vFairs vs HeySummit: Which is Better for Organizing a Virtual Event?

We’ll compare both virtual event platforms in terms of the following: 

• Features

• Use cases

• Pricing plans

• What makes them special

• Who it’s suitable for

• User reviews

Although we’ll be comparing vFairs to HeySummit, we’ll also go through alternative solutions and platforms to consider. 

Let’s get started.

vFairs Summary

vFairs is an all-in-one event management platform for holding in-person, hybrid, and online events of all types and sizes. 

Modeled after the exhibition hall format, they empower users to create an immersive experience for their audience. Event hosters can customize their event with animations and 3D designs. Plus, they offer interactive features for both speakers and attendees.

An Overview of vFairs’ Features

• Event Builder: Customize your landing pages alongside exhibit halls and booths. Set event schedules using the backend system, which also provides customizable email templates that you can send before, after, and during the middle of the event. 

• 3D Virtual Environment: Create a virtual venue that resembles an in-person physical environment by using 3D designs. Embed pre-recorded or live videos, documents, and slideshows. 

• Gamification: Get the active participation of attendees with activities like quizzes and scavenger hunts. Aside from using games for your event, host group or 1-1 calls to engage your audience in the conversation. 

• ROI Tools & Integration: Sync with the software tools that you’re already using like Stripe. Embed a virtual shopping cart for a smooth buying process and experience during the course of your event. 

• Reporting: See how your events are performing in terms of sales and marketing. Analyze the stats shown from your dashboard to get insight into trends and attendee engagement.

• Mobile App: Users can organize their events seamlessly through the vFairs mobile application. On the other end, attendees can share their profiles, contact information, and sign in contact-free. 

• Networking Tools: Give opportunities for attendees to connect via user matchmaking based on common interests, DMs, virtual roundtables and live chat rooms. Or use VR technology to create a virtual space where attendees and speakers can interact with one another as their avatars.

Examples of Ways to Use vFairs

Common Use Case 1

Hosting a series of webinars is effective for growing your community and building trust with your audience. 

But, eyebrows raise when it comes to the process of setting everything up as a virtual event and promoting it to drive traffic and acquire emails. Fortunately, however, it can be done all within vFairs by: 

• Building landing pages that include your branding, signup forms, and key information related to the agenda of your event

• Integrating with tools like Zoom for running the webinars and live sessions

• Having chat features that allow speakers and attendees to interact with one another

• Using the email marketing features to automatically send emails to segmented audiences

• Generating a report that includes key metrics related to sales and marketing

Common Use Case 2

One challenge of running a virtual corporate event or large conference is keeping everyone engaged throughout the entire session. This is where the gamification features come into play. 

vFairs helps you bring attendees together and get their participation with fun virtual activities such as: 

• Live polls and chat rooms

• Leaderboards

• Networking lounges

• Photo booths 

• Trivia

vFairs Pricing

On vFairs’ pricing page, it doesn’t show an exact figure of the cost. You’ll need to get in touch with them so that they can provide you with a custom quote based on your needs. 

In this G2 article though, it shows that there are three types of plans available: 

• Two event license

• Annual license

• Single event license

So What Makes vFairs Special?

vFairs recreates the experience of an in-person event. They offer an impressive array of customization options including stunning 3D visual designs. 

As far as virtual and hybrid events go, vFairs delivers a captivating experience. You’re given the resources alongside a supportive team to create a colorful virtual environment where attendees can comfortably browse content, connect with exhibitors or peers, and drop in and out of talks with ease.

Who is vFairs Suitable For?

Executives, directors, managers, and organizations of all sizes who are looking for a solution to hold a large interactive conference.

vFairs is ideal for organizing a large event where you’d want participants to actively engage. This makes it suitable for company leaders who hold annual conferences or significant events like virtual career fairs.

Here’s What vFairs Users Have Said

Here’s a couple of vFairs’ customer reviews taken from G2 (a website that showcases user reviews). 

“The step-by-step design wizard for creating your booth and the event platform make this an extremely user-friendly site. It was a beneficial tool for communicating with sponsors and directing them to set up their booths. We also appreciate the detailed engagement reports for participants and sponsors. We also like the diversity in the avatars and the tools for special populations to be able to participate.”

- Abby P.

“"Innovative virtual platform with an amazing hands on team approach! vFairs offers an account manager to assist you with customizing your event. They are patient and listen to what your needs are. We have always had an issue that attending an in-person event is limiting all the professionals that can take advantage of the resources we offer. vFairs showed us that we can triple our attendance and still engage with the professionals while hosting virtually."

- Laura N.

