With the sudden change in the event industry forcing events to be canceled, postponed, or brought into an online format, Zoom quickly became the go-to platform for web conferencing world-wide. Have you ever wonder if there are any Zoom alternatives?
According to Business of Apps, Zoom daily peak of participants rose from 10M in December 2019 to over 300M in April 2020. However, just as quickly as Zoom increased its popularity, the love phase of this relationship died off just as quickly as it came to be. As Business of Apps also points out, numerous privacy and security issues came to light regarding the Zoom platform, including: sending unauthorized data to Facebook, hoarding user data, allowing unwelcome guests to join meetings, and more.
As a result of the various issues that arose, Zoom was banned by numerous governmental entities, organizations, and school boards, such as Canada, NASA, and the NY School Board. Consequently, event planners were faced with yet another challenge: they had to find a dependable and secure alternative to satisfy their needs, while avoiding the shortcomings of the Zoom platform.
Before You Choose a Platform, Know your Requirements
Before you jump into the next Zoom alternatives or Webex platform, we have some advice for you: think about your virtual event requirements beyond your web conferencing needs, because there are so many tools out there that can do way more than simply providing you with a basic web conferencing functionality.
- Do you need to provide networking opportunities?
- Do you need to share print material prior to the meeting?
- Do you need to keep attendees engaged for a full-day online event?
- Do you need more opportunities to showcase your event sponsors?
As an event professional, you already know that different events will have different requirements, so start by making a list of what you need for your event: from the must-haves to the good-to-have.
If you can have one unique platform fulfilling multiple requirements, that means you can decrease the number of tools you use, have less subscriptions to manage, and have all data integrated within fewer software. As a result, you can save time, money, and headaches.
Now that you have a clear vision of what you need, if you are looking for a Zoom alternative for your next online event, we have a few options for you depending on your requirements.
Event Tech Alternatives to Zoom
Attendease
Attendease is a robust event management platform that can help you manage your entire portfolio of events, whether online or in-person, free or paid, private or public. All from one unique platform that provides you with the functionality to manage all moving parts of your event:
- Build fully branded event websites and registration process
- Send automated email messages to specific groups of contacts
- Track registrations, revenue, and ROI from an advanced analytics dashboard
- Easily create new events by cloning the settings and web design of your previous event
- Integrate with other tools you use
- And more
Attendease is launching a series of new features to take your virtual event experience to the next level, which includes a native streaming capability. With this feature, your attendees can watch your virtual sessions directly from your branded website, rather than moving away to a third-party application.
In addition, a new functionality will allow attendees to book meetings with exhibitors and sponsors, and also network among other event-goers. This solution is ideal for event planners who are managing a large portfolio of events.
Donut
If you need to bring up the morale of your team while working remotely, Donut may be a great solution for you. The platform, that integrates with Slack, allows large teams to meet up for coffee break chats and casual meetings, just like we used to do in-person, on the pre-COVID times (that seems like a century ago, doesn’t it?).
If you miss the human interaction in the office and would like to foster conversations, Donut can be a great solution. Some of the features include:
- CEO lottery: Randomly draw lucky staff members to meet with the CEO for a virtual coffee periodically.
- Allyship in action: Foster meaningful dialogue and shared accountability for behaviors of inclusion. Create a dedicated channel and invite everyone to join – especially senior leaders.
- Virtual coffee program: Give your team opportunities for human connection through biweekly virtual coffees.
- Intro teammates across different regions: Minimize distance between teammates by introducing people from different locations.
- And more
For companies operating remotely and seeking to enhance networking and connectivity opportunities for their employees via online programs, Donut is an ideal solution.
Icebreaker
If your goal is to provide fun online activities to break the ice, then Icebreaker is the tool you are looking for! You can host a number of online gatherings for your team, from Happy Hour to Self-Care Check-In, and many other topics available.
The Icebreaker platform has everything you need to put your event live, in addition to providing prompts to get the conversation started between you staff members.
To begin your search for the appropriate technology solution for your event needs, it’s crucial to first knowing your event requirements. Once you have a clear idea of what you need, the next step is to schedule a demo with potential technology providers that could be a good fit for you. This will allow you to determine which option would be the best option for your portfolio of events. Book a demo with our team to learn if Attendease could be a good solution for you!