How to create an engaging virtual event your audience will want to attend
Keeping your virtual audience engaged isn’t an easy task when you add in distractions, constant screen staring and work projects sitting one click away. How often do you start watching a webinar and then end up doing something else?
Improving your virtual audience engagement will take your events to the next level but there are important steps to follow pre-event and during the event to get your attendees consistently engaging throughout the event.
Pick a platform for your event, don’t structure an event around a platform
More often than not, the mistake of picking a virtual event platform then attempting to structure your event around the platform is made. Instead, setting out your event goals and establishing what you need out of an event platform should be the correct way to start your process.
Create a list of what you need the platform to provide, such as:
Registration - a way for attendees to register for the event, select sessions and potentially pay for tickets;
Platform design - are you looking for a bespoke platform design or to use a template;
Content delivery - are you looking to have live or pre-recorded content delivery? Will you be having more than one speaker live at once? Do you need speaker screen sharing capabilities and do you want the content to be available on-demand at a later time?;
Opportunities for sponsorship partners to be showcased and for attendees to interact with;
Networking & community engagement. It is essential to have a way for attendees to engage with companies, presenters, and each other;
Reporting and analytics - are you looking for specific attendee data about registrations, attendance during sessions or visits to sponsors.
Laying out your event goals, objectives and requirements for the virtual platform, then searching for a match will save you time and make the planning process a lot simpler.
If you’re looking for more information on event goals, objectives and your target audience - read our blog here.
Build excitement pre-event for your audience
For any event, a strong communications strategy and customer journey is always important, but now pre-event content and communication are more important than ever.
Pre-event emails and content are a great way to build excitement which leads to higher attendance at your event.
Send the initial email invitation, calendar invites, reminders and previews
Once your attendees have registered, the next step is to keep them engaged and excited about your event. Create a customer journey where your attendees can feel prepared for the event, with login information, agendas, tips on how to set up for the event and any assets and tools they will need for the event. Using a platform that integrates calendar invitations with your event sessions that attendees register is a great way to keep the event front of mind for attendees. It works as a reminder of the sessions that they have signed up for and contains a link straight into the event so they don’t waste time searching through emails.
Pre-event content polling and speaker questions
Pre-event content polling and speaker questions allow the audience to be already involved and engaged in the event, as well as feeling that the content presented will be tailored to their interests. This can benefit your event as:
The audience knows the content will be directly relevant to their interests and reasons for attending the event. This means you will provide more value to the attendee and will improve the likelihood of the attendee returning to another event of yours, developing their relationship with your brand or doing future business with you.
Since the content will be more relevant for your audience, they are more likely to show up to your virtual event, boosting your attendance rate.
Send event bags
A great way to boost virtual event engagement is to send your attendees event bags. Fill the bag with goodies that can be used during the event for activities or sponsor products. Alternatively, gift vouchers for food delivery throughout the event such as Uber Eats Voucher or a virtual event wellness kit can be a great way to make your event more comfortable for your attendees. Remember the more personalised the swag the better!
Encourage social media posting
Set up a hashtag for your event and create pre-event audience engagement. Start bringing your community together before the event by showing previews to content or getting your speakers to do an introduction to their presentation. Encourage your audience to post their set up for the event or if you’ve sent event bags to get your audience posting all their swag!
Prepare your speakers
Just like you would with live, in-person events, a practice run with your speakers using the platform is essential. You need to make sure that your speakers are both familiar with your chosen event platform and their virtual set up for the event is correct.
You will also need to test your speakers’ equipment such as their microphone and camera. If they are presenting interactive elements such as screens, videos, polling or Q&A it’s important that these elements also get tested, so the speakers are aware of how the technology integrates with their session.
So that your speakers can be set up correctly, speaker kits can be sent out to include:
A high-quality microphone;
A high-quality camera;
Greenscreens
Internet connectors or boosters;
Lighting equipment.
If you have gathered pre-event information such as content polling or pre-event questions, make sure this data is passed on to any presenters so they can address it and include it in their presentations.
Offer engagement opportunities for attendees both in and between sessions
The most essential part of your event is maintaining engagement throughout the event. With so many distractions around us, from mobile devices and emails to house distractions such as other people also at home during the event, attention spans will be significantly shorter than they may have been at an in-person event.
Virtual networking events
As attendees would normally have opportunities to catch up between sessions for coffees or after an event for drinks, the same events need to be recreated virtually for attendees to create connections and network. Hosting a virtual cocktail hour can be as simple as having a cocktail kit sent out to attendees' homes pre-event, or giving them a list of ingredients they will need to participate in the event. Likewise, for a virtual coffee catch up, vouchers can be sent to attendees homes or a coffee can be made at home. Setting networking time into your event schedule is crucial for attendees to give themselves a break and engage with each other.
Create variety in content
You will lose engagement quickly by just having attendees sit in session, after session listening to webinars where presenters talk at them. Instead, mix up your presentation styles with roundtable discussions and workshops. It’s important to remember to keep virtual events and meetings shorter than you would an in-person event, it is harder to constantly stare at a screen for long periods of time. That doesn’t mean you can’t cover the same amount of information — you’ll just need to break it up into easily digestible pieces.
Q&A’s, polls and break out sessions
In a live event, tools such as Slido or Mentimeter can be used to collect polling or Q&A from your audience. Adding interactive features like polls, Q&A sessions, and break out sessions into your event platform and discussions, so your audience can participate, is an important part of raising engagement levels. Break out sessions will bring down barriers and encourage the audience to participate more, while polls and Q&A’s allow questions and opinions to be voiced.
Introduce gamification
Use the fun elements found in games and incorporate them into your virtual event. Virtual events are an excellent opportunity to apply gamification such as trivia, quizzes, virtual escape rooms and puzzles to bring your community together in teams to network. Prizes can be introduced to the competitions to encourage participation and create some competitiveness.
Exercise Sessions
If your event spans over a couple of days, starting the day with a virtual exercise session is a great way to bring everyone together before the event. Wellness activities are important at any event, and there’s no reason to remove them when you go virtual. Include moments in your event that get attendees standing, stretching, and moving their bodies or build a mini-workout class that attendees can live stream throughout the day for a quick boost of energy or offer free morning yoga via live stream.
#SpeaktoSleek
As like a regular in-person event, creating audience engagement opportunities that result in a community being formed and meaningful connections being made is as important than ever in a virtual space.
If you were forced to cancel an exciting upcoming event, now is your chance to go back to the drawing board and think about how you can really engage your audience online.
While our blog covers good ways to start boosting engagement at your virtual event, there are a lot more strategies and opportunities that events agency can implement. Using an event agency is a great way to assist you in transforming your in-person event to a virtual one - read our latest blog 4 Key reasons to work with an events agency to see how.
Alternatively, so speak to one of our event experts - contact us here.