Going Virtual, Going Well.

• Position: THE BACK PAGE

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, organizations have been forced to go virtual with their events, and TEI was--and still is--one of them. Surely, moving to an all-digital format comes with complications, but if event organizers did their homework, they proved they could pivot and put on successful shows for their audiences. Membership management software firm Wild Apricot backed up that assumption in its January report, "The Virtual Event Research Report for Membership Organizations," which looked into how organizations have gauged success in virtual events over the past year. Here are some findings:

90% of organizations reported that they were either highly successful or moderately successful in reaching their virtual event goals.

64% of organizations reported that virtual standard member meetings were more successful than in-person meetings.

54% of organizations reported that attendance was the same, slightly more, or much more than in-person meetings.

Just 28% of organizations reported that all event attendees were known to the organization.

Organizations reported that virtual events were more successful than they originally...