How To Host A Successful Virtual Conference?
In response to cancellation of the events, the event industry was undoubtedly hit the hardest but it reacted almost immediately to the cause, making digital solutions stand out in the light. As face-to-face interaction is no longer a viable option, organisers prepared themselves to explore the new innovations and strategies that could cope up with the losses and tune in more success tails whenever they plan to organise an event online.
After the event industry had its fair share of losses, the second most affected industry was the working industry who failed to deliver their objectives to its audiences after the mass cancellation of events. To stay ahead of the time, the event organisers decided to take support from digital alternatives right away which surprisingly paid off well in almost every scenario.
The current social distancing guidelines have upscaled the demand for remote workings and have whisked us from living a normal lifestyle. This immediately sparked the demand for virtual events and virtual conferences. While change is never easy to adapt, many organisations witnessed new technological discoveries which tremendously helped them to connect with delegates from remote to global locations. Therefore, hosting a virtual conference can offer magnificent opportunities to planners and marketers which will likely increase the registrants number. This can be possible as digital solutions automatically eliminates the need of travelling and renting huge venues, or paying for print media and accommodations any more. To sum it up, virtual conferences can deduct the stress and burden of the costs from attendees and organiser’s heads while making it engaging and immersive for participants to join, gather information, and leave the meeting on a good note.
According to some stats presented by PCMA, almost 79 percent of event professionals are taking their events in a virtual space. And why not? It leveraged organisers to think outside the box and co-create the entire platform at their convenience via easy customisable services. From planning to promoting, and re-creating content that entices audiences from home, this blog will help you host the most outstanding and unforgettable virtual conference throughout your life! So let’s find out what it takes to plan the most successful virtual conference. Time to get started!
What is a virtual conference?
A virtual conference is no different from an offline conference. The only difference is that the virtual conference is totally hosted on a virtual event platform via internet connection. You can include panel discussions, live entertainment, educational training & sessions, showcase your latest brand offerings, put on an insightful session for audiences to allow them learning about the new trends and thought leadership, and the list goes on!
The main purpose of hosting a conference online is to generate more qualified leads, enhance brand visibility, build powerful connections, and reach & know the audiences better. Hence, virtual conferences are considered to be more resourceful than traditional conferences as it eliminates all the restrictions and makes it a great alternative, or companion for hybrid events.
How to run a successful virtual conference?
As more and more people get their hands on digital solutions, the demand and value for virtual conferences will likely increase. The market is currently filled with platforms offering virtual conference services, to the right option for your event ensure that you first know about the full history of the service providers and then choose the one which compliments your needs.
In the following segment, we have covered curative techniques that could help in taking your virtual conference to the next level while also maintaining the usefulness of in-person conferences. Let’s know them all step-by-step.
1- Have a clear event objectives laid in front of you
If you are aiming to get hold of wider audiences, having clear conference objectives is a must! This might help you multiply your capitals and provide you with better quality leads. Not just that, virtual conferences also make sure that your team abides by the set of rules and objectives you are targeting and offer valuable ROIs which can further enhance your events progress.
2- Have a clear topic for your virtual conference
After the hit of the novel coronavirus, people started looking for events that are fresh and informative in the market. By adding empowering context to your virtual event that could significantly convey your intended messages to the target audience can simply amplify your reach. Conduct a thorough research with your team members to know the market trends and deliver the same value and knowledge to your prospects as they are willing to attend.
To make it more interesting, you can also conduct a live polling on your social media or official website channels and allow attendees to answer the set of questions to make the conference more relevant to them.
3- Choose the right service provider
Imagine your planning and promoting part of the conference went well and many attendees enrolled at the event. But during the conference, a few of them didn’t show up and others left in a couple of minutes. This won’t create a good image of your conference and your future events may also face the similar consequences. Now to avoid that from the beginning, organisers must choose a service provider that may suit their needs and allow them a room for customisation. Ensure that your service provider has all the tools available, as a conference is all about building interactions and engagements among attendees and other key members. Incorporate features that can allow easy access to live chat, audio/video calls, and so forth. This can enable organisers to collaborate and communicate better with speakers, sponsors, exhibitors, and other participants.
4- Notify your shareholders
After you are done with planning and strategizing your event, it is now time to inform your investors about your virtual conference. Create an informational video that inculcates everything right from your staff to speakers. Thi can help your shareholders learn more about events while also enabling them with techniques to navigate in every corner of the platform effortlessly.
5- Extract attendees data and feedback
Any event, though it is physical or online, both needs feedback to better understand and improve their mistakes in the future. Ask your service provider to offer tools that can easily accumulate feedback from each attendees. You can send a follow-up survey at the end of the conference and ask attendees to fill it up for you. This data will further help in knowing your audiences better and also make them feel valued about their opinions being considered by you.
Over to you
Traditional years of conducting a conference may never lose its importance as people still believe that face-to-face meetings can provide more value. Truth to be told, indeed physical events hold their own charm but looking at the benefits that virtual conferences have been offering, it is only going to shape the future of the event industry. With the great opportunity to reach globally, on-demand context, real-time communication and much more, there is no reason to doubt or consider twice before choosing onto the digital bandwagon. We hope this article finds you well and enables you to organise the most successful virtual conference life-time!
Happy Hosting!
