• by Tameka Kee , September 12, 2007

Sponsors of corporate trade shows, job fairs and other virtual events generate an average of 348 highly qualified leads per event, according to research from Menlo Park-based virtual event hosting company Unisfair.

Unisfair partnered with The FactPoint Group to sift through data from over 300 events, coming up with a set of best practices for businesses seeking to plan, hold or sponsor an online event.

While the backlash against companies using Second Life for marketing and internal meeting purposes continues, Unisfair has become a virtual event provider of choice for media types, as outlets like The Economist, BusinessWeek and CM Crossroads have already used the service.

In the past four years, more than 500,000 users have attended a Unisfair event, 58% of whom connected from the U.S. On average, corporate virtual events are live for 1.5 days, with 5 conference sessions per day, and 15 sponsor or exhibitor booths. More than 3,000 users typically sign up to attend and just over half of them show up, and they spend about two-and-a-half hours at the event.

Virtual events cannot take the place of live conferences and expos, but according to Don Best, Unisfair's director of marketing, sponsors gain some of the same advantages--from lead generation to brand awareness to actual sales. Having a registration process that is quick and easy--but still provides qualified contact information--is key for maximum sponsor ROI.

Best added that a majority of attendees were more likely to interact with an exhibitor, speaker, or other attendee while online than in person--as the social pressures that can accompany live events are absent. It's these factors that are bringing both event hosts and sponsors from outside the media industry--what Best calls "enterprise companies" to the virtual event space.

"Our fastest growth in the past year and a half has been from the non-media side. Ultimately the customer is the same, but media types already have experience with planning trade shows and events--so a virtual conference is not such a stretch," said Best. "We're seeing more corporate job fairs and expos from companies you wouldn't think of as having a virtual presence."

Unisfair has also published a white paper that aggregates the data and details best practices for firms seeking to have successful virtual events.