Experts Discuss About Organising A Virtual Event - Challenges And Ways To Overcome Them

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Experts Discuss About Organising A Virtual Event -
Challenges And Ways To Overcome Them
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Challenges Facing While Organising Virtual Events

• Virtual events can be as challenging as
  conventional events, if not more.
• When an event takes place entirely online, fresh
  and new strategies are needed right from
  promotional activities to audience engagement.
• They have become the highly opt-in option
  post-pandemic, owing to the flexibility, reach,
  accommodation, and increased ROI.

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• According to the Global virtual events market, by
  2028, the annual growth of virtual and hybrid
  events is estimated to be 23.7, worth USD 504.76
  billion.
• Thus, all sectors must accustom and be prepared
  to make the most of virtual events in the
  upcoming years.

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What do Event Industry experts say?

• Hear from Industry experts who have experience in
  conducting a variety of events for the past few
  decades.
• We are happy to present the expert opinions from
  the industry.
• Their unparalled experiences, setbacks and
  challenges faced, how they uncovered their path
  to host a successful virtual event is sure to
  give the upcoming event organizers a framework to
  handle unforeseen circumstances and host only the
  best.

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Are you ready to dive into the valuable insights
from successful CEOs, Founders, Event
Producers? Here you go.

• Bill Wassmer is an event and communications
  professional with more than thirty years of
  experience.
• In 2003, he founded NxtGen Events, an
  industry-leading AV production and event services
  provider.
• Bill and his team of experts have shepherded
  clients through the ever-changing terrain created
  by COVID-19 and understand the obstacles, needs
  and opportunities inherent in virtual events.
• One of the most common misconceptions we hear
  about virtual events is that clients feel their
  timeline is shorter than or similar to an
  in-person event.

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• Truthfully, planning a virtual or hybrid event
  takes more time which we refer to as the
  pre-planning process.
• To ensure your presenters are prepared, content
  is loaded to your platform, technological needs
  are taken care of and more, you need to have the
  right resources on your side, and you need to
  build extra pre-planning time into your schedule.
  
• This keeps your virtual event from failing to
  deliver the expected ROI.

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• John Williams is a corporate multi-cam live
  stream producer, professional photographer and
  video producer with almost two decades of
  experience at HD Perfect Video Photo
  Nashville, As a TV and video producer, John
  Williams is called upon to produce and manage the
  technical aspects of audio, multi-camera video,
  lighting, streaming, and visual elements of live
  virtual events.

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• Whether it is a cook-along demonstration
  live-streamed to a nationwide audience with
  celebrity Chef, Author, Judge Food Networks
  Chopped Maneet Chauhan, or the City of Nashville
  celebrating Greeces bicentennial independence
  day from The Parthenon in Nashville, TN while
  streaming live to TV in Greece as well as a
  Facebook page hosted in a foreign country
• Imagine that you have spent weeks if not months
  planning your virtual event. You are super
  excited that so many have responded, especially
  those few elusive big fish. You are riding
  high, and you feel ready for your big day.
• But wait, theres more. Knowing how to plan for
  the unforeseen is critical.
• Clients approach us with their vision, and
  together we determine the best scenario for a
  flawless event.

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• Avoiding common pitfalls could save your
  reputation.
• Maneuver smartly, and you will be receiving
  accolades for your expertise.

1. Always be audience-focused
2. Audio is king
3. Environment/background is important
4. Additional lighting considerations
5. Internet Bandwidth dont use public wifi
6. Have a budget to match the impact you intend to
   make

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What makes for an excellent virtual experience as
a member of your audience

• Excellent content presented professionally
• Crisp and clear and in focus video
• Properly composed video
• Subtle diffused lighting to dispel dark areas
• Professional audio quality without buzz or hum,
  and no distortion.
• Test, test, and test again. Resist last-minute
  changes

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• Yinka Freeman is the founder of Triple Pocket
  Events.
• One of the biggest challenges event organizers
  face when organizing a virtual event is attendee
  engagement.
• With so many people experiencing screen fatigue
  it has become a challenge to keep attendees
  focused and engaged.
• However, by planning virtual events that have
  very immersive experiences can solve that
  challenge.
• Sessions can be made to be very interactive with
  the audience, by creating live QA, polls,
  surveys or quizzes and a live chat with a chat
  moderator.
• Picking a virtual event platform that focuses on
  attendee engagement is extremely important in the
  beginning stages of planning, a platform that
  offers gamification is a huge plus.

