Your face-to-face event has been canceled. Okay, now what?
You’ve decided to switch to a virtual option. Great! This should be easy, right?
Virtual events are not immune to Murphy’s Law – if something can go wrong, it likely will.
In fact, recent news headlines have either had you gasping in disbelief or laughing out loud at virtual meeting mishaps gone viral – everything from attendees forgetting they are miked and on camera to unexpected video-bombing in the background.
You can easily mitigate virtual meeting risks by simply hiring a professional virtual event planner to keep your virtual event on track.
Same Process with a Slightly Different Approach
Why you still need a professional planner for a virtual meeting even if you think you don’t…
Virtual events, though in theory might seem easier to produce than a face-to-face, they are not; do not be fooled by this assumption. Virtual events require the same level of coordination as an on-site, face-to-face event minus the travel and lodging management and plus the technical capabilities and expertise. And let’s face it – many of us don’t have those technical skills required to produce a flawless event.
Here are ways our Virtual Events Team can manage your virtual event and all the minute technical details in between:
Define Goals
Plain and simple – you need goals to know what needs to be accomplished. Like every event, you need to have goals defined in order to determine your strategy. And given that virtual events pose a lot of hurdles, every detail has to be considered in order to meet your goals.
Source the Platform/s
A lot of virtual event platforms out there just don’t cut it for producing a highly-professional virtual event that has no hiccups. Platforms are not one-size-fits-all when it comes to virtual meetings and it takes expertise to know how to sift through what’s available and determine the best fit for your event.
After your goals are determined, our team can source the best platform options or in some cases, a combination of several platforms, to ensure the right delivery for your event needs. This might include (but not limited to):
- Break-out sessions
- Live polling and questions
- Recording and editing to repurpose content
- Instant messaging
Plan the Experience
Yes, that’s right. Even a virtual event requires a thoroughly planned and designed experience. People are wired for experiences – including virtual ones. There’s very little room for error, lest you end up with a virtual event that your attendees are at best – distracted by any mishaps and at worse – leaving the meeting before it ends. Some considerations might include:
- Creating an engaging agenda that includes a perfect balance of breaks, conversation, brainstorming, feedback and more
- Understanding best practices for a more interactive experience
- Ensuring knowledge retention without presentation fatigue
- Accomplishing all event goals in a condensed timeframe
- Designing a tailored experience for your particular audience
Manage the Registration
Although your invitations may be a different format, your virtual event still requires:
- Customized registration
- Management
- Follow up
- Instruction
- Coordination
Virtual events have the potential of actually having a higher attendance rate if conducted properly. It helps to have a team of virtual planners working on your behalf to make sure that the registration is managed well from beginning to end.
Provide Technical Support
Even when the “show” can’t go on in-person, it still must go on virtually, which poses a lot of challenges for many companies that don’t have the in-house expertise and technical support that are truly essential to the success of the virtual event. This is a major component of the virtual event. It works just like an on-site event – but virtually. It requires a team of planners to:
- Format your presentations
- Coach your presenters
- Upload the content
- Design a meeting flow that aligns with the agenda
- Set up and manage the platform/s for both the user and the presenter
- Secure hosting and encryption
- Support any technical issues at the ready
- moderate the event
- And of course, bring it all together seamlessly without a glitch while juggling the many moving parts
Please, just take our word for it. We’ve been conducting virtual events for over 10 years now; we’ve gained the expertise and have the technical skillset that will save you the headache of going it alone virtually. Let our team help!
Reach out to us to learn more about how we can transform your face-to-face event into a dynamic virtual experience.
