Why Virtual Events Are The Future 🔮

As is the case for many VCs, I used to spend a significant amount of time each year attending startup events, as well as organizing our own #p9family events. Over the last few months, that has all been put on hold as countries around the world have gone into lockdown. Whilst physical events died down, my inbox was suddenly overrun with invitations to join virtual pitch days, talks, networking sessions, AMAs, panels and more. I was initially sceptical about these events: what was the point in attending if I couldn’t benefit from the networking piece and meet cool companies? Would people really spend half a day watching a virtual event and why wouldn’t they just watch a YouTube recording of it? Don’t get me started on Zoom fatigue… 😴

Having attended a few virtual events over the last few weeks and after hosting our own virtual B2B marketplace meetup, I’ve definitely changed my perspective on the above. Here are a few key takeaways on why I‘ve grown to love virtual events.👇

The .9 Team at our last Founder Summit (we plan on keeping this one physical as opposed to virtual)

From an organisers perspective

I. Easier access to high-quality speakers regardless of where they live or where your event is taking place 🤩

Now that events are taking place online, it’s easier than ever before to get top-notch speakers from around the world. Previously, they used to have to travel (sometimes across continents) just to spend 30 minutes on stage. For our B2B marketplace meetup, Matt, the founder of AdQuick, dialled in as a speaker from the comfort of his living room in the US whilst I was running the event from our office in Germany. Talk about convenience. 💯

II. Potential for global distribution 🌎

Despite only promoting our event a week before it was set to take place, we were able to reach over 200 attendees across 4 different continents. This is a huge step-change compared to most physical events which tend to be hyper-local and a big win for a fund like ours, which despite being based in Europe invests globally. Check out the poll from our latest event:

III. More cost-effective and sustainable 💶