10 Ways to Improve Your Online Events

I'm lucky to have so many great online event hosts in my network - and I asked 10 of them to each share a tip for you.

1. When running the event keep eye contact with your camera, not the screen itself. This way people will feel you're giving them individual attention and it makes it more engaging for them. Kate O’Neill, Recruitment Coach, Trainer & DISC Specialist.
2. Subtitles are a one thing has an impact on audience retention. I recommend Speakers add their own subtitles to their presentation then, what the audience is reading is aligned to what they are watching. Otherwise, if there is a disconnect in cadence, it can result in audience members disengaging. Glenn Martin, ?Founder & CEO of Never Mind The Job Spec.
3. Many event organisers are employed, so paid for their time and expertise. Yet, they don't expect to pay speakers, thinking it's only online or that the speaker will gain exposure. Some may accept this but don't be surprised if those you contacted, because of the size of their network and influence, wish to be compensated for their time, expertise, and audience-pulling capability. Katrina Collier, Facilitator, Author, Memoirist & Speaker.
4. Event organisers very often feel the pressure to do everything, when they can share the work involved in publicising and extending the reach of online events.? Make your speakers more prominent, and consider them as partners. Between you and them, you have a considerably bigger network, and remember that their own network consists of those who are likely to want to see them speak, and will help too. Give your speakers the tools to promote their involvement in your event, by means of event graphics with their photo, or even video snippets as teasers, which you can tag them in, and they will easily be able to reshare. Stephen O'Donnell, Chief Growth Officer, TAtech.
5. When it comes to content, we can sometimes be suckered into thinking the more we cram in, the more value we’re giving. In fact, the reverse is true – less is more. One main theme that has stemmed from your audience (you found out what they are thinking about right now) and then up to five messages within that theme. You won’t keep an audience if you bombard them with facts and figures – give them time to savour and absorb your messages. Mike Ames, Founder and Scalability Consultant and Coach, ?Flair Business Growth Consultancy.
6. Create a one page pdf that gives your guest presenters everything they need to know about the logistics of the event, your expectations and their role. Angela Cripps, MD/Owner at the Recruiting Gym.
7. Directly address the audience. if you want more engaging virtual events, the moderator needs to let the audience know that they are a welcome part of the show. Youtubers and Twitchers have long understood the need to be inclusive in this way - it's way past time for industry webinar hosts to do the same. Hung Lee, Curator, Recruiting Brainfood.
8. At College Recruiter, we first tried, with some success, audio-only podcasts to help us better reach and engage with our customers. In the spring of 2022, we migrated them to video podcasts live-streamed on LinkedIn, YouTube, and Facebook. Viewership immediately increased 5-10 fold. Steven Rothberg, Founder, Chief Visionary Officer, keynote speaker, recruitment marketing, talent acquisition, podcast host.
9. Run a survey prior to the event and ask people what interests them most in relation to the topic at hand, let them know that their concern is on a list of questions that will be addressed prior to and during the event. Post event, write a synopsis of questions asked and answered, and circulate it to everyone who signed up. This lets those who signed up know that they are being heard and increases the chances that they will participate (or at least sign up) for the next event. Jim Stroud, EditorEditor. SourceCon.
10. Make sure you arrange the online event in such a way?that you can easily repurpose the content. Can you clip the video easily into bit-size?chunks to use on social? Can you download transcripts to turn into blogs?? A few hours of a webinar recording could keep you in relevant content for months if planned properly. James Whitelock, Managing Director, ThinkinCircles LTD

Author: Louise Triance, Head of Customer Success, Crowdcast.