BigMarker Review: A Virtual Event Solution Review

Event planning, webinars and video conferencing are a core part of many organizations’ marketing or internal strategies. Most of the time when you think of online meetings or calls, you immediately think of Zoom or Teams. However, the traditional Zoom meetups, which were once considered novel, are now thought of as boring and mechanical. Thankfully, several trend-setting virtual event platforms now offer dynamic social-enhancing functionalities that reduce the “formal” or “forced” feeling of live meetings and events. 

One example of such a platform is BigMarker – a virtual event and conference platform, hosting multiple integration and automation tools for better engagement. But, is it the right platform for your events? That’s what this Bigmarker review will help you answer. We’ll dive into everything this platform has to offer – from its key features to its limitations, as well as virtual event platform alternatives you can consider. 

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What is BigMarker?

BigMarker is a browser-based webinar and video conference service that connects multiple users globally. It is a well-known learning and data-sharing system that companies, educators, and clients depend on for different functionalities. The main functionality being web conferences and webinars, thanks to its reputed ability to record, store and download information discussed in a session.

Launched in 2010, BigMarker was available on all popular browsers, including Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer and Safari. It then shifted to use WebRTC technology in 2014 for improved performance, better security, and wider device compatibility. Now, the platform is well-recognised globally, partnering with several Fortune 500 companies like Adobe, Amazon, Zendesk, Stripe, Microsoft, and Deloitte. 

BigMarker Pros & Cons

Like many video and event streaming services, BigMarker has some benefits and some noteworthy downsides. Before investing in a platform like this, you should be aware of all its known pros and cons to make an informed decision. So, here they are:

BigMarker Pros

• Variety of Use Cases: BigMarker caters to a wide range of use cases and people. Beyond just its virtual events capabilities, the platform also offers support for in-person and hybrid events, as well as on-demand training for course creators.
• Great Organizer Interface: BigMarker is relatively easy to set up and navigate for event organizers specifically. It offers a straightforward event management interface, so organizers can easily create and manage events without too much of a learning curve. 
• Module Customization: BigMarker also offers extensive customization options in terms of both branding and the event format. For branding, like many other platforms, you can customize the virtual space with your own branding (logo and colors). However, on BigMarker you can also customize the experience itself by enabling or disabling event modules based on your agenda. For example, if you don’t plan to have networking sessions, you can disable the networking lounge completely for your event.

BigMarker Cons

• Unreliable Support: One of the most important considerations of a virtual event platform is their level of support. If you’re facing an issue at a live event, the last thing you want to deal with is unqualified responses, or worse no response at all. Unfortunately, that’s what a lot of past customers mentioned about BigMarker’s customer support – that when issues came up they were not able to reach representatives at all.
• Limited Social Connection: While BigMarker has many customizable features, its networking features leave a lot to be desired. Other top virtual conference platforms offer better social experiences. For example, Remo lets users network in a fully customizable, highly attractive, and immersive digital environment. BigMarker on the other hand does not offer many real-time networking options for small groups.
• Technical Issues: Multiple reviews have mentioned encountering poor technical issues during live sessions held on BigMarker. For example, some recounted attendees having experienced video lags or even full freezes. While others expressed having to deal with audio-video issues as well. All of these technical issues can create a negative impression on attendees and severely impact the experience guests have at your event. 

BigMarker Key Features

BigMarker has a large variety of well-loved features, so we’ve picked 5 of their best ones to highlight here:

Pre-Event Marketing Webinar

BigMarker comes equipped with a solid range of in-built marketing tools as well for customizing your content, increasing event visibility, and ultimately improving your registration rate. These marketing tools, like Bigmarker in general, are quite customizable. For example, you can design your own fully branded landing page, write your own event emails, and even embed lead magnets.

AI-Powered Matchmaking

BigMarker has an excellent matchmaking capability to help guests network more efficiently. The platform’s AI-powered matchmaking algorithm scans attendee profiles and matches those who share similar profiles. When matched, users will usually receive an alert about another user who shares similar work, personal, or professional experiences. They may then decide to initiate contact or not with their matched contact, similar to how online dating apps work.

