Hosting Fully Virtual Events Effectively

Published in

Offline2On

5 min readMay 6, 2020

Brent Peterson, Chief Evangelist for Wagento

Most of us have been a part of digital events before, including webinars, Zoom meetings, Skype calls, or live Q&A sessions on social media. With the continued threat of COVID-19, many major conferences and events are being moved to the digital realm because we have not been able to gather in groups. Virtual events are not the same as attending a summit or trade show in-person, and some initial struggles can be demoralizing.

Fortunately, some of us have been hosting virtual events for quite a while now, and we’ve gotten pretty good at it. Whether you’re thinking about signing up for a virtual event or hosting one yourself, here are some techniques to make the most out of your digital learning experiences.

Attend and Organize Digital Events

One of the most important reasons why digital events are so crucial right now is because of the coronavirus pandemic. Millions of people are confined to their homes where they continue to work, educate their children, and stay in touch with their loved ones. People are flocking to online communities for information, social connection, and entertainment during this unpredictable time. By providing a relevant and engaging online event, you can strengthen relationships with your audience and industry partners without leaving the safety of your home.

In addition to social distancing, virtual events help shorten the distance across the world. These virtual events let you connect with people who you may not have met otherwise. By networking with new people, you can:

Continue learning about your industry
Spend time networking with potential partners
Obtain and provide helpful insights
Find inspiration for your content marketing strategy
Connect personally with your target audience

Host Your Own Virtual Event

There are all kinds of different platforms geared for specific types of online events or meetings. For instance, using Facebook Live or Instagram Live can be great for communicating a personal message to your audience, answering your followers’ questions, or doing a brief behind-the-scenes tour of your office or workplace. If you want to do a more formal presentation-style event, a Zoom webinar may be more effective. To determine which method would work best for your message and target audience, start by asking yourself questions about the core purpose of your event, such as:

Will the event be live, on-demand, or a mix of both?
Should it be a free event, or should registration be required?
What key performance indicators (KPIs) should I track to know whether or not the event was successful (and whether or not I should do it again)?
Should I work with a partner or other organizations?
What communication channels do the attendees already listen to? (How can I best promote my event?)

Once you have a good understanding of your topic and what kind of platform you will use to deliver the content, it’s time to start planning out your event. Here are the core steps:

Select the Best Time and Timeframe

Studies have shown that people can participate in a virtual event for a maximum of 90 minutes before needing a break. Be respectful of your audience’s time when constructing your agenda; if you have analytics on your followers, use them to determine what time the majority of your followers tend to be online. In addition to analytics, you may also want to conduct a poll asking people which time works best for their schedules.

Promote the Event

Make sure you share your upcoming event through email marketing and social media posts using a clear statement of how it will benefit attendees. For instance, if you’ll be hosting a popular speaker during the live session, don’t keep quiet about it! Highlight the attendance of the speaker in your marketing campaign. Other benefits of your event might include learning a new skill, networking with other entrepreneurs, or getting a preview of an upcoming product; if you have something awesome planned — mention it!

Practice and Prepare

If you are responsible for delivering content or a performance of any kind during the event, do a dry run. Don’t be afraid to enlist a coworker or family member to sit and pretend to be the audience. Every problem or technical glitch you catch early is a chance to not make that mistake during the event.

Preflight Checks

Here’s a list of simple precautions to take on the day of the event:

Host your event in a quiet space.
If your computer has a port for a hard-wired internet connection, use it; you don’t want your video to get choppy just because someone turned on a microwave oven or started streaming a movie.
Dress professionally.
Log into the event a little early so that you can test your audio, and also so attendees who join early can gain confidence they joined the event correctly.
Begin on time, or even slightly early.
Deliver all the content you promoted during the campaigning process.

Prioritize Engagement with Your Audience

Even if you won’t actually see your audience in-person, you still need to communicate with them as if they were standing right in front of you. To ensure that you maximize engagement, try these tips when hosting an event:

Welcome attendees as they join the meeting and consider starting things off with an icebreaker question in the chat.
Even if you have already practiced your event, your audience can surprise you with questions you haven’t considered; encourage people to ask questions throughout the session to provide live, actionable feedback. By accepting these questions and answering them, you make your event more valuable to your attendees.
Ask your audience for feedback once the event is over. You can create a simple post-event survey, leave an open-ended question in the chat, or contact attendees via email.

As business leaders around the world are having to make major changes in the way they connect with their customers, Offline2On is here to help them make the transition to becoming successful online merchants. If you are a micro-, small-, or medium-sized business, you should view our marketing and advertising resources.