How Virtual Events Are Changing How We Network - CTC012

Welcome back to Content To Cashflow podcast. And today we're going to be talking about how virtual events are changing, how we network in life and virtually as well. Let us get started. All right. It's Time for content to cashflow with Olivia Lee, the show all about helping entrepreneurs turn to cashflow. Join me every week to become a better content marketer, turn followers into raving fans and clients, and monetize your message. Now let's get started with the host Me, Olivia Lee. All Right, come back to the show. Every one. How is everyone doing So for those of you who are listening to this episode on a podcast episode, hopefully you'll be able to hear this. And if you are watching this on YouTube, hopefully you're able to see me. So what are we doing right now We are connecting. We are building relationships. We are, you know, educating others, inspiring others, basically here in each other's voices. And seeing each other's faces virtually online. That's what we're doing right now. And that virtual events or virtual Hangouts or anything that happens online has been thriving, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic. Right So who is familiar with virtual events I am, I've attended many, many, several events, especially during, my quarantine or my lockdown in my room when I haven't left my room and almost literally a year. So that's when I was attending a lot of virtual summits and virtual events, webinars, anything like live streams online, just to learn more about, you know, building a business, how to build an authority online, et cetera, whatever the topic is. I attended live events and I learned a lot from other people. And I also got to connect with people, real people online. So ever since the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak in-person events have kind of come to a complete stop. At some point, it came to a halt, especially because, you know, everyone was going through lockdown quarantine. We weren't allowed to be outside. We were trying to stay safe away from the big public, which is why especially live events or sports games, any large areas with a lot of people gathering or congregating in one place almost came to a complete stop. But after the pandemic, many organizations, businesses and entrepreneurs are utilizing and also thriving would virtual events. So today let's deep dive into how virtual events are changing, how we network online let's get started. So there are pros and cons to everything, right So I just want to go over the pros of virtual events first because how virtual events are changing, how we network. First of all, let's get started with a simple thing. Are you familiar with business card What is this horizontal paper card that we use to hand out in old days before the pandemic to introduce ourselves and show our title, what company we're associated with and our phone numbers, emails, basically a collection of paper cards that we never look at after the networking event. Am I right Am I not alone I still have three boxes full of hundreds and hundreds of almost maybe thousands of business cards that I collected over the years at different networking event or when I was doing door to door marketing, et cetera. So that kind of change business cards. Should we in a museum now I'm just kidding. I still have my business card. I'm hoping to pass them out, make it rain. Whenever I go to the next networking event, whenever that is. But after virtual events started to grow more and became more popular, there's no really a need for us to print and carry and hand out business cards during events or networking events, right Because they're, it's not like we're going to show the business card in front of the web cam and hope someone will take a screenshot. It doesn't work like that anymore. In the good old days, we used to dress up in suits or just in professional dresses and go to networking events and, you know, do a professional firm handshake and look them in the eyes, introduce yourself firmly and confidently. Hello, my name's Olivia Lee and I'm with your a gift or et cetera, whatever you do. And you would hand out a business card and there are so many things associated with the business card anywhere from what is the design Is it going to capture people's attention or are people going to just look at it and slip it in their pocket Or are they going to look at it and say, wow, this is so memorable. I want to keep it and maybe, get inspiration from it from the design or whatever. So that all mattered so much more back in days. And I'm speaking as if this was hundreds of years ago, it's business cards are still, you know, important. I'm just exaggerating just a little bit, but now social media handles are more important because when we're doing a live conference, let's say on zoom, it's not like we're going to take a Pope picture of our business card and make it our profile picture. People wouldn't be able to look at our information. Anyways, we just do Olivia Lee, parentheses. This is my Instagram handle. So that's how we kind of network nowadays, right Instead of looking at your, the words and trying to remember what this person looked like, we just go straight to their social media. That's how we remember someone's face name, what they do, what they're all about. If they're active online, which you know is a strong link between professionalism. Now, it's all about how active is this person online How large is their influence, their credibility authority, et cetera. So there's no really a need for us to carry around business cards, especially after, especially during virtual events. Another thing is with virtual events, there's no limitation on location. If you've ever hosted a live event before in real life, there's a lot that goes into it of, more than just how are we going to invite the