Virtual events can be a great way to reach a wider audience without being limited to a geographic location. In recent years, virtual events have become the new norm and audience expectations are higher than ever. As an event planner, an organized approach to planning your virtual event will help maximize attendance and participation.
Focus on content
Before you can begin promoting your event, you will need a firm grasp on the events’ goals and scope. Create two checklists of what will be achieved during the event and the event’s expected outcome—one from an event planner’s perspective and one from an attendee perceptive. Though goals and expectations will be different for both, it’s important to work toward planning a successful event for both parties. Promoting an exciting event with wide appeal is easier than promoting a boring one. If the content of the event is engaging, the event will speak for itself in promotions and advertisements.
Promotions should be focus on the content of the event. If your event includes a remarkable keynote speaker, highlight this in advertisements. You can curate written or video interviews with the keynote speaker before the event to give your audience a sense of what they can expect. If the event’s speaker has participated in previous talks, link to them on your event website or social media pages.
If you’re planning a networking event, focus on what sets yours apart. Maybe the event focuses on a niche part of an industry or will include creative networking exercises. Whatever the strength of your event is should be the focus of your promotions. Audiences will be more excited about attending an event that is clearly well-organized and engaging.
Advertisements
Driving attendance to your virtual event requires promoting it through some type of advertisement. Depending on the nature of your event, advertising it may look very different. Here are some potential tools to advertise your event:
Promote through existing networks
As an event planner, you should focus on curating a robust network over time. These connections are highly valuable in driving attendance and engagement to your events. Utilize these connections effectively to promote your event.
LinkedIn connections are a great resource for promoting professional virtual events. Professional virtual events can include networking events, conferences, or talks related to a specific industry. Consider posting the upcoming even on your LinkedIn feed or reaching out to connections individually if you already have an established rapport.
Twitter, Instagram, and other social media sites are a great way to engage with your virtual event audience. Twitter and Instagram both allow you to create an event hashtag, consolidating all content related to the event in one location. This can be an effective way of cultivating a brand surrounding the event.
Depending on the event, consider investing in an event website. This is particularly important if the event is part of a series, as it will allow prospective attendees to find information related to the events in one centralized location. An event website can help create an organized and focused image for your event.
Networking events provide an opportunity for professionals to expand their network, forge connections, and secure future job opportunities. A virtual networking event can be a great way to reach a wider audience without being limited to a geographic location. As an event planner, an organized approach to planning your networking event will help maximize attendance and participation.
Convincing people to attend your event:
The first step of hosting a virtual networking event is convincing people to attend. Having a curated guest list will set your event up for success and provide more effective networking for those in attendance.
Professionals are more likely to attend a networking event when they are invited by a trusted source. Consider your professional connections. Do you personally know the manager of a company in the industry for which you are hosting the event? If so, reach out to them directly and ask them to spread the word to their employees. Do you have thousands of LinkedIn connections? If so, reach out to them individually and post the event on your feed.
If you’re using an invitation or flier to advertise the event, consider hiring a graphic designer to create an eye catching one. Curating a professional image surrounding the event will draw in attendees. Keep the invitation succinct while including information about the event’s time and date, target audience, and what attendees can expect from the event.
While planning and advertising the event, keep attendees in mind. What are they gaining from your event that they can’t gain elsewhere? Counterintuitively, keeping your event niche might be your key to attracting a larger, more engaged crowd. A ‘networking event for STEM professionals’ might be too broad to attract attendees, while a ‘networking event for security software engineers’ is going to grab the attention of those in that group. In the first example, a breakout room of ten STEM professionals might have little in common, while a breakout room of security software engineers is guaranteed to have lots to discuss.
Planning the event:
Sticking a group of attendees in a virtual Zoom meeting and letting them network freely is a recipe for a chaotic networking event that will leave attendees dissatisfied. Organization is crucial in guaranteeing that your virtual networking event goes smoothly and that attendees are able to forge meaningful professional connections.
Most networking events will start off with an introduction, so plan some creative icebreakers that relate to the content of the event. If the networking event is specific to a particular industry, consider having a quick trivia round related to the industry’s current events.
Ask yourself what the main attraction of your networking event is and plan the event around it. If there is a keynote speaker, plan to start the event there and facilitate breakout discussions afterwards.
Consider the size of your event. If there are dozens of attendees, breakout rooms are a necessity. Breakout rooms are used to divide participants into smaller groups, which can be a great way to facilitate focused conversation. Since participants are often more comfortable speaking and engaging with a few colleagues than a large group, this is a great way to promote focused conversation.
Instead of leaving participants to fend for themselves in breakout rooms, provide them with discussion prompts specific to the event. The event host can bounce between breakout rooms and provide additional prompts if the conversation isn’t flowing.
