As events continue in the virtual space for the foreseeable future, it is essential to keep your audience just as engaged as if they were attending an in-person event.Â
Part of the equation for hosting a successful online event is the equipment. If you are new to hosting events online, check out our blog post on how to improve the production quality of your event. Once you have that set up for your event, you are ready for the next step: keeping your audience engaged. Here are a few tips for you to captivate and motivate your attendees:
- Introduce your attendees to the event – If your event will include a series of live streams, you might first direct your attendees to a pre-recorded video that welcomes them to the event, explains your event’s schedule, and shows how to access all the content.
- Encourage posting on social media – Have attendees take pictures or selfies and use hashtags to post images during your event then select one or more to receive a prize.Â
- Mix up your formatting – Switch between lecture, interview, and panel discussion formats to keep attendees engaged; they can only watch so much of the same thing.Â
- Discuss – Post discussion questions and polls on relevant subjects that allow attendees to share their thoughts and then incorporate that into your talk or interview.Â
- Use an event app – Event apps help attendees stay in the loop with what is happening in the event. They can also provide valuable attendance tracking information and automate awarding CE/CEUs should you also provide continuing education credits and distribute certificates of completion.Â
- Facilitate attendee engagement: Some attendee apps like Conference Attendee provide a social network for the attendees. This allows them to interact with each other, ask questions, share files, and forge new connections.
- Add engaging graphics during your stream – Include attractive graphics to keep your attendees engaged with your content and encourage attendees to stick around. People who stream content regularly utilize graphics often as it has been proven to make your content more appealing to others.Â
- Get feedback after the event – Once your event is complete, continue to engage with those that attended; ask them what they liked and disliked and how the event could have been improved. Some event apps have surveying options built-in for this purpose.
We hope these tips will help you create a welcoming and engaging environment for your next virtual event. If you have other tips that you would like to share, post them in comments section below. Thanks.