Zoom Events will try to re-create the in-person conference experience

Zoom is announcing an today that’s launching this summer. Zoom Events builds on Zoom’s previous paid event marketplace, OnZoom, by layering in features that can support larger multiday events and non-video activities like chat.

Zoom says it’s still building out Zoom Events in the lead up to its launch, but as it stands, it’s both a rebranding of the more small-business focused OnZoom, with new features that serve Zoom’s original pre-pandemic customers — enterprise companies. Like OnZoom, with a paid Zoom Meetings or Zoom Webinar license you’ll be able to host live events, organize them in a hub, sell tickets, and track stats like ticket sales or attendance.

Image: Zoom

The main way Zoom is focused on improving the experience for larger organizations is by making Zoom Events more friendly to conferences or large group meetings that could be split over multiple sessions. For instance if you were hosting a developers conference like Google I/O, you could have a main event page for your entire conference with a schedule of separate sessions happening over the coming day and week. Event pages will also be able to feature video event previews, a Zoom spokesperson tells The Verge.

Zoom is also adding access to text chat in places outside of a typical video call. If you show up to an event before the live video actually starts or stick around afterwards, you’ll be able to see who’s in the event lobby, participate in a group chat channel, and exchange contact information. It’s not a replacement for getting cocktails at a big convention, and it’s probably not as immersive as something like Skittish — which places meeting attendees in a 3D space with proximity-based audio — but it’s at least a small evolution of what Zoom is known for.

Zoom was not able to share details on if it will take a commission on paid events or what payment methods users will be able to accept, but OnZoom does accept ticket purchases with PayPal and credit cards, so it seems possible Zoom Events will at least do the same.

You can sign up on to be notified when Zoom Events launches this summer.