An education fair is a platform that connects the students to Educational Institutions across a state, country, or abroad. It is the medium through which the students can explore, evaluate & decide on the Institutes that match their requirements & offer the best choices to them in terms of courses, fees & career prospects. In the same way, it also helps the educational Institutes to showcase their presence in the education sector & attract students.
How did the Virtual Education Fairs come into existence?
The education sector suffered a major breakdown due to covid-induced lockdowns. The industry came to a standstill due to complete restrictions on public gatherings. But as it is rightly said-’An obstacle cannot stop the flow of a river, it can only change its course.’ Thanks to the new-age technology, the industry was not just able to change its course but was able to scale up to greater heights. It has been possible because of the numerous advantages of Virtual Education Fairs.
Increased number of Student Attendees
A Virtual Education Fair is open to a global audience. It is unaffected by geographical boundaries and is likely to attract a much bigger audience. Students can connect with a greater number of Institutes. With proper planning, marketing & execution Virtual Education Fair generates bigger & better results.
Increased Participation of Educational Institutions
When an Educational Fair is local, the number of participating Institutes & students gets limited. The moment you opt for the Virtual Education Fair Platform, you increase your area of operation & accessibility. There are no physical & geographical constraints and you can keep any number of Educational Institutions as participants.
Easy & Smooth Application Process
Physical Education Fairs require the physical presence of students. Registration & Application becomes time-consuming & tedious. Whereas virtual format allows single-step online registration & application process. There is a smart tool pallet for application streaming, tracking & information verification. Everything is pre-programmed & no manual handling is required. Hence the Application process becomes easy, smooth & hassle-free.
Simpler, Faster & Better Exchange of Information
The exchange of information is an important aspect of Education fairs. Virtual Education Fairs offer the option of information exchange at any stage of the event, irrespective of its size and frequency. There is no need to spend money on printing the Brochures & CDs. That’s where the Virtual Education Fair platform scores high over the Physical format.
Better Showcasing or Branding opportunities for Institutes
Virtual Education Fair formats allow the Institutes to set up their Virtual booths. It's a place dedicated to them. They are free to showcase themselves through videos, photos & even a virtual tour of their campus. They can attend to students' queries & share any amount of information about the education programs, eligibility criteria for scholarships, fee structure, campus information & placement records.
Saves a lot of Time, Money & Effort for organizers
Organizing a Physical Education Fair is a lengthy, expensive & tedious process. The locations with high market potential have to be shortlisted. Many factors have to be considered like- scheduling events for multiple locations, venue booking, hiring of staff, lodging/ traveling/ food expenses, power cost, troubleshooting, handling of large crowds, etc. After putting in so much time, money & effort, you manage to gather localized attendees. Whereas Virtual Education Fairs do not require physical presence, physical venue, or crowd handling. It saves a lot of travel time and registration & application time. Of course, they have their challenges like – online traffic management, a requirement of high network bandwidth & attendee engagement, etc. But with proper planning, marketing, and hiring a good virtual event partner you get bigger returns.
Easy & Organized Navigation for Students
The format of Virtual Education fairs is very attractive, organized & easy to navigate. Students can visit institute booths according to their priorities & preferences. The activities like registration, ticketing, quick snacking & stall-to-stall movement, are completely avoided. Besides this, information exchange is very smooth. Institution highlights or detailed information can be enquired & accessed. The students can connect with the universities comfortably without traveling and struggling with the crowd.
It offers performance measurement tools & better ROI.
This is another biggest advantage that Virtual Education Fairs offer over Physical ones. It allows you to measure the performance of your exhibition at any point in time. Everything is automated & AI-based and lead reports can be generated when desired. The cost of development of a virtual platform is much less compared to a Physical Format and the results are phenomenal. This generates a higher ROI (Return of Investment).
To sum up, it can be said that Virtual Education Fairs create a win-win situation for students, educational Institutions & organizers. They are a perfect example of technology being used perfectly. Though initially adopted for the sake of survival, the Virtual format has brought about permanent changes in the education sector. It was the need of the hour and so the adaptation was very quick, right from play schools to universities. Now when things are slowly getting better, people are apprehensive about going back to the complete physical format. The Education Industry has attained an upgraded, revamped & rejuvenated form that makes the physical format look dwarfed, expensive & primitive.
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