Learnings from a Virtual Event

Okay! So, by now we all know that we have to pivot from on-field events to virtual ones. And well, mining success out of them is no child’s play. Even for those who are experts and specialized in executing on-field events, experimenting in unchartered terrain will definitely impact your brand perception.

We recently wrapped up a virtual event hosted by a software partner. Being Premium Sponsors, deliverables were plenty. I am happy to share a few learnings for hosting virtual events –  

-         Leverage a user friendly virtual event platform with easy plug-and-play of content for Sponsors at the backend. Even the self-proclaimed best of breed platforms are still evolving, and no platform is near-perfect till date. So, make sure you’re at it testing all functionalities and extending all available features to sponsors.

-         For sponsors, please sign up for a virtual event ONLY if you have, or, are quickly able to churn out quality video content. And remember, please keep the videos interactive and intriguing so that you don’t turn away the attendees without exploring further.

-         Poor turnout is often a challenge for virtual event organizers. It may be because of several reasons – dedicating a whole day / couple of days at an on-field event vis-à-vis convenience of working from the comfort of home and being online whenever desired. To avoid that, make sure to market the sessions well in advance, finalize and release the agenda along with speakers sooner, and open the registrations well in advance to enable the audience to create their own agenda.

-         Since it is online, enable easy scheduling and setting up of reminders for sessions the attendees have signed up for. They generally get busy during their day and miss the sessions very casually because they know the sessions will be available on-demand at a later stage.

-         Which brings me to the most interesting and debatable topic, TRY NOT TO EXTEND FREE REGISTRATIONS. This makes the attendees complacent. (I will cover and debate over this topic in detail in my subsequent article) If the attendees have paid for sessions, they will be forced to make the most of it and that’s when we would realize the true potential of an event.

-         Footfalls and Impressions are like cold leads for sponsors. Marketers are smart enough to know today that promises of 10000 impressions at a virtual event or 40000 footfalls at a field event don’t guarantee meaningful conversations.

-         Prepare the sponsors with enough training on how to utilize the virtual tradeshow / booth area well in advance so that they can manoeuvre smoothly during the event and have clear conversations.

-         Create a separate, secured space, calendarized with timings for the sponsors to conduct their meetings online so that there is a tangible take away from those booth interactions.

-         Make sure you don’t allow sponsors to peep into other sponsors’ conversation walls as there is always some member from the sponsor teams typically on a scavenging hunt for leads.

Same applies to sessions. Let not other sponsors be allowed to comment on the interaction walls of others’ sessions. Again, a typical mindset of piggybacking / tailgating to gain attention of prospects.

This comes from a personal experience. I have personally encountered this situation at the event when a solutions guy from an Indian, 3 lettered, $10Bn IT services giant tried selling their solutions by posting on our wall during our session. However, we made sure the moderator threw him out. But that’s not an ethical practice.

-         While the event is on, make sure attendees who generally land on the main page are aware of the ongoing / upcoming few sessions so that they can straight away move to that session if of interest. Let the attendees build their own agenda with reminders.

-         Provide enough opportunities for diverting attendees to sponsor booths. One way to do that is to host the sponsor sessions at their own booth which will take the attendees to their respective booths and also help them check out what’s on the booth to explore?

-         Give enough branding / ad / banner space for premium sponsors to showcase their presence apart from the sessions and the booth. Since online events are a little different, make sure you also promote key sessions of the sponsors apart from your own keynotes. This creates a distinction and offers value add to premium sponsors. And please make sure the booth / tradeshow area is operational and functional before the event starts. Sponsors would love to maximize any presence at the booth.

-         Which brings me to a topic for discussion again. At virtual events, there is generally no way to solicit / know real-time booth visitors. Providing access to real time visitors enables sponsors to optimize their outreach even if prospects have visited their booths and haven’t shown interest for whatever reason.

-         Try NOT to keep the event open for on-demand availability immediately after the event. Take some time. Make the on-demand sessions available after fifteen days or a month. This is beneficial in a couple of ways. The prospects keep in mind the sessions they want to watch again. And for your sponsors because when they reach out to prospects as a follow-up discussion, there are high chances that it may create a re-call in the minds of the prospects, and they connect with sponsors immediately.

-         Lastly, if you are hosting a game ending up in giveaways for the winners, you can get that giveaway sourced from the sponsors and make sure to announce the winners at a particular time so that everyone attends the short session and that also provides visibility to the sponsors. I would plug-in a gaming platform for premium sponsors to engage with their prospects. Afterall, sponsors are the reason why your event is taking place on a large scale in the first place.

These are a few top-of-mind learnings from the virtual events I have participated in so far.

Hope these are of value to your notes for preparing for your next big virtual event.

Feel free to discuss ideas, challenges you have faced or learnings you have taken back from organizing/attending virtual events in the comments section. OR write to me at [email protected] or simply inbox me to start a conversation.

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