Avoid the Major Pitfalls in Planning Your Next Virtual Event
We would not be far off in naming 2020 the ‘year of virtual events’. The number of online events has more than doubled these past few years – with organizers giving participants access to live sessions as well as on-demand content.
Overall, the prime focus is on creating and maintaining a “connected experience” for everyone during these crazy times; hosting virtual events is not always smooth sailing, however, a recent survey found that nearly one-third of all event planners avoided hosting online conferences because they felt it would be a challenge to deliver the value that attendees typically look for in a company event. https://meetings.skift.com/event-statistics/#1
What are some of the main challenges that event organizers face while planning a virtual event and how do they avoid the major pitfalls in planning? If they address these challenges, you have yourself a competent Event Strategist and Event Planner.
SELECTING THE BEST PLATFORM
Whether you are looking for a tool to run a high-profile conference or something to host your all-staff meeting, you will need to determine what you want as well as what you can live without.
Consider the following when choosing the best event platform for your needs:
- Ease of use
- Scalability
- Customization options
- Pricing
- User review
SKIMPING ON EVENT PRODUCTION
Virtual events require an elevated level of event production. Therefore, when you are ready to choose an Event Strategist or Event Planner, look for one who specializes in the event production side of virtual events.
On average, 1 out of every 5 event planners avoid organizing virtual events simply because they do not have the infrastructure and the technical knowhow required for the job. (https://meetings.skift.com/event-statistics/
PREPARING PRESENTERS FOR SUCCESSFUL REMOTE PRESENTATIONS
It is critical to prepare the speaker sections of a virtual event. This may include offering them the technology and resources they need for an engaging presentation. See more here:
With in-person presentations, you have a captive
audience — you can be engaging with your audience as they are in the room with
you for the duration of the event.
With virtual presentations, your audience has a greater opportunity to stray. You now must compete for their eyes, ears, hearts, and minds against diminished attention spans, increased home and work life distractions, and conflicting priorities. Click here for more information
AUDIENCE INTERACTION AND ENGAGEMENT
With so many distractions, how do you keep your audience actively engaged?
Attendee engagement is one of the most important metrics when judging the success of an event. Creating an ambience that lifts their spirits is much more challenging compared to a live event.
Understand the behavior of your audience and schedule in specific sections during your event to boost their energy. Consider using screen overlays, live chat, polls, Q&A’s, trivia questions and leaderboards to name a few.
DATA IS YOUR FRIEND - USE IT!
Collecting and measuring feedback and engagement is crucial for all types of events. Not only will this real-time feedback help presenters gauge how their session is going but it will also be useful to measure the overall success of a virtual event. For instance, you can know when your attendees logged on, from where, the number of people attending, payment details, and so much more. Utilizing this data can help to gauge the audience interaction and participation and eventually attract both vendors and attendees to your next virtual event.
The future of virtual events will become a common aspect of any meeting or event and is here to stay. Having a knowledgeable Event Planner or Event Strategist to help your in-person event transition into a virtual event, is necessary and may be the key to saving your event and/or your client.
Check our blog as we dive deeper into each of the five challenges in future posts.