people I'm selling the tickets to events, food, catering, interactions, et cetera, other than all of those things. In the very beginning, you have to know the number of seats. You have to know how many people that you can invite to an event. what's the cost going to be renting out a location or cost of catering or the cost between VIP seating versus ordinary seating, et cetera. So w when there's a physical location involved in it, there's a lot more that goes behind it, whether it's cost or, you know, number limitations, if the tickets are sold out, you can't invite more people because it's not like more people can just sit on the floor. That's not very, you know, that's not very nice. That's not a good experience, right So there's no limitation on location on virtual events, because especially depending on what software you use, it's kind of endless how many people you can invite to the, your summit or conference. There's no really a limit, and there's no really a need to rent out a physical location, pay for a pay tens of thousands of dollars to rent out an entire place for a whole day, two days, three days, and costs for, to feed people, et cetera. There's not really that cost or expenses, linked to virtual events. And also if the event is prerecorded, there's also no limitation on time, because if you hold a virtual event from anywhere and everywhere can join. If I were to host an event, a virtual event here in the United States and sell the ticket twos, basically globally online, people in Brazil could join people in South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Africa, Egypt, wherever. So they would have to deal with the time zone, but when there's no limitation on location, people can basically joined event in the comfort of their own room or, wherever they are. And as I was saying, if the event is prerecorded, there's also no limitation on time. So if I were to record this event and make it go live next week, people, if people could watch it at their own convenience, no matter what time, day would be able to watch it whenever, they're able to, instead of trying to, instead of taking a vacation for a few days to attend an event, a real life event, or in, instead of, calling off from work or telling your family that, you know, you have to be away for a few days, et cetera, you can just sit in your chair in front of your computer and watch an event, join an event whenever you can, put your baby to sleep and you can join the event late at night, you can wake up early to watch it. And that that's a lot of freedom for people. So that's really nice. there's no limitation on place or time if it's prerecorded. And that just provides so much more freedom for the attendees who, all right, I'm on fire. So another thing is, this is what I was super like most excited about with virtual events, networking with ease. So there's no really a need for you to turn on your camera during a virtual conference or a summit, or if you're watching a webinar, if you're participating in a live chat, right. And me as an introvert at heart, no one believes that I'm an introvert, but trust me, I am, I'm an EFP, but my heart lives in breeze as an introvert. So I find it more like I'm so much more at ease, communicating with people and networking with people during virtual events, because I don't have to worry about will they think I'm awkward Like, will they think my voice sounds funny, et cetera, because I'm just chatting in the chat box. And if I, if it's a virtual summit with, an event where I have to keep the camera on, at least I feel more comfortable. I'm just in my pajama pants, I'm being myself. I can communicate more easily. And if something really awkward or embarrassing happens, I'm not forced to just stay in there real life and try to consume what just happened. I can just say, all right, I got to sign off and just click the sign off or hang up button. And that gives me so much more ease. So networking with ease and introvert, especially can communicate more easily on virtual events. and also another thing is no pants, gang, am I right I attend almost all of the virtual summits with no pants right now. I'm wearing my golf shorts because I just came back home. as you can tell from my tan face, but, and a virtual event, you, we don't really have to worry too much about what we wear. And that adds to a level of freedom for me, because I personally don't enjoy dressing up or putting on makeup too often. I do it for the sake of myself wanting to look better on camera, during virtual events. But most of the times what's nice about zoom is I turn on the beauty filter or whatever that is, and I'm good to go. I'm in my pajama pants and my, week old t-shirt that no one knows that I've been wearing for a whole week and no makeup, but no one really cares about that. So that's, what's great about virtual events and how we network differently. And with those pros, there are also cons that are associated with virtual events. So there's not really, that live feel, right No real life interactions, people standing up jumping up and down, just round of applause and that energy flowing through the entire room. If you've attended business conferences, especially digital marketers like that energy is insane, right People are just so fired up that no matter what you are going through in life, if you attend a marketing conference full of room, full of passionate entrepreneurs, who are driven to make a difference in life, you can't help, but to feel fired up as well. It's kind of like, you know, when you have, a bonfire and you put a wood in the middle of it, you can't help, but to get the fire on you as well, that was a weird example, but it still works mentally. So would virtual events, you're kind of just, you know, you feel like a fly on a wall. Sometimes the event is happening and you're just attending in the comfort of your