Since the pandemic, the concept of virtual events has been drastically reduced. However, many surveys conclude that more than 70% of event producers look forward to hosting on-site events more than virtual or online ones. Moreover, there is still a proximity of a rise in the projection of virtual events, as 95.5% showed in a survey that they are looking forward to hosting one.
The success rate of virtual events will allow us to decide on the rise of virtual events in the market. However, a few surveys show that 49% of event hosts think the key is the attendee’s engagement. So, here is the biggest question: How can virtual events be more engaging?
How to organise virtual events?
Various factors collectively make any virtual event more engaging. Usually, it depends on how you eventually plan your event. Here’s a small guide for organising an engaging virtual event.
- Ensure the event’s clear purpose
Prior to promoting your event, make sure your event has a clear objective or purpose. Moreover, what’s the gain from this event you are looking forward to organising? Once we are clear on this question, making further arrangements for the event will be straightforward.
- Choose a suitable platform
Whenever you organise an event on-site, you preferably keep 2-3 or more venues in mind. So, why not when organising one online as well? You must ensure that the goals of your event are aligned with the online platform you choose. A few factors may affect the choice of the right online platform.
- The number of people attending the event. If you are organising a big event with a large audience, make sure to choose a high-quality platform to avoid glitches and ensure a smooth video display.
- Longevity of the event. Ensure you choose a platform that supports long-duration conferences and events, as some platforms might have time restrictions.
- Select an engaging topic
What’s better than actually planning an event for an engaging topic? Most people think it’s not always possible to work with an exciting topic. However, even if the event’s domain or base is more educational and not very interesting, you can still make it engaging by adding a quiz and Q&A factor.
- Related famous personalities
Remember to invite influential people in the field in which you are organising a related event. This helps grab the attention of a bigger audience and increase the participation of the attendees. Moreover, it can boost the interest and excitement level of the clients overall.
- Ensure to start strong
A strong introduction is essential to setting the tone for the entire event and keeping the audience waiting for the event to start.
- Promote intellectuality
Don’t forget to make your event more intellectual and hold an open panel discussion to introduce learning opportunities. Moreover, you should encourage networking and conversations.
- Utilise the visuals
Visuals are most likely to grab the maximum attention of the participants because they are visually appealing. You can simply replace the PPTs and the simple graphic with the video, as it’s a way of inducing information engagingly.
- Suitable duration
Dragging any event or session usually decreases the value and interest of the clients. It’s highly suitable to keep your content straightforward and to the point. It is essential to keep your content more quantitative rather than qualitative.
- Hype-up your end
As you must have experienced physical events, usually, by the end of the event, some sort of refreshment or entertainment session is conducted. You need to ensure that your end is as exciting as your introduction to the event. Usually, people prefer to have a Q&A session right at the end of the session or maybe a small ceremony to end things as well.
- Maintain contact
Usually, the event planners and organisers don’t bother to stay in contact with the client. However, it is highly essential for feedback, and by doing this, you can gain more referrals, leading to the strategy of word-of-mouth. How to make virtual events more engaging?
Here are a few strategies to make your virtual event more engaging and keep the clients more invested.
- Reminders
People tend to forget about virtual events as if we talk about no-shows. According to research by Markletic conducted in 2020, around 35% of people don’t attend events. However, to increase the show-ups and keep them informed, as Nunify market surveys, an 83% increase is recorded in attendees. Moreover, frequent reminders can help with creating the hype for the event.
- Divide into numerous session
Always divide your event into various segments, as in virtual events; the attention is usually dispersed after 15-20 minutes, as 68% drop watching it if it doesn’t involve their participation. So, make different segments of the session which only lasts twenty minutes each.
- Allows the clients to the segments
Don’t make every segment mandatory for everyone. Ensure that all the participants choose their own virtual event paths or segments so that they can attend any event that interests them and really gain some knowledge from it. This will allow them to make unforgettable memories.
- Spread over days
If the event is somewhat longer and more informative, like any international conference, make sure you divide the total time span on each day between 4 and 5.
- Online contest
You can simply host any virtual contest to engage and entertain your clients. Well, it is important to put a prize for the winner as there’s no motivation without reinforcement. However, make sure to ask your client to stay logged in to get the award at the end of the event. Make sure to align some short activity segments more like levels or rounds.
- Induce gamification
Nowadays, gamification trends are being heavily promoted. To make your attendees more mesmerizing, integrate some online games. A recent survey concluded that gamification could literally improve audience engagement by 59%. Moreover, it enhances the experiences and can be used as a refresher.
