Use the following guidelines to give your virtual events the white glove treatment!
1. Send a reminder
Send registrants a reminder at least one day before and an hour or two before your event. By sending a reminder, you ensure better attendance. People have very busy lives, get mixed up with time changes, and simply forget about things even when they’ve purchased a ticket to an event. Reminders also help clear up misunderstandings about time zones.
2. Send an agenda
In your final event reminder, include an agenda or menu of what is going to happen during your presentation. It adds a very special touch that can create anticipation and excitement for your event. It also helps attendees think of questions they want to ask and encourage them to invite more people as last-minute sign ups.
3. Greet participants upon arrival
If you were hosting an in-person event, you would stand at the door and greet visitors as they arrived. It’s important you or someone you’ve assigned greet attendees as they come into your virtual conference room. This will make them feel included and welcome and avoid the tendency for people to click in and click out if they don’t know what is going on.
4. Explain the technology
Before your virtual event officially begins (and most of the attendees have arrived), take the time to explain the technology to them. Just a quick couple of minutes explaining how to mute a microphone, raise your hand to speak, and how things should look can go far in making attendees feel at ease.
5. Keep track of time
Someone should be keeping track of time. It’s important to keep the event running smoothly and on time to show respect for your guest speaker/s and your attendees. This is why practicing ahead of time is a must.
6. Have a clear closing of the event
Instead of just stopping your event abruptly, make sure to have a planned closing that has some sort of call to action — whether that is to sign up for a newsletter, attend the next event, or to remind participants to download their bonus materials and/or handout.
7. Follow up
Never ignore the follow up after a virtual event. Send participants bonus materials by email, a recording of the event, and thank them for attending. In addition, include a survey that gives you their event feedback so you can improve with each ensuing event. Follow up is a very important part of the entire virtual event experience.
Regarding Tip #1:
Reminder: If people are not signing up and showing up (in big numbers!) for your virtual events, Virtually Fantastic Event Promotions is happening this Wednesday, November 9th.
Free webinar + Free event promo tools + Free marketing strategies + A special report for those who attend the presentation “live”.
Image credit: DaizyB
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Virtual events are now becoming a trend and this trend will no sooner get faded way from the industry. It has become one of the strategy of every organisation to do webcasting and reach their target audience. These events reach deeply to their audience as they connect with it very well. These above tips can help many organisations to make their webcast a grand success. Thanks for sharing the information with us. It was quite helpful.
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Great tips! I haven’t ever done an event because not sure how to or if it is needed for my blog, but I am glad to find these suggestions. I’ll keep this bookmarked in case I ever do. Thanks for sharing. I think etiquette is very important and will insure people participate as well. Sally
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Hi Sally
There’s more to organizing, planning, designing, and marketing virtual events than some people realize. However, hosting an event doesn’t need to feel daunting. It can be a lot of fun and a very successful way to engage with your audience, provide valuable tips and trainings, and promote your offerings. Knowing the right steps to take and the right tools to use makes all the difference in the world.
Thanks for the visit! 🙂
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Hi Mel
Hope all went well on the 9th.
I’m sure it did and you can relax now.
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Hey Keith
We had some technical difficulties with the teleseminar service that prevented us from going “live” on the day of the event. SO … I ultimately recorded the presentation, solo, and sent the link out to those who signed up — along with a little added bonus to thank everyone for their patience and understanding.
Thanks for stopping by! 🙂
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Great tips. The only one I don’t necessarily agree with is #2. It’s valid to provide a list of things the participants will learn but setting a clear agenda can have the effect of people coming and going based on what content is being presented at that time.
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Hi Nicole — thanks for swinging by and lending your input!
I understand what you’re saying about tip #2.
In lieu of a full-scale agenda, I think providing a few bullet points (highlights) in your final reminder really goes a long way to create some anticipation and excitement about what your registrants have to look forward to.
Appreciate the visit and please come back soon!
Melanie