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Ever since the recent pandemic hit us hard, the number of organisations planning virtual events has doubled. As the acceleration of the digital world became more apparent, so are the challenges. Most businesses reported difficulties in retaining audience engagement, the interaction between participants, and a lack of technological infrastructure. Another contributing challenge is also the demographic of the audience that is not technologically savvy.
With that being said, there are ways to spice up your virtual event and increase engagement. Here are three things to do to make your next virtual event a huge success!
Know Which Type of Virtual Event Suits Your Business Best
Depending on the number of attendees, keynote speakers, and the purpose of your virtual event, certain types of virtual events may suit you best. For instance, events with more than 200 attendees may benefit from holding a webinar – where only the speakers are shown through video and audio, but attendees can only interact through chat, polls, or the occasional audio. Live webinars are held in real-time, however on-demand webinars are recorded and can be distributed for replays within different time zones and devices.
Virtual conferences make up an alive, complex agenda that includes sessions, breakouts, keynotes, and others. They include multi-session content and can utilise community engagement tools. If your purpose is to gather more than 500 attendees with multiple main sessions and breakout sessions, then this is for you. It’s important to keep in mind that virtual conferences require a more advanced technological infrastructure and investment.
Hybrid events are a combination of live in-person events with virtual components, which can be live or pre-recorded. This is a great choice when your attendees are within a demographic that is less technologically savvy. Traditional in-person event structure can still be incorporated, whilst allowing attendees that are unable to physically attend to still reap the benefits of the event.
Last but not least, networking events are intended for just that – networking. Especially with more offices transitioning to online, building trust and teamwork within employees are crucial to the business’ productivity. Virtual networking events can aid employees to know more about each other, work better together, and form a stronger bond. It is important to note that ideally, this type of event will be casual or semi-casual to create a relaxed virtual atmosphere.
Include Games Within Sessions
Whichever type of virtual event you choose, games can still be engaging parts of your event. The wheel-of-names can be ideal for larger audiences, in which you get to input attendees’ names and let the wheel choose a random name. You may then ask icebreaker questions to the chosen attendee.
For smaller audiences, creating a virtual challenge for attendees to complete within groups can be fun. For instance, each group needs to find as many kitchen utensils as possible and show them in front of the camera. Holding a virtual fashion show could also be a great way to bond and have fun.
If for some reason, you may not want to include games in your virtual event, you could at least create a unique virtual background for all attendees to ignite a sense of belonging or unity.
Give Customised Promotional Products
What better way to make attendees feel appreciated than giving them something to remember you by? Not only that, quality promotional products can improve brand exposure, as attendees will most likely use or wear your corporate branded items. Especially when the event is virtual, attendees may not remember a lot of events due to the multitude of virtual meetings and events lately. Giving a customised product may lead them to remember and recall your brand or event better.
What Then?
Hopefully, this article has provided some useful information to add zest to your next virtual event! If you need to order promotional items, Promote It is always happy to help. We provide customised promotional products, whether they be personalised mugs NZ, custom design pens, or many more. If what you are looking for doesn’t exist on our website, contact us today and we will personalise it for you.
