How can we use Dryfta for virtual events?

There're 3 ways you can use the virtual event platform from Dryfta:

1. Pre-recorded talks + Live Q&A + Breakout Meetings

Pre-recorded talks are the best of the lot. Simply pre-record all your sessions/talks and then upload them to platforms like Youtube, Vimeo, Wistia etc. Then, when creating a session in Dryfta, enter the link to your pre-recorded video. Alternatively, you can also let speakers upload the pre-recorded talks from their Dryfta dashboard using the abstract submissions system.

To watch a pre-recorded talk, participants would check-in to the session and watch the pre-recorded talk. In addition to that, they can also post chat messages in real-time, upvote other's messages, reply to chats and upload photos. 

Participants can also ask questions by typing. Moderators can approve the question and is automatically sent to the speaker so they can answer the question. 

Moderators can create live polls and notify participants instantly so they can participate in the live poll and view the poll results in real-time. Speakers also have the option to create live polls.

Live Questions & Answers

Organizers can ask speakers to join the live Q&A session once their pre-recorded talk session is over. This'll make the session more interactive and worthwhile for participants since they get to ask questions from speakers over a live call via audio. Participants having questions can raise hands so moderators can let them ask their questions.

Breakout Rooms

Breakout rooms with Group chat & video calls; let attendees create rooms with up to 6 participants and engage in group chats & video calls.

2. Zoom/Webex integration

Using Dryfta + Zoom integration, event organizers can do the following:

Create meetings & webinars
Create meetings & webinars from within your Dryfta event platform with option to associate existing webinars and meetings with sessions and breakouts

Dryfta does all the hard work
Let Dryfta create webinars on its own using the newly created session’s date/time and seating capacity. For example, when you update a session’s date/time, it also updates the associated webinar’s date/time & seating capacity. Organizers have option to enable live recording when creating a virtual session

Easy check-in to sessions
To join the webinar, participants log in to event website, go to the session they plan to attend and click on the Check-in button (comes up 5 minutes before the session begins). On check-in, it opens the Zoom webinar automatically.

Keep a record of Check-in/Check-out time
Dryfta automatically saves participants’ check-in & check-out time in your event platform which you can view for each session from within your Dryfta dashboard and can also export as CSV.

Other virtual platforms

In addition to our native integration with Zoom, Dryfta also provides the option to associate online meetings from any 3rd party video-conferencing platform with the sessions created under Dryfta Program Builder. 

3. Live-streaming + Live Q&A + Breakout Meetings

The Biggest Disadvantage of Webinar Platforms
For hosting virtual events, organizers generally use a webinar platform like Zoom and share a link to the webinar on their event website. This setup, however, means participants have to check-in to sessions on your event website. Then they’re redirected to the associated Zoom webinar that would open in a Zoom desktop client. Participants then flock back to the site and check-in to another session and are redirected again to the associated Zoom webinar. So, they have to switch between the website and the webinar platform continuously.

The Biggest Advantage of Live-Streaming
As a better alternative, if you want to improve the participants’ experience, so they do not have to move out of the website and go to Zoom to watch the webinar for each session, you can Livestream webinars on your website. This setup lets you offer a branded user experience, ability to monetize through multiple channels and provide audience engagement tools to participants and exhibitors right within the website.

Here's a Quick Guide to Live Streaming a Webinar on your Event Website

In this article, we will talk about the steps required to Live-stream your virtual sessions on your event website. For this tutorial, we have used the following tools:

Zoom Video Conferencing: for conducting online meetings & webinars
Dryfta Live Streaming: for live streaming your webinar
Dryfta Virtual Event Platform: for event website with audience engagement & networking tools

Private Messaging

Attendees can connect with each other, send vCard requests and exchange private messages via private messaging tool. Along with text messages, they can also send files and photos to each other, schedule meetings and join in video calls.