Grey Horse’s Guide to Throwing an Effective Online Event

As the summer of COVID-19 wanes, one thing is clear - the autumn of COVID-19 is upon us. Since we don’t seem to be getting back into conference spaces or event venues anytime soon, we thought we’d dig into what really makes an all-virtual event stand out from the crowd. 

At Grey Horse, all online events begin with two key considerations:

1. Participation. The internet is a participatory medium (Paul Ford’s 2011 essay to this effect is still our guiding principle), so organizers need to be really careful not to be “talking at” viewers. Instead, presenters and audience alike must be engaged in a conversation where everyone is talking to each other - with limits for style and technology. 
2. Engagement. An IRL event is successful and keeps your attention when all  of your senses are engaged, and that’s even more important for an online event when the possibilities for distraction are much higher. Depending on budget and expectations, engagement can be lavish (i.e. sending wine and a candle mailed to attendees), silly (costume themes like “fancy pajamas” or “wear your favorite wig”) or simple (send a Seamless gift card ahead of time so participants can eat lunch together in a breakout session).

Once you have the basics sorted, here are the secondary concerns you should take into consideration:

Don’t skimp on timing

We all know that our attention spans are shorter for online events, so keep that in mind when you plan your run-of-show. A good rule of thumb is 40 minutes on, 20 minutes off. For longer events, make sure you add in breaks for people to walk away from their cameras, as well as planning for socializing/chatting. 

Using the internet to your advantage

There’s a lot you can do with an online event that’s too hard to do in real life! Add an international perspective by booking speakers from around the world (just keep their time zones in mind when you plan), and market to people across the English-speaking world. You can also use the intimacy of the internet to your advantage by asking special guests to pop into breakout rooms and answer questions directly, and offer VIP face-time to guests that they wouldn’t ordinarily get to meet at a larger event. 

Choose the right host

The emcee is the MVP of any virtual event, but that means it’s a singular job and that person should not be tasked with any other jobs at the same time. The emcee is the #1 consistent point of connection for guests, and needs to be able to improv, to advise on technology (or immediately point a tech-challenged guest to someone who can help) and overall act as a traffic cop to keep the event moving and fun. 

Remember, people still want to have fun and have a good time socializing, so keep that in mind as an ultimate goal in the planning stages. 

For fundraisers and other high-touch-point events, think about how you can take the Table model and apply it to breakout rooms to improve stickiness, interaction, and court future donors. Ask your board to curate special rooms of 8-10 folks, then send them a special performer or VIP hello! Each room absolutely needs a host who can function as a “table host” like they would at a gala - and that person should make sure each person is participating and that the conversation is flowing smoothly. 

For VIP speakers and performers, you can send  gear packs with a ring light and a dedicated microphone so that their performances and talks have higher production value and can be recorded for later. You should aim to control what you can control and limit the variables because there are so many things you can’t do - but adding any technology that’s new to the user will need a run-through ahead of time!

These are all of the guidelines that we follow for our events - if you try any out, please let us know how it goes (or better yet, send us an invite!)