There is nothing better than a good, old fashioned, in-person meeting, or event. Nothing compares to the personal connections, face to face conversations, networking, and camaraderie that an in-person event brings. Obviously, the coronavirus pandemic has changed the way we meet and gather for the foreseeable future. Things WILL get back to normal eventually, but in the meantime how do we continue to make meaningful connections and interactions?
By now we’ve all participated in countless Zoom calls, webinars, and online chats. While these tools have been great to bring us together during this time of separation, I’m sure we all can agree that we’re getting burned out on webcam style calls. Over the past several weeks, I’ve attended many virtual events ranging from small meetings to conferences to fundraising events – in fact, I have another one on the calendar this morning. Each of these was great events that provided abundant information, but I found it hard to keep my brain from tuning out largely to “webinar overload.”
So how do we continue to engage with virtual event attendees? It’s all about turning that in-person event into a compelling virtual experience! Here are a few things to consider when making the difficult decision to transform large-scale events from in-person to online:
1. Establish your goals and assemble your team
Just like planning an in-person event, define your goals, and determine if they can be met with an online event. Once goals have been set its time to build your team. Bring in those staff members, stakeholders, and partners that can help you achieve those goals.
2. Keep it short
While in-person events often last hours or even days, virtual events may need to be kept short to keep attendee’s attention. Plan your scripting accordingly. It’s more important than ever to have a strategy behind your content.
3. Keep your audience engaged
Depending on the type of event, engagement may vastly vary, but finding those ways to keep the audience plugged in is essential. Creating an upbeat television-style experience with both live and recorded content is a great way to maintain your audience’s attention. Building in two- way engagement via chat features, dedicated Slack channels, smaller Zoom style breakouts, and live social media interaction will help create networking opportunities.
4. Prep for live AV
Being on camera on a set is very different from being in front of a live audience. Speakers must project confidence to engage the audience. Show speakers what the set and overall experience will look like for viewers. Encourage presenters to rehearse in front of a camera as early as possible. Then give them the opportunity to see what they look like while presenting. This will help them empathize with the viewer's experience and change their delivery if necessary.
Executing a strong game plan can allow you to shift your in-person event strategy to a virtual one. The best virtual events mirror in-person ones in many ways. Do your best to provide engaging content, networking opportunities for attendees, and personalize the attendee experience.
You don’t need to plan, market, and host your virtual event all by yourself. RIPCORD Events is here to be your partner through the process. Let’s hop on a call today to see how we can help make your virtual event a reality!