While planning the event, it’s also important to consider potential technical difficulties. As the event host, ensure that you have stable internet connection. Do a dry-run of the event beforehand to make sure you can easily transition the group to breakout rooms, mute participants if necessary, and that all event links are functional.
After the event:
After the event, facilitate follow-ups between event attendees. Having a centralized LinkedIn event page can help guests in contacting each other after the event. Let guests know where they can share their LinkedIn profiles or other contact information.
If you are planning on hosting similar events in the future, let attendees know where they can receive notifications about future events. Consider setting up an email listserv for attendees that are interested in future events. Solicit feedback from attendees to determine what went well and what didn’t. After the event is a great time to solidify your network and start planning for future events.
Remote work is more common than ever. Telecommuting has grown 216% since 2005, and many workplaces that transitioned to remote work during the Covid-19 pandemic have made these changes permanent. Whether your virtual meeting is for a singular event or recurring team meeting, keeping the meeting fun and interactive will make it memorable.
Prepare to keep the meeting organized and structured
Create a strong foundation for your meeting through planning and preparation. Being stuck in a disorganized meeting can make participants feel like they’re wasting their time. No one wants to be in a meeting where the host can’t figure out how to turn their volume on or read Q&A questions. If the meeting host is going to be using technology that they’re unfamiliar with, they should do a run-through beforehand to ensure everything works as expected.
The host should also practice muting participants ahead of time. You don’t want to be scrambling to find the mute button in case of distracting background noise coming from an unresponsive participant’s channel.
Keep accessibility in mind
Ensuring accessibility is an important way to keep a meeting fun and interactive for all guests, especially in a situation where you might not know everyone in the audience. Virtual meeting hosting platforms offer multiple tools that can ensure accessibility, including adding captions to live streams and recording the meetings.
Use creative icebreakers
Now for the fun stuff! Icebreakers can be a great tool to get participants interacting with each other and to get over the stage fright of talking during a virtual event. Cliched, overused icebreakers are a dreaded part of work events so make sure to keep icebreakers original to keep participants engaged. Some creative virtual icebreakers include a round of trivia, an interactive survey to get participants’ initial opinion on topics relevant to the meeting, or a funny team photo! As always, use your best judgment depending on the audience of the meeting.
Utilize additional virtual features
Virtual meeting hosting services have added dozens of additional features to improve virtual meetings. The tools listed below are already at your disposal through most virtual meeting platforms to make your virtual meetings more interactive:
Breakout rooms
Breakout rooms are used to divide participants into smaller groups. This can be a great way to facilitate brainstorming and focused conversation. When the group comes back together as a whole, breakout groups can share all of their great ideas. Since participants are often more comfortable speaking and engaging with a few colleagues than an intimidatingly large group, this is a great way to increase interactivity.
Polls
Polls allow you to ask participants about their views on a topic. The host can use a poll at the beginning of a meeting to establish a baseline for how the group is feeling about a topic and then follow up with a second poll at the end to see how opinions have changed. Polls allow the entire group to gauge information in real time.
Virtual hand raising
If meeting participants are reserved, encourage participants to raise their hand virtually when they want to speak. This takes stress off of participants by letting them know that they’re next in line for their ideas to be heard without having to wait for the perfect time to interject.
Use a virtual whiteboard
Virtual whiteboards allow for visual collaboration between meeting participants in real time. Using a virtual whiteboard, participants can brainstorm ideas live with others by adding sticky notes, text boxes, and photos to replicate that in-person brainstorming experience.
Ensuring a fun and interactive virtual meeting requires preparation, creativity, and understanding the audience. Utilizing virtual features, icebreakers, and ensuring accessibility will keep participants engaged and set your virtual meeting apart from others.
Virtual conferences are becoming more commonplace and have multiple advantages over in-person. Hosting a virtual conference can expand your potential audience. Instead of traveling to your conference, guests can simply log on from their computer. Without the cost of renting an event space, companies can invest in an effective virtual conference platform and quality content. Here are ten tips for hosting a compelling virtual conference:
1.) Get the word out
Good attendance is key to a successful event. Maximizing attendance requires understanding your industry and event. If this is an event where participants are being sent by their employer, make sure to emphasize the skills and knowledge that the employee will receive when advertising the event. Employers are more likely to send multiple employees to an event where they will gain hard skills that can improve their job performance and expertise.
2.) Focus on content
High quality content is the backbone of a virtual conference. Focus on providing quality information in an engaging way. If there will be an important speaker or a big announcement at the conference, ensure that participants are aware beforehand. Virtual conferences typically have fewer, higher quality events than an in-person conference.
3.) Organize beforehand to prevent technical hiccups
Don’t be afraid to hire technical experts to ensure high quality audio and video. Consider the scale and content of your event—if you expect limited interaction from the crowd, set up the event so that participants are always muted. Consult with a professional to identify which virtual event technology is right for your event.
