the benefits of your university or programma
- Sharing existing student or alumni experiences
- Panel discussions
- Explaining the admissions process
- Virtual tours
Virtual Fair Technology
Software designed for virtual fairs like Fairwiz is best suited for one-to-one interactions, which helps if your objective is to convert registrations to student applications and enrollment. One-to-on exchanges allow for personalised responses to individual questions. Why?
- Allows the student to feel like you've dedicated time to answer all their questions personally, especially the uncomfortable and difficult ones.
- Allows you to get more context from the student and identify their needs to better counsel & recruit each student.
With platforms like Fairwiz, it is very flexible for students to enter and exit the virtual event space as you can hold it over a few hours or days.
Students also get to choose which information is/isn't relevant to their objectives rather than staying in a long webinar session before asking a question.
Examples of event formats best suited for virtual fair software:
- One-to-one student counselling by the admissions/recruitment team
- One-to-one live chat with existing students, e.g. text, audio, video
- Personalised virtual tours
- Allow students to view images, videos (live/pre-recorded), PDFs, forms, and other documents that will help students with their admission process
With the right technology, you can also have one-to-many interactions in your online open day if it integrates seamlessly with popular video-conferencing tools.
Flexibility is the key to a successful student recruitment strategy.
It would be best if you remembered that your students have specific objectives in mind regarding their decision-making. The more flexibility you provide them in terms of information-gathering, the better they'll appreciate it.
Whatever platform you choose at the end of the day, make sure that it's mobile-friendly.
We track many data points in Fairwiz. Based on our analysis, it's always overwhelmingly mobile devices that the attendees use to join online events – more than 90%.
Give prospective students (and parents) a good impression during the event. They will be more likely to apply for your institution after their evaluation.
Are you planning on hosting a virtual open day to provide students with flexibility in their decision-making process? Fairwiz allows you to have both one-to-many and one-to-one interactions. We integrated with tools like Zoom, Facebook, and YouTube. Book a demo to see Fairwiz in action, or send us an email to learn more.
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