Top Tech CMOs Share Their Best Advice For Virtual Events

For the past few years I worked with some very talented events professionals (Steve Palmison and Alyssa Cox) to produce more than 100 events a year in an industry that was very reliant on connecting face to face to do business. Shortly after starting a new role in a new industry with similar expectations for meetings and events, business as usual changed as we all had to adapt how we support our customers and build our businesses. 

John Mellor, Domo’s Chief Strategy Officer, recently shared how events in this time of COVID need to blend the scale of digital with the connection of in-person events. I asked some of my favorite marketing leaders how they are doing this. Here’s their advice: 

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The biggest surprise to me has been just how impactful our #CMOOfficeHours sessions have been with little production quality. As marketers we are tempted to invest in high production all the time - shipping ring lights and higher capability cameras to each presenter, for example. Our sessions have been on Zoom, with no agenda, completely driven by audience Q&A. There's something to be said about authenticity, vulnerability, and genuine connection during a time when people seem to need it most. - Anthony Kennada, CMO at Front (previously CMO at Gainsight) 

Find as many interactive elements as possible. You can have group chat enabled during digital events, so that participants can engage with one another. You could also create a hashtag and have a feed of that hashtag embedded in the event, so that people can see that and then leverage Twitter to amp up engagement and promotion of their attendance. Additionally, I’m hearing about a lot of companies creating a dedicated slack channel for audience members of digital events and including that in the digital event experience. - Cheri Keith, Head of Strategy at on24 (Previously Principal Analyst, head of webinar and event strategy at Forrester) 

We need to bring back a sense of normalcy to virtual events. Host a happy hour where everyone gets dressed up and has fun before your event. Schedule open Q&A sessions with your panelists after a session into your agenda, it is a great transition point. Connect everyone and keep the conversation flowing in your event app. Giving attendees the opportunity to network frequently during your event is a must. A virtual event without networking is just a webinar. - Corey McCarthy, CMO at Socio (previously VP Marketing at Beekeeper) 

Webinars need to be a lot shorter than live presentations. The audience starts tuning out after about 25 minutes. Use several different presenters and make sure to include interactive elements like polls and surveys to keep the audience involved. At the end of the day, the most important thing is the value of your content. You earn the attention of your audience by respecting their time and providing high-value insights and educational content. - Denise Persson, CMO, Snowflake (previously CMO at Apigee) 

People can only look at a screen for so long before becoming fatigued, or worse yet...bored. Engage attendees in your digital events by tailoring the content. Keep your points crisp and the visuals uncluttered. If you're anxious about covering everything, create secondary links attendees can access if they want to go deeper. Map out content in timed increments and mix mediums between speaker, slides, video and two-way conversation.- Hollie Wegman, EIR at Redpoint Ventures (previously VP Marketing at Segment) 

Develop it like an experience, not a webcast, where attendees can learn, interact and be entertained. Host the event in a way that guides your audience through the experience. Add keynotes and videos that appeal to learning and to entertainment and include sessions or breakouts for deeper understanding. Add a way for your audience to interact with one another through social postings, voting on areas of interest and interactive polling. And have fun delivering the content so your audience enjoys it as well. - Kathie Johnson, CMO at Talkdesk (previously SVP Marketing at Salesforce) 

We developed the TOPO Virtual Summit from concept to event in 3 weeks and had over 2,000 people register. The biggest driver of success was being able to move quickly on producing the event, given the demand for actionable content that can be used today. Every decision that was made was about getting the content faster to our community. Virtual events provide the speed and reach our community needs right now. When we look back 3-9 months from now, I believe those that moved quickly, decisively and took managed risks along the way will be the winners. - Kevin O'Malley, VP Marketing at TOPO (previously VP Marketing at Salesloft) 

You can bring a little surprise and delight to a virtual event with an at-home care package or #UberEats delivery to their door. Connecting with your brand is an important part of in-person events. - Meagen Eisenberg, CMO at TripActions (previously CMO at MongoDB)

Limit the number of attendees to keep the events intimate and enable open and free-flowing discussions. Ditch the Powerpoint. We encourage everyone to have their Zoom video on for the face-to-face interaction. Make sure that the discussion topics are relevant to today’s top challenges, specifically around the uncertainty COVID has created. Finally, tap your internal subject matter experts to host the discussions. It has been a great opportunity for attendees to ask their hardest questions to our seasoned executives. - Nick Bennett, Head of Field Marketing at Clari and Mayra Delgado, Head of Digital Field Marketing at Clari

Right now it's less about perfection and on-brand and more about personal and human interaction. Instead of virtual events with 1,000 people, I'd rather do 20 person VIP events and in-person LinkedIn lives consistently to create intimate relationships with my customers and future customers. Anyone who focuses on building a relationship with trust, safety, and care right now on a consistent basis will drive massive outcomes in the future. - Sangram Vajre, Chief Evangelist and Co-Founder at Terminus (previously Head of Marketing for Pardot)

At Unleash we incorporated Slido into our panels session which attendees loved so they could ask questions in real-time and upvote their favorite ones. We also created an event slack channel with an AMA section where all our speakers went to answer more questions after their session. It was great to get the feeling of community going. - Scott Barker, Evangelist at Outreach (previously head of partnerships and events at Sales Hacker)

You need to design the right experience for each audience. Executive level programs need to be small and intentional. We’re focusing on facilitating and curating peer to peer knowledge sharing with this group. Larger scale programs with thousands of people need to be designed to keep everyone's attention! No more than 20 minute sessions and keep the chat active. Curated networking is a critical element in the platforms you should select. - Sydney Sloan, CMO, SalesLoft (previously CMO at Alfresco) 

Don't make it a webinar. Don't use virtual backgrounds. People aren't looking for a buttoned-up show right now. They want an intimate, authentic, human experience. Make it fun and scrappy. Get the audience involved. Give away fun swag, just like you would have at a field event. Get live entertainment. Involve the audience in any way you can - 1x1 networking sessions, small-group breakout sessions, Q&A panels. That's the only way you'll get them to attend the live event and stick around. - Udi Ledergor, CMO at Gong (previously VP Marketing at Yotpo) 

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I feel fortunate to be navigating this quickly-changing environment with Matt Lawson, Carla Clements and the rest of the Juniper Square team. We’ve hosted everything from small peer-to-peer executive conversations to large-scale live broadcasts - and have a lot more planned in the weeks ahead. It’s been remarkable to watch our community share what they’re learning with each other. I’m excited to incorporate some of the ideas shared above and am grateful for everyone who was generous in sharing their insights and experience. 

What have you found helpful in creating virtual events that blend the scale of digital with the connection of in-person events? I’d love if you could share your thoughts with the community in the comments below.