BigMarker is not alone in developing AI-powered matchmaking; lots of other platforms also share the same capabilities. However, few platforms, like Remo, actively do not. This is because the use of AI and suggested connections can make networking feel forced or disingenuous. Instead, Remo focuses on building an authentic networking experience without AI by mirroring in-person interactions., such as its virtual table setup, free guest movement, and immersive floor plans. The whole concept of Remo’s networking experience is to bring back the serendipitous nature of in-person networking, online.

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Integrations

BigMarker is among the first platforms to integrate a solid variety of third-party apps/tools. These integrations allow hosts to streamline workflows and processes by connecting all their applications and automating data transfers. BigMarker offers integrations with a range of tools, most notably with Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems and Marketing Automation tools. 

By integrating BigMarker with CRM tools, organizers can easily pass attendee information between the two platforms, so that further attendee segmentation or sales follow-up can occur. With their suite of Marketing Automation integrations, BigMarker also makes attendee follow-up and reach out much simpler. Here are some of the best CRM and Marketing automation tools that BigMarker integrates with natively:

• Active Campaign - Sync registrants, video viewers & attendees and even place tags and tabs.
• HubSpot - Stores attendee information, so that sales teams can effectively track engaged leads and follow-up post-event.
• Salesforce - Integrates registrants with Salesforce campaigns, making it easier to automate future webinar invites or market offers.‍
• Drip - Invites and/or registers your Drip campaign contacts to a webinar or video conference‍
• Keap - Integrates registrants with lists, allowing you to invite them to future webinars and conferences easily

Revenue and Monetization

BigMarker offers an excellent and multi-channel revenue generation model that allows you to monetize your webinars and conferences, and ultimately grow your business. The platform allows multiple revenue streams including event tickets, exhibitor booths, subscriptions and sponsorship requests.

Like other best event ticketing softwares, BigMarker has several built-in payment options with international reach, including Stripe and Visa. These systems process transactions instantly from users worldwide and are highly secured. However, payouts are not processed instantly unlike with Remo's event ticketing platform. So, as an organizer using BigMarker, you don’t get instant access to your generated revenue, like you would do on Remo.

On-Demand Video Hub

Another key feature BigMarker offers is its On-Demand Video Hub. While it’s mostly built for course and content creators, it can also be used by event organizers to store session replays, webinars, and other types of content an attendee might want to access later. 

Best of all, you can configure it so that session replays are automatically saved to your video hub, so no extra work for you! Beyond that, you can also categorize and tag videos to make it easier for attendees to find specific content they’re looking for. This is particularly useful if you’re creating a large library of videos or content. 

As an organizer, you can also control who has access to the content by making it private or public, setting up a password, or even integrating it with membership systems. Finally, you can also track how each of your uploaded content is performing. BigMarker analyzes metrics, such as views, engagement rates, and viewer behavior for each uploaded video. 

BigMarker Pricing

BigMarker is one of the few virtual event platforms that offers such a large number of plans, which can make its pricing quite confusing. In this section, we’ll try to break down their pricing structure so you can easily view and compare their plans: 

Webcast Plans: 

These plans are geared towards helping you run webinars, webcasts & live streams (any traditional one-way presentation). The different packages are:

• Basic: Up to 1000 attendees, 1 host, and up to 9 presenters
• Enterprise: Up to 10,000 attendees, 4 hosts, and up to 64 presenters. This plan also includes basic breakout room functionality.
• Enterprise+: Up to 500,000 attendees, 6 hosts, and custom branding capabilities (landing page, emails, and URL)

Event Packages: 

All these plans let you host virtual/hybrid events for up to 500,000 attendees with access to BigMarker’s registration, live streaming, networking, and expo hall functionality. The only difference is the number of events you can host within the year:

• Single Event License
• Multi-Event License
• Unlimited Event License

Media Hubs: 

This package allows you to build customizable content destinations for further learning and engagement. These differ based on the type of media you plan to compile. They include:

• Video Hubs: Lets you host videos with interactive capabilities, lead generation tools, and in-built integrations
• Resource Hubs: Built for onboarding and training use cases with access to store videos, webinars, articles, podcasts, and more
• Community Hubs: Lets you build a community (public or private) from your audience, clients, or industry peers.
• Learning Hubs: Custom built course platform which lets you design and host your own self-paced online learning course with lessons, assessments, and certifications.

