Sometimes, the thought of setting up and running a virtual event can be daunting. There are lots of moving parts to consider, from your marketing strategy, to your event configuration, right down to the ways you’ll maximize engagement.

When you use an events management platform like HeySummit, you’re simplifying the process of producing a successful event. Not only are you making it easy for people to register and discover your content, the platform also helps you do more to activate your community (with less work 😎).

People love HeySummit because it’s designed to work around the tools they already know and love. It’s easy for a HeySummiteer to integrate their video hosting tool of choice, their favorite analytics tracker, and their go-to marketing automations.

The result? HeySummiteers save time and energy, while delivering something that is engaging, insightful, and impactful to their audience.

With HeySummit, there’s no need to reinvent the wheel and learn new systems and apps - simply plug in your favorites and go!

If you’re still on the hunt for tools to take your event to the next level, here’s a round up of some the HeySummit team is loving right now.

Tools for Marketing

EarlyParrot

Leveraging the power of word-of-mouth, EarlyParrot rewards your existing audience in exchange for a referral. Referrers share their unique link with their network and are rewarded when you get a new customer or subscriber. EarlyParrot also handles all the data analytics and technical aspects for you - besides tracking visitors, subscribers, customers, referrals and referrers, it also tracks the number of invites sent out, shares on social media, and conversions - so you can see which parts of your marketing strategy are working best.

The stats speak for themselves: 92% of consumers trust referrals more than traditional advertising - and spend on average 16% more. (Source). This is a great way to amplify your marketing efforts - making brand ambassadors out of your subscribers/followers/happy customers.

Tools for Networking

Remo

Remo facilitates easy, face-to-face interactions, enabling attendees to experience group networking via virtual “tables”. Each floor on Remo has 19 tables, with each table allowing up to 6 people to network at a time. By putting real, human connection at the heart of its platform, Remo is great for anyone looking to have a virtual immersive space for events. Event organizers have the freedom to customize the table names, and attendees can choose who they interact with in real-time by joining a table. And, when the time comes for speakers to begin their talk, the networking stops and everyone is able to watch and participate in the talk or discussion.

Missing the fun of office water cooler chats and the energy of an in-person team meeting? Longing for a big social gathering again? Something like Teamflow, Gather or SpatialChat might be just what you need.

Tools for Video & Webinar Hosting and Live Streaming

Zoom

While it might seem like ‘ol reliable’, that’s because it is! With over 300 million daily meeting participants, Zoom is one of the most widely-used video conferencing applications available right now. It’s also a popular choice for people hosting live virtual events. Offering simplified video conferencing and messaging across any device, Zoom’s meeting capabilities make it easy to start, join, and collaborate via video, audio, and chat. It also allows for multiple simultaneous screen sharing and co-annotation for an interactive experience, as well as filters, reactions, polls, hand raising, and music or video sharing. Participants can easily be broken out into smaller groups - or breakout rooms - to facilitate discussions and encourage active participation.

BigMarker

Offering browser-based, no-download webinar software, BigMarker is a top choice for many event organizers looking to create, distribute, and build traction with live, on-demand, and automated video content. Users can choose to host their content on their all-in-one virtual event platform, or make use of its embed function with additional interactive features like lead forms, polls, offers, and Q&A. And, for anyone looking to broadcast their event on multiple platforms, BigMarker’s webinar software enables you to do it without additional coding or configuration.

Vimeo

Vimeo is an all-in-one video solution for video hosting and sharing. Its 200+ million global users love how Vimeo makes it easy to add a video to your website, blog, or anywhere else on the internet, without writing a single line of code. As a video hosting site, Vimeo is known for having the most reliable, fast-loading, ad-free HDR player. As a live streaming platform, Vimeo broadcasts its videos in full HD with adaptive streaming, providing viewers with the highest-quality experience across devices - even in areas with limited bandwidth. And when an event is over, it is automatically archived in up to 4K, ready to be shared, embedded and rewatched over and over again - making it the perfect tool to repurpose your content and get it in front of as many eyes as possible.

LinkedIn Live

LinkedIn Live is LinkedIn’s live streaming tool. Users create their content via a third-party streaming tool, which is then broadcast via LinkedIn to their network. With all your professional contacts gathered in the same space, it’s the optimal site to drive engagement and reach as wide an audience within your industry as possible. The stats speak for themselves - with, on average, 7x more reactions and 24x more comments on LinkedIn Live videos than standard videos published to LinkedIn’s feed.

Vidalytics

With the latest, cutting-edge video marketing tactics to increase conversions and convert even the coldest traffic, Vidalytics is a fully customizable video player that provides comprehensive analytics to help users understand exactly how & why certain videos lead to higher sales over others. From smart autoplay to perfectly-timed Call-to-Action buttons, Vidalytics leverages the power of analytics to help its users to fully optimize and scale their videos to maximize conversions and boost sales.

Hippo Video

Hippo Video is a video distribution platform that helps users easily create personalized videos and distribute them through multiple channels. Offering the potential for personalization at scale and built-in video editing capabilities, we love its ease of use (videos can be recorded and edited through the platform itself) as well as the powerful personal engagement the platform drives. With 80% of consumers saying they’re more likely to purchase from a brand that provides personalized experiences (Source), Hippo Video can help differentiate your brand from the competition.

Facebook Live

From Facebook Messenger to WhatsApp to Instagram, Facebook has had a huge impact on the way we socialise - and Facebook Live is no exception. As an event organizer, you can use Facebook Live to broadcast a conversation, a performance or series of talks. Once you go live on a page, in a group or an event, your live videos will also appear in people's News Feeds. With 2.8 billion monthly active users, you’ll get access to some of the world's largest online audiences, through a platform so many already use every day. 1 in 5 of the videos posted to the platform is via Facebook Live, with users spending 3 times longer watching a video when it's live.

Twitch

Twitch is a live streaming platform, first made popular with gamers who used it to live stream their gameplay while chatting to millions of fans from around the world. Outside the gaming world, more people are trying out Twitch as an alternative to other live streaming platforms. Why? Twitch differentiates itself from other live streaming platforms with its offering of a dynamic shared experience. Rather than a passive, one-way presentation, the audience is getting a two-way (often more) conversation.

Restream

If extending your reach is the goal, look no further than Restream. Everyone has their favorite social media site, and as an Event Organizer it can be tricky to choose just one live stream platform - you’ll likely be missing out on segments of your audience. Restream to the rescue! Enabling users to stream live to 30+ social platforms at once, all your bases will be covered, without the hassle of posting to separate channels and hosting multiple streams. There’s no need to upgrade your device capacity or bandwidth either, you just add the social media platforms you want to broadcast to and Restream does the rest.

Tools for Automation

Zapier

With all this event organizing going on, it’s likely you’ve signed up for lots of new apps, websites and platforms. This is where a platform like Zapier comes in! Zapier moves information between your web apps automatically, allowing you to focus on your most important work - your virtual event.

As an event organizer, you begin by creating Zaps, or workflows. You pick an event in an app that starts your Zap - such as receiving a new event registrant, then you tell Zapier what to do next. For example: once you have a new attendee register for your event via App A, you can set it up so that they are automatically added to your mailing list on App B, subscribed to your social media App C, and sent a welcome video via App D. That’s tons of work - all done on your behalf!

So, What's the Run Down?

Ultimately, tools and platforms like these were built to help you work smarter and faster. When used hand in hand with HeySummit, they’ll boost productivity, ease your workload, drive engagement, and then some - leaving you with plenty of time and energy to focus on organizing content that will dazzle your audience.

Hungry for more? Check out this full list of tools that integrate with HeySummit - you might even find your new favorite app!

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