4.) Ask what participants are gaining
Are participants attending the event for information, networking, or career advice? A networking event will look very different from a learning event. If guests feel that they gained something from the experience, they will be more likely to return to future events and even recommend similar events to their colleagues. Make it clear in communicating the event what guests will get from the experience.
5.) Consider accessibility
When hosting a virtual conference, you won’t know everyone in the audience which can make it difficult to anticipate their needs. Virtual event platforms offer multiple tools that can ensure accessibility, including adding captions to live streams and recording the meetings.
6.) Keep it interactive
Virtual meeting hosting services have dozens of features to increase interactivity. Breakout rooms are used to divide participants into smaller groups, which can be a great way to facilitate brainstorming and focused conversation. Since participants are often more comfortable speaking and engaging with a few colleagues than an intimidatingly large group, this is a great way to increase interactivity. Breakout rooms are particularly effective during low-energy times like right after lunch.
7.) Consider on-demand content
Depending on the event, pre-recorded content might allow participants more flexibility and lead to increased engagement. If the event is learning-focused, participants might learn more if they are able to pause and take breaks at their own pace. For a networking event, a live session is essential to provide a sense of community.
8.) Be strategic about sponsorships
Sponsorships are an important way of keeping a conference profitable and ensuring industry relevance, but participants don’t want to feel like sponsorships are interfering with the objectivity of the information they’re receiving. Sponsorships at a virtual event can include video ads, placement on the event website, or even a virtual trade show. Be creative when planning event sponsorships to ensure that participants are engaged with sponsors.
9.) Capture data from the event
Each virtual conference should be considered a valuable opportunity to learn about your unique audience. Keep an eye on when attendees register and attend sessions and how they engage in live Q&A and polling. If something isn’t working for your event, cut it for the next one. Ask your guests for feedback when the event is over so that you can learn from their experience.
10.) Learn from the event once it’s over
Once all the planning and preparation is finally over, it’s natural for conference planners to want to take a break. But immediately after the event is over, take time to review what went well and what didn’t. This will be key to improving future events.
Let’s be real, no one likes taking surveys, especially ones that take longer than thirty seconds. However, surveys are still the most important means of getting feedback for any type of event, whether it’s in-person, virtual, or hybrid. With virtual events still being in their infancy, it’s extremely vital to get as much feedback as you can to make future virtual events that much better. Here we will discuss the advantages of virtual event surveys and why they’re so important.
Like with all surveys, their purpose is to give the most reliable feedback after an event or meeting so the hosts can find out how to improve future events. This gives attendees the opportunity to evaluate the effectiveness of various aspects of your events such as individual speakers, seminar topics, training sessions, product demonstrations, exhibitors and sponsors, accommodations, as well as rate their overall experience with the event. However, even with all of these aspects it’s still important to keep surveys as easy, short, and direct as possible in hopes of getting the most effective feedback. Since all of the aforementioned aspects apply for both in-person and virtual events, it’s even more important to send surveys immediately after the event, which is much easier for virtual events than in-person since the latter often sends out surveys weeks after the event ended, whereas virtual events can send surveys almost immediately.
Despite their much-needed feedback, 77% of event professionals aren’t using surveys at all, ultimately denying them vital feedback to improve their events for future audiences. This feedback can generally include, but is not limited to generating more leads, winning more marketing budget based on the feedback, understanding your audience better to include their challenges and desires, collecting social proof and other vital data points for future marketing efforts.
As mentioned, one major advantage of virtual event surveys is the ability to send them out immediately instead of days or even weeks after an in-person event. This can be accomplished either via email or as a final step on the last day of the event before an audience member leaves the event for good, and even offer the audience member an incentive in completing the survey, either through a “Thank You” email or other small token of appreciation. This immediate feedback will provide the host an equally immediate opportunity to begin improving the various aspects of their event for future audiences. Since it’s important to keep surveys as short as possible, some general feedback questions might include: “What were your primary objectives for the event (knowledge, networking, etc.)? Did the event meet your objectives? What could the event organizers have done differently?” Some speaker feedback questions might include: "Was the session topic delivered as promised? Was the speaker engaging? What were your objectives for this session?”
Regardless of the event, feedback is the important way to make future events better and using surveys to get this feedback is the most effective way to improve any and all aspects of your event. Virtual events offer the advantage of getting surveys out to audience members faster, which equates to getting necessary feedback that much faster, too. Keeping surveys short and simple will help increase participation, as well.
Think of the most engaging and stimulating online events that you have experienced. What elements of the attendee experience made the host organization’s branding impactful for you? What were your initial impressions of the organizational culture? Did the experience contribute to a sense that you were valued as a member of this online venue’s community? A memorable branded experience promotes a sense of trust and meaningful connection with your attendees.
This article will cover some tips for designing and branding a successful virtual event.