- Must induce a virtual chat room
Incorporating a virtual chat room is essential, especially if the participants are more familiar with each other. It helps the theme avoid opening other chat media to discuss anything. They can simply do it alongside. Moreover, you can merely ask about the activities in the chat bar and what they prefer from all the ones they participated in.
- Induce a live polling system
Make sure you add a polling system to a virtual event. According to a Markletic survey, 81.8% of event planners confirmed that online polling in any virtual event increases the attendees’ engagement. However, asking your participants to poll their experiences of this event is essential.
Virtual meetings can be spiced up with two to three intermittent polls, depending on the length of your online events. This is one of the easiest yet most effective ways to keep up with the audience alert in order to make it available for everyone to use the most suitable tool, which is easy to find.
- Introduce giveaways
To keep your participants engaged by the end of the event, announce some giveaways that will be given to some intellectual and present-minded participants. This technique will help boost engagement and create excitement for the clients.
- Question and answer session
One of the most accessible and essential tactics you can use to grab the attention of your attendees is setting an arraignment for a question-and-answer session. It is one of the most reliable sessions you can conduct to level up the value of your virtual event. 62% of total virtual event organizers have used this tactic to improve and enhance their events and engage audiences.
AV equipment is the key to successful events
Declaring tech, the most essential and vital element of any virtual event, is no conflict. You cannot ignore the AV equipment while planning a virtual event. To keep the audience engaged, the first step is to provide seamless technology, as people really get annoyed by the technical glitches and leave the virtual events in no time. So, hiring the best AV productions in your town is essential. Some of the most critical audio-visual equipment required for any virtual events are as follows:
- Microphones
- Cameras
- Laptops
All you have to do is align the correct software with the right equipment. It will become easier for you to create powerful and impactful events.
Pro tips:
You can introduce the following fun activities to grab clients’ attention.
- Take a museum tour
All you have to do is choose a museum offering virtual tours. You can select any of your choices or ask your team to help you determine the best one. You can leave the chat bar or polls open to enhance the excitement level during the tour.
- Play charades
You can divide your audience into teams to help them build some understanding beforehand. This game doesn’t require much of a set all it needs is a a camera to act in.
- Online riddles
It is straightforward to search for some interesting riddles, or else you can design your own. They can be shared through chatboxes, and the team members must answer them within a given time period.
Conclusion
If you are planning any virtual event, make sure the engagement process begins with organizing the events correctly. If the base is excellent and engaging, making virtual events more engaging and entertaining is easier. However, a few factors are usually ignored, e.g., good AV equipment can really make a difference in the engagement level of the attendees, as 38% of participants and marketers are generally affected by technical glitches. However, it is important to select the most reliable AV productions to avoid any glitches and technical issues. Additionally, the answer to how to make virtual events more engaging is to always bring unique things upfront for the clients. Usually, to bring up unique content, it is essential to mix things up and maintain a balance between the informational segments and entertainment segments.
FAQs
Mention some of the main benefits of hosting a virtual event.
Hosting a virtual event right after COVID-19 can be very profitable.
- It allows us to connect with people globally.
- Tracking the engagement of the attendees allows you to easily scale a virtual event and analyse its performance.
- It is highly cost-effective and can efficiently be conducted anytime with any weather or time restrictions.
- Ensure the availability of maximum attendees.
How do I choose a platform to conduct a virtual event?
Multiple factors determine whether you choose the platform on which you will conduct your virtual events. Then, utilise the potential insights to choose the right platform for your audience to engage better and experience a fully functional event.
How do you plan a virtual event?
- Identify your audience.
It is essential to decide the targeted audience of the event and who the people ethos is for which the event is being conducted. Multiple aspects will be directly targeted by the audience, including the sound system, content, and event duration.
- Craft your event strategy.
Many marketers rushed to repackage in-person events during the global pandemic into virtual ones.
- Craft your event strategy.
Many marketers rushed to repackage in-person events during the global pandemic into virtual ones.
- Promote your event before, during, and after
Whether your event is in-person or virtual, you still need attendees, which means event promotion. According to Mendelsohn, this should happen before, during, and after your event.
- Schedule tech rehearsals.
Virtual events rely on technology, but technology isn’t always reliable. This is why Mendelsohn recommends tech rehearsals.
- Show humility, and have fun with the process.
Finally, have fun and be willing to show humility if something doesn’t go as planned.
