Virtual Open Days
Open your doors to a global audience. WorkCast is the Leading Virtual Open Days Provider
Our robust virtual event software is cloud-based, secure and scalable, so you can effectively and safely host your virtual open houses for thousands of attendees. Our platform requires no plugins or downloads, so you can bring your college open house to the world without barriers.
15K+
Events Run
1M+
Attendees
20+
Countries
What are Virtual Open Days?
Virtual Open Days, or virtual open houses, are reimagining traditional physical college or university open houses by taking them online. Choosing a college or university to attend is a life-changing decision, so Virtual Open Days give prospective students the freedom and flexibility to learn more about potential academic institutions, so they can make a more informed decision.
Virtual Open Houses are the ideal solution for institutions looking to extend the reach of their event and open their doors to a global audience. They enable institutions to interact directly with prospective students via interactive features, such as live chat, Q&A, polls, surveys, webcasts webinars and more, which is proven to increase student applications.
What is the Difference between a Virtual Open Day and Open House?
Virtual open days and virtual open houses are the same thing. The difference between a virtual open day and virtual open house is semantic; it depends on what term you prefer and this is largely dictated by where in the world you are hosting your event.
For colleges and universities hosting open houses in the UK, virtual open day is the most commonly-used term. However, in the US and Canada, these virtual events are referred to as virtual open houses. Other than that, these two terms mean essentially the same thing - a virtual session wherein prospects can gather more information and take a virtual tour of a school or listing.
Why Run Virtual Open Houses with WorkCast?
- Increase your college or university open day attendance rate by up to 75% by hosting it online
- 90% of college applicants would like to engage online with a college before visiting
- Cost-effective: they minimize outgoings, like venue hire and equipment hire
- Extended reach: institutions can expand their global reach, so that local, regional and international students can attend
- 47% of people are more likely to ask a question at a virtual event, so enable students to ask institutions and staff questions in real-time
- Consume more content: attendees will consume more content, like on-demand content, downloadable material and live presentations
- Live analytics and reporting: easily measure the success of your virtual open house, with live data
WorkCast's expert team will be with you every step of the way to provide hands-on support and monitor your event, so you can focus on the more important things - like interacting with prospective students.
Further Reading & Virtual Open Day Resources
Complete Guide to Virtual College Open Houses
Learn how to plan, run and promote your own virtual open house in our free eBook.
Free Download →
Virtual Open Days: Who, What, Why & How?
Discover everything you need to know about virtual open houses in our latest blog.
Read our Blog →
Virtual Open Days FAQs
Virtual open days are essentially college or university open houses that take place online, rather than in-person. Prospective students can attend online open days from anywhere in the world, any time and on any device with access to the internet.
Attendees sign up to the virtual open day via a registration page, which takes them through to the event auditorium where they can attend the event. Virtual open days are multi-session online events, so they often include virtual tours of the campus, webinar presentations and webcasts. Attendees can interact with the institution or dedicated staff using interactive features, such as live chat, Q&A, discussions, polls and more. However, most virtual open days are bespoke, so the amount of features and sessions run within them varies from event to event.
WorkCast has a range of packages to tailor your event needs. Please visit our pricing and packages page.
Virtual open days have been growing in popularity in recent years, as institutions are transitioning their traditional college and university open days to extend their global reach, reduce costs and safely engage prospective students into the thousands. So, how do you host a virtual open day?
Much like any event, hosting an online open day involves a lot of planning and preparation. So, when it comes to running a virtual open house, you can ensure it’s a success by following these simple steps:
- Decide on your business goals and KPIs for your virtual open day
- Define your format and interactive content e.g. live webcasts, webinars, Q&A, discussions, live chat and more
- Choose the best virtual event platform to suit your goals e.g. WorkCast Stratus
- Select your team i.e. presenters, speakers, guests, panel, moderators, etc.
- Select the best day and time to host your virtual open day to maximize attendance
- Promote your open day with at least 6 weeks lead time via social media, email marketing, landing pages, websites and more
- Practice, practice, practice - complete several dry runs
- Run a test stream (if you’re streaming live) to test your internet and audio levels before going live
- Follow up with attendees by sending a thank you email and a link to any downloadable assets post-event
If you’re still deciding whether WorkCast is the right virtual events platform for you and your business, then you’ll be happy to know that you can try WorkCast for free with our 14-day trial.
With our free trial of WorkCast, you’ll be able to run live webinars with no plugins, no downloads and no barriers for attendees, create custom, branded webinars and create bespoke landing pages and event emails.
With our webinar trial, you can supercharge your lead generation, increase audience engagement and grow your business - all completely free of charge.
Virtual events are becoming increasingly popular, as businesses are transitioning their traditional in-person events online, which is why it’s essential to understand the different types of virtual events.
Each virtual event type includes its own own unique features and provides various business benefits, but these are the main types of online events:
- Webinars: online seminars that enable presenters to connect with audiences and exchange information
- Webcasts: a high-quality, polished live video stream of an event or conference
- Virtual conferences: replicates a traditional conference in an online environment
- Virtual college open days: replicate traditional physical college or university open houses virtually
- Virtual open houses: property realtors host virtual open houses by streaming them online for audiences
- Virtual trade shows: allows exhibitors and visitors to interact online environment, rather than at a physical trade show
- Virtual careers fairs: allow employers to connect with job seekers in a virtual environment, rather than in-person
- Virtual benefits fairs: enable employers to communicate the benefits provided to their employees at scale through an interactive online environment
WorkCast has multiple packages to suit your business needs. The short answer is yes, you can pay per use. If you wish to purchase a one-off managed virtual open day you can speak to one of our experts to discuss your individual requirements, so that we can give you a quote.
In the meantime, you can get a free demo of WorkCast to determine whether our platform is suitable for your business needs.
If you’re wondering what the benefits of hosting a virtual open day versus a physical college open day, then the primary advantage would be increased attendance. On average, university virtual open days have a 75% higher attendance rate than traditional in-person open days, which is likely because they are accessible to a global audience. Attendees are not restricted by geographical location, so they attend from wherever they are in the world on any device. Meanwhile, 90% of college applicants have cited they would prefer to engage online with a college before visiting.
Despite being hosted online, virtual open days drive increased interaction from prospective students - 47% of which would rather ask a question virtually than in-person. Therefore, interactive features, such as live chat, Q&A, discussions and polls encourage more engagement from prospective students and gives them the opportunity to directly interact with speakers and staff they would not usually have access to at an in-person event.