Why Virtual Event Design is Important
A virtual event is the best way to increase your brand visibility, especially since COVID restrictions have transformed event planning and increased demand for online events over the past two years. Attendees value a safe, convenient, flexible, and informative learning experience more than ever, so it is crucial to design and brand your virtual events carefully. If you are intent on in-person activities, it is best to plan a hybrid event to allow more flexibility and access in anticipation of sudden changes.
Increase Brand Awareness Through Virtual Event Design
Branding an event involves developing and influencing the event’s reputation in order to attract attendees. Therefore, customization and branding of your virtual event platform is crucial. Personalize images and color schemes for both the desktop and mobile apps. Make sure images, fonts, and color schemes are consistent across pages and sections on the virtual platform. Uniform formatting will contribute to ease of navigation and positive brand impressions.
Event Webpage
Write landing page content and other resources with a genuine tone and voice that reflect the spirit of your branding campaign. Most event attendees will regularly check the webpage for registration information, schedule updates, and speakers’ bios before and after an event. Design website menus and sections according to your branding color palette, and use clickable banners so that you can make commonly accessed pages easier to find. A leaderboard can be used to highlight the countdown to an event or pre-event activities. During and after the event, post photos, videos, and other event materials on the webpage to sustain branding awareness and attendee interaction.
One challenge of virtual event planning is finding alternative ways to achieve the positive effects of traditional event interactions. Incorporating touchpoints into the virtual event will increase attendee engagement, and you can do so through the use of your platform’s chat, polling and other interactive functions. In lieu of friendly registration check-in areas, lively vendor exhibit halls, fun giveaways, and informal networking activities, virtual event planners can build in some touchpoints that reinforce branding awareness and make attendees more active participants in the event experience. Make the most of your webpage or mobile app with widgets, virtual scavenger hunts, and other tricks. You can use these activities to boost energy when attendees might experience mental fatigue or information overload.
Generate excitement and interaction via email marketing campaigns
Leverage your email campaign to pique interest and excitement before, during and after the event. Personalize emails and outbound communication so attendees feel a sense of belonging.
Once registration is complete, find the magic number of emails, so that attendees do not feel bombarded with electronic messages. The initial emails should provide event orientation content so attendees can optimize their experience; email content can range from practical steps about accessing sessions or messages that highlight the event theme.
Assemble a Support Team Responsible for Tech Troubleshooting During the Event
Be prepared to have a response team ready to troubleshoot registration, tech, audio and access problems. This staff can direct late arrivals to sessions or guide those experiencing technical problems. Encourage attendees to use the chat function to ask questions about schedule changes and other questions. Have a separate messaging system for event presenters, so that their technical or other needs can be met immediately and therefore minimize disruptions for attendees.
After the Event
Effective branding shows when attendees are already talking about registering for your next event before completing the current one! Ride the momentum of a successful event with social media posts and a concluding email to attendees immediately after the event ends. It is best to collect survey responses soon after the event concludes for a higher yield of survey responses.
Over the last two years, most of us have gotten used to the switch from in-person to online events. While this has made many events more accessible, new challenges are arising around keeping guests entertained and engaged despite online communication barriers. To resolve these issues, the emerging field of virtual hospitality aims to instill a human touch into online events.
To answer this question, it might help to first understand the definition of hospitality itself. According to the Oxford Learner's Dictionaries, 'hospitality' can be defined in two ways:
It goes without saying that virtual hospitality is the application of regular hospitality to the online sphere. While it may be difficult to provide food and drinks to online guests (unless you have their permission to send food to their addresses at a specific time), being friendly and generous towards guests- and providing services- is very doable.
Remember: one of the key essences of hospitality is service based on goodwill and genuine care for your guest's experience.
That said, a good place to start is to think about what you would like if you were your guest, and then treat your guests the very best of how you would like to be treated.
To help you get into the 'virtual hospitality mindset' for your next online event, we've put together five simple ways to let your guests know you care about their experience:
1) Have human support
AI chatbots are all the rage. And while they may help solve generic queries, it's all too easy to tell when you're one instead of a human.
Now, at face-value, this may not seem like a problem. But research into human interaction with chatbots has found that people generally don't like talking to bots.
A survey by CGS in 2019 of over 1000 US consumers found that 86% of people prefer talking to humans over AI-based chatbots. While this survey may not necessarily be conducted in the context of online events, its findings likely still apply.
That said, it's worth noting that, to some degree, these findings might be age-dependent, as the same survey also found that 43% of those aged 34 and younger were more likely to say that chatbots made it easier to resolve their issues compared to less than 30% of over 35's.
This means that when deciding if you will use human or bot support for your events, it may make sense to consider the age of your participants. While people generally prefer human-to-human interaction, for younger audiences, bots may be less of an issue.
