Events in a Virtual World
What is a virtual event?
Virtual Events – These are events that take place, over the internet and has become very popular in the past few months, they replace more traditional events such as conferences and product launches.
It normally involves one or more speakers who would be presenting a product or giving a speech about a company and reporting on the state of the organisation to the employees. They used to be held in one location and would bring together teams to meet and develop products or consider the direction of the company, these events could take place all over the world and the company would be able to discuss the past, present and future of an organisation.
Could they take place now? yes is the simple answer but in a slightly different form.
There is a process that can help your organisation to continue to bring together all the departments of the organisation and create a very positive outcome for the company. This is by using a virtual event process. I would like to offer some key points, to help to discover the best route for your company with this style of presentation.
1. Decided on the event – if it a sales meeting or a conference, the bottom line is to know what you would like to create. A sales meeting to discuss the latest product, or a large conference to bring together different offices to one location. All these are now possible on the virtual event platforms.
2. Engage with a professional event producer or project manager. This producer or project manager will guide you through all the different options, they will bring the technology to you and create an event that the attendee will gain knowledge from and enjoy. They will be able to come back to you with a complete event including the main location and all the elements traditionally associated with an event.
3. Don’t worry about how the event will be viewed. This new form will liberate the attendees and give them the flexibility to relax at the event. They will engage more with this style more than before.
4. Take advice. The presentation skills in a virtual event are very different from a traditional event. The speaker might know a lot about the product, but if they do not connect with the audience via this communication method, the attendees will lose interest in the presentation. This could be thought of being in the traditional way of attending a conference but without personal interaction. Presenting to a camera is very different than to an audience and if the presenter does not present well, this can be very off putting. For example, I attended a talk once and the speaker used the phrase “you know what I mean?” this was very off putting, as we had attended the talk so she could explain the subject, we did not know what she meant and it became confusing. Allow the producer or project manager to have a creative input and advise you on the speaker style, and give direction to you and the speakers. Be assured they want your event to be the best, if you get the opinion they are not fully on board, use someone who will provide a good and beneficial professional service.
5. Embrace new technology, the limitations of smaller systems in creating an event is very apparent. They are great for small meetings, where you can see and hear a few people. But when events are on the large scale, this technology is unable to cope. There are companies who have products that take real time images, video and audio and can create virtual environments which can then be broadcast to the viewers. Companies like Green Hippo and Disguise are creating events with their servers that can have input from cameras and imagery, then mix together and output to multiple matrix's, such as monitors screens and into a virtual event. The producer or project manager should be able to put together the right package for your event and explain the benefits of the technology.
Contact Chris Watts to discuss and develop your event, with over 40 years of experience in the entertainment industry, he can bring a creative and professional element to your organisation and event.