Online Events: Validating Demand, Lead Magnets, Hybrid Events

Uncategorized 5 Minutes

“Find a group of people who challenge and inspire you, spend a lot of time with them, and it will change your life.” – Amy Poehler

Get Full Access to Trends Pro


❓ What You’ll Learn

  • How to offer hands-on experience in online events?
  • What are examples of successful metaverse concerts?
  • How to validate demand?
  • How to get early revenue?
  • How to find qualified prospects with online events?
  • What are hybrid events?
  • Who’s building online events for AR/VR headsets?
  • How will open startups use online events?
  • How to break the ice in your online event?


💎 Why It Matters

Online events are borderless.

They are a cost-effective and scalable way to spread your message.


🔍 Problem

We want to connect, learn and be entertained without leaving home.


💡 Solution

Online events have lower friction.

Anyone with web access can join.


🏁 Players

Online Events

Online Event Tools

  • Zoom • Connect with video, audio, phone and chat
  • HeySummit • Build, grow and monetize online and hybrid events
  • Livestorm • Simple meeting and webinar platform
  • Gather • Build 2D online conference spaces
  • Podia • Sell workshops, classes and webinars
  • StreamYard • Live streaming and recording studio in your browser
  • BigMarker • Platform for webinars, virtual and hybrid events


🔮 Predictions


☁️ Opportunities

  • Presell your online event to validate demand and get early revenue.
    • IRE21 is a virtual event for journalists that offers a 25% discount for early tickets. 
    • SHARP is an event for authors, readers and publishers that offers a 33% discount for early booking.
    • ATOMICON is a hybrid sales and marketing event for small businesses. It offers early tickets with a 55% discount.


🏔️ Risks

  • Connectivity Issues • Internet disruptions, slow speeds and lag spikes can lead to missed content, poor peer interaction and frustration.
  • Coordination Risk • Failure to manage groups can lead to poor attendee experience.
  • Reputation Risk • Misbehavior such as Zoom Bombing can lead to negative experiences and a lack of interest in future events.


🔑 Key Lessons

  • Online events have higher margins. Lower costs and wider reach make it easier to make a profit.
  • Hybrid events are a “two-sided medal”. Balancing in-person and online aspects of the same event requires 2x much effort.
  • Have a backup plan. You should be able to switch platforms when having technical issues.


🔥 Hot Takes

  • Online events with hundreds of attendees make it hard for each member to share value. This makes it more appealing to watch the recording on-demand than attending a live event.
  • We’ll see online events built for specific AR/VR headsets. Connect is a virtual event on virtual, mixed and augmented realities. You need a Quest device to attend the event.
  • Open startups will host public board meetings with past achievements and future plans. Gumroad shares its board meetings on YouTube.


😠 Haters

“It is hard to engage remote audiences. They can get distracted by their friends, family and pets.”
Host the event over a few days. Break down content into shorter portions. Add interactive activities such as polls and Q&As. Change the pace of the event with videos and quick discussions. This can help attendees stay focused and to not get bored.

“In-person events have higher-fidelity interactions than online events.”
True. In-person events also have more friction since everyone needs to attend in person. Online events are more inclusive while in-person events have higher fidelity.

“Hybrid events have the best of both worlds.”
Hybrid events are complex. You need to solve logistics, catering and security problems for in-person attendees. As well as connectivity, engagement and moderation issues for online attendees.

“Online events are exhausting. Zoom fatigue is real.”
Short breaks, chit-chatting and letting attendees turn off video can help to lower online fatigue.

“What if I want to go to two sessions that happen at the same time because of tracks?”
This is a tradeoff for having a focused experience. Most online events share recordings that you can watch later.


🔗 Links

  1. Building a Report on How to Grow and Monetize Online Events • The Tweet behind this report.
  2. 35 Ice Breaker Games for Virtual and Hybrid Events • Ways to lighten the mood at the start of an event.
  3. Hybrid Events Are Essential • Learn the 10 benefits of hybrid events.


📁 Related Reports

  • ​​​​​Audience-First Products • Validate products, build distribution and stay accountable
  • Gamification • Boost engagement with missions and rewards
  • Presales • Validate demand before investing time and money into building new products
  • Influencer Marketing • Borrow audiences’ attention to build awareness and find customers
  • Freemium • Lower your customer acquisition costs with a free version of your product


🙏 Thanks

Thanks to Frank Jones, Mark Todd and Stewart Townsend. We had a great time jamming on this report.

✏️ Emin researched and wrote this report. Dru researched and edited this report.


📈 What else?

Trends PRO #0127 — Online Events has more insights.

What you’ll get:

  • 20 Online Event Examples (186% More)
  • 14 Online Event Tools (100% More)
  • 12 Predictions (300% More)
  • 15 Opportunities (400% More)
  • 7 Risks (133% More)
  • 12 Key Lessons (300% More)
  • 7 Hot Takes (133% More)
  • 9 Links (200% More)

With Trends Pro you’ll learn:

  • (📈 Pro) How can artists make live concerts more accessible?
  • (📈 Pro) What are token-gated online events?
  • (📈 Pro) How to help team members feel closer when they are miles apart?
  • (📈 Pro) What are VR business meetings?
  • (📈 Pro) What are virtual workspaces?
  • (📈 Pro) How can companies help employees fight loneliness?
  • (📈 Pro) How to handle traffic spikes during online events?
  • (📈 Pro) How to build an immersive online event?
  • (📈 Pro) How to lower competition?
  • (📈 Pro) How to use online events to onboard SaaS users?
  • (📈 Pro) How to boost engagement?
  • (📈 Pro) How to boost brand loyalty?
  • (📈 Pro) What are breakout rooms?
  • (📈 Pro) What are online event tracks?
  • (📈 Pro) How to maximize reach?
  • (📈 Pro) How to help attendees build personal connections?
  • (📈 Pro) Why should you vet attendees?
  • (📈 Pro) How to boost the attendance rate?
  • (📈 Pro) Why should you offer virtual gifts?
  • (📈 Pro) What is NFT ticketing?
  • (📈 Pro) Who has built an online event for 5,000 people with no-code?
  • And much more…

Get Weekly Reports

Join 65,000+ founders and investors


    📈 Unlock Pro Reports, 1:1 Intros and Masterminds

    Become a Trends Pro Member and join 1,200+ founders enjoying…

    🧠 Founder Mastermind Groups • To share goals, progress and solve problems together, each group is made up of 6 members who meet for 1 hour each Monday.

    📈 100+ Trends Pro Reports • To make sense of new markets, ideas and business models, check out our research reports.

    💬 1:1 Founder Intros • Make new friends, share lessons and find ways to help each other. Keep life interesting by meeting new founders each week.

    🧍 Daily Standups • Stay productive and accountable with daily, async standups. Unlock access to 1:1 chats, masterminds and more by building standup streaks.

    💲 100k+ Startup Discounts • Get access to $100k+ in startup discounts on AWS, Twilio, Webflow, ClickUp and more.

    Published by Illes

    Published