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• Connection between attendees, sponsors and
  exhibitors also plays a huge role in engagement,
  you want to make sure that they can independently
  connect with each other during the event, whether
  that is dedicated networking times or free
  flowing networking throughout the event.
• Creating bitesize sessions is a great way to keep
  your attendees attention focused and keep them
  engaged.
• Shorter sessions combined with a short QA or a
  short quiz work well.
• My last note is to incorporate breaks into your
  event, those can be dance breaks, wellness
  breaks, or fun activities like trivia or a
  treasure hunt.
• These will keep your attendees logged on and
  engaged with each other throughout the entire
  event.

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Rachael Green is the Founder, CEO of Rach Green
Cocktails. There are 3 ways I see people drop in
ball or seriously succeed in running virtual
events 1. Consider all the touch points, clearly
communicate internally and to all stakeholders
(attendees, hosts, sponsors, vendors, etc.) what
they can expect. Where to be and when, and dont
over do it, stay top of mind but dont send so
much information that it can be complicated to
find it. Well established virtual event hosts
(brands) have communities, like facebook groups,
to keep consistent content and hype between their
quarterly or bi-annual events
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2. Engagement Dont underestimate the power of
entertainment. Even the most serious of
fundraisers have music, entertainment, or a bar.
Virtual events do well with an event HOST, which
can be the keynote, depending on their commitment
to the event, but usually hiring a quality Emcee
is crucial to moderate flow, possible technical
issues, and audience retention. Hiring a
mixologist or someone that can help activate the
present moment for the networking or social hour
is highly beneficial for building relationships
or community.
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3. Under-thinking hybrid. hybrid events are 2
simultaneous events. They are incredibly
complicated and require 2 skilled teams in both
in-person and virtual working alongside each
other. Throwing in a virtual option to sell
additional tickets likely wont serve the virtual
audience well and they may not return to the
experience. It could be more beneficial to run an
in-person, record the segments and then run a
full production 2nd virtual event later,
broadcasting the segments, while being able to
focus on the virtual audience and their needs!

• Alexander Abell is Founder, CEO Lunch Break
  Enforcer at Lunchpool. Virtual events are so much
  easier than in-person meetings. You dont have to
  worry about the time zone, you can work from
  anywhere and they only last an hour.

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• This is how one of my clients put it when I was
  helping her plan a virtual event for her
  international team. She thought that arranging
  food delivery to the guests who were scattered
  all over the world would be impossible. Nope. We
  made it possible.
• It may be surprising, but you can easily provide
  food and drink to event guests before your
  virtual events, giving them the opportunity to
  create a unique hybrid event that mixes the
  social aspect of dining with the convenient
  virtual format.
• There are some great benefits to having hybrid
  events that dont just hybridize the in-person
  and virtual attendance aspect of online events,
  but rather break down the wall between the two by
  having IRL experiences while connecting
  regardless of geography or distance.

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• A few of those benefits are
• Guests dont have to choose between virtual and
  IRL because they can do both. They get to fully
  immerse themselves in the virtual event
  experience while eating a meal together, a social
  behavior that, until now, has been hard to
  replicate virtually.
• Your guests will definitely remember your virtual
  event by having this food and drink delivery
  option. It makes them feel appreciated as well as
  entertained. Its an added value for their
  participation!

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• This hybrid approach builds momentum into your
  virtual events so that youre not just standing
  alone on stage with passive observers, but rather
  giving opportunities for people who couldnt
  attend the live virtual event another way of
  getting involved with your brand/business/message.
  

Want even more engagement? Build in networking
with various platforms that allow for free-form
movement to take your guests experience to the
next level. In the events we produce, rich tech
integrations allow attendees to hop from table to
table or room to room. Guests not only eat get
to eat together but they also get to choose who
they network with.
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In the virtual event space, virtual food and
drink delivery is a natural extension of whats
already available. It brings excitement and
engagement into a space thats become dulling and
exhaustive because of ill-planned and ill-timed
events. People are more inclined to sit down for
30-60 minutes when they know theres going to be
something delivered at any moment between
sessions! Next time you are planning a virtual
event, think about what kinds of interactions and
experiences you can build in that will go the
extra mile.
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• Sheri Bennefeld is Founder, Way Beyond Ordinary.
  specialize in learning events. Generally smaller
  events such as workshops, courses and retreats.
• The top challenges or myths that I see holding
  event facilitators back are

