Five ways SMBs can give virtual events an IRL vibe

By Liz Marxen & Ally Masi

2022 is shaping up to be our third year of digital-first event programming, making it more important than ever for B2B event marketers to design gatherings that are distinct, intentional, and relevant. We’ve come a long way from the early days of COVID, when event professionals became TV producers overnight and moved from fumbling over Zooms to producing high-quality content for large conferences. But that highly-produced format does little to recreate the magic of IRL events – the random meetings, impromptu brainstorms, and live banter. What’s more, that kind of event often involves significant production costs.

Customers are desperate to connect, but they’re also sick of Zoom roundtables. How can small and mid-size businesses (SMBs) create purposeful engagement with limited resources? Read on to see the mix of strategy and technology the Salesforce SMB team used to create a live virtual event attendees called “the closest thing to in-person since the pandemic started.”?

1. Create an agenda in real time

For our annual SMB leadership summit, we wanted to engage VP+ customers in a way that was totally different from our usual webinars and roundtables. We heard over and over that executive customers wanted to collaborate with each other – yet we saw declining participation in breakout sessions designed to do just that.

Enter the idea of a Spontaneous Think Tank .? Instead of having prescribed breakout rooms, we built an agenda in real-time with our 200+ attendees, allowing us to focus on the topics that people really wanted to discuss.?

• First, we crowdsourced topics from attendees in a virtual “post-it note” session via Mural . Customers outlined their top challenges on one side of the board; then people who’d solved those challenges added their names next to it. These self-identified leaders became potential breakout facilitators.?
• Next, a behind-the-scenes team reviewed the crowdsourced topics, identified top themes, and matched up the volunteer facilitators. (We partnered with Haute , who designed this proprietary format.)
• Finally, while the behind-the-scenes team worked to set the agenda, we hosted a 30-minute keynote on mental strength featuring Peloton’s Robin Arzon.?

Attendees loved the opportunity to work with peers to set the agenda and problem-solve on the fly. This strong start led to increased engagement throughout the event.?

2. Reframe expectations

Your event begins from the moment a potential attendee opens the invitation, and a new format means you’ve got to prime your attendees from that very first touch.?

According to Priya Parker , author of The Art of Gathering, “an invitation is not simply a pretty carrier of logistics. It’s the carrier of a story.” She goes on to explain that an invitation should prepare guests for why you’re bringing people together, what they can expect, and what role they might play. Sure, logistics are a vital part of any invitation – but the wording, style, and format also help set the tone, generate excitement, and help you arrive at an ideal group.?

We managed our registration and communications via Splash , which helped us create a look-and-feel with branded templates, target our audience with scheduled campaigns, and ensure attendance with efficient reminders.

3. Don’t be afraid to take it live?

The Spontaneous Think Tank format was a big part of our success, but the event truly stood out thanks to the virtual platform we chose: Welcome . Welcome helps companies host interactive, broadcast-quality productions without a production agency, unlocking extra savings.?

We chose this platform because it’s intuitive, beautifully designed, and made for attendee interaction, making it the perfect way to uplevel the Spontaneous Think Tank experience. We were able to include graphic overlays, including lower thirds, and pre-recorded video snippets during the event with a push of a button. The chat features imitate Slack, and on-stage Q&A and polling increased audience engagement. We utilized the lounge room features to allow attendees to choose their own sessions or participate in “listen only” mode. Plus, the sleek design is a clear departure from Zoom.?

While this option comes with a greater cost than using your company’s Zoom license, it’s more cost effective than working with a production agency to achieve a similar experience. And the results were outstanding.?

4. Put customers at the center of the event

It’s ok to break the rule of using pre-selected internal leaders and allow customers to take the reins. We elected to use customer experts to lead the Spontaneous Think Tanks. Customers volunteered in real time to lead sessions that they felt qualified to lead; this created a real sense of ownership throughout the event.

Before the event, we prepared chat prompts and polls to align with the showflow, making sure we had touchpoints during all the key moments. We teased giveaways throughout the event to keep people engaged and participating; for our “grand prize,” we called the customer “on stage,” much like you would in a live event. And while this certainly involved advanced planning, be sure to leave room for spontaneous chatting.

We peppered short customer videos throughout the event, which gave us an additional point of contact in the video production process and allowed customers to hear directly from other customers.??

5. Put the data gold mine to work

An additional outcome for us was a wealth of information, direct from the customer. The Mural board provided a brain-mapping visualization of everything that’s top of mind for customers and the current challenges they’re facing. Notetakers in each breakout room captured our customers’ general challenges, concerns, and advice; these topics were used for direct follow up and future content development.

And not only do these results fuel our content, they’ll also power our future events as we strive to find the ideal mix of technology, collaboration, and programming to give every virtual gathering an IRL vibe.?

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