5 Virtual Event Tips to Get the Most out of Your Next Event
Team GTR • July 9, 2020
So, you decided to take your in-person event virtual. Like so many others in the meetings and events industry, we are all being asked to step outside of our comfort zones and into the new normal. You may be worried that by making a last-minute pivot to virtual you will not be able to have the same success with this year’s event as in previous years. But that does not have to be the case. We reached out to Nicole Wood, CEO and Co-Founder of Ama La Vida and she shared with us 5 tips to improve your virtual event:
Marketing
Along with promoting on your site and opening your registration site, it’s also important to make it easy for others to promote your event. It may be of interest to your sponsors, exhibitors and/or speakers to promote your event on their sites, too. And don’t forget your attendees. They are a great way to get increase awareness around your event.
Partner with another expert
If you are worried about filling up the agenda or getting attendees to show, no need to do it all on your own! Find another colleague or a peer in a different but related industry or company and ask them to partner with you on the event. That way you are bringing multiple perspectives which will offer more value to your attendees, and you are opening up the invitation list to two people’s networks.
Reserve and remind
Make things easy for your attendees. Our inboxes are flooded these days, so it can be a pain to dig back to the original confirmation email to find the meeting details. Make sure you use a platform that provides calendar integration so your attendees can add the event details to their calendars. If this is more of an internal meeting, manually send out an invite with the login details including dial-in for anyone who isn’t able to join on a laptop. For those bigger events, set up an auto reminder email to go out roughly an hour before the event to remind people that it is about to start and so they have the login details handy.
Treat it like a “real” event
It’s easy to think of your virtual events as watered-down versions of the in-person ones, but they can be just as effective and impactful. So, treat the meeting like the real deal. That means no distractions or walking around, and be sure to make eye contact with your colleagues instead of yourself. Have a set agenda and facilitator as you would with any other meeting. However, this new medium may shift the dynamics a bit, so ensure you check in with the attendees who tend to get less airtime and specifically give them time to share their thoughts and feedback.
Engage with your attendees
Just like you would have at your in-person event, keep those breakout sessions to offer variety for your attendees. Also, remember that there is a lot to distract your attendees in a virtual environment. Encourage your speakers, panelists and facilitators to make the sessions highly interactive and engaging. For example, many icebreakers used for in-person events translate easily to a virtual event.
Learn more about our virtual event platform, check out www.gtrnow.com/virtual-event-platform or get in touch with us here.
Regards, Team GTR™ 👋
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Categories: Virtual Events