“I've enjoyed working with vFairs for our event the Black History Expo. 2023. The vFairs team is great to work with. They're very knowledgeable and kind. I especially enjoyed working with my Project Manager! He was attentive and always willing to help! Thanks a million! The cost is a bit out of my budget, but I knew I needed vFairs to make my idea become a reality.”

- Micheala E.

"Smooth and supportive experience with great results. The support from the team in the lead up to and on the day of the event was invaluable. The platform itself was also easy to use and looked great.”

- Anonymous User Review

HeySummit Summary 

HeySummit is an all-in-one virtual event platform to host, promote, and sell all types of online events. Users can launch in only just a few minutes as most of the technical work is already done for you. 

With HeySummit’s marketing tools, sharing your voice and monetizing your passion is straightforward. They’ll help you drive traffic to your event and generate more ticket sales.

An Overview of HeySummit’s Features

• Attendee Registration Flow: Personalize the registration experience for attendees with custom questions and fields. Create segmented lists based on the data, customize your email templates, and send automated email sequences.

• Talk Management: Manage the talks at your event and present them through pre-recorded videos or live streaming with rich descriptions and linked media. 

• Speaker Dashboard: Speakers can update their bio and manage talk information. HeySummit offers auto-created graphics and auto-affiliate setup to make it easier to promote your event. 

• Speaker Directory: Customers get access to over 1000 experienced, skilled speakers. HeySummit can help you find a passionate speaker for your event with their directory of speakers. This includes dynamic filtering, speaker profiles, and contact forms for shortlisting.

• Landing Page Builder: Build custom landing pages with no coding required. Choose from a selection of pre-built themes and use the pre-built components to set the tone, increase event registrations, and create a warm experience for attendees. 

• Marketing Tools: Attract more attendees to your event with affiliate programs, custom email sequences, swipe copy, sponsorship management, and viral sharing. HeySummit enables speakers to promote your event alongside helping you start earning or earning more.

• Revenue Tools: Generate revenue with the ticketing and revenue tools provided. Create ticket types, pricing tiers, and select ticket and content restrictions. Choose your preferred payment provider. 

• Reporting: Get reports on how your events are performing. Monitor audience engagement and live attendance metrics from your dashboard. All the KPIs such as signups, referrals, and webinar usage are stored in one place. 

• Tool Integrations: Integrate HeySummit with the software tools you’re already using like Stripe and Zoom.

Examples of Ways to Use HeySummit

Common Use Case 1

You might be in the same shoes as Daniel once was – you have a passion that you want to turn into a career. 

Like Daniel, you may have grown an audience by sharing your knowledge out into the world which many found valuable. But despite the number of followers you have, you’ve yet to make a significant profit or income to consider it a viable business. 

Daniel was in a similar situation until he began thinking about event marketing. 

He used HeySummit to create and promote his online event. On top of that, here’s how HeySummit helped:

• Weaving together different session formats from live to pre-recorded to panel and everything in between was seamless

• The chat features allowed speakers to message the audience to keep them engaged

• Transitioning to different sessions was so straightforward that everything felt familiar as if you were still in the same place

• Setting up speakers as authentic affiliates was simple with HeySummit’s built-in affiliate scheme, which led to Daniel having a powerful marketing asset 

As a result, more than 3000 people attended Daniel’s event and it led to $26,000 in ticket revenue. 

You can read Daniel’s full story here. 

Common Use Case 2

Organizations can use virtual summits to advertise their business and generate leads by setting up gated content, paywalls, and presenting a portfolio of online event footage. All of which is easy to manage with HeySummit because they’ve done the technical work for you. 

Leave it up to HeySummit to make the technical side of hosting online events seamless from:

• Creating landing pages 

• Setting up email reminders

• Adding selective restrictions to tickets

• Including paywalls 

• Adjusting ticket prices 

You can read the full story here.

HeySummit Pricing

HeySummit offers three pricing plans: 

• Starter plan: $33/mo

• Growth plan: $99/mo

• Success plan: $299/mo

They also offer a free 14-day trial. 

So What Makes HeySummit Special?

HeySummit is the one-stop shop to host a variety of online events from start to finish. 

Building and promoting a virtual summit is an easy process since most of the technical work is done for you whilst still giving you customizable options. Despite having no coding or marketing experience, you’ll have all the tools required to run a successful event that drives traffic, generates leads, and helps you make more revenue. 

Moreover, HeySummit’s team is incredibly quick to respond to each of your needs. It’s not uncommon for a new feature to be added within the same day of your request. 

Who is HeySummit Suitable For?

Content creators, solopreneurs, industry leaders, and organizations of all sizes who are focused on growing their business. HeySummit’s pricing plans make it a versatile platform for many. 

