With our lives being so consumed by media and communications, keeping your audience engaged has never been so tricky. Although the benefits of virtual events mean people from all over the globe can connect in ways that wouldn’t be possible otherwise, it can be trickier to keep attention on the event since attendees are surrounded by distractions and have the opportunity to easily click the exit button.
To make your next online event stand out amongst the rest, we’ve pulled together some engaging ideas to implement, getting everyone involved and creating an event to remember.
1. Make their opinion known
Everybody loves having their say, so introduce polls to keep all attendees involved and show that their voice matters. Whether you introduce a poll before the event begins to find out what everybody would like to get from the event or include live polls to keep everyone’s attention, allowing everyone to contribute is a great way to build up audience participation.
2. Introduce well known names
Just like it would at a physical event, famous names are a great way to draw in attendees. Whether you invite an industry professional to run an educational session, live entertainment from music artists or an interactive Q&A session with a well known body, your event automatically has more value to potential attendees. From a business perspective, the fact that travel, accommodation and time does not become an issue means that it is easier (and cheaper) to find guest availability.
3. The power of social
Lets face it, the majority of us are active on social media channels in one way or another. Use this to your advantage by encouraging your audience to interact on social media, using your special event hashtag to gain some traction and reach a new audience base. Some ideas for engagement include sharing images which can be republished, asking questions for a live Q&A or entering an online competition for the chance to win a prize.
4. Bring in physical elements
Although virtual events don’t require physical assets, that doesn’t mean your attendees won’t appreciate a little treat turning up at their doorstep! Bring the virtual nature of the event together with little treats and goodies that can get everyone interacting online. Some great ideas include sending new products to test out, a goodie bag of mini treats and branded goods or even fun bits and bobs such as background decorations or cards which will be used for an online game. As well as making the event more interactive and fun, your audience will have lasting reminders of your event and the great memories.
5. Create small breakout rooms
To keep the event fun and stimulating, getting attendees chatting to each other is great for engagement purposes. By creating smaller rooms which host between 3-8 people, whether this be for discussion, games or team members, everyone can get involved in the event and play their part. To tie the smaller groups together, encourage each team to elect a spokesperson who can speak on behalf of each breakout room.
