Entering 2021 is made easier with the addition of online virtual platforms to our lives. As we make our way through the year, new hope and positivity have surrounded us. Virtual platforms have brought a healthy substitute for physical events. Ultimately, virtual events are unavoidable when we talk about following precautions to control the spread of Covid-19. Therefore, it is important to understand the necessity of virtual events to keep attendees engaged.
Here’s Why!
Online events offer several advantages. With no need to commute to a physical location, organizers can handle a global audience. The event organizers can save the cost of catering, set-ups, or rent. Furthermore, virtual events allow hosts, organizers, and sponsors to maximize return on investment and receive detailed reporting on the online event. However, one basic concern is the attendee’s attention span.
Keeping your audience focused and engaged during the event can be a difficult task. They may get distracted at home by a family member, text, call, email, or a pet. You sure love to attend to your pet when they come all ready to play. That is exactly why we stress keeping attendees engaged during a virtual event. This may be difficult but not impossible. Using inbuilt features and content, one can host an engaging virtual event. But first, it is important to understand your audience.
Understand Your Audience
To begin with, it is important to understand your audience to engage with them. The more closely you know your audience, the more likely it is to host engaging virtual events each time. For understanding your audience, take into account their age group, profession, and expectations from the event. Having a buyer persona beforehand is not advised. It is more important to know what the audience wants, what they need, and how they interact with various content. Further along the road, you need to map out the content and features you can introduce to keep your audience interested throughout the event. Here’s how you can pull this off.
Use Interactive Webinars and Presentations
At virtual auditoriums, one can conduct interactive webinars and presentations. With these activities, live Q&A sessions are organized easily. Your audience can make most of these Q&A sessions to ask questions and get the information they need. People who possess strong communication skills can easily host these interactive sessions and actively engage the attendees. Hence, interactive webinars and presentations keep attendees engaged. Furthermore, providing options for language change will ensure a greater number of engaging audiences. When people can participate in their language, it provides better engagement through live webinars and Q&A sessions.
For quick engagement with the audience, polls and questionnaires can easily be incorporated into webinars and presentations. These provide insight into the mind of the audience and offer an opening for sponsors and exhibitors to start meaningful conversations with the attendees.
Add Helpful Resources
Providing helpful resources to the attendees is proved beneficial. It keeps them occupied throughout the event. The resources can be content from documents to videos, which provides attendees with relevant information on the profession or their industry. The content needs to be carefully designed for a successful virtual event, such as educational or corporate events.
Allow Conversations
A virtual platform doesn’t limit the conversation or interactivity between participants. A vital part of conducting a virtual event is to allow people to connect and communicate with each other. Install helpful tools to encourage networking among the audience. The networking can range from booking, meeting the experts, and hosts, or executing conversations in the chat room through audio, video, and chat options. One can always start the session a bit early and allow participants to mingle with each other. These tactics help attendees and exhibitors to get comfortable with the virtual environment before getting familiarized with the virtual event. Also, the breaks in between sessions allow connecting attendees.
Conclusion
The success of an online virtual event is dependent on keeping attendees engaged throughout the event. If properly executed, these tips to host an engaging virtual event are proved beneficial. It is advised to understand the audience and target them accordingly. In addition to interactive webinars, conferences, and helpful resources, encouraging the networking of attendees in the session can be highly productive. Also, feedback is essential for an organization to improve and grow with each event. Constructive criticism or honest remarks becomes the basis for improvement. This is also a chance for the audience to connect and relate to the event to voice their opinion. Likewise, it allows the audience to evaluate their experience with the feedback. Take note of these tips and tricks to win at your virtual event.
Author | Mubashrah Rahim
