The year 2020 opened many opportunities for the events technology and Virtual Events is one of them. Numerous event planners have gone virtual this year and started relying on Virtual Event tools for day to day work or virtual events in general. Below are the highlights to host a successful Virtual Conference. Take a look:
What is a Virtual Conference?
A Virtual Conference is not a basic Virtual Meeting or a webinar. They are usually multi-day events, are hosted virtually and include keynotes speakers, panel discussions, LIVE shows, training, product demonstrations and much more. A Virtual Conference can be a great addition to an in-person event or can run at an only virtual event.
Why host a Virtual Conference?
A Virtual Conference helps organizations reach out to a broader audience and engage a larger number of participants when they are spread across the world, especially now when travelling isn’t an option. Virtual Conferences can help organizations build brand awareness, further networking opportunities, be an audience retainer and much more.
How to create or host a successful Virtual Conference at your Virtual Event?
There are many tools and applications available in the market that help in connecting with a broader audience. But these lack the features or pre-requisites needed for a full-fledged Conference that looks or feels like an in-person one. Here is a checklist that you must refer to before you go ahead and sign up with a Virtual Events Technology partner who can help you set up a Virtual Event/Conference.
- Landing Page
- Host Multiple Speakers
- Allowing maximum number of attendees
- Screen Sharing option
- LIVE Q&A Option
- Event Record
- Audience Analytics
- Feedback from the Attendees
Apart from the above, you can have a moderator for your Virtual Conference or pre-recorded videos or advertisements for an improved virtual conference experience.
Virtual Conferences are 90% about the tech as compared to in-person conferences. A basic conference set up would require live streams, virtual booths and a production setup.
Virtual Conferences are 90% about the tech as compared to in-person conferences. A basic conference set up would require live streams, virtual booths and a production setup.
Divide the Topics to have a multiple sessions
It would be a wise option to cover all the topics related to the conference at one go. Although, there is an option of hosting parallel sessions in a Virtual Conference. Select your panel beforehand, rather than having just one speaker and let your audience gain more from the Virtual Conference.
Promote your Virtual Conference
The first and foremost rule of any Virtual Event is for it to be marketed or promoted properly for it to be a successful one. Promote your conference on all social media channels, you can also choose additional email marketing and this way you can have a substantial audience attending your Virtual Conference.
Increase Your Engagement at your Virtual Conference
Of course, the relevant content is going to keep your audience hooked to the Virtual Conference. However, real-time engagement or LIVE polls can also help you see an increase in the Virtual Conference engagement. These real time options forge the real conferences experience that in turn help you increase user experience.
Post Conference: What can be done?
It usually depends on the organizer on what can be done or needs to be done following the conference. Firstly, the recordings of the event can be made available to the audience for a specific amount of time. Along with that, a feedback or survey form can be attached in the Virtual Conference area, for the user or attendee to scribe their thoughts about the conference or what can be done to make the conference better.
A successful Virtual Conference can be executed if you have the right event plan and Virtual Event Platform in place. Make sure you follow the key pointers, connect with your speakers in advance and use the right virtual tools to keep your audience engaged. This will surely enable you to host a successful Virtual Conference without any hassle.
ibentos helps you build and reimagine your conferences and event programs the virtual way. Want to talk to us?