Unlike other more transparent virtual platforms, BigMarker chooses not to disclose any prices associated with each plan. So, it is difficult to determine whether the platform is within your event budget. Though typically, most platforms that choose not to display starting prices or ranges usually are more expensive and frequently adjust prices based on the customer/company. That being said, if you are interested in using BigMarker for your next event, you would need to contact their team directly for a pricing consultation and customized quote.

Final Verdict

With its adaptability to a variety of use cases and event agendas, BigMarker is a solid platform choice, whatever the event type. It also comes packed with a ton of unique features like its revenue-generating opportunities and on-demand video hub. Overall, it also is easy-to-use for even non-tech savvy event organizers, making event creation and management quick and painless. However, BigMarker falls short when it comes to its pricing and platform experience for guests. 

In terms of pricing, BigMarker is not only assumed to be expensive, but also lacks transparency. Firstly, none of its prices are publicly available, which makes it difficult for you to estimate your event budget or consider whether the platform is affordable or not. Secondly, with the sheer number of plans available and their respective capacities and features, it can be challenging to decide which plan is right for you. 

When it comes to the guest experience, there is a general dissatisfaction amongst past users in regards to technical issues, like audio-video lag and poor-quality video. Ultimately issues like these can create a negative experience for guests using the platform and create a bad impression of you, as the organizer. 

That is why we want to introduce an alternative to BigMarker - Remo. Remo is a more robust virtual event platform that delivers all the key features BigMarker has but with better performance and straightforward pricing.

Remo; BigMarker’s Better Alternative

Remo is an alternative virtual event and conference platform that offers live audio-video conferencing, an immersive event environment, a high-performance experience, and several flexible pricing plans. Its main aim is to humanize the online experience by taking inspiration from natural interactions at in-person events and translating them into an online version.

While its most popular use case is virtual networking or community gatherings, Remo is an online platform also well suited to a variety of event types, just like BigMarker. From virtual career fairs or exhibitions for hundreds, to webinars and online summits for thousands, Remo offers an all-in-one solution.

Remo is most known for its authentic networking capabilities, with customers regarding it as the “closest thing to making your virtual event seem like it’s in-person” (Michael O'Brien – Advisor, Ally Power Inc). With its visually appealing floor plan and virtual table setup, it mirrors the familiar layout and functionality of in-person conferences. Especially when coupled with the natural ability for guests to move freely from table to table on Remo, just like they would at in-person gatherings. With this functionality and more, Remo’s virtual event networking features are commonly regarded as one of the best within the industry.  

Not to mention, the prices for Remo's services are very affordable and publicly available on their pricing page, unlike BigMarker. Each plan is comprehensive and covers all of Remo’s features, which is also in total contrast to BigMarker. While BigMarker offers 10 plans to compare and choose from, Remo only has 3 plans. Remo’s pricing is also only based on 3 core factors: number of attendees, event duration, and frequency of events. Just by answering those questions, you’ll be able to easily pick the best plan for you (and if you’re still unsure, Remo’s sales team is always available to advise on the best plan and price for your events, just book a demo!).

Ultimately, between Remo and BigMarker, Remo comes out on top thanks to its more affordable, optimized and authentic online experiences.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is BigMarker and its use cases?

BigMarker is a browser-based video streaming service designed for remote meetings, webinars, and event management. It’s widely used for hosting web conferences, online workshops, and formal events. The platform allows users to record, store, and download session content, making it a versatile tool for companies, educators, and individual users.

How does BigMarker’s pricing model work?

BigMarker does not make its pricing or price ranges publicly available on its official website. Interested users must request a quote to determine the cost of their desired package. The platform has three major packages: Webcast Plans, Event Packages and Media Hubs. These differ based on the type of event or experience you’re looking to deliver.

Are there limitations to BigMarker?

Despite its strengths, BigMarker has several limitations, including a lack of pricing transparency and technical issues (video lag, freezes, glitches e.t.c.), as reported by several users. If these are important to you as an organizer, we recommend looking at BigMarker alternatives, such as Remo.