Amid the omicron surge, LinkedIn amps up its virtual events platform
With in-person events like the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) suffering from the spike in Covid cases, LinkedIn has spruced up its virtual events platform. Here’s what you need to know about the platform’s new tools.
LinkedIn makes its virtual events more interactive.
Following a year in which it saw 150% percent growth in the number of virtual events, LinkedIn announced today a number major upgrades to the platform.
The enhancements include:
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Members can also join the hosts and participate in the live conversation by raising their hands. These features will be beta tested during audio events this month and expanded to video events this spring.
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Making it easier for virtual event organizers to share the video files of their recorded LinkedIn live event to invitees who were unable to attend the original broadcast.
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Giving members access to event tools, empowering creators to host events and engage with their audience, like expanded LinkedIn Live access to members who turn on creator mode.
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Increased discovery so users can find events, build relationships and broaden horizons.
This is in addition to previous features including:
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The ability for event attendees to quickly see who is in the event, enabling them to connect with one another without having to wait for the event to end to continue the conversation.
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Allowing your full LinkedIn profile to follow you so other attendees can see your profile and content that was recently shared.
“We’re taking a big step forward in our events strategy by creating a new, interactive events experience on LinkedIn to ensure our customers continue to connect to their communities, expand their reach, and engage their audiences,” says Gyanda Sachdeva, vice president of product management at LinkedIn. “Our new experience will offer more event format choices and more ways to connect with audiences.”
The trend towards remote work and remote conference attendance is projected to continue. According to Upwork, the number of remote workers in the United States “is expected to be nearly double what it was before COVID-19: By 2025, 36.2 million Americans will be remote, an increase of 16.8 million people from pre-pandemic rates.”
“The future of work is changing, and a combination of virtual and hybrid events is here to stay,” Sachdeva says. “We built LinkedIn Live Events with our customers in mind and made it easier for them to stream live content while maximizing the reach and engagement of an event. We’re building this new experience to make it even easier for organizers to create thriving communities around events.”