With remote work becoming a norm in recent times, virtual events have become an integral part of most businesses. According to a survey, 99% of respondents felt webinars were critical for their marketing strategy.
Thus investing in a reliable and quality virtual meeting software has become an essential practice that can help your business connect with employees, business networks, and customers.
This article will provide you with tips to help you host a successful virtual event.
Pick and Evaluate the Virtual Meeting Software
Choosing the right software for your virtual event is one of the most crucial aspects of planning. While picking virtual event software, consider the needs of your business and audiences. For example, it should be easy for you to create and customize events, manage and analyze metrics. Similarly, the platform should be easy to navigate and use for participants of the event.
Once you have finalized the software, you should go through the features and understand their technicalities. If attendees need a particular browser extension or additional software, it is important to let them know beforehand for a hassle-free meeting.
Give Attendees Ample Time to Respond
Plan for and schedule the virtual meeting well in advance. Thanks to technology, you can create customizable events within 20 minutes, but you run the risk of attendees opting out of the meeting by sending out a last-minute invite.
Sending timely invites is especially important when you have participants working from different time zones across the globe. It is vital to give them enough time to respond to the meeting.
Leverage Tools to Boost Engagement
A well-developed virtual meeting software offers a range of tools that you can utilize to encourage engagement among participants. Unfortunately, these events can get awkward; attendees might even hesitate or shy away from voicing their opinions.
Tools such as polls, quizzes, Q&A sessions, and gamified leaderboards can lighten the atmosphere for formal meetings and open up a two-way communication pathway.
Include Moderators to Facilitate the Event
If you have multiple speakers, guests, and hundreds of attendees participating in a virtual event. In that case, you should ideally have multiple moderators in place to ensure the event is carried out without any interruptions or distractions.
Participants can get confused, speakers may not reach their assigned virtual rooms, or other technical difficulties might arise during the meeting. In such cases, a moderator can help diffuse the situation and provide necessary support during the event.
Follow-Up with Participants
Once your virtual meeting is over, it is a good practice to follow up with the participants and hear their views on the event. For example, you can send over meeting minutes or let them know where they can access meeting recordings or ask for feedback.
Use this opportunity to analyze what worked for you and what you could do differently for your next virtual meeting. For example, you could use the engagement metric to tailor virtual events better according to the audience’s needs.
A virtual meeting software plays a critical role in an interruption-free, successful run of your virtual event. Thus, it is recommended to take time in analyzing the features offered. Consider the virtual event platform’s usability, reliability, uptime, and customer support. Plan your event in advance, encourage interactivity with tools and utilize reporting capabilities for a well-organized meeting.