2) Let people know who- or what- they're talking to
If, for whatever reason, you are unable to include human support as the frontline for problems that may occur during your event, it may be best to let your guests know that they're talking to a bot.
A study from the University of Goettingen in Germany of 200 people found that letting customers know they are talking to chatbots if their queries cannot be resolved led to fewer negative reactions than if people were not told.
This, said the researchers, is because chatbots are 'more likely to be forgiven for making a mistake than a human.'. Simply having a chatbot admit it is not human, and perhaps apologize for making a mistake, could, say the researchers, perhaps even improve customer perceptions of your brand.
The same goes the other way too. If you do manage to have human support for your event, then it makes sense to make people know they're talking to a human. This means ensuring your support person has a personality when speaking to guests, which may be achieved by using less formal language, idioms, smileys, and of course, taking the time to understand what guests need.
3) Show you care
If we think back to the days of in-person events, you may remember hosts checking in on you at the start of the event, and then several times throughout- perhaps initiating some small talk or handing over some hors d'oeuvres.
Maybe minus the hors d'oeuvres, there is no reason you can't show similar hospitality in your online event. This may be done by sending an individualized welcome message to each participant and checking in via online chat at various points throughout- especially if you notice some users starting to disengage.
To individualize your messages (and make it clear you're a human with the ability to perceive), you could comment on something on their profile that catches your eye. Maybe you notice they went to the same school as you- or they simply chose a nice color for their profile.
To complete this step, it goes without saying that it may be helpful to gather some publicly-displayable information about your participants- even if that is just allowing them to choose the color of their profile, or a fun avatar.
4) Give Freebies
Just as in-person events my give guests gift bags, it may make sense to consider a 'virtual' gift bag. This could contain any manner of things that are appropriate for your audience, and may contain one or more things at once.
Our personal favorites are:
5) Track feedback
Lastly, getting feedback- and assessing it over time- is an important way to know what hospitality methods worked in your event, and of course, how to improve.
This could be done by asking participants to fill in a quick questionnaire after the event asking them about how much they enjoyed it, alongside any written or vocal feedback on what they enjoyed most and what could improve.
You could also analyze this feedback alongside their interactions with human support, chatbots, or speakers, whether or not they opened/ used their gift bags, and of course, if they attend future events.
Such insights may help you better tailor your event experience to your audience ie. If participants who interacted more with speakers enjoyed the event more, then it may make sense to introduce more ways to invite guests to speak.
Alternatively, if more people attended future events after donations were made on their behalf than after receiving a free written guide, it may make sense to focus more on making donations on behalf of attendees than giving free guides.
Online events are everywhere. If you want yours to get noticed, you really have to stand out of the crowd. And, unless you’re already a well-established brand and have a loyal following, you will need to try all means possible to get people's attention.
Here’s our five top tips to get your event out there and onto your audience’s calendars.
You should never underestimate email lists when marketing your events.
Before knowing how to use one though, the first step is to create one. The best email lists are the ones that contain active members ie. people who will actually read them and engage.
This kind of email list is created by adding real value to your audience. It could be done by offering a free resource that competitors ask their audience to pay for- perhaps a page out of a book or a short training course.
In exchange for this freebie, you only ask people to sign up via their email. By offering real value in this way, you can be sure that any sign-ups will be more likely to read your emails and respond to events- whether they arrive as a part of a newsletter or as an official invitation.
That said, when sending an invitation, it’s important to remember to send it a month or two in advance, to be concise, and to include two major components:
After this first invite, you can periodically remind your audience about the event by advertising it in a weekly newsletter, for example.
Creating content relevant to your event is an excellent way to boost your marketing efforts. This might include blog posts, podcasts, videos etc. that tie into your event’s theme. It might also include 15 minute interviews with some of your event’s participants, whether transcribed or recorded.
As content creation is a part of developing your brand, it’s important to ensure that whatever you put out there addresses your audience’s needs and interests. The right content can make a brand a go-to source for a certain topic, and thus drive interest in events even beyond the one you may be initially marketing for.
Different audiences tend to spend time on different platforms, and so taking the time to research where your audience is, and what kind of marketing methods yield the highest conversion rates makes sense.
For example, LinkedIn may be an ideal platform to market events related to professional development given its career focus, whereas platforms like Instagram and Facebook may fare better for events aimed at a more general audience.
Likewise, some sites may cater to specific niches, and thus partnering with them for event promotion may be a great way to reach your target audience. Labroots, for example, has a sizable audience of scientists in the pharmaceutical industry and other fields. Partnering with them for content creation or sharing on social media platforms could help promote events aimed at related audiences.
While some avenues may remain consistent strongholds for members of your audience, also remember that new opportunities are sprouting up all the time- and that those who get in soonest are likely to be able to make the most of them.
