Let us help you plan the perfect virtual meeting in San Diego.

When it comes to meetings, nowhere delivers like San Diego. Known for its positive vibe even during challenging times, the nation's top meeting destination can deliver a perfect virtual event guaranteed to communicate and engage with your members, customers, and clients throughout the year.

With a wide variety of professional services and a Tourism Authority ranked "one of the Top Five in the World," according to Meetings & Conventions magazine, here are a few steps to Zoom into a successful, productive and positively perfect virtual event in San Diego.

The Basics

With facilities in California currently closed for in-person meetings, planners are looking to hold virtual events to replace the meeting experience. A virtual event can be as simple as a Zoom meeting or as complicated as an elaborate staged multi-media event with a variety of speakers in multiple locations.

What's Needed?

As you plan your event, think through the basics. What is your program trying to accomplish and what is the size and scope? Is it for training or networking, and how many people are expected to attend? Also, keep in mind that speakers and panelists are as key as the topics they are going to cover. Content needs to be relevant, timely and engaging. Speakers and panelists should be chosen and coached on how to communicate in a digital format.

First Stop

The professional and dedicated team at the San Diego Tourism Authority can serve as a valuable resource and help connect planners with the right vendors for any virtual event. Your SDTA national sales director is your first stop as you think through your meeting needs. The SDTA services team can provide a variety of complimentary offerings for successful programs, from Virtual Site Inspections to an Attendance Promotion Toolkit to maximize engagement and participation.

Experienced Vendors

San Diego vendors can do it all, from small virtual events where you record your presentations at an in-house studio to large multi-media productions with all sorts of online bells and whistles. Based on the size and scope of an event, there are many different types of packages and platforms available. These packages can range from $1,500 to $30,000+ depending on the needs.

San Diego is home to a host of companies that can help work through event criteria and design a package that makes sense. Local audio-video vendors as well as meeting management companies can take on everything from creating a theme for the event to registration to event production. All of San Diego's vendors can work through the questions and concerns of planners, including those important details like bandwidth needs.

Keep in Mind

When planning virtual meetings, there can be concerns and challenges from cost and attendance to technology and security. For example, planners now must determine how much to charge and still be able to put on a high-quality, profitable event online.

More good news is virtual events may be more inexpensive than others, so you can re-allocate some of the in-person costs like food and beverage expenses and reinvest them in the technology and production. Recognition of sponsors can also be just as valuable in the online space as an in-person event.

We Have You Covered

San Diego is dedicated to making your virtual events successful, productive, and enjoyable. The talented sales and services team at SDTA along with our local vendors and meetings industry community will work tirelessly to provide a perfect virtual event for your members, customers, and clients. With our positive vibe during challenging times, now is a great time to connect virtually in San Diego.