As the pandemic continues to put everyday life to a stop, many are finding ways around the usual face to face meetings required in most of life’s dealings. Schools, universities, and businesses around the world are opting for virtual meets to ensure social distancing while maintaining their standard operating procedures.
Why Are Virtual Events the Future?
A virtual event is, simply put, a meeting held over the internet. The main edge virtual events have over face to face meetings is that virtual events are not restricted to a specific location. Since the internet is available almost everywhere globally, anyone with an internet connection can join a virtual meeting.
The current pandemic is restricting people to their homes, but it cannot stop life from happening.
Virtual events not only provide a safe way of interacting with people but they are also cost-effective and time-saving. And these are the major reasons why virtual events have become the new normal.
The benefits of virtual events over physical ones are countless, and they may stay popular even after the pandemic.
With every organization opting for virtual events, knowing how to organize a good virtual meet is necessary. Below are 5 tips that will help anyone organize a quality virtual event that delivers on its purpose.
1 Make an Agenda
Unlike physical events, participants of virtual events will not necessarily be from the same time zone. So going into details is necessary to plan a good virtual event. Knowing where most of your participants will be joining can help you select an ideal time to maximize attendance.
As most people will be joining from their homes, make sure to factor in plenty of breaks for people to eat, check in with work, and take care of their kids. Studies show that 90 minutes is the maximum amount of time a person can participate in a virtual event without breaking.
Another thing to keep in mind while making your agenda is whether or not your content will be live-streamed or pre-recorded. A mixture of both is ideal for virtual events. Playing pre-recorded content and then live streaming keynotes and question-answer sessions are proven to be the best method.
2 Find Tools According to Your Needs
Technology is one of the most important factors of a virtual event. It can range from free to use software to sophisticated and costly services. The technology you use will depend on the kind of event you are planning to host.
For example, if you are a teacher and need to take a virtual class, then Zoom is your go-to software as it is free to use, and your students can join freely from anywhere in the world. Zoom also provides video call and screen projection options to help you deliver efficiently.
3 Promote the Event
Promoting the event is as important as holding the event. No use organizing an event if no one is going to attend. As everyone is held up at their homes these days, the most efficient way of getting the news to people is through social media.
You can create an event on Facebook and send invites to people to let them know about it. You can also share the event in FB groups where you think potential attendees can come from. In short, your event is as successful as its promotion. So take time to promote and let other people know about the virtual event you are organizing.
4 Prepare for Tech Troubles
Technology has eased our lives to a great extent. But as much as we depend on it, we can not argue that it can run out on us anytime without warning. The same goes for tech we use to organize a virtual event.
When planning a virtual event, always keep this in mind. Anything can go wrong. A projector could become faulty, or a webcam could stop transmitting or an internet device could spark and leave you with no internet. Always account for these factors and try to have spares available.
By having a technician, spare tech available, and a backup plan, you can make sure that even if something goes wrong your event will still go smoothly as planned.
5 Keep the Event Engaging
Another thing to keep in mind while planning your virtual event is to keep it engaging for the participants. The distractions virtual event organizers have to compete are unlike those in physical events.
As most people will be joining from their homes, distractions like calls, emails, social media, and kids are there to take them away from your event.
Thus, to have a successful event try to keep it engaging. A general rule is to have a small audience engagement activity every 10 times. Another way to keep the session engaging is to allow the audience to not only interact with the speakers but also with each other.
By keeping these tips in mind while planning a virtual event, anyone can organize a quality event that delivers on its promise.
