According to a recent Forrester Consulting survey of key decision makers of marketing event strategies, 66% of firms are struggling to achieve the same success from virtual events that they would get from in person events, with 94% having experienced issues with their current virtual/hybrid events software. To take a forward look at addressing these challenges, Verizon Business announced new BlueJeans Events features and partner integrations designed to help bolster the virtual event experience. As virtual and hybrid event volumes are expected to increase by 36% after the pandemic, organizations will require the right tools to help them meet their marketing and growth goals. With new capabilities designed to enhance the overall attendee experience and improve how moderators can customize their events, BlueJeans Events addresses key marketing and communication requirements to increase audience engagement for use cases such as webinars/webcasts, brand activations, tradeshows/conferences and other live events. The latest enhancements to the BlueJeans Events platform include: HTML Embed Enhancements: Event hosts now have the ability to deploy individual BlueJeans Events widgets for chat, Q&A, and polling on any HTML webpage to complement an embedded livestream player. This flexibility provides hosts with the ability to fully customize their landing page environment to ensure consistency with brand elements or other Event requirements. Additionally, closed captioning is now fully supported within embedded BlueJeans Events for no additional charge. Event Customizations: Further enhancing the attendee experience, Event hosts now have the ability to upload any mp3 file up to 10MB to provide attendees with a customized audio playlist before the event begins and once the event wraps. For event invitations, admins can now include their company name within the ‘from’ field to ensure communications reflect the appropriate branding. Presenter Support: Hosting secure events is mission critical for organizations that present sensitive content for internal audiences. While Restricted Events allow admins to keep unwanted participants from joining via domain-specific invitations, admins now have the ability to allow exceptions and invite specified external presenters to join, while ensuring the integrity of the Event. Allowing speakers, emcees, and event managers to hash out last-minute logistics with an exclusive group chat box, BlueJeans Events now allows “backstage chat” for presenters and moderators to eliminate confusion and streamline communication among on-camera and behind-the-scenes participants. MootUp Integration: Now in the BlueJeans App Network, MootUp brings a compelling new dimension to audience engagement by pulling BlueJeans Events into MootUp immersive 3D spaces. Organizers can create, customize and brand their own 3D virtual world where avatars can explore, mingle and engage in their Events. Zapier Integration: Zapier allows admins to connect a variety of applications to BlueJeans Events to streamline event logistics and ensure interconnectivity with a host of marketing automation platforms. These integrations will make it easier for Marketers to gain visibility into attendee engagement across the entire Event lifecycle.