How to Turn Physical Events to Successful Virtual Events?

Posted July 31, 2020

With what’s happening right now, all types of events took a different turn. The pandemic has forced people, companies, and businesses to change almost immediately from the traditional day to day work and events to virtual tools and online options.

From team meetings to corporate events, companies, and businesses need to do it virtually, if they don’t they’ll be left out. We’ve been practicing online meetings and conferences even before the pandemic hits.

We always watch live streaming, we call our friends over skype, and we communicate online. But why is there a pressure on virtual events now? Aren’t we used to do it before?

That is because physical events are still effective and the only time we do it online is if we want to connect to people who can’t physically be there. However, right now EVERYONE can’t physically attend the event.

So, the backup or the additional part of events has now become a big part of the show. You now have to make your events successfully online.

What is a Virtual Event?

Virtual events are like your average events but done online. It can be your regular team meeting, your conference, seminars, or panels but without having participants be in one place.

With the current situation, virtual events replace your traditional and physical events. Your seminars became webinars and your meetings are now done online.

Here are some examples of a virtual event:

Webinar – it’s a web-based seminar wherein a speaker or group of speakers interact with each other, do presentations, and utilize other interactive online tools to engage with the attendees.
Virtual Summits/ Conference – a collaborative event where a host will interview or a handful of speakers, much like what you’ll do at a traditional conference.
Virtual Panels – a group of talents or influential people being joined to share experiences and answer questions while having it online or live stream.
Online Meetings – a group pf people collaborating online regarding work or other reasons. Usually used to replace regular work meetings.

What can I get from Virtual Events?

Although changes can be hard sometimes especially if it’s something that should take effect immediately, it can always be for the betterment of the involved parties. Transitioning from physical events to virtual may need some moments to get used to, but the result will be at par or maybe higher than traditional events.

One of the advantages that you can get from a virtual event is the expenses that will be removed from the event’s budget. You don’t have to travel speakers around, book hotel rooms for them and you don’t have to rent a venue for it. Plus, there’s no need for catering or food expenses too.

If done correctly, the result can be outstanding, high-quality leads can be collected from the event, and sponsors will line up and be present at your next event too.

How do you do a Virtual Event?

Choose your platform

When it comes to hosting a virtual event, you need to make sure that you have a seamless platform where you can have minimal to none technical issues. There are a lot of platforms available online depending on the type of event that you have.

There are some platforms for small events like online meetings and for large events for conferences and summits. It can be an application or software for your laptop or smartphone, the choices are endless.

However, there is one platform that stood out the most and you don’t have to download it at all. If you want to have seamless and high-quality webinars, choose JetWebinar. It’s an online platform that lets you host your big or small events.

The good thing about JetWebinar, is you can host a virtual summit or a webinar with limitless attendees. Your stream is downloaded directly to the cloud and can be accessible to all types of devices. That’s the platform you need, smooth, accessible, and interactive.

Opt to have it live in social media too

If you are doing a virtual summit and webinar that is available to the public with the same interests as yours, you should also opt for it to be streamed live.

Influencers and public speakers can use their chosen webinar platform and also do it live on their Facebook page. The main goal for public virtual events is to get your stream as far as possible and to as many people as possible.

You’re already doing a virtual event, why not take advantage of social media too?

Include pre-recorded high-quality videos

Just because you’re doing a virtual event means you can no longer do what you can do during a physical event. Of course, you can still include pre-recorded high-quality videos that will add value to your webinar or virtual summit.

You can ask another influencer to record a video of him or her to add more depth to your topics. Old videos that you use on your physical event can also be utilized.

Another example is asking your attendees to participate where they post a video of them with a message, answering a question, or asking a question while including a hashtag that is linked to your virtual event. It will give a big impact on your engagements.

Always have a host for events

If you are organizing a virtual event and don’t intend to really speak during the event, make sure that you’ll have a host. Hiring a host to talk, introduce, and moderate the flow of the topics is a big plus rather than having a presentation and having the speakers just line up during the session.

The host will also be responsible for welcoming the attendees and the speaker. It can be a recorded welcome video or during the virtual event itself. Having a host gives it the traditional event vibe but only seeing them through your screen.

Lastly, your host can help curate the content experience of both the speakers and attendees, they’ll be interacting and collaborating with them and will be responsible for doing Q&A and check-ins. So, if it’s a really big event hiring two hosts will be better.

Build a community in your Virtual Event

As we have mentioned a while ago, utilizing social media is a plus. You can promote your event through Facebook or Instagram and you can capture new followers.

By creating a Facebook page, you are encouraging people to engage with your brand, be updated, and be able to interact with other followers. You are creating a community through social media that can be present in your event and your event attendees that are not a follower yet can now be part of the community.

Another win-win situation for you!

Utilize Virtual Events tool

Virtual events involve using various online tools for promotion, communication, marketing, and payments. Aside from having a great platform to host your event, your team should be able to manage other tools to make sure that the output of your event is great.

Do not worry about your platform not being compatible with the tools that you’ll be using. JetWebinar integrates with a wide variety of applications across the Internet. Again, minimal to zero technical difficulties.

RELATED ARTICLE: TOOLS TO INCREASE WEBINAR ATTENDEES

What to focus on Virtual Events?

Brand Immersion

During traditional events, you’ll really feel all the brands involved in it. From posters, banners, print out materials. It’s everywhere. That’s how brands immerse their attendees.

Online events work differently. They use posts, live streams, social media ads, and interactive contests using their Facebook page and Twitter. That’s how you immerse people wit your brand when it comes to virtual events.

Physical Nuance

Traditional events let you see your attendee’s facial expressions clearer and you can have face to face interactions with your fellow speakers. These make it easier to trust and build harmony during the event.

The challenge is to still have that physical presence even during a virtual event. You can be more interactive with the attendees during the event. You can connect with your fellow speaker days before the event to know them more, create a plan, and be in sync with each other.

Keep them engaged

Just like regular events, the key to a successful virtual event is to keep your audience engaged. Have topics that peak their interests and don’t be afraid to add in a bit of humor in it.

Your viewer’s attention should be kept until the end of the event. There’s a reason why even youtube videos become shorter and shorter. It’s because the attention of people online is shorter.

Use eye-catching graphics, videos, witty and smart speakers, add more value to your content, these will avoid your viewers from jumping to a different virtual event.

Sponsorship

Transitioning to virtual events should not harm your sponsorship revenue. Sponsors can still be present in your virtual event just like your traditional scenarios.

Since a lot of activities are now done online, brands and sponsors also place their money online. Sponsorship can attract a lot of opportunities for monetary exposures, so be wise and level up your digital marketing game.

Conclusion

The transition may not be easy but with how things are right now, going virtual is the best way to keep the business running and companies alive.

By following the steps above, you’ll be able to have a better understanding of how to launch your own virtual event. Always remember that virtual events are just like your regular ones, the only difference is it’s online.

Ready to start your own virtual event? Click here.

Dianne Vimmel