This in mind, keeping in touch with your audience’s latest community trends is a great way to identify new marketing opportunities to scale your event promotion quickly. Some of these new methods may work, and some might not. Sometimes you only know by trying, however, so it may be a good idea to reserve some of your marketing budget- perhaps around 20%- for experiments.
Some estimates state that as of January 2022, 4.62 billion people globally use social media; that’s roughly 58.4% of the world’s population. And according to Statista, as of 2020, people spend an average of 2 hours and 25 minutes on social media per day. That basically means that there is a lot of opportunity to reach out to people on these platforms for your event!
Following from the previous point, it first makes sense to identify which platforms your audience use- ultimately where they hang out and where/ how they’re most likely to engage. You can investigate this using insight tools such as Google Analytics, and tactics such as social listening- which involves monitoring relevant keywords and hashtags across platforms.
Once you’ve identified the right social media platform(s), it’s time to start promoting. This can be done via a series of methods including:
Creating a unique page on your website is a great way to get people to take your event seriously- and it can act as a central hub for information and updates.
While the event page doesn’t need to be overly sophisticated, it should include all necessary information about the event including:
To make the event page more lively, you could also include sneak peeks into what the speakers will be discussing either via video snippets, short articles, quotes, or photos from previous events.
Virtual events can be advantageous. They potentially allow businesses to reach a larger audience and give attendees a more carefree experience without the hassle of travel. But without a destination trip to lure people in, how does a virtual event planner convince people to attend their event and actually stay tuned? Here's how to make your next virtual event a hit.
Get Tech Savvy
Don’t skimp on technology. Incorporate high-quality technology to make your production more captivating so that audience members are drawn to the screen instead of doing chores while half-heartedly listening. A virtual event platform like Chati can help you do just that.
Chati helps to organize and streamline your production by furnishing templates and tools to make your event more engaging. This can include well-designed spaces for different sessions within the event, like networking booths, live streaming, polling, workshops and Q&A sessions. It's a nice alternative to the less interactive and lackluster Zoom screen and has features to accommodate a larger audience for a better user experience.
Virtual event platforms also offer assistance from producers who can assist with editing, coordination between speakers and technical issues to take some of the stress off of the virtual event planner.
Organize Your Event
Consider how you want to produce your event's presentations. Virtual events can have live sessions recorded in real-time, pre-recorded sessions or a combination of both.
The pros of live virtual events: they are more natural because they simulate an in-person event. Speakers can improvise more and engage with viewers as the event is unfolding. The cons: live virtual events are more prone to technological glitches.
On the other hand, pre-recorded virtual events are less error-prone but less interactive. Pre-recorded sessions also allow you to air more than one session at a time without needing a producer for each presentation like you would if they were live and happening at the same time.
It may be best to use both live and pre-recorded presentations from speakers. To make presentations more polished, you could have speakers pre-record their presentations and then go live for the more interactive features like Q&A sessions. And it is never a bad idea to have a backup pre-recording of the presentation on hand just in case issues occur with live streaming. Also, alternating between the two types of recordings can let you use pre-recorded sessions as a break to set up for live shows.
Once you decide what your recordings will be, use a template for outlining the flow of your show. This should include a timeline for each session, a list of speakers and their sponsors and a backstage checklist of which tasks to cover between sessions.
Other tech tips to keep in mind for streamlining your event:
Safeguard your internet connection by using an ethernet connection instead of WiFi and make sure your hosts have a minimum internet speed of 20Mbps for upload and 30 to 50 Mbps for downloading.
Have a neutral background with good lighting.
Use a good quality microphone and experiment with speaker placement for making your presentation more dynamic.
Use a virtual "green room" where event speakers and producers prep and coordinate off-screen.
Use a variety of arrangements for visual elements that incorporate high-resolution graphics like slides, charts, overlays and transitions for more visual appeal.
Incorporate a lower third into the presentation. This means put an insert in the lower third of the screen with the speaker's name, title and company.
Get the speaker to make good eye contact with the camera by placing his or her notes at the top of their computer screen, if using any, or on a second screen close to eye level. If speaking without notes, have them place a visual marker next to the camera as a reminder of where to look.
Market Your Event
To maximize attendance at your event, make sure it's well marketed. First, you need a website for the event where potential attendees can learn more and register for it.
On this website, attract attendees with a well thought out explanation for the purpose of your virtual event and provide the event schedule, a list and biography of event speakers and an FAQ section. Also clearly communicate where and how people can register for the event.
Event registration should be easy and user-friendly and should ask for enough details from attendees so that planners can tweak their event to their audience.
Before the event, email attendees instructions on how to access the event with practice launching sessions so they become familiar with the technology and are reminded of the event.
Engage Your Audience
In the virtual event world, along with streamlined technology, the content of your event is everything.