1. Your audience will not tolerate more than 60
minutes on a virtual event. This is probably the
most common myth I hear from event hosts. When
audiences are engaged and gaining valuable
knowledge, they will stay. They will stay all
day. And come back the next day. Ive attended
3 and 4 day programs that left me feeling
energized. What your guests will not tolerate is
a boring, uninspired and non-engaging program.
Regardless of length. Apply good instructional
design techniques to keep your participants
active and involved in the learning process.
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2. As the Facilitator, you should be doing most
of the talking When I led a group of trainers and
facilitators I would always joke with them and
say, If youre sitting in the back of the room
drinking coffee and the room is a buzz with
talking and energy, youre doing a great job.
The job of a great educator is to help students
discover the answers they need. Discovery happens
when they talk to others, share ideas, test
theories and teach each other. We have the
ability to make this interaction happen in the
virtual classroom. It requires us to be willing
to recognize that we are not the only experts in
the room.
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3. You can do it on your own Last week I hosted
an event with over 200 participants. It was not a
learning event, but it was very interactive. I
do professional event production, so I figured I
should have this down. Right? I learned a
valuable lesson that day. I will never again
host a virtual event with more than 50 people
without having additional support. The same holds
true for designing a learning event. If
teaching or instructional design is not your
business, get help making sure youre creating a
program that your participants will be willing to
not only sit through, but gain the knowledge,
skills and abilities you set out to teach them.
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• George Buzzeo is Owner, Operator GB Media
  Productions In. With the ongoing changing
  technology in our event business..the Pandemic
  has created challenges earlier on and solutions
  that are now implemented to become a standard in
  our business. Some platforms which include vMix,
  Wire-cast and OBS to name a few, have increased
  the workflow which has give clients a reliable
  slick technology to get there word out to their
  workforce and clients.

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• In the coming year the challenge will be rolling
  into venues which Infrastructure that has not
  been updated and or built out to handle the need
  for high speed streaming, for Live Hybrid
  solutions. Right now with our country getting
  back to work in many states this will be the most
  important phase and challenge we have as event
  business technologist. Stay tuned!

• Bre Podgorski Co-Founder of ShoCast. In the
  world of entertainment, capturing your live
  virtual shows on video to showcase to your wider
  audience on demand is huge. Not only does it show
  your online fanbase your capacity and performance
  techniques as a live performer, but it also shows
  the audiences reaction to your show when you use
  platforms where you can see and hear your
  audience, like ShoCast.

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• Being able to showcase your connection with the
  crowd is just as important as showcasing your
  act.
• Capturing that footage is incredibly important
  for future bookings as it can add favorably to
  your reel.

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• Somanathan CEO of Captioningstar. We hear you.
  Here are 5 pointers that any virtual event
  organizer needs to plan
• Choose your platform wisely
• Beware of security breaches when it comes to
  anything virtual
• Focus on your lead generation and audience
  retention
• Prepare and plan well in advance for an engaging
  event
• Work well on your sponsors who are the backbone
  of the event

These events are best reached to the global
audience regardless of their native language or
hearing difficulties with captions. Running
captions keep them well informed and engaged.
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• Especially in a live event, Captions act as a
  survival guide for many audiences who might have
  difficulties following the speech.
• It helps non-native listeners to grasp and
  process the information. Captions bridge the gap
  between language and knowledge.

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CaptioningStar encourages all kinds of events to
reach better by providing captions and subtitles
with over 99 accuracy, whether the event is
live, recorded, virtual, or hybrid. We also put
forward translation services, and these
transcriptions and subtitles are written manually
by experts and native speakers. Click here to
check out captioning services and how it
processes. Caption your videos in just three
steps.
What CaptioningStar has learnt and inherited from
these experts
Virtual events play an inseparable role in the
future of the education, marketing, and
management sectors. The platform for such events
acts as a hub for many managerial, networking,
data documentation options, and benefits.
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If we imbibe these invaluable suggestions from
all our experts and have a plan in place, there
are little chances of failure that can occur in
organizing a virtual event. We are very grateful
to each and every one who contributed their
insights for this exclusive blog. Make your
events impactful for all your audiences and
experience a good business ROI for all your
Virtual events.
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