Many event organisers and event companies are seeking out the best online training courses for virtual events and there are a lot on offer. We have searched far and wide to find the five best training courses for online events.
We have five great options for any event planner who wants to re-skill to be able to run great virtual events.
In selecting these courses we judged them on the following criteria:
Run by organisations not trying to sell you something else. There are lots of free resources out there, but they tend to be designed to lead you to buying something else. We wanted to find courses that were 100% focused on delivering great content. We didn’t want the online events training to be clouded by, or influenced by, certain providers who are normally trying to sell you THEIR platform!
Run by organisations who have been talking about hybrid or online events for a while. “Have you noticed that everyone is suddenly an online expert?” a leading events news editor said to me recently. A similar feeling was expressed by a client who reflected, “it is easy to get advise about going online, the trick is finding the right advice”
So we thought, let’s start with people who have been supporting the idea of digital for a long time (that quickly, and in our view quite rightly narrowed the field)
Run by organisations with a great reputation for learning. Again, this narrowed the field. There are people who have been running their own online events and are now offering their own training. Well, that’s not good enough for us. We needed proof that they have experience of structuring learning and delivering engaging content. In the main the trainers delivering these courses, are people doing online events, not just talking about online events.
No free courses. I know this may not be popular for some, but we decided to look only at paid for training courses. We had to be confident that the training would be of a high standard, and the trainers would stay the course. As one of my speakers said during my last online event: “to get to the next level you will have to pay at the next level”
Everyone is heading online……….
So here they are: The five best online training courses for online events
Creating High Impact Virtual Events
This online training course is the most in-depth and thorough virtual events training course available.
The course covers all of the events that are taking place virtually, including webinars, virtual festivals, conferences, trade shows, awards dinners and fundraising events.
The Creating High Impact Virtual Events course is targeted at those who want to learn *all there is to know* about running virtual events.
COST: €799
DURATION: On-demand
PCMA’s Digital Event Fast Track
PCMA have offered certification in online events for several years.
In general they provide great training and run fantastic events for event professionals.
The Digital Event Fast Track course is definitely a good introduction course to online events.
It clocks in at a pricy, around $80 an hour, but it certainly covers some of the key areas like strategic planning, user experience and delivery. You can be assured of some good quality training whenever you see the PCMA logo!
COST: $500
DURATION (or hours): 7 hours
Meeting Design Institute: Design interactive online and hybrid meetings, conferences and events
The meeting design institute have been pioneering hybrid events for as long as I have. It is great to see them offer a variety of courses for online events, we have included their most detailed offer.
On their website they say: “Online meetings are not webinars but online gatherings where real people learn, network and enjoy a good time” And they are right!
There are a few things that have given us confidence to include them in our list. They clearly know the difference between bog standard webinars and proper kick ass online events. And this course looks to deliver!
Maarten Vanneste is the trainer and he certainly knows his stuff!
COST: €595
DURATION (or hours): 18 hours
Event Leadership Institute – Virtual Event & Meeting Management Program
From their website: “This course is designed for industry professionals who are looking to build on their existing event management skillset and experience by learning the fundamentals needed to plan and manage virtual events”
The Virtual Event & Meeting Management Program is a six week course looks to pad out an event organiser’s knowledge of online events in basic key areas like data, marketing and platforms. The modules pack a punch with lots of exciting areas to be covered and the leader of the course has a very sound technical background.
COST: $695
DURATION: Six weeks
Digital Event Strategist [DES] certification course
This is PCMA’s premium product for online events and the second time PCMA has made it into our list.
The DES course leads to certification, which can be seen as an important bonus for many attendees. The DES course offers two ways to get involved, the live, seven-week, interactive course, or a self-paced course. There are ten strong and well structured modules.
I have spoken for PCMA on online events and they have had a strong online element at their big events, so I am very confident to suggest that this will be a good course.
COST: $1195
DURATION: Seven weeks
