What We've Always Known About Corporate Virtual Events
There’s a narrative in the world right now that we are in a ‘new normal’ in our industry. Yes, things are dramatically different than what we are used to (masks in purses before leaving the house, reduced capacities in stores, upside down industries) and the future of live events has been changed.
Yes, it will be a (long) while before galas as we knew them and larger in-person events readily take place.
Yes, the ratio of in-person to virtual/hybrid events has dramatically shifted and will remain so for some time.
However, in terms of events, it is important to emphasize that while new technologies and platforms have emerged during 2020 creating refreshed opportunities for engagement, the concept of virtual and hybrid events isn’t new at all.
In fact, we are so lucky to be going through this transformation (if you can see it that way) in a time of quality, ever-evolving technology. Any event planner or producer that has been using modern AV (probably ever single producer out there) or has had to unify a national employee base (like our history) through virtual town hall experiences already has baseline knowledge of virtual event design and knows how to use the technology to drive results.
Here’s what we have known for years about virtual and hybrid experiences, learned from hands-on, in-house event production experience, all of which have proven true during the pandemic.
Purposeful Content
This kind of truth-bomb is dropped often in the digital marketing world: you can’t buy enough ads to translate mediocre content into sales. You just can’t! The same can be said about virtual and hybrid events.
We’ve had to unify a multi-market employee base around a key message or update, ultimately aiming to drive excitement and buy-in, and hybrid-virtual events are the perfect cost effective solution. But, getting employees to sign onto a webinar or town hall is one thing; getting them to listen and care about the content is another.
Our high-level advice to drive authentic engagement through your content is threefold:
Succinct event copy - tell a story of what the participant will get out of it in 6 sentences or less and choose a catchy webinar title
Charismatic speakers - try not to simply opt for the most senior person in the company to speak; look for presenters and facilitators in your organization that can draw attention - and keep it! And, this one is big: ask all presenters to stand as versus sit while they speak. This will change your results by a complete 180, you will be able to feel their energy through the screen.
Video, video, video - see below for more details as this one deserves it’s own section
If a key metric of success for a public webinar (as versus internal) is a certain benchmark of ticket sales or registrations, ensure your digital graphic design is smart and bold, ideally designed based on research and data that proves what kind of content is attracting your ideal attendee. Humans will be drawn to useful, specific topics that they see giving them tools that will impact their lives right away.
Behavioural Psychology
Smart event producers should be applying theories of behavioural science to their designs and virtual events are no different. Basically, imagine participants becoming 5-year-old versions of themselves once they log onto a webinar, needing clear and succinct communication, healthy distractions, dictated bio breaks, and shorter (but more powerful) brain engagement.
As well, when building a digital experience, think of the participant’s five senses as you would when producing an in-person event. Scent is still the #1 way to embed a memory, so how can you ignite it from home?
Understanding what happens to the human brain about 30 minutes into a session, and how distracted people tend to be at the top and tail of a session (as they are coming out of or about to go back into their day) are important things to consider when producing online content.
Live Data Capture
One of the mindsets we coach our clients on is deeply understanding that your audience shouldn’t be seen as attendees - look at them as participants. Every decision you make within the design of a webinar or virtual event should support the desire to have your participants, aptly so, participate in the experience. This will not only build love for the brand, but also enable memory capture.
There are a number of emerging technologies that can be leveraged inside of virtual event platforms that drive engagement, from sketch boards to live polling to swivelling videos. If you are planning an online or hybrid town hall, for example, set a goal to integrate one well-matched engagement tool and pre determine your success measurements.
As always with new technology or tools, our recommended approach is:
research→ experiment→ data/proof of concept→ analyze→ repeat.
Video, Video, Video
Video is key in virtual events. What we mean by this is, if there is a way to rollout a part of the overall message or presentation via a 90-120 second pre produced video, do so. This strategy enables you to change the energy of your participants and break up the ‘regular’ flow of a meeting. Follow your video with some sort of polling to see how the participants feel. Gaining real-time anecdotal data will help to continue to produce tailored experiences for your brand.
Stay tuned for our next blog about sonic branding and why audio design is the biggest addition to the modern market mix, uniquely powered by virtual event experiences.
In summary, mindset shifts away from ‘new normal’ into ‘innovative ideas’ can help enormously when it comes to bravely creating virtual event strategies for the future.
Our message to event producers: remind yourself how much experience you already have with technology and managing human behaviours, all of which you can apply to virtual events.
Our message to client brand managers: integrating virtual experiences into your overall employer brand strategy is truly the modern way and no better time than now to seize the opportunity to try something new.
There’s that word again.
