In the first half of 2020, VirBELA has become the industry go-to for hosting large-scale virtual events, business conferences and online educational programs through an immersive 3D experience.
With 42% of the U.S. labor force now working from home full-time, remote work and video conferencing solutions have become a popular substitute to one-on-one or smaller group meetings, but they’re not built to scale. The pandemic has put a halt to events around the world, causing businesses and event organizers to find alternative solutions that provide the human connection and spontaneous social interaction one gets with in-person events.
VirBELA builds virtual worlds to help organizations bring their in-person experiences to life online — from expo halls that hold thousands of attendees, to auditoriums for speaking engagements and presentations, to a music stage for social events. Event attendees can create and customize their own 3D avatar, explore different venues, and network with other attendees as they would in the real world.
Event Farm, an innovative event technology company with dozens of Fortune 1000 customers, is one of VirBELA’s strategic partners helping bring this technology to the events industry. VirBELA and Event Farm have become pioneers in the virtual event space, producing all types of events including conferences, business meetings, summits and even music festivals, without defined walls or the need for travel. Since partnering with VirBELA, Event Farm has seen a massive shift in engagement, with hundreds of people attending their own virtual events and thousands attending customers’ virtual events.
“The event industry has been turned upside down. There’s a lot of great options available for remote work and collaboration, however, it’s incredibly hard to replicate the experience you get at an in-person event,” said Ryan Costello, co-founder of Event Farm. “VirBELA has built a solution that is the closest thing I’ve experienced to real life and yet doesn’t require custom hardware or a headset. We’re excited to have partnered with them and are already seeing an overwhelming amount of adoption in the market.”
Other organizations that have turned to VirBELA to host large-scale industry events include:
- Bordeaux Geekfest, which held its first fully immersive, two-day virtual festival in VirBELA in June. The event brought together more than 200 guests from around the world, with nearly 400 hours of content and entertainment through meetings, video games tournaments, concerts, and more.
- iLRN brings together an international group of developers, educators, and researchers dedicated to advancements in immersive learning technology. Their annual conference saw more than 3,300 registered attendees and 300 speakers/paper authors who presented almost 200 sessions during five days.
- Laval Virtual, a key facilitator in the discussion around VR/AR, which has hosted numerous events in VirBELA. Most recently, Laval Virtual World 2020 drew more than 6,600 people from 110 countries who participated in business meetings, an award ceremony, as well as fun activities and challenges.
In addition, eXp World Holdings, the parent company of VirBELA, hosted their annual Shareholder Summit virtually on the platform with more than 9,500 people from 27 countries in attendance. The four-day event brought together the eXp family of real estate agents, brokers and staff for networking, business updates, a keynote speaker, expo hall and 75 breakout sessions.
“VirBELA provides an all-in-one virtual venue with expo halls, auditoriums, music stages, and social spaces like a soccer field and beach for attendees to explore and stay engaged,” said VirBELA Founder and President Alex Howland. “In this new world we live in, the future of the industry is virtual and we’re honored to be able to offer so many companies the ability to host unique, personalized and memorable event experiences in the virtual worlds we build.”