That starts with good topics and good keynote speakers. The content of presentations could focus on leadership, research, client opinions or insights, new products or offer some sort of training. Be conscientious of the length of your sessions. Avoid making them too long to avoid losing your audience's attention.
People do bore easily when they don't have an active role, so allowing for attendees to interact during or between sessions is another important aspect of a virtual event. Find a variety of ways to get the audience to interact. This could mean setting aside a time for Q&A sessions after presentations and a time for open conversation on presented topics. Even games and quizzes over content can be successful ways of engaging the audience, especially if prizes for correct answers are given.
Audience engagement could also look like offering a variety of sessions at any one time so the attendee has more options and interests to choose from. Offer them recordings of presentations if there are scheduling conflicts by leaving content available for days or weeks after the event.
Make separate chatrooms or networking sessions available where attendees can go to discuss presentations or chat with sponsors. You could also offer breakrooms where attendees can decompress after taking in so much new information.
Last but not least, make sure you get prompt feedback through attendee surveys so you'll know just how much of a hit your virtual event actually was and can plan for the next one.
At in-person networking events, people get the opportunity to build relationships, learn something new or showcase their products and services. The good news for companies embracing virtual events? The same can be done virtually. Here is your guide to networking in 2022's virtual age.
Prep for the Event
So that others know your agenda and you attract the appropriate audience, know the intended message behind your networking event. Is it to market a product or is it to show support for something in the community? Make your goal in hosting a networking event as specific as you can so you know how to gauge its success. The purpose behind your event will also influence its format and design.
Plan the logistics of the event. With a virtual event platform like Chati, you can use a virtual space to format your event in an engaging and user-friendly environment.
Decide how long the event will be and outline the main highlights and activities. Generate presentation ideas and activities specific to your target audience and within your budget.
Invite People
You can't have a networking event without people. Get the word out and go beyond your usual network. Avenues for finding new attendees include real-life and social media contacts. LinkedIn may provide new faces with similar interests based on their background.
When inviting potential attendees, give a sneak peek of your networking event and a link where they can RSVP. Remember not to go overboard with your guest list. Networking events, even virtually, should be relatively small for better opportunities for connection.
Before the event, share the link with attendees and demos on how to use the virtual platform where the event will be held. Also send out any relevant reading material that will add value to the event, such as information on keynote speakers, if you'll have them.
This is also the time to find out if any attendees will have accessibility issues or time conflicts that they'll need to manage during the day of the event so you're not caught off-guard.
The Event is Underway
You successfully gathered a group of people for your networking event. What's next?
As the host, offer opportunities to break the ice without making people too uncomfortable. Keep it light by having people answer short questions instead of sharing an extensive biography or work history. Ice breakers could be getting people to talk about a favorite hobby or one of their life goals. Try to avoid topics that emphasize a person's job title or company.
During presentations, to better engage your guests, ask thought-provoking questions that spark conversation and foster learning. Also help keep everyone on track by reminding them of the time remaining.
Take advantage of breakout rooms during the event. For fairly large networking events, this could mean letting people break up into smaller groups for more intimate conversations. You can also share links and documents on presentations in these rooms.
Make your event more interesting with these ideas in mind:
If you have keynote speakers, ask them to include a personal anecdote of how they became successful.
Have guests participate in a short virtual skills class where they learn something new and fun so they share a common experience to talk about with each other later. This could include learning a skill that helps them professionally or learning something creative like a craft just for fun.
Like with in-person networking, you may choose to include a casual virtual happy hour where people talk over drinks in a relaxed setting.
Include a speed networking portion where people chat one-on-one about themselves and things they enjoy outside of their professional lives. Don't only emphasize guests' professional lives at your virtual networking event. Let this be a time for them to escape from the work mentality and not feel like they have to connect with others based solely on their work identities. This is a chance for them to connect with like-minded individuals in their personal lives as well.
After-Event Etiquette
Hopefully after a good turnout and successful networking event, the gracious host will email thank you letters to each attendee. Wish them well and thank them for their time and attendance. Also share any links or downloadable resources on topics featured at your event and ways to stay in touch, such as social media groups or email lists.
Kindly request any feedback from your audience in the form of your choosing. Helpful ways could include rating scales, comments or short surveys.
If you have other upcoming networking events in mind, don't forget to mention them in your follow-up email. Take the high points from your most recent event and any positive feedback from your guests to promote your next event on your social media platform.
Virtual events are becoming increasingly common. Though virtual events were a sudden necessity at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the industry is starting to see them as a more permanent fixture.
But even though virtual events are here to stay, they pose new, exciting challenges for how to effectively engage attendees, communicate critical event information, and encourage networking.
At the end of the day, though, engagement is the name of the game. If you’re in the process of planning an event, here are ten virtual event ideas to help make yours engaging and successful.