room. So there's no really that real life interaction, a feeling. And it's almost impossible to just feel that energy on the same level, which is one of my favorite things about attending a real life event. And another thing about virtual events is they're more likely to be internet trolls and people who take an advantage of the fact that they're anonymous online. So the positive thing about being on anonymous is you don't have to worry about how you look, how you sound, worry about what people will think of you, but the, on the other side, people might be able to take an advantage of that fact, the fact that people don't know your face, your name, et cetera, P there might be, online trolls who joined the event who might leave a mean comment who might not take the event seriously, et cetera. So people are more likely to easily say, mean things if they're anonymous, which is another sad thing. And there's that missing piece of, deeper connection and relationships that are built after the live event. So after the live event or conference, it's really likely that people will, you know, find a group of other people who are like minded people who you just click with and get coffee afterwards, or do some followup calls or just anything eye to eye, being with someone and talk, having a conversation eye to eye in real life. There's that deeper connection and building a relationship that a virtual event often misses. It's not really the same, right There's always going to be that wall of laptop and a computer between the two people communicating. And even though it's nice that we're able to now connect with people all over the world, which we weren't able to do in the past. It's also not the same feeling of building a deeper connection that you can build in real life or giving a hug, et cetera. And there's also less skin in the game, attendees who attend virtual events. it, there it's really easy for us to pay less attention and we're more likely to give into more distractions. Ooh, I like that less attention, more distractions in virtual events, especially if I'm wearing my pajama pants and I have my cup of red bull and a sandwich nearby. I am more, I am really likely to just turn off the camera and take a sip, mute myself, eat my sandwich, cross my legs. I often put my legs on the desk, which I never ever do in real life. Right. I would never do that at a networking event in real life, but because it's a virtual event, I can do whatever the heck I want and sit. However I want. I can sit with my legs, spread out. I can sit with my legs on top of the desk on top of my laptop. I think that's difficult to do, but you get my point. I I'm more easily distracted as a virtual event attendee, and I'm more likely to check my phone because I have ease, like easily access to my phone and other tabs online, et cetera. And you could even like fart on mute and, you know, let out any kinds of gas on mute. Okay, I'm taking it away too far, but you get the point. So there's less of an attention giving. and it's not really the same in virtual events, but overall, in this episode, I went over how virtual events gave us access to connect with people all over the world, without any limitation on location and time. And even though it's not the same as building a deep connection in real life, we're able to build a connection with people in other countries, people in other time zones that was impossible before. So that's what I love about virtual events. And I love the fact that I'm able to more comfortably with more ease connect with people and be myself because I just feel more comfortable about the fact that I'm here by myself, but I'm also here with other people virtually. So that gives a level of comfort in my heart. So that's pretty much it for today. I wanted to briefly go over the pros and cons and how virtual events are changing, how we network in real life and online. And the topic really intrigues me because I'm really genuinely curious about other people's stories. And I love bringing people together, which is why I was moderating so many different rooms on clubhouse. Why I have a podcast, why I want to have more guests on my podcast. And I just love speaking in front of my camera and in front of my microphone. So I love virtual events, especially virtual summit. There are other forums such as video conferences, live streams, webinars, and live chats, et cetera. But my personal favorite are virtual summits because now I'm being able to, I'm able to pick other people's brain about one topic and kind of drop the gold to my audience while learning new things myself as well. So this was a quick intro into a series on virtual summit. The next episode, I'm going to interview my dear 20 Kenneth Chu. And he's going to tell us all how doing a virtual summit can help us build the brand from zero and build your authority in your niche. So you definitely don't want to miss out next week's episode. So come back for that episode next week and do, let me know your thoughts. What are your thoughts on virtual events Do you prefer to event an event that's Virtual or in real life So that's it for today's episode talked about how virtual events are changing, how we network in real life and online, and some of the pros and the cons of attending or running a virtual event. So do, let me know your thoughts. What do you prefer Do you prefer virtual events that you can attend anywhere and anytime you want, or do you prefer to, or do you miss and prefer to attend a live event where they're just so much energy, you can build deeper connections in real life. Let me know. And my social media, you can follow me on Instagram at Olivia Young Lee and come back next week to learn more about how to build your authority through virtual summits with my dear 20 Kenneth June. All right. I will be back next week. Love you all and see you all next week. Bye bye.