schema.org currently (as far as I know) has no way of indicating that an Event is online-only. The ability to provide this information could be beneficial to data consumers, who would then be able to distinguish such virtual events from brick-and-mortar events and, if they wish, represent them differently in output products.

For example, Google expects a value for location. While this is a Google-specific requirement, in then nonetheless highlights the fact that there's no method by which could inform Google that an Event lacks a physical location.

Online events are ubiquitous and fall under many categories. Some examples:

• A Facebook Live event
• A Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything)
• A Twitch livestream of video game play
• A web conference (i.e. a webinar or remote meeting)

Possible approaches

• Add a boolean property like isOnline
• Add a suitably modeled type that could be used as a value for location
• Add a Event subtype like OnlineEvent (with possibly subtypes under that) - although an online event might also be a instance of a more specific type already, like BusinessEvent

To this last point see also #298, "applicability of Event to online events e.g. consider Webinar subtype", where @danbri notes that the "Event type was never meant to be so restricted" with regard to the "things with a physical location that you might attend in person".

Issues and considerations

• An Event often takes a place at a physical location and is live-streamed. Should we take account for that?
• An online event may have a URL that describes the event (and/or allows users to register for the event), and a different URL where the event is streamed. Does this need to be accounted for, or is url somehow sufficient here (though conceivably a registration URL could be declared using Offer)?
• Further to the above, an online Event is often archived after the conclusion of an event at yet a different URL.