Top Three Mistakes:
Making a pivot towards virtual events can be a challenging. For many organizations, this is a very new and uncomfortable experience. What are some common pitfalls to watch out for when jumping into this new world?
- When shifting from an in person to virtual event, trends suggest one should prepare for a significantly larger audience. Virtual events are more convenient and often less expensive than an in person one. Is your event prepared? – Load test your tech solution to avoid outages.
- Rather than jumping through the hoops and exposing yourself to the risks of a pure livestream, simulive becomes a safer alternative. Simulive takes a pre-recorded experience and streams it live during a scheduled day and time. Pre-recording your live stream permits you to test technology and clean up all presenter mistakes in advance. However, it’s a good idea to have presenters on hand to answer questions at the end of their session as this helps audience engagement.
- The 90- and 120-minute sessions are not a good practice for most virtual events. Most audiences in a virtual setting tend to lose attention after 20-25 minutes. Be sure to carefully pack your agenda with the most informative, engaging and strategic content without stretching your audience’s attention span
By avoiding some of these mistakes, your virtual event will be safer, more engaging and will avoid most problems that cause outages.
Top Three Suggestions
So, you are building a new virtual event but don’t where to start as it relates to putting together the right technology? Few things are more frustrating or detrimental to your event’s success than to align the wrong solution to your event’s needs. What are some things to consider when finding the right solution for you? Here are some suggestions:
- Turnkey or Custom? Often the choice is between turnkey or custom. Turnkey solutions often offer a majority of features that program managers are looking for but lack the flexibility for creativity or customization. On the other hand, a custom solution can offer the right solution with significant flexibility insofar that you have the right event technology team to partner with.
- Do your homework! Understand the functionality and limitations of each tool before making a decision. Unless you do your homework, you’ll find yourself in a very uncomfortable situation when signing a contract only to find that your solution can’t handle some very critical needs.
- Already have collaboration tools? Often, most organizations have an enterprise license with a collaborative tool like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, WebEx and others. These solutions are great to use for breakouts sessions. Rather than reinventing the wheel in this regard, consider whether these solutions might be a strategic and cost-effective way to ensure you have the tools available that your speakers and experts are already trained in!
Would you like to further simplify this approach? Contact us today to visit with a virtual event expert who can offer a variety of solutions, recommendations and services available to support your needs.
Looking for a Solution
Are you being bombarded by offers from virtual event solutions? With the many platforms out there that are striving to survive the pandemic, how do you know which ones are industry tested versus those that, upon careful review, are held together by virtual duct tape at best? If you are looking for the right solution, here are some suggestions to look for:
- Who has used them? Often, if some of the Fortune 500 have used them, it’s a good sign. Many of these organizations conduct intensive info security reviews and stringent vetting processes to ensure they get the right tool. Check for customer testimonials.
- What kind of reviews do they have? While many great brands have good process for vetting, not all of them get it right. Ensure that you get referrals from previous clients to know how effective the solution really was!
- Align with a virtual event agency with a proven track record: Why expend hundreds of hours vetting solutions when there are agencies out there that leverage a multitude of solutions for dozens of events each month. Often, these groups are your best advocates that are willing to carefully listen to your event needs and align the right solution set for your needs and budget. Even better, they can even build your solution from end-to-end too!
As you are looking for a new virtual solution, be sure to watch carefully for the lemons out there. Contact us to cut through the smoke and find the solution that’s right for you!