Five Pivotal Tips to Move Your Live Event to a Virtual Audience

COVID-19 shutdowns meant that conferences, galas, tradeshows, and other live corporate events evaporated into the ether. While these circumstances are far from ideal, we live in a time where the technology exists to continue functioning throughout this adversity.

Indeed, technology can't entirely replace that in-person experience of a banquet, ceremony, conference, etc. Still, it's possible to bridge the gap until it's safe to host these events again.

Namely, through virtual audiences, many businesses have found ways to continue running and leveraging live events. Read below for five tips on how to run virtual events successfully:

1. Work with a Video Production Company

First and foremost, if you're hosting an event, you don't want it to come across as haphazard or slapdash. There’s no doubt that your first iterations of hosting virtual audiences will have some hiccups. Still, you must approach the situation with the utmost professionalism. Unless you – or someone on your staff – is secretly Steven Spielberg, DIYing the camera work isn’t an option. There are too many moving parts, and if not placed in sure hands, a virtual event can turn into a chaotic disaster.

 The result?

Your organization will come across as unprofessional and ill-prepared. Seek out a film production company with experience at producing online events so that your adjustment period to this "new normal" is seamless. 

2. Hire a Masterful Emcee

 An emcee or moderator can make or break an in-person event depending on their ability (or lack thereof) to be captivating and engaging. This exceptional individual must also possess skills in guiding the conversation and timing when it comes to necessary transitions. 

The advantage of being in person is that there are many tactile sensations and distractions to distract from a poor emcee performance.

For virtual events, there’s no such luxury. It only takes a few stammers and off-color remarks for everything to go awry. You’re already dealing with possible problems with connections and other technical glitches. If your emcee isn’t competent, they’ll only be contributing to a sinking ship. Beyond a weak emcee's pitfalls, there is a seemingly endless list of benefits when having somebody competent at the helm.

More specifically, an excellent emcee's personality and positive energy are infectious. This can pay significant dividends in engaging your virtual audience, who might otherwise struggle to hone into the live event.

3. Keep the Content Fresh

Virtual audiences have a lot of distractions to contend with. If you aren't giving them an enticing experience, their attention will wane. One way to lose your audience is by spending too long on one topic or giving an extended speech. Your virtual attendees will be far more engaged and stimulated if you break up the content into shorter segments. Ideally, each topic or piece of content should be broken up into approximately 15-minute segments, maximum. Then, during the transitions, interactive moments can help extract further value from your talking points (or whatever else you're presenting).

We suggest taking questions, providing a poll, or doing a draw for prizes. Between sessions and segments, you can also offer your audience networking opportunities.

It's also wise to break up your content between being live and pre-recorded. It's much akin to a television broadcast, like what you'll see on the news when anchors are talking live then cut to already produced segments.

The above technique optimizes your control over the flow of content. While you'll have the more authentic live footage, you can juxtapose it with sharply edited, more eye-catching videos to keep your audience's attention. Your audience then has your live platform to react to the pre-recorded content through discussions and feedback.

4. Nurture Networking Opportunities

We’ve discussed networking opportunities briefly, but it’s something that deserves its own section.

 Hosting a virtual event at first glance seems like it'd be challenging to promote more personalized conversations. It's much more organized to have one person speaking at a time, and at most, you'll have a Q&A where others can speak up. That’s not necessarily the purpose of corporate or company events, though. Networking is most effective when people have a chance to engage in proper conversations. 

Fortunately, there are ways to harness this kind of networking during virtual events. There is software out there that allows you to split a virtual meeting into smaller groups. Such a tool is conducive to more in-depth discussions surrounding an array of questions, areas of expertise, and interests, etc. 

Virtual attendees should also share short bios and connect through LinkedIn (or other similar networks). Doing so will help everyone feel more a part of the event. 

 Lastly, creating event-related Facebook or Slack channels will further foster connections after the event is done.

5. Think Beyond Your Traditional Audience

It’s fair to feel hampered by losing out on all the advantages of an in-person event. But that doesn't mean there isn't a silver lining to your virtual hosting efforts. By hosting on the internet, you can reach an absolutely massive audience eclipsing what was available during the pre-COVID days. You’re no longer dealing with the limits of geography. Suddenly, you’re able to invite people from all over the world. Plus, these aren’t a bunch of random individuals. They’ll be targeted professionals with relevant interests. Your marketing list can benefit from more diverse personas and industries to widen its net and cultivate a broader community.

 Embracing Your Virtual Challenges

Nobody would fault you for throwing your hands in the air and wanting to give up in the face of COVID-19. The pandemic has done tremendous damage to the economy and made it immensely tough to conduct business. Yet, we’re confident that this isn’t the attitude shared by a business executive such as yourself. Your entrepreneurial spirit is too sturdy to be broken by these circumstances.

Right now, surviving and thriving is about adapting and finding new opportunities within the chaos. That’s where virtual conferences and online events come into play. And if you follow our suggestions, you’ll more than overcome shutdown-related challenges.