Organizations have realized the power of virtual events that will most likely continue even in the post-pandemic world. As industries concentrate on predominantly virtual meetings, Zohar Babin, EVP Platform & Growth, Kaltura outlines six essential strategies to make them more enticing and engaging with the right set of video tools and capabilities.Â
Half a year after the coronavirus outbreak triggered the first cancellations of major industry conferences, it’s clear that virtual gatherings have become the new norm. More than two-thirds of marketers say that barring a vaccine, they’ll be staying awayOpens a new window from in-person events at least through the summer of 2021.Â
While the same survey revealed that most virtual event attendees have been satisfied with the experience, there’s no denying that this new format has come with plenty of glitches and room for improvement. With some events stumbling overOpens a new window dull and repetitive content and awkward interpersonal interactions, there’s undoubtedly a need for innovation and the opportunity to redefine events as we know them.Â
Virtual events have much value to offer and are here to stay – even in a post-pandemic world. As industries turn their focus towards primarily virtual gatherings, here are six strategies for making your virtual events more engaging and appealing.
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1. Use Video Tools to Facilitate Better Networking
Given concerns about awkward virtual interactions, it’s imperative that event organizers utilize tools for facilitating more natural conversation and commiseration.Â
Fortunately, a wide variety of such tools exist, including live chat features on most video platforms, which enable attendees to see who else is present and offer the ability to invite fellow attendees to private chats or personal virtual meeting rooms. Features like commenting and one-click emotional reactions on sessions, chats, or shared content can also add to a sense of community and create a vibrant feedback loop.Â
Virtual round-tables or break-out rooms where attendees can convene in more intimate – and even informal – settings can foster the more in-depth, collaborative discussions and networking that in-person events particularly excel at. Focused networking lounges in break-out rooms can give attendees a space to discuss specific topics or interests, share notes and content, and easily continue discussions post-event. Offering options to schedule one-on-one discussions with keynote speakers and other attendees of interest can also foster greater engagement. These tools can make virtual networking a lot more exciting and more accessible to attendees.
2. Create Meaningful and Memorable Experiences with Interactive Features
The last thing any attendee wants is to feel as if they’re passively consuming a virtual conference from their couch or home office, with no meaningful way to contribute to the event. Worse is if they feel like they’re being forced to sit through a series of videos that they could easily watch at a more comfortable time later. Therefore, it’s vital to find ways to enhance interactivity – which 49% of marketers agreeOpens a new window is the most important element of a successful virtual event.
Live polls, in-video quizzes, joint viewing rooms, and live workshop sessions can all make attendees feel like active participants in a virtual event or conference, while also infusing the experience with some much-needed fun and socialization.
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3. Harness Analytics to Measure Engagement and Success
Are an event organizer’s virtual engagement tactics working? The hardest question budget owners ask in every event they attend, sponsor, or host is how they get data on determining the success of the event. It is really hard to measure in-person events. The only way to know is to employ analytics tools that remove the guesswork and actually deliver hard metrics. The fact that this is all happening online makes it so much easier to track and report on every interaction and meaningful engagement. No more chasing sales guys who pocket business cards instead of scanning leads – the data is all there.
Surveys of event attendees offer one way of gauging participants’ sentiments, with the findings of these polls helping guide decisions about future event content. But if organizers are equipped with analytics software, this isn’t necessary; such solutions enable organizers to see which content is consumed and by whom, while also measuring the peaks and valleys of user engagement during each session. No doubt that this is a key advantage of virtual events over in-person ones.
4. Personalize Content to Make it Truly Unforgettable
Among the most common complaints about virtual events to date has been that they’re highly manufactured and repetitive, serving up “more of the same.†But as every event organizer knows, the secret to creating content that resonates with audiences is to make each person feel like that content was crafted especially for them.
Employing tools based on artificial intelligence and machine learning, event organizers can create personalized event experiences for each attendee – directing them toward sessions and networking activities tailored to their particular interests, roles, and industries, for example. This personalized approach can even extend to the sponsors; connecting with the most relevant audiences, spending time with the right attendees that have a real need for their offerings, and making sure that attendees only see ads and sponsored content that’s relevant for them is likely to lead to relationships between sponsors and attendees.
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5. Offer Flexibility with Recordings
For registrants who can’t make the event in real-time, organizers should make shareable event recordings that enable registrants to watch the event anytime, anywhere and even to share specific moments of interest with their peers and teams. By never expiring content, virtual events can add an important new value to organizers and attendees by extending the lifetime of the event with the opportunities to continue to interact – whether it be with partners, speakers, sponsors, or attendees – after the actual event has passed. The flexibility that virtual events offer keeps the event alive for years to come.
Because events can be recorded automatically, distributing event content through more channels to larger audiences is remarkably simple – and with captions, translation, and transcriptions, the content can be even more accessible globally. If attendees of an in-person conference once had to choose between one break-out session or another if they were scheduled at the same time, that dilemma is eliminated by the availability of event recordings, on-demand content, and continued opportunities to connect and interact after the event in the same virtual venue.
This level of flexibility – which traditional events haven’t been able to offer – can help attract a more diverse audience, one that isn’t limited by geography, travel budgets, or other logistical barriers.
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6. Focus on the ROI
There’s no doubt that the shift to virtual events has been a big money-saver for many organizations – eliminating travel and venue costs and enabling organizers to host many more people across the globe than would be possible for an in-person setting. But while event spends may be down dramatically, it’s still crucial to make sure that attendees and sponsors are getting value for their money and time.
Signing world-class keynote speakers, offering high-quality streaming, and including ample opportunities for meaningful networking can all go a long way toward making virtual events truly beneficial for all parties.Â
If organizers’ goal is to replicate the in-person event experience, they’re setting themselves up for failure. The two formats are radically different, and what works for one doesn’t easily translate to the other, as many have discovered over the past few months. But by focusing on developing well-produced, engaging, and innovative virtual events, organizers can nevertheless deliver an experience that’s even more valuable.
Getting virtual events right isn’t simply important for navigating the next several months. As we all become used to video-based communication and virtual experiences, our expectations and preferences have begun to shift for the long term. Moreover, the pandemic has spurred executives to rethink long-term corporate travel budgets, meaning that even after COVID-19 subsides, virtual convenings will be the new norm – in either a completely virtual or in hybrid form. Now is the time for event organizers to perfect the virtual formula – and with the right tools and a commitment to experimentation, they’ll be well on their way to doing so.
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