1. Q & A’s and polls during meetings
It’s often hard to gauge participant engagement during a virtual meeting or to even give people the opportunity to ask questions. Visual cues are often missing to indicate someone has something to say. Q & A’s, moderated through a chat feature, can give people a place to ask their questions. It even gives attendees who are a bit shyer an option to engage. Similarly, polls give people an easy way to respond to speaker questions and stay engaged.
2. One-to-one interaction
Creating space for people to meet one-on-one can be a challenge in a large digital space. At an in-person event, people can talk and network fluidly on a one-to-one basis. To help facilitate this interaction virtually, allow attendees to schedule meetings with individual speakers -or vendors- to carve out space for these crucial interactions.
3. Communal engagement spaces and breakouts
Conversely, the opportunity to engage in larger group formats can also lead to generative discussion and networking. Make sure that you facilitate breakout sessions that allow attendees to network in groups at your next event.
4. Offer a range of content options
People appreciate flexibility, and a virtual conference, perhaps uniquely, allows for this. For your next event, provide attendees the option of attending live events and watching on-demand recordings and content on their own time.
5. Schedule meetings that accommodate time zone differences
Unlike geographically fixed events, virtual events allow people from around the globe to attend and participate. As a result, consider scheduling meetings to accommodate different time zones present at your event.
6. Gamify!
Games are fun and can be an incredibly effective way to keep attendees engaged, particularly when prizes or rewards are involved. Consider incorporating games into your next virtual meeting to keep attendees active; a game can be something as simple as providing prizes for attendees who network with a certain number of other attendees, sponsors, or vendors.
7. Find unique speakers
The content you provide during a virtual conference is key–and what better way to provide eye-catching, quality content than with a speaker that your attendees are sure to find interesting. Consider looking at speakers that you might not have been able to get for an in-person event—many of the logistics and costs associated with in-person events might make it easier for a speaker to attend a virtual event.
8. Create event registration “categories” that cater to different interests
Everyone who attends a conference has something they’re hoping to get out of it, and these interests vary. Creating different types of registration based on what kinds of events an attendee may be interested in could attract more attendees and keep them engaged.
This approach also enables you to develop targeted marketing content, ensuring that a recipient is receiving something relevant and interesting to them.
9. Make event content available on-demand after the event
When you leave an in-person event, the only thing you can take with you is your notes from meetings and impressions. With virtual events, meetings themselves can be recorded and viewed later. Make content available for a limited time, though, to increase demand.
10. Rest, relaxation, and something fun!
Not everything about your next event needs to be all business - people need a break, after all! For your next virtual event, consider ways to incorporate unique entertainment options, such as a comedy show or musical performance.
While there are so many other virtual event ideas out there, this list should give you a starting place to make your next event engaging for attendees and an overall success.
With virtual events becoming more and more commonplace, it’s important to keep your audience engaged and wanting to come back for more. While attending talks and meetings can seem redundant after a while, interactive booths offer a chance for attendees to see something fresh and engaging. The plus side is the more interactive the experience, the more likely attendees will want to use your booth again. Here we explore how interactive booths can help make virtual events more fun and engaging for all parties.
Whether the goal is to be educational, informative, or just engaging, every interactive booth serves a purpose. However, you still want people to come back to your booth at future virtual events, which is why the booth needs to be as unique as possible. There are several ways to accomplish this, either through games, prizes, exploration, and spreading the fun to social media. Even incorporating a limited one-time-only feature gives audiences something to look forward to the next time they come to your booth. Changing things up every time they use your booth keeps it unique and fresh for everyone.
Everyone loves games, and this can absolutely include your booth, too. You often here people say they pay attention better when they read for fun than when they read because they have to, either for school or work. Fun makes people happy and incorporating this in your booth will give your audience something big to look forward to in the future, especially if the fun changes every time they use your booth.
If people are going to spend time on something, they’re going to want to get something out of it in the end, and this includes your booth. Even if it’s just for a few minutes, you want those few minutes to mean something for your users. Whether it’s a small certificate or cool photo, giving your users an incentive to use your booth will give them every reason to come back in the future, especially if the incentive changes.
Social media, especially Twitter, has become the go-to tool in spreading the awesomeness of everything, and this can include your booth. Twitter is validation central where everyone wants to get noticed and using the blue bird app to share your booth is the best way to get people to come back for more. This can easily be accomplished by letting your users share the moment on Twitter with a cool photo and hashtag as a final step when using your booth. Everyone on social media wants validation, and you can use this as a way to spread the awesomeness of your booth for future users.
Interactive booths can be a very fun way to offer virtual event audience members an escape from the mundaneness of well, virtual events, whether it’s talks and/or meetings. Your booth can be informative, educational, engaging, or all of the above, but you still want people to come back for more in the future. Whatever your booth features, mixing things up and offering limited features or incentives gives audiences a reason to keep coming back.