PINGPONG MOMENTS is one of the finest virtual event management companies in India, based in Gurugram. With years of experience, they deliver full event services to their clients, ranging from an event, exhibition and activation.
Covid19 has swept across the globe and virtual events have become the new norm for Corporate to engage employees. Event professionals have been forced to change direction relying on online events to bring an event to fruition instead of long days on-site in preparation for the doors to open! Many have questioned can virtual events be successful? Yes, they can! With careful planning, entertaining activities, audience participation, and methods to keep your attendees engaged, it will no doubt leave a positive lasting impression! Here are some tips to ensure your virtual event ticks all the boxes!
It is crucial to include an activity that creates something people want to get involved in a good place to start is to think of activities that can be replicated on a virtual platform that has been successful when carried out at a live event. Virtual events where ‘experts’ deliver presentations all day long are, at best, an acquired taste. Nowadays, event attendees look forward to a mixture of activities. Some ideas include:
• Invite a Yoga trainer to lead an online class to help people energize before the general session.
• Meditation and Wellness to help attendees refocus.
• Ask participants to post their route and a selfie – this could be made into a competition with medals posted to the winners or done in partnership with a charity where a contribution can be donated.
• Virtual classes/demonstrations – this can be anything from paint & prosecco, cocktail classes, or cooking classes! Why not send a kit to all participants with materials/ingredients for the class, this is a great way to create excitement and engagement.
• Quiz – why not challenge your audience with a series of trivial questions for some fun and light-hearted entertainment!
• Music sessions with a band or artist can allow attendees to experience an intimate gig. Why not include a Q&A or song requests to create some attendee engagement – this is sure to be a talking point of any event!
Live Vs Pre Recorded
This is a question that is regularly asked, which is best? It is important to get the right balance of live and pre-recorded content for your virtual event to ensure audience engagement but also to deliver the content at its highest quality.
• Live streaming content from a studio allows you to engage and interact with your participants as well as acknowledge attendees if they join or enter a session. This not only creates authenticity but replicates the environment of what the event would be like if it was not hosted on a virtual platform.
• Pre-recorded content lacks engagement however there can be situations where there may not be a Q&A session after a talk or the use of pre-recorded content is the safest option. An example of this would be music sessions which have shown to be more effective in a pre-recorded setting where editors can master the track and deliver superior sound quality.
• Sometimes the choice can lie with the presenter, speaker or artist as they may feel more comfortable speaking in a pre-recorded session where the content can be edited in advance. However, it is highly recommended that they tune in for a live Q&A at the end to ensure audience participation and engagement.
Time
How long should your virtual event last? The most important thing is to have interactive content otherwise you may lose the attention of your audience in as little as 15 minutes. It is very easy for an attendee to log out of a session so this is something to keep in mind.
• Timeliness is of the essence at events. But even more so with attendees, some in different time zones, all trying to keep up with the program. An idea could be to include pop-up notifications to let them know a session or networking slot is starting/ending in 10 minutes.
• Try to cut back your content as much as possible, perhaps share downloadable links allowing attendees to take information with them.
• Avoid breakouts lasting longer than 60 minutes.
• The optimal virtual event time is between 2 – 4 hours depending on the type of event with 15 – 20-minute sessions.
• Allow plenty of breaks for networking and attendee interaction. Good networking opportunities are a powerful magnet as the chance to have a 15-minute meeting with a major buyer or key executive will be gold-dust to some attendees. Peer-to-peer networking events are different from buyer-supplier conferences therefore you must ensure an adequate amount of networking time is allocated pending the type of event.
Exclusivity & Registration
Don’t be afraid to make your event exclusive – quality is more important than quantity. Attendees want to feel they are amongst their peers. Virtual events give you a great opportunity to vet your audience. Use registration software that lets you preload invitees or else allows people to register provisionally, pending your approval. As mentioned above it’s all about creating FOMO – make attendees feel that they will be missing out if they do not register for your event!
Use your registration process to collect valuable profiling data. Some of this can assist in marketing, but its primary purpose should be to enable participants to quickly identify suitable meeting partners. A popular event registration platform that can help you do this is Event Brite.
Make Recorded Content Available After The Event
If you are recording webinars and other sessions, be sure to make the content available, but only after the event. This could be made accessible to registrants who signed up for the event as well as selected business partners, prospects, and VIPs with whom you wish to further your relationship or those who have missed part of a session. Most of the well-known virtual event platforms allow those who have registered to access content up to 3 weeks after the event.
Moving to virtual events is not an easy task but these tips and tricks will help ensure that your virtual event is a success!
We hope you enjoyed the best event management company PINGPONG MOMENTS blog post on Hosting Successful Virtual Events.
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