So, you are planning an event and you want to convert what you originally had planned as a live in-person event to a live in-person virtual event. Yes, they are both live events! We recommend that you begin marketing your event no later than six weeks prior to your event date. Along with that, there are some key marketing elements to keep in mind when converting your live in-person event to a live in-person Virtual Event.
EVENT STRATEGY
First and foremost, is to make sure you have a clear picture of your Event Strategy. Do you know why you are doing this event? What is your purpose? Have you set your event goals and the event experience? If not, I would stop reading this blog now, and make sure you know the answers to these questions.
KEY TIPS WHEN CONVERTING YOUR VIRTUAL EVENT
There are several things to review and coordinate when you are converting your live in-person Event to a live in person Virtual Event. I have outlined several below.
COMMUNICATE
Communication to your audience that your event is now a Virtual Event is key. Meet with your Marketing and Social Media teams and come up with the best ways to communicate. You may need some Facebook ads, begin an email campaign with several touches and reminders, or make a series of personal phone calls to communicate in an effective manner. Also, if you have some raving fans that love your events, don’t forget to ask them to communicate this to their network and help you promote it. In addition, create easy ways for your speakers and sponsors/partners to communicate and share your event.
ENGAGEMENT AND INTERACTIONS
The key to a successful event is engagement and interaction. Although content is important, the true definition of a Virtual Event is to create interaction and engagement, otherwise, this would be called a LiveStream or OnDemand Event that is pre-recorded and can be viewed later. There are a series of things that you can do here depending on the demographic of your audience and the industry. We will cover that in a future blog.
FRICTIONLESS EXPERIENCE
It is all about the experience and you will want this to go smoothly and with a lot of ease. There are so many platforms out there and many of our clients want this to be easy, fun and with no friction. You will want to do your research on your dashboard, does your CRM (Customer Relations Management System) integrate well with it? Can your attendees find the information easy and is it easy to navigate?
PROVIDE CLEAR DIRECTIONS
What I love is to create a series of emails beginning 1-2 weeks prior to the event. This gets people excited and for those not registered there’s a bit of FOMO (fear of missing out). During this time, don’t be surprised if you get a lot of late registrations. I do recommend marketing of an event begins six weeks prior, the attendees need to see you in so many places. If they do, then you will see quite an increase of numbers 1-2 weeks prior to your event.
In your emails give them clear directions what is coming up, a little about the event without sharing the entire agenda. I don’t like to distribute or post the entire agenda minute-by-minute or even session-by-session. Usually, when people ask about the agenda, what they really are asking you, is what can they miss. When someone asks for an agenda, I usually say the doors open at 8:00 am PT, we will have lunch around 12:30 pm PT and the day ends at 5:00 pm PT. The entire day will be filled with lots of content and fun!
During these 1-2 weeks, you’ll want more emails being sent out giving clear directions and you can also post on social media to let everyone know to be looking for that “special” email.
RETAIN POPULAR ELEMENTS
Your live in-person event may be something you hold every year, you have attendees that come back year-after-year, especially because they don’t want to miss out on some of the elements that have made your event such a success. Evaluate your live in-person event and look for the popular elements that can be easily converted to your Virtual Event. What do people love about the element? Are you able to convert it well to the Virtual Platform? Does it need enhancement, or can it be kept the same? If it is a popular element, you’ll want to retain it.
ENGAGE INFLUENCERS
Partner with Influencers because they have a great following and can help you promote your event and increase your attendance. Look for those that have a similar target market and can help you. Do you have any Influencers that attend your event that can help you increase your attendance? Is there a podcast that you can be part of with an audience that is your target market? Any other events that you can speak at to help promote your event and increase attendance? You will want to engage Influencers and many of our clients have found that Clubhouse is a great platform to increase attendance.
Marketing is a very broad term, especially with Virtual Events. I hope these tips are helpful and more to come soon.