As people begin transitioning back to the office, we are also starting to see the return of in-person events. Conferences, tradeshows, and summits once provided the connections we’ve missed over the last two years – face-to-face interactions with peers, sharing expertise, and the natural excitement that comes with events.
When events shifted from in-person to primarily virtual two years ago, the difference in experiences and lack of engagement online was exacerbated. The online experiences could not match those we previously had in-person – especially for larger events. The need for improved engagement sparked a wave of innovation that transformed how virtual events are delivered and raised the bar for participants’ expectations.
Now future events must provide engaging and equitable in-person and virtual event experiences that will drive adoption of hybrid events, just as it has for hybrid work.
Platform flexibility in a hybrid world
The evolution of virtual events has enabled organizations to reach more people than ever with new, engaging experiences. And as we move to hybrid event formats, we want to continue to bring virtual audiences along. However, the uncertainty associated with travel restrictions and group gatherings remains, and this is creating new requirements for event platforms.
To help customers navigate the hybrid world of events with confidence, we are introducing new updates to Webex event solutions, including Socio – now Webex Events, and Webex Webinars.
Today, we are excited to announce that Socio is now Webex Events.
Webex Events (formerly Socio) provides a flexible hybrid event platform that delivers virtual, in-person, and hybrid events. This flexibility allows organizations to leverage one solution for any of their technology needs, no matter what type of event they are hosting. In fact, in 2021, our flagship user conference WebexOne was hosted entirely on Webex Events – see how.
Webex Events brings together powerful event software, hardware, and services to provide people with all the tools they need to manage events across the entire lifecycle. In-person experiences can be delivered safely with contactless registration, check-in, badge printing, and attendee networking. And managing multi-track events with registration, ticketing, sponsorship options, virtual networking and more is made easy with Webex Events.
Centrally managed events
Event management and control is getting easier for IT admins. We are adding new capabilities to truly make Webex Events (formerly Socio) an enterprise ready event management platform with new Control Hub integration, compliance and accessibility.
Starting today, Webex admins have an easy way to designate and manage Webex Events access through permissions via Control Hub. The new integration into Control Hub gives Webex admins a single place to manage Webex Events, and all other Webex apps and devices. Additionally, Webex Events will soon support log-in with credentials associated with Webex licenses and regulatory compliance standards SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001 and SOC 3.
Soon, Webex Events will integrate the same real-time captions and translation capabilities that power Meetings and Webinars today, making any event more accessible – in-person, virtual or hybrid.
A safe return to in-person events
Even before in-person events were put on hold, check-in processes and gaining entry to events could be a pain point for event staff and attendees alike. Today, we are proud to announce Webex Events and CLEAR’s Health Pass, are working together to enable simple, effective ways for organizations and businesses to manage health protocols and comply with vaccine regulations as we return to in-person events.
For more frequent engagements such as lead generation webinars or training, Webex Webinars is releasing breakout sessions supporting up to 10,000 participants,across 100 concurrentsessions. This new enhancement will deliver more ways to engage with audiences in smaller groups, including chat and animated reactions. Plus, hosts can use cross-session polling and announcements to communicate across all groups at the same time while in breakouts, or when everyone comes back together.
Webex Webinars takes the complexity out of hosting webinars and makes every join experience easy – regardless if your attendees are internal and or external to your organization. Breakout sessions are now generally available. Check the new breakout sessions in action!
Webex Webinars is also introducing APIs to help Marketers, Learning & Development and Sales professionals to integrate webinars more easily into the tools they use every day. APIs are now generally available for attendee, panelist, registration, reporting data and more. Integrate Webex Webinars to your marketing automation, CRM and learning apps to connect data and workflows.
Looking forward with hybrid events
We are excited to see the amazing events our partners and customers will bring to life with Webex Events (formerly Socio) and Webex Webinars.
We are the start of a whole new world of possibilities with event experiences. Webex is working to ensure we can meet your needs now and well into the future.
We look forward to seeing you at an upcoming Webex event!
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