Title: Experts Discuss About Organising A Virtual Event - Challenges And Ways To Overcome Them
1Experts Discuss About Organising A Virtual Event -
Challenges And Ways To Overcome Them
2Challenges 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.
3- 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.
4What 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.
5Are 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.
6- 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.
7- 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.
8- 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.
9- Avoiding common pitfalls could save your
reputation. - Maneuver smartly, and you will be receiving
accolades for your expertise.
- Always be audience-focused
- Audio is king
- Environment/background is important
- Additional lighting considerations
- Internet Bandwidth dont use public wifi
- Have a budget to match the impact you intend to
make
10What 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
11- 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.
12- 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.
13Rachael 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
142. 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.
153. 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.
16- 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.
17- 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!
18- 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.
19In 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.
20- 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.
212. 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.
223. 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.
23- 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.
24- 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.
25- 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.
26- 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.
27- 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.
28CaptioningStar 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.
29If 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.
30108-44 63rd Rd, Queens, NY 11375, United States
1 707-200-4628
Info_at_captioningstar.com
31THANK YOU