How To Be A Good Host At Virtual Film Events

As virtual film events rise in popularity, the barriers and ease of putting on one have become easier. This has enabled anyone to put on a film event, whether a single screening or film festival, with much less effort. But it also caused some organizers to put in less effort in being active participants at their events, which is often reflective in the attendee turnout and experience.

This article will cover what to do and not to do for how to be a great host for virtual film events that create a rewarding experience for you, the filmmakers, and the attendees.

To view other articles on film events, visit our Film Blog. To test the platform, please visit https://distribution.bingewave.com/.

What Will NOT Work

One of the most common misconceptions we see is “build it and they will come”. This means just putting good content online will be enough to draw attention. At BingeWave, our scheduling and automation software has made it really easy is to stand up a film event ranging from festivals to single screening with minimal effort. A problem we’ve noticed is some organizers are completely absent from their event.

The majority of film events that take this approach often do not end up doing well. If the host isn’t present and interactive, what tends to happen is:

• Attendees don’t show up.
• When they show, they are hesitant to engage.
• The attendee experiences is lacking and feeling unfulfilled.
• They are not sure what they paid for and why.
• Ticket sales are often very low.

What Does Work

At BingeWave, we’ve hosted over 1000 screenings with everything from film festivals, week-long online premieres of documentaries to single web series showings. We when are talking about good hosts, we are exemplifying:

• Queens Web Series
• The Silicon Valley African Film Festival
• Taiwanese American Film Festival
• HorrOrigins
• Delco Film Festival
• Noe Valley Girls Film Festival
• And many others!

Each one was actively and highly engaged with their audience, in which people came out and events were described as “fun”. Many things can make a virtual film event fun but the integral part was the organizers presence. The organizer’s did creative things such as:

• Greeted the attendees, typically via chat or a live opening.
• Encouraged people to chat with each other, ask questions and express opinions.
• Starting the conversation with an icebreaker.
• Encourage attendees to for their favorite films with out built in voting features
• Start a virtual lounge to hang out and network.
• Have a virtual dance party afterward.
• Combine screenings with virtual panel discussions.
• Invite the filmmakers to the event and shout them out.
• Any many other unique engagement techniques.

Good Events Require Hosts

If this was an in-person event, would you set up an event and not be there? Of course not! You are an integral part of a successful event. Same for online events. Being a good host requires you and your team to still make an amazing experience for your attendees and filmmakers that will have them coming back year after year.

BingeWave is live streaming, community building and revenue generation platform for filmmakers. We serve everyone from festivals, web series, documentaries, to features, and champion diverse narratives.

For information on hosting your own film even or obtaining live/cinematic distribution, please visit: https://distribution.bingewave.com/