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What are your top three tips for planning a successful virtual event?
With the Virtual Event Summit coming up in January 2011 (www.virtualedgesummit.com), would love to get people's top tips for planning a successful virtual event.
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- The Tricks to Paid Media June 6 @ 11 am PT
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3 Answers
Among many things that contribute to a successful virtual event, here are three simple factors that are critical to your success:
CREATE OUTSTANDING CONTENT
In the virtual world, where is is very easy for attendees to turn their attention to other activities, content, as well as the delivery is king. Select interesting speakers, engaging subjects, and timely themes that resonate with your audience. Invite industry experts, customers, and preferably at least one high profile speaker who can draw a crowd. Limit each webcast session to 20 minutes or less; it’s better to have multiple shorter sessions than a few long ones as the information is more consumable for an online audience. When developing the program agenda, remember to leave some time in between sessions to allow the attendees to network, collaborate, or simply peruse the virtual environment.
DRIVE REGISTRATION
Start to promote your virtual event 60 – 90 days before the event date. Execute an integrated campaign using email, online advertising, e-newsletters, and social media tools such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Work with partners for promotional opportunities. Depending on your promotion timeframe, send out at least two to three invitation emails. In addition, send reminders to all registrants one week before, one day before, and the day of the event. Combine your registration with an industry poll, survey, or offer a prize incentive. If you have enough time, ask your audience for input on the agenda. We recently produced a virtual event where, through an online poll, it allowed the audience to vote for the topic for its keynote speaker. Remember the earlier you launch your campaign, the greater the chances of higher attendee registration. Keep promoting until the morning of the live event.
FOLLOW UP
For free events, typically 50% of registrants attend the live virtual event. Your follow-up plan must include getting the other 50% to attend the event on-demand. Send out a ‘thank you’ and a ‘sorry we’ve missed you’ email a day or two after the event. Summarize key findings and outcomes from the event. Run another integrated campaign to promote your on-demand event using targeted email, online advertising, SEM, and other components. Launch a survey to your attendees, sponsors and organizers to gauge their opinion of your virtual event. Keep the conversation going on your social media channels, providing your audience with insights gained at the event.
For starters, I would like to share that I run marketing and client strategy at INXPO, the Virtual Business and Event Platform. That said, I believe the three most important aspects of any event, virtual or otherwise are:
THE RIGHT PLAN: A virtual event is still an event and needs to start with clear objectives and strategy: This one often sounds obvious, but you want to make sure you are using virtual for the right reasons. Start by asking yourself these 6 questions:
1. Are you looking to cut costs?
2. Do you want to improve communication and productivity?
3. Are you seeking new revenue?
4. How should this be integrated with existing tactics and events?
5. Do you have one-time or year-round programmatic event needs?
6. Should you do a hybrid or standalone event?
ENGAGE YOUR COMMUNITY: Look at your community, not as just a single outside audience to reach, but as three concentric rings of relationships. Consider this three ring approach:
1. get executive management support and buy-in by clearly communicating the business benefits of the technology
2. motivate your staff and employees to become active advocates in the process through recognition, incentives and opportunity to contribute content and ideas
3. and then engage your partners and customers to help build momentum, marketing and spread the word about your event by including them in the content, development and benefits of the event
This three-ring approach will help ensure success by bringing engaged people to the event and encouraging them to actively contribute to content, conversation and marketing through their own networks as well. prospects. By engaging each group successively, you have a much better chance of success
MOTIVATING CONTENT & CONVERSATION:
The old media phrase content is king applies to the extent that your community is engaged in helping to build and expand on the content through a well designed experience that encourages conversation AND collaboration to turn ideas into action that businesses can use. Your technology and your experience design needs to accommodate active dialog throughout, integrate social media tools and feature opportunities for smaller worksessions and collaborative activities to help make the most of this emerging technology.
We provide a complete Virtual Playbook at www.INXPO.com/resources
Cheers, m
Michael Westcott
The top three simple factors that are critical to your success at a virtual event are:
PROMOTION OT THE EVENT:
This kind of event demands a more direct and clearer pre and post promotion work, but mostly centralized and coordinated.
CREATE VALUE CONTENT:
You need to design an event strategy and try to create a “virtual experience” So think what your attendees would like to receive at the event and develop the content.
BETTER USE OF THE "POST EVENT"
Promotion, specific actions (questions and answers sessions by the speakers, use of discussion forums, possibility to relate the virtual trade show to an RSS system).
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