Yes, your virtual event must be rich with content. It must meet your objectives and strategy, while also generating buzz about your product or service.
But for the sake of your viewers (and yourself), DON’T make it boring!
Like it or not, virtual events are here to stay, even after COVD-19 is resolved. The industry is expected to grow tenfold in the next decade.
So, everyone’s hopping on the virtual event bandwagon. But here are some fresh suggestions to keep your virtual event from being like all the others:
Gamification
We love games. You love games. Everybody loves games.
Prior to the event starting, establish ground rules of a game to keep attendees listening and engaged. Then, dangle a prize to the winner.
Some game ideas include:
Bingo: Whether it’s the traditional spinning-basket version run by a host, or produced from speaker talking points during the event, Bingo is a way to drive participation and audience engagement. There are many online platforms to create custom digital Bingo games, including BingoMaker.com.
Trivia: At various intervals throughout the presentation, ask the audience a trivia question – typically, the question would center around the topic being discussed, but it’s also fun to ask off-the-wall questions, such as “How many miles is the Earth from the Sun?” To thwart Google cheaters, answers must be submitted within a very short time interval, and the first to answer correctly wins the round.
Scavenger Hunt: As GirlsGuidetoPM.com so eloquently outlines, hosting Scavenger Hunts before or during the event is a great team-building exercise, and it might work best for events with fewer participants. Decide on a theme, keeping in mind that it should be relatively easy yet interesting to complete.
Incentives
Giveaways always drive engagement. People love free stuff.
The prizes must be teased during your attendance acquisition campaign(LINK), and should be mentioned upon kickoff and throughout the event. There are many ways to incentivize attendees with gifts, such as generating more engagement by awarding great questions or random drawings.
Engagement can be effective when offering multiple, smaller gifts throughout the session, but attendees are more likely to stick around until the end if there’s one major prize given away to one lucky winner. Either way, the attendees should feel the gift(s) are attainable.
Gift cards are obvious, but other prizes might include discounts or free trials to the event’s product/service. Even more unique, you could offer physical delivery of prizes to the winner’s door.
Mystery Guests/Entertainment
Speakers or entertainers during virtual events are generally pre-defined and one of the major drivers of registrations. They are key to your attendee acquisition campaign(LINK).
Add an element of surprise by alluding to a surprise guest speaker or entertainer within pre-event promotions. Then, on the day of the event, reveal the guest to generate last-minute registrants.
The guest could be a rock star within your industry, or it could be for entertainment purposes only. In any case, audiences will appreciate the unexpected nature of the segment.
It’s important to note that, regardless of speaker, we recommend devoting no more than 20 minutes to each guest. Unlike in-person events, virtual events must be snappy – viewers have more distractions, and separating speaker segments by 15 to 20-minute intervals will generate higher attendee retention and engagement.