HeySummit is ideal when your main focus is to grow and nurture your audience. This makes it suitable for businesses looking to scale by holding a range of online events as part of their marketing strategy. 

Here’s What HeySummit Users Have Said

Here’s a couple of HeySummit’s customer reviews taken from G2 (a website that showcases user reviews). 

"The most powerful virtual summit platform for course creators! I wanted a platform that had great flexibility in how I could deliver the actual speaker sessions, (live, pre-recorded as live, etc) in email capabilities, in having sponsors and in the design of the Summit site. I also needed to know that the experience for the attendees would be seamless and that they would enjoy the speaker sessions when they attended. Also, I wanted a platform where I could sell different kinds of tickets for the events and connect the ticketing to my Stripe account and easily sell "total access" type tickets for the replays after the actual event has ended. In other words, have the event continue to live online as an "evergreen" event and gain ongoing promotion for my online courses, for the products of the other speakers and for the sponsors. 

And the support team! They are incredibly responsive and thoughtful and really care about my questions and technical needs! This is huge for me and it has been a great confirmation that I chose the best possible platform for my events. 

And the development team too! So responsive and excellent. Here is a simple but profoundly important example. I must be able to post links for my speakers so that attendees can find their products and services after the event, and HeySummit has many ways to do this. In almost every way to include links inside HeySummit, when the person clicks the link, a new browser window will open. But I discovered just one place, inside the "speaker bio" that gave me the ability to hyperlink some text, but when it gets clicked on, it takes the person out of the summit site. So I emailed the support team and asked if they could change this so that when the hyperlinked text was clicked on, it would open a new browser window and the person would still have the Summit site open. Very quickly, the support team replied and told me they would give my note to the development team and then, very quickly, the development team added this as a new feature. GREAT! And when I went back and checked my hyperlinks on the bios, they all worked and they opened a new browser window so that I never left the summit. WOW!

I can count on the team at HeySummit to be so responsive and to care so much for all of the small details that ultimately help me produce a successful virtual summit.”

- Larry S. 

“"A great solution for online events of any kind. The interface is pretty intuitive and the help section answered all my questions. I love the ease of setup and the ability to communicate with my speakers and participants directly through the platform. Online summits have a lot of moving parts, and manually keeping track of all the information and communication involved is a challenge. That's all handled right inside this platform and that's a game changer.”

- Julie.K

“HeySummit was nice to have everything needed for an event on one platform from speakers to attendees. Fairly easy to get set up once you figure it out. The learning curve was not terribly steep. We were able to use HeySummit in a very short turnaround with limited tech help. It is fairly intuitive but does take some time to get it all setup and figure what you are doing. It is great that everything is all on one platform and then the replay of live portions are there for people later. Easy to download CSV files to add attendees to your CRM.”

‍- Karrie B.

“Great team and product. Support is amazing and the product does what it's meant to do. A few features need improving but they are always working on these things. Conducting an online conference event is made easy."

- Anonymous User Review

Other Alternatives to vFairs and HeySummit

Here’s a few other popular platforms in the industry for organizing a virtual event:

• Airmeet

• Hopin

• Cvent

Another option is to do it all manually. Work with a developer to create a set of landing pages using a CMS like WordPress. To handle payments, direct the registrations to another platform. Then, you could use tools like ConvertKit to manage your email marketing. 

It’s possible to build an event by yourself or by hiring others but it’s more costly. That’s the beauty of virtual event platforms like vFairs and HeySummit; you can do it all from within one place without having to spend as much time and money. 

The Bottom Line: vFairs or HeySummit?

What makes vFairs great is that you can host an event that encourages the active participation of everyone that’s present. We also love that you can create a virtual environment of inclusivity for your exhibition hall by choosing from a variety of avatar sets that represent various cultures, ethnicities, and job positions.

That being said, an active virtual event might not always be the answer you’re seeking. For example, you might not be expecting sponsors or active audience participation and initiative in the first place. 

HeySummit ticks the boxes when it comes to hosting a range of virtual events with customizable, interactive features to engage your attendees. From pre-recorded talks, live, or a mix of the two; lecture-style webinars, or panel discussions with Q&A, do what works best based on your audience’s interests. 

In contrast to vFairs’ focus on helping you build an active virtual environment, HeySummit focuses on helping you develop the most effective event marketing strategy to grow and sustain your audience and/or business. 

And in terms of pricing, HeySummit offers a free 14-day trial with flexible plans for content creators, solopreneurs, and small businesses all the way up to large organizations. 

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Sign up here for